| Day 65 |
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 So the reading for day 65 was Joel and Amos. Two whole books of the Bible! I know that everyone is impressed with that right? Thats what I thought.
Joel begins with a prophecy of destruction, but thats not what I want to bring out. What I want to point out is what the respose should have been to the promised destruction. 1:13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders [and] all the inhabitants of the land [into] the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, This is what the response of God's people should be when He makes them aware of their sin. These verses refer to the LEADERS of the people crying out in anguish to God over the sins that they (corporate they) have committed. This goes from the top down. If the leaders are corrupt, the people will be corrupt. If the leaders repent, the people will repent. Why can't we be broken over our sin? Why are we rebellious like the people of Israel were? Why can't we learn from their mistakes? is Most people (at least the majority of people I have known) seem to think that the book of Joel is for a time in the future. I would say, after reading all that I have read in scripture up to this point, that it was written to tell of the captivity in Babylon, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at pentecost, and the sack of Jerusalem in AD70. If I have gotten off track in my history anywhere, I hope that someone will correct me. I think that the whole book of Joel has been fulfilled. The only passage I would question would be verse 20 of chapter 3 "But Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem for all generations." (NASB) The only problem with my view would be if I took that verse as a literal inhabitation of the actual land. My view would make God a liar because the people haven't been in the land "for all generations" since the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Those who see this as a literal inhabiting of the land must put this passage in the future to avoid what I have just mentioned. Here's what I think, and if I am wrong please correct me, I think that He is referring to the church. We are called the New Jerusalem in the New Testament and that would clear that up for me. Let me know what you think. Also, in verse 18 there is a cool mention of "A spring will go out from the house of the Lord..."The same imagery is used in Ezekiel chapter 47 and Revelation 22. Check it out. (wow thats a long paragraph...sorry)
The book of Amos begins with a list of who God is going to punish and why. Look in chapter 2 verses 4 through 8 and see why God was punishing His people. 2:16 And [he that is] courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.
In chapter4 God goes through a list of things He has already done to punish His people and at the end of every little section He says "Yet you have not returned to me" and in verse 12 of chapter 4 God says
4:12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: [and] because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 4:13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what [is] his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, [is] his name.
How scary is that?
In chapter 5 verses 21-27 we see God's rejection of Israel's false worship. Even when they do worship God, they are cherishing idols in their hearts and that is detestable. 5:25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 5:26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
You cannot serve two masters...
What does God mean when He says: 9:12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.
particularly the part that says "which are called by my name."
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