Blow The Trumpet in Zion

Choir. Thank you to Mrs. Hanson for the beautiful operatory music and to the choir for a number that is difficult to follow.

It was beautiful. Thank you guys very, very much.

You know, when you examine the Feast of Trumpets, as is with the majority of God's Feast, there's an incredible amount of meaning and symbolism that is packed into these days.

You know, from the very beginning of the Holy Day year with the Passover and then on into the days of Unleavened Bread and into the Feast of Pentecost, there's this story and this narrative that is being woven throughout that outlines and details God's plan for mankind. It kind of details the steps in which He is planning to take and is taking in order to provide eternal salvation upon mankind, to be able to pour that out upon mankind and to the sons and the daughters that He's adopting into His family. Now, the fall Holy Days are distinct from the spring Holy Days, yet they are very much connected as part of the same seven Holy Day cycle. And even though they're directly connected to the days that are in the spring, there is one very major difference.

Now, spring Holy Days, by and large, and the events that they symbolize, have largely been fulfilled.

You know, these events that are symbolized by the fall Holy Days, these are still yet to come. These are still yet to come. These are often the distance. And in some ways, I mean, if you think of it in an analogy as a story, they symbolize the final few chapters in the story. Now, we know the story, in the way that God is outlined, it goes on for eternity. We know that the book never really ends, but we're reaching the point where we're getting into the final bit of the climax of this story now and moving into—I wasn't terribly good at my English class, but I believe the falling action is what that's called in a plot map. This day, the Feast of Trumpets symbolizes an incredible turning point in human history. It's the time—symbolizes the time when Messiah returns and the kingdom of God begins. Let's turn over to Leviticus 23. Leviticus 23. You know, one of the challenges you always have when you're putting together messages for the Holy Days is not stomping all over the scriptures that everybody else is planning to use. So I apologize beforehand if we end up going all to the same places. Leviticus 23. And we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 23. As we see, the command is provided by God to Moses to instruct the people of Israel on keeping this day.

Okay, instructing the people of Israel as to what this day looks like as part of an old covenant people that Israel was. Leviticus 23 in verse 23 says, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. So we see this day as a commanded holy convocation. It's a sacred assembly of God's people that has been set apart. It's a day that has been kept holy and by maintaining God's presence in it. You know, we're not at work today. We're here, right? We are not going through and working on this day. We are here, gathered together on this first day of the seventh month in order to keep the Feast of Trumpets.

We see we're to offer an offering, which we've just done. And it also states that this day was to be a memorial of blowing of trumpets. That it was to be a memorial of blowing of trumpets. And we know in history, you know, throughout Israel, these trumpets took a couple of forms. They could either be made of ram's horn, kind of your standard shofar, that was used to announce all sorts of things and to gather attention and many more things. But we also see that in Numbers 10, God instructs Moses to make a pair of silver trumpets. And in Numbers 10, He instructs Moses in the multiple uses that they were to be used for. Let's go ahead and turn over there and see this account. Again, if we build context here for where we're headed today. November's... or November. There's an N and an E and an R in there and a B. You know, at first glance, it looks like November. Numbers 10. Numbers 10, we'll pick it up in verse 1. Numbers 10 in verse 1, we'll go ahead and read through verse 10. Numbers 10 in verse 1 says, The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Make two silver trumpets for yourself. You shall make them of hammered work, you shall use them, and He instructs them in the use of them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. But if they blow only one, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall gather to you. When you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east side shall then begin their journey. When you sound the advance the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall begin their journey, and they shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys. And when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but not sound the advance. Verse 8, The sons of Aaron, the priests shall blow the trumpets, and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations. Verse 9, When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then shall you sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness and your appointed feasts at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, and they shall be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God. These trumpets were to be a memorial for Israel before God. They were a way to commemorate or to remember specific things. Now these silver trumpets, as we see, were used specifically to order the camp during movements during the time of the Exodus. They were used to call the congregation together. They were used to direct the movement of the camp. They were used to call them for war.

They notified them of their appointed feast times. They notified them of the beginning of their calendar months. They were blown over their offerings. They were to be blown by Aaron's funds. And the Levitical priesthood throughout time. There were a variety of blasts that were played. I mean, put yourself in the shoes of your average Israelite. Okay? I'll tell you right now, I couldn't tell you the difference between this blast and that blast on a trumpet. But they had it down. They knew what the different blasts were. There were different percussive notes or a length of blast, or you know, hearing one trumpet or a second trumpet. Maybe there was a harmony note that went when the second trumpet came in, so it didn't just sound like the same note.

But it was distinct enough that the people of Israel could know when they were supposed to assemble, when they were supposed to march, when they were supposed to take up arms and go to war, when it was the beginning of a month, when it was the beginning of a jubilee, year, and the list, I mean, it just goes on. The different things that they used to sound these trumpets for.

We also see that they were used to warn the people of impending attack. Let's turn over to the book of Ezekiel. Book of Ezekiel, again, as we build context here. Go ahead and leave a marker here in Numbers 10. We're going to come back to it briefly after we take a quick jump over to the book of Ezekiel. Go to Ezekiel 33, and we're going to break into the book of Ezekiel at a time when God was really explaining to Ezekiel his role as a watchman.

That Ezekiel was given this role before God. He was expected to sound the alarm when he saw the sword coming. In other words, if the army's coming from afar and Ezekiel sat on that trumpet, it didn't do anything. It was on Ezekiel's head. But if Ezekiel sounded that trumpet, and if Ezekiel said, there is danger coming and sounds that trumpet, and the people either choose to respond or not to respond, well, that was on them. And so this was the process that God was outlining to Ezekiel. God used a known role, a known analogy, something that Ezekiel would understand completely when he explained what he was to be doing in Israel. And, you know, he wasn't warning of a physical enemy per se. I mean, yes, as time went on, there were certainly physical enemies that challenged Israel. Ezekiel was warning the people of their sin and their iniquity before God.

God would provide him with a prophetic word, and it was Ezekiel's responsibility to now go and sound that trumpet to God's people. Verse 33 of Ezekiel, sorry, chapter 3 of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 33, and we'll pick it up in verse 1, says again, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them, when I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take the man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but he did not take warning, his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. Verse 6, getting at God telling Ezekiel, hey, man, this is your responsibility. This is what I'm getting at with you. He says, but if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and it takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. So you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me.

When I say to the wicked, a wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Ezekiel's job was to sound the alarm. It was to blow the trumpet. Now it was the people's job, ultimately, to respond accordingly to that, and if they did, they would save their lives. If they did not, well, God said the blood was on their heads. So we can see that trumpets also have an aspect here of warning of impending attack, warning of danger, warning of a way that is maybe not the way that God desired people to be going. If you flip back to Numbers 10 real quick, with that in mind, Numbers 10, we'll go ahead and reread here, verse 9 of Numbers 10, because there is a very interesting aspect to this that I want to look at today.

Trumpets were used to sound the advanced. They were used to call the congregation to attention. They marked appointed feasts, the beginnings of months, burnt offerings, peace offerings, as well as were used to sound a warning to the individuals in that land of an impending attack.

But again, in Numbers 10, there's kind of an interesting little aspect to this that I want to take some time to focus on today, and it's in verse 9 of Numbers 10. When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you—in other words, when you see that enemy from afar and you blow that trumpet and you take up arms, or you blow that trumpet and you take up arms and you go after those individuals who are out there, it says, when you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpet. So yes, it gathered the people together. We're going to war. Take up your arms. We're heading out. And I don't know what bugle call that was, so to speak. You hear the old cavalry did similar things. You know, had certain bugle calls that kind of called them. But notice what it says next, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

The blowing of the trumpet went both ways. Not only was it a memorial for Israel, a way to kind of commemorate and to remember specific things, it also had the effect that when the trumpet was blown, that God remembered his people too. And he was reminded of his people and their need for him.

The title of the sermon today is Blow the Trumpet in Zion. And with the rest of the time that we have left, I'd like to take a look at primarily the book of Joel, where this particular phrase is found, and examine its connections, the book of Joel specifically, but its connection to the events of the day of the Lord and the events that this day, the Feast of Trumpets, symbolizes. So let's turn over to the book of Joel. We're going to be doing a little bit of bouncing around. You might put a bookmark here. There's going to be a couple of other places that we're going to go in order to provide some context and some description. But we're going to be primarily in the book of Joel today. Come on, keep going right past it. It's a little one tucked in there. It's in between Hosea and Amos. So you find one of those, you got him. There he is.

Sometimes he hides. Joel just kind of tucks his way in there. He's only a couple pages long here. So, Joel 1, we're going to start in verse 1 here to take a look at this particular prophetic word. Now, the book of Joel is interesting. It's one of the minor prophets. It's a book that we honestly don't know a lot about its author. We really don't. Many of the other prophetic books have a significant amount of information on their authors. The authors are corroborated in other people's books. There's little events that occur that you can cross-reference between certain prophets and get a general timeline of when and where these individuals lived and spoke.

Many of them, the timelines of their writing can kind of be pieced together by these little subtle clues, but that's not necessarily the case with the book of Joel. Realistically, about the only thing that we can legitimately 100% say that we know about Joel is the name of his father, because it's listed in the first passage. His dad's name is Petwell. That's about what we can 100% say with certainty with regards to the book of Joel.

The exact timing of his writing is, frankly, much more challenging to determine. Basically, timing this one and trying to put it in a place that's been built off of inference. There are some clues. There are some basic clues. One of them is that it's believed that Joel is pre-exilic, meaning it happened prior to the exile of Babylon. The reason for that is the Masoretic canon places it where it's placed in our scriptures. It's between Hosea and Amos. So that's not necessarily a slam dunk, but it gives you an idea that, hey, we're talking probably pre-exilic time frame here.

It's thought that it's even a little bit earlier in the pre-exilic time frame because the mention of Israel's enemies are its neighboring nations. There's no mention of Assyria. There's no mention of Babylon. There's no mention of Persia. So we're not in the later exvilic period, probably, and we're definitely not in the post-exilic, at least based upon what we see written in this particular book.

So there's no mention of Assyria or Babylon or Persia, so it's likely that he wasn't contemporary with Jeremiah or Isaiah or any other post-exilic writers like Ezra or Nehemiah. He mentions no kings. Anywhere in this book he mentions no kings. He doesn't talk about the king that he is giving this word to, which frankly is kind of uncommon for the prophets. Often their discussion with which king they were talking to, or it was during the time of King so-and-so, is mentioned.

Some say that that's significant. In fact, Keelan Delish, commentators on the Old Testament, put the writing of this book during the early years of King Joash's reign. And the reason they do that is Joash took the throne at sixth, and the priests and the elders ruled until he was old enough to take the throne. Now in this book, there's a significant mention toward the priests and the elders of the people. And so, is that it?

Maybe? Maybe not. We honestly don't know for sure, and frankly the exact timing doesn't matter necessarily because there is a great degree of immediate and future prophetic fulfillment that is contained in the pages of this book. And so timing-wise, you know, yeah, it's interesting to look at and go, well, it may have happened during the time of Joash, but realistically, there's so much going on in this book with regards to what was to come for Judah and Israel as well as what is to come at the time of Jacob's trouble that it's not necessarily as essential.

The first chapter of the book begins with a description of a series of just terrible events for the nation. Joel 1 in verse 1 says, The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Petwell, hear this, you elders, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land, has anything like this happened in your days or even in the days of your fathers?

Tell your children about it. Let your children tell their children and their children another generation. What the chewing locusts had left, the swarming locusts has eaten. What the swarming locusts left, the crawling locusts eaten. And what the crawling locusts left, the consuming locusts has eaten. The chewing locusts, swarming locusts, crawling locusts, consuming locusts, they've swept across the land or they are going to sweep across the land.

Now it kind of doesn't really appear that this is for distinct species, so to speak, of locusts. It kind of seems that it's actually stages of locusts' life cycle that, you know, as they go on and they develop further, they become more the all-consuming grasshopper-like variety, whereas when they're little before they pupate and everything else, they can still cause an incredible amount of damage. It's also hard to be certain whether this is literally waves of locusts or whether this is an army. Often scripture uses bolts to describe prophetic events. The Jews actually believe and teach that this is representative of Assyria and Babylon, the first group of locusts.

The Medo-Persians, the second. Greeks and Antiochus, Epiphanes, the third. And then fourth, the Romans. And so there's a variety of interpretations that can be taken from this. It is hard to be certain as the exact interpretation, but suffice to say, Joel is warning those of this nation that these terrible things are coming and they need to wake up.

He goes on in verse 5. It says, Awake you drunkards and weep. Whale all you drinkers of wine because of the new wine, for it's been cut off from your mouth. Vines are gone. You're not getting any new wine, buddy. It's basically what he's getting at. Whale and weep because there's no new wine coming. For a nation has come up against my land strong and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion and he has the fangs of a fierce lion.

He has laid waste of my vine and ruined my fig tree. He's stripped it bare and thrown it away. Its branches were made white. It goes on and he says, Lament like a virgin girded with fat cloth for the husband of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, who minister to the Lord. The field is wasted.

The land mourns, for the grain is ruined. The new wine is dried up and the oil fails. Be ashamed, you farmers. Wail, you vine dressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. The vine has dried up. The fig tree has withered. The pomegranate tree and the palm also. The apple tree. All the trees of the field are withered. And surely joy has withered away from the sons of men. He's describing a very difficult time in the nations of Israel and Judah.

He's describing an army that rises up against them, that is strong and without number. Says it will leave devastation in their wake. Absolute devastation in their wake. Cuts off the vines, the figs, shuts down the supply of wine. Cuts off the grain and the drink offerings from the temple. Says the grain, the new wine and the oil will fail as a result of these crops being destroyed.

We see the harvest has perished. We see the fruit trees are withered. And not only that, joy has withered from the sons of men. That this has been so difficult and so disastrous and so terrible that joy has escaped the sons of men. That there's nothing joyful. It's a terrible and difficult time that Joel is describing here. He goes on in verse 13. He says, Gird yourselves and lament you priests. Wail you who minister before the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God, for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.

Consecrate a fast. Call a sacred assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord. Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand. Alas, the day of the Lord is at hand. It shall come as destruction from the Almighty. Is not the food cut off before our eyes the joy and the gladness from the house of our God? The seed shrivels under the cloths. Storehouses are in shambles. Barns are broken down. For the grain has withered how the animals grown. The herds of cattle are restless because they have no pasture.

Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment. It says, O Lord, to you I cry out. For fire has devoured the open pastures. And a flame has burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field also cry out to you. For the water brooks are dried up. And fire has devoured the open pastures. Note verse 15. Note verse 15. Alas, the day of the Lord is at hand. It has come. He says it shall come as destruction from the Almighty. Joel connects these events specifically with judgment from God. That the cutting off of the daily offerings, the cutting off of their food, the cutting off of their joy and their gladness, breaking down of the storehouses, which symbolize a lack of abundance, breaking down of the storehouses, groaning of the animals, there's no pasture.

All of these things Joel connects for being there as a result of their ongoing disobedience, for their ongoing issues and their iniquity before God. That God will use various nations, that He will use various events as instruments of His wrath. And that Israel and Judah were to experience the punishment for their disobedience. There's duality in prophecy, we know that. There's duality in prophecy. There's a time of an immediate or a short-term fulfillment, typically, to those who it was written to at that time.

But often there's a secondary, long-term future fulfillment that is tucked in there, too. And it's there if you can see it. It's there if you can look at it. We know this particular prophecy was at least partially fulfilled during the time of Israel and Judah when Assyria and Babylon conquered Judea, conquered and raised the nations to the ground.

Israel had happened in 722 BC. A couple hundred years later, Judah fell in 586. And so we know that, yes, partially the fields were burned. All these things had happened. Joy was taken away for a time. But some of what we are seeing described in this particular book has not yet been fulfilled. Some of the things that we see described here is reserved for the time of the end during the seals and the trumpets. And the bowls that we see outlined in the book of Revelation. The book of Joel, in addition to recording an immediate short-term prophecy for the people of Judah and of Israel, also is recording a prophecy for us and a prophecy for a time that is yet to come.

Let's go ahead and leave a bookmark here in the book of Joel. We're going to move forward to the book of Revelation. We go to Revelation 6. Revelation 6, which is where we see the first set of seals prophetically that are described for us, kind of prior to this particular passage that we're going to look at.

We're going to pick it up in verse 12. But prior to verse 12, we see the beginnings of sorrows, as it's described in Matthew 24. We see the beginning of the tribulation. We see the opening of these first four seals. We've commonly referred to this as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

And beginning as that first seal opens and a conqueror goes out to conquer, those seals are then opened one by one by one, and the world experiences war and famine and death.

That death can come by war, it can come by starvation, it can come, as it states there in Scripture, by the beast of the field. The fifth seal is opened, and the saints begin to be martyred for the Word of God. They begin to be martyred for the testimony which they hold.

Now we get down to verse 12, and we see the sixth seal opened. Verse 12, Revelation 6, shows us this sixth seal. It says, I looked when he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. Stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it's shaken by a mighty wind. The sky receded as a scroll when it rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath, that day of the Lord has come and who is able to stand. So we see these events, we see these great earthquakes, the sun that becomes black, the moon that becomes like blood. We see the stars of heaven falling from the sky and toward the earth. We see these great cosmic disturbances. It says the sky recedes as a scroll, a roll, the mountains and islands are moved from their places. The kings of the earth are scared to death, hiding out in their bunkers, or hiding out in their caves, praying for the rocks to cover them the day the Lord has come. I'm going to try something here. I've not done this before in a message. We'll see how well it works. I'm going to have you go to a passage, and you're going to slowly read through it on your own. I'm going to read a different passage that parallels it, because I want you to see the parallel. I want you to see how the two connect, and I don't have time to read them both. So this is a time-saving attempt. This could be horrifically distracting and not work at all, or it could be just fine. We're going to find out. I want you to go to Revelation 8. I want you to go to Revelation 8. Revelation 8 is where we begin to see the seventh seal opened. We see the trumpets, the angels preparing to sound. In fact, we'll read Revelation 8, verse 1 together. It says, when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for a half an hour, about a half hour. Imagine that. After all of that chaos, 30 minutes of quiet. People sitting there, kind of maybe coming out from behind the rocks going, is it over?

Is it done? Only to find out that, no, it is not done. By no means is it done. It says, I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden stencer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. In the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censor, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there was noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. In verse 6, the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

In part, the fulfillment and the symbolism of this day involves the sounding of these trumpets. We like to focus on the last one, because the last one is the victory, right? But it also involves the ones that lead up to the victory. And we have to recognize that. Now, I want you to keep reading in Revelation 8. I'm going to turn back to Joel 2. Okay? So, I'm going to go back to Joel 2. I want you to see the parallel between Joel 2 describing the day of the Lord and Revelation 8, which is describing the same events. In different words, the same events.

Okay? I'm going to skip up just a little bit. As you start to read in verse 7, go ahead and start doing that now. I'm going to skip up just a little bit, and I'm going to pick it up in 1 verse 19. Okay? So, slowly kind of read along. I think this will work.

Joel 1 in verse 19, as you're reading in Revelation 8 verse 7. O Lord, to you I cry out, for fire has devoured the open pastures, and a flame has burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field also cry out to you, for the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the open pastures. Chapter 2 in verse 1, blow the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand. It is a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.

A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been, nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations.

Verse 3, a fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns.

The land is like the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.

Surely nothing shall escape them. Their appearance—notice what we're talking about here. This is why the connection is huge. If you are not quite there yet, jump down to Revelation 9 and verse 7.

Skim it. Sorry, I should have told you to skim through it.

Revelation 9 and verse 7. In fact, the section here of Revelation 9 going into verse 7. Again, a fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.

Surely nothing shall escape them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like swift seeds, so they run. Revelation 9 and verse 7. The shape of the locust was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were the faces of men. They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lion's teeth, which we heard in Joel 1. They were like lions' teeth. Back to Joel 2. With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array. Before them, the people writhe in pain. They had the power to sting like a scorpion. People writhe in pain. All faces are drained of color. They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like men of war. Everyone marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. They do not push one another. Everyone marches in his own column, though they lunge between the weapons. They are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city. They run on the wall. They climb into the houses, and they enter at the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them.

The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon grow dark. The stars diminish their brightness.

The Lord gives voice to his army, for his camp is very great. For strong is the one who executes his word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible. Who can endure it? When you take a look at the events that are outlined in the trumpets that are being blown between Revelation 8 and Revelation 9. The parallels to Joel, frankly, the whole book, are incredible.

Joel is not just describing a time of judgment for Judah and Israel at the hands of Assyria and Babylon. He is talking about a coming judgment for Israel at the end time when the day of the Lord is fulfilled. And so, while this again was partially fulfilled in the lesions of Assyrians and the Babylonian soldiers that laid waste to the northern and southern kingdoms, or you can even look at the Romans that laid waste to Jerusalem again in 70 AD and tore down the temple, there is a definite future prophetic word that is recorded in the book of Joel, frankly, brethren, for us. It is for us as the Israel of God to see and for us to consider. And that prophetic message is inextricably tied to the blowing of trumpets, to the memorial and the events and the symbolism that is all wrapped up in this day. The final trumpet ushers in the final bull plagues of Revelation 16. And those plagues are poured out upon this earth, which continue that devastation. But as that devastation continues, it's building toward something incredible.

It's building toward the return of Jesus Christ in the scythe. It is building toward a time when God comes back and says, enough is enough. Enough is enough. We're done here. And takes control of this earth. Joel goes on in Joel 2 to draw his conclusion. If you want to turn back to Joel 2, Joel goes on to draw his conclusion with all of this. He says all these things, all of these things, spells it out for him. And then what he comes to a conclusion with is in Joel 2, verse 12. All of these things that has been spelled out, all of these coming judgments, all of these horrific, terrible things that are going to occur to Judah and Israel, and in the end time to the people that are still on this earth. He draws his conclusion. Joel 2 and verse 12 says, Now therefore, because of all these things, says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart. Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.

Wrend your heart and not your garments. Wrend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. He is slow to anger and of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm. Who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? He says, Wrend your heart, not your garments. You know, there was a custom in Israel that when something bad happened and you were in mourning, you would rend your garments. You would tear your garments. You would cover yourself in ashcloth, or you'd sit in ashes, right? You would very publicly show everyone that you were mourning. Well, you could do that and not really be mourning. It would be really easy. I could tear my shirt and sit in ashes and not mean it at all, frankly.

God says, Wrend your heart, not your garments. Don't put on the pretenses. Don't put on the public show. Truly repent, he says.

Wrend your heart, turn to God, for he is gracious, merciful, and kind, and he relents from doing harm. Now, we know, based on the histories of Israel and Judah, that in the immediate fulfillment, God's people did not repent. In fact, they just chugged right along towards destruction. Jeremiah came, Isaiah came, multiple other prophets came and said, Hey guys, you're careening towards the cliff here. Now would be a real good time to put on the brakes and turn the wheel. And they said, Nah, we're putting the gas down. In fact, you know, imprisoned the prophets that had come, it killed the prophets. They were not hearing it. And so we see that ultimately Judah and Israel went into captivity. But they weren't completely destroyed.

God still cared for them. God still took care of his people. And at the end of that time, and when it was fulfilled, they were able to return home. But that expectation of repentance, that expectation of turning to God, that's still in effect for God's people today. The difference is, at that time, God was working with a physical nation. He was working with the seed of Abraham. Today, he's working with a group of individuals who have entered into a different commitment, a different covenant with him. Covenant of baptism. People who believe and were baptized, who received God's Holy Spirit. Doesn't matter their nationality. They heard the word of God. They were called by the Father. They came to him. They came to Jesus Christ.

There are vessels for God's Holy Spirit at this time. And that repentance, that baptism, that ongoing malleability of the heart, is what God desires in each and every one of us today. He goes on in verse 15. It says, Blow the trumpet in Zion. Sound the warning. Sound the alarm. Consecrate it fast. Call a sacred assembly. Gather the people. Sanctify the congregation. Assemble the elders. Gather the children and nursing babes. Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber and the bride from her dressing room. Let the priest who ministered to the Lord weep between the porch and the altar. Let them stay. Spare your people, O Lord, and do not give your heritage to reproach. And my people shall never be put to shame. Verse 27. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel. I am the Lord your God, and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. It says, Blow the trumpet in Zion. Call an assembly. Consecrate it fast. Gather them together. Remind them. And in doing so, remind God as well. Remind God as well.

Remind Him of your needs. Remind Him that you are His people.

Turn to Him that He might relent. Suplete for the people and for their deliverance.

Again, as we saw earlier in Numbers 10, God set up a system of trumpets in the Old Testament through His instructions to Moses. And one byproduct of that system was, when those trumpets were blown, God told Moses that He would be remembered. That He would remember them.

Blowing the trumpet reminded Israel of their commitment to God, but on the other hand, it also reminded God of His commitment to Israel. It would remind God that they needed Him.

That He was essential to their survival and to their success. And we see as the day the Lord progresses through the seals and the trumpets and the bowls leading up to that incredible moment of Christ's return. We go through that great tribulation that's described throughout Matthew 24. We go through all the places in Scripture, many of which we'll probably touch on the remainder of today. I don't want to end up stealing any of those. But each of those trumpet blasts heralds something new and more devastating. But they also serve to remind God of His remnant. That there is a people that is obedient to Him. That there is a people who serve Him despite all of these terrible things. You know, these trumpet blasts are a reminder that unless those days are shortened that no flesh will remain alive. It's a way to remind God that He has to relent. He must relent. Or we're extinct. When the time is fulfilled, when the day of the Lord is nearing its end, Jesus Christ returns, following great thunderings and lightnings, incredible earthquake, immense hail, I mean huge hail, you know, the size of a talent, which comes from the pouring out, you see here, this seventh bowl, and the kingdoms of this earth become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ.

God shows mercy to man. He cuts this time short so that flesh may survive. He relents and He has mercy upon those who remain. Joel records, in addition to all of this difficult things that he writes in his book, he also records a coming time of restoration, a coming time of salvation for the people of God. If you go to Joel 3, and I'm sorry, Joel 2 and verse 18, I tried to jump one chapter ahead here, we see that there is a restoration shown. Joel 2 and verse 18 says, the Lord will be zealous for His land and pity His people.

The Lord will answer and say to His people, Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them. I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations, but I will remove far from you the northern army and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land. With his face toward the eastern sea and his back toward the western sea, his stench will come up, his foul odor will rise because he has done monstrous things.

Fear not, O land! Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things. Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field, for the open pastures are springing up and the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. Be glad, then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you, the former rain, the latter rain in the first month.

Verse 24, the threshing floor shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. Verse 25, so I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who was dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel. I am the Lord your God, and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. God undoes the devastation that He wrought through the process of the day of the Lord. It's like a thunderstorm. We had a couple of those in the last month or so up in our area.

I know, Eugene, you've had a few as well. But it's like a thunderstorm. After that lightning and after that thunder, after that just chaos of what's going on during that storm, that wind retreats, it calms, the rain begins to fall more gently, the birds begin to sing again, and the world calms. It's like the whole creation just breathes. And that's what's going to happen after this events of the day of the Lord.

The creation is going to breathe. It's going to take a breath. God is going to restore it. That devastation that is shown by these seals and these trumpets and these bowls will all be reeled back and pulled back and cleansed and repaired and restored. God sends new grain. He sends new wine and oil. He removes the army and drives them away. And then he tells his people, fear not, fear not, be glad and rejoice. You know, we read things like this. We take a look at all the things that occur, all these devastating events, and it can be scary.

You know, it can be scary. I remember as a kid, sitting sometimes reading Revelation, you know, hiding under your blanket like, you know, you read these things and they can be scary. But God says, fear not, be glad and rejoice, because the pastures are going to grow again. The trees are going to bear fruit. The figs and the vines will yield their fruit. The rains have come. The locusts are gone. The devastation will be repaired and restored. God will deliver his people. God will deliver his people. He will care for the world. He will provide for their well-being when he sends his son back to the earth.

You know, the Feast of Trumpets and what it symbolizes is a fascinating juxtaposition in God's plan. On one hand, it is representative of the Day of the Lord, you know, and not just the final moments of the Day of the Lord, but the events which lead up to it as well.

Devastation, destruction, terror, all of which have come about as a result of the choices and the iniquity of men. It's not, we can't point the finger anywhere else on these things. You know, we can say, yes, we were tempted to do these things, but we decided to go this road.

God will deliver his people from a 6,000-year continuous rejection of God.

That judgment that is going to come on the world for that rejection. But on the other hand, on the other side of that coin, it's a time of joy and it's a time of rejoicing.

Because the end of this tribulation, the final trumpet sounds, and Jesus Christ returns to this earth. The dead in Christ rise, and Jesus hands the keys of the kingdom to the Father, who in turn grants him the authority to rule. And it is at that point in time that the millennium is ushered in and the kingdom of God begins on this earth. Brethren, the earth will be restored.

Jesus Christ will come. God will restore all things. He'll restore not just the physical things. He'll restore mental illnesses back to normal. He'll restore spiritual issues to normal. He'll restore all of these things. People will be healed. They will learn of his ways, and they will have an incredible opportunity. It's that same opportunity that you have been provided to come to God and to be a part of his family. I'd like to close today, here at the end of the book of Joel, in Joel 3 and verse 18. Joel 3 and verse 18 says, and it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water. The fountains shall flow from the house of the Lord and water the valley of Acacos. Egypt shall be a desolation. Edom, a desolate wilderness, because of violence against the people of Judah, for they have shed innocent blood in their land.

But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted, for the Lord dwells in Zion.