 Alright, so before the break we were seeing that Amos in chapter 7 starts describing a vision which God has given him. In the vision, God is standing on a wall and God is holding a plumb line and God holds the plumb line against the wall and God sees that the wall is crooked. The wall is not completely straight, it is slightly sloping away and the Lord says that the nation in the same way is crooked and so He is not going to spare them any longer. That would be in verse 8, so the Lord says, look I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel, I will spare them no longer. And so as a result in verse 9 the Lord says, I will destroy the sanctuaries of Israel. You know that's basically the temples, all this golden calf temple and all the other idol worship temples which have been established. The Lord says, I will destroy all those, He says in verse 9, all the high places of Isaac, I will destroy, He says. And the Lord also says, with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam. And so when Amos is giving these prophecies, Amazaya, who is like the high priest, he is one of the main priests in Bethel. He is very, very angry with the words which Amos is speaking against them. And so he sends a complaint to Jeroboam II who is sitting on the throne. He sends a message to him saying, you know what Amos is prophesying, Amos is saying that God is going to kill you by the sword. He says in verse 10 and 11, so he instigates the king against Amos and the king is very angry. And then maybe we can read out verses 12 and 13. This is what Amazaya says to, first of all Amazaya stirs up the king against him. And then Amazaya, this is what Amazaya says to Amos verses 12 and 13 in chapter 7. Chapter 7 verse 12, then Amazaya said to Amos, go you see, flee to the land of Judah, there eat bread and their prophecy. But never again prophecy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary and it is the royal residence. Okay, so Amazaya is saying, first of all why did you come over here? You belong to the southern kingdom, you go back over there, you earn your livelihood over there. This is what he says. He says, go back to the land of Judah, earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Why are you coming over here? You know, you're not even wanted over here. So which is when Amos speaks those words and he says, I'm neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. I was just a shepherd, I was looking after my orchard. God told me to come and speak this judgment against you. That's the reason why I have come over here. And then this is what Amos says to Amazaya. This is the words of judgment which he speaks to him. Very, very strong words. That would be verses 16 and 17. Yeah, 16 and 17 if someone could read out. Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. You say, do not prophesy against Israel and do not support against the house of Isaac. Therefore the Lord, your wife shall be a halosh in the city. Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword. Your land shall be divided by a servile land. You shall die in a defiled land and Israel shall surely be led away captive from his own land. Okay, so this is the words of judgment which Amos speaks. He says, you have spoken against me. You have tried to stop my ministry by giving a complaint to Jerobo on the second. You have done all that. But this is what the Lord says and very shocking words. In verse 16 he says, your wife will become a prostitute in the city. Your sons and daughters, they will fall by the sword. And as for you yourself, he says, you yourself will die in a pagan country. And so what did he mean when he spoke such strong words? When we look at Amos chapter 3 verses 14 and 15, we will see the kind of lifestyle which these people were living in Bethel. So if someone could read out that first, Amos chapter 3 verses 14 and 15. That in the day I punish Israel for their transgression. I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground. I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house. The houses of Ivory cell Paris and the great houses cell have an end says the Lord. Now this is the kind of lifestyle which these rich leaders, spiritual leaders, political leaders of Bethel were living. They had winter houses and summer houses. We earn our entire life to buy one house and these people they had multiple houses. So in summertime they will go and stay in a higher level in a summer house. When it becomes cold in the winter season, they'll come down and stay in another house. So they had multiple houses and their houses had Ivory on the inside decorated with Ivory. I mean they were living such expensive lives. And this is what the Lord says when the judgment comes upon you, when the Assyrians come and attack. I will tear down the winter houses along with the summer houses. He says I will destroy the mansions, they will all be demolished. So poverty will strike the people. So imagine what would have happened to Amazaya's family. Amazaya would be in a very wealthy position. His wife would be in a very honorable position. But once the Assyrians come and attack, he will be taken away as a slave. He will die in some pagan country. It is said that his sons and daughters will fall by the sword. So now what happens? The wife is left. She has no money. She has no support because her children are dead. Her husband has been taken away and she would be forced into prostitution. So those are the kind of judgments that God speaks against Amazaya and his family. And in fact against the entire people of northern Israel. So Hosea was mainly used to give a last message of hope. Amaz on the other hand was used to talk about the very terrible things which will happen if the people do not shape up. So God used these two prophets to express both judgment and compassion and give a final chance. Assyria had become very powerful by this time. So all the surrounding nations were really very very afraid of what's going to happen next. And in a time like this God is still saying I can protect you. I can change things if you choose to respond. But the people had become so hard in their hearts that the seeds which were falling, it didn't even penetrate. On the other hand if they had dug that hard soil, if they had started responding then there could have been a great change. God would have stopped Assyria. God would have defeated the Assyrian king. Miracles would have happened for them. But the people did not choose to listen to Hosea or to Amaz. So now we will look at Joel because Joel is addressed to the southern kingdom of Jerusalem. So coming to the book of Joel, it basically has only three chapters. So chapter one talks about a plague of locusts which will come upon the land. And then chapters two and three, God says, you know, if you repent and return to me, I can stop this plague of locusts. So maybe we could look at chapter two versus twelve and thirteen. So if someone could read out Joel chapter two, twelve and thirteen. Now therefore says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with leaping and with mourning. So rend your heart and not your garments return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and He relents from doing harm. So at this point of time, this was the difference between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Northern kingdom outright idolatry. I mean, they will go and worship the golden calf. They will worship the Canaanite gods. They don't even pretend to be holy. Here on the southern kingdom, the people, they are more hypocritical. They'll pretend to be very, very holy. They'll pretend to be doing all the correct things. So you know, they will have these ceremonies of deep mourning and fasting. They will tear their robes and say, Oh Lord, we are crying out to you for justice and mercy. But inside their heart, there's only dirt, there's only sin. So the Lord in fact says to them over here, rend your heart and not your garments. I'm not interested in torn garments. I'm more interested in your torn heart. Are you willing to tear your heart and say, Lord, I'm ashamed of what I have been doing and I want to change. So stop tearing your garments. That's just outward show. Are you willing to tear your heart and say, I'm going to rip out all the wrong that is there inside. So God says, if you are willing to do that, I can stop this plague of locusts, which is supposed to come upon you. Now the word locust is just another word for grasshopper. So you have different types of grasshoppers, especially there in the Middle Eastern region. They had a wide variety of grasshoppers and so over here, God is speaking metaphorically, is not talking about an actual bunch of grasshoppers. He's talking about a huge army which will come like a huge swarm of locusts. Now, if you were to look at that verses which talk about the locusts, there are four kinds of locusts mentioned in that particular passage. So Joel chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 if someone could read out and count the number of types of locusts which are mentioned. So I'll ask you the question after we read out those two verses, how many types of locusts are being described over there, what are the names given to them? So Joel chapter 1 verses 3 and 4. Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children and their children another generation. What the chewing locusts left, swarming locusts has eaten, what the swarming locusts left, the growling locust has eaten and what the growling locusts left, the consuming locust has eaten. Okay, so this is a prophecy that they should tell their children and those children should tell their children and in that way to the future generations. So here this prophecy is not just a prophecy of judgment for one generation. This is going to be a judgment which is going to come in step by step over a series of generations and the locusts which are being talked about over here, are going to be different kingdoms which will come and attack. So the first locust which is described is the devouring locust. Okay, so different versions will have different wording. Some will call it the chewing locust, some will call it the devouring locust. That's basically the locust which will eat up everything that is green. So even if this one leaf left on the tree, it will eat up that leaf. So everything that is green, they will come and eat. So in those days, they were a farming community. Their economy depended upon agriculture. They didn't have industries and all the other things which we have today. So imagine if you have a bunch of locusts coming and attacking the land, their entire economy would be destroyed. There would be no food left. There would be no grains to sell. It will affect them financially in a big way. So locusts were considered a very, very dangerous threat. And so God uses the example of locusts to talk about the judgment which will come and he talks about a specific kind of locust. He talks about the chewing locust which will chew up everything. It will devour everything in sight. It will not leave anything. And so generally it is said that this probably refers to the Babylonians who come and attack the southern kingdom. So they chew up the temple. They chew up the city. The walls of the city are broken. So they basically chew everything that is in sight. Nothing is left. So this is the first kind of judgment which will come upon them. After that you have the second kind of locust which is being mentioned. The word used over there is swarming. Most of the English translations will use that word SWARM. That just basically talks about a whole bunch of locusts which are together. And when you have a whole bunch of locusts together, it's called a swarm of locusts. That's the English term that is used. Just like you have a bee, bees of the beehive. When all the bees come out of the beehive and you have a huge swarm of bees. It almost looks like a small cloud. And if you were to go to YouTube and if you were to type out the words swarming locusts, they would literally show you. You'll see a cloud in the sky moving, a black cloud moving in the sky. Only thing it's not a cloud. It's hundreds of grasshoppers all flying together. It looks like a dark cloud. So in those days, if you saw a black cloud coming towards your town, everyone would start crying out and say locusts are coming and they're going to destroy our fields. Because once the locusts land in your field, they will wipe out every bit of vegetation. Nothing will be left. So swarming locusts were dangerous. They would come like a large cloud. And it's very interesting when you look at the YouTube videos. I mean, they show a person who's standing in the middle of a cloud of locusts and is taking with his camera is literally surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of locusts. So those are your swarming locusts. And so after the Babylonian invasion, the next kingdom which comes and attacks, those would be the Meads and the Persians. They call them the Meadow Persians. So the king who married Esther, he's a Persian. So they were called swarming locusts because it's like a thick cloud. They literally cover the entire land. You can't see the daylight. Once you have this huge, you know, you have millions of locusts coming and they cover the sky over your area. It becomes dark. You can almost cannot see the sunlight. So that is the kind of picture being used over here for the Meads and the Persians because they covered almost the entire world, the known world, you know, which they used to call the people in those days were not aware of some of the continents. But they were aware of Asia and Europe and all of that. So they covered almost the entire area, Meadow Persians, right from Egypt all the way up to Pakistan. That entire region was covered by the Meadow Persians as though, you know, by a swarm of locusts. So that is the second judgment which would come upon the land of Israel. The third kind of locust which is described in some Bibles, they will call it the young locust. In some Bibles, they will call it the crawling locust because I think in the first two months or something, the locusts, they cannot fly. The wings would not have developed. So they only crawl along the ground. And again, you know, you have YouTube videos of this where the entire ground is covered with them. It looks like a moving carpet. You can literally see it moving because they're all crawling, crawling, crawling and going. And you can see every bit of ground covered by them. Now this there, the commentaries compare it to the Greek Empire which will come. And the Greek Empire, they will be able to get into every sphere of life like this crawling locust. Even the smallest gap, they'll get into the gap. They'll not leave even one bit of ground uncovered. The Greeks were like that because you see, they were the ones who were making advances in science. They were the ones who were bringing up new cultural practices. Their language became so popular that everyone began to speak in the Greek language. They were able to spread into every area of society. So they were like the crawling locusts. Then you have the next kingdom being mentioned, which would be the destroying locusts which are the Romans. The Romans were a military power. They were very, very powerful. So they destroyed many of the places which they conquered. So the Lord is telling, tell your children about this. Tell your children's children about this, that this is the kind of judgment which will come upon you. But at any point of time, if you choose to become faithful, if you choose to give up your evil ways, I can stop it. I can stop the locust attack. But if you do not come to me and repent, all these four levels of judgment will take place. So tell this to your children. Maybe they'll be willing to listen. Maybe they will be willing to repent. So that's the message which Joel wanted to convey to the people. So we are told that most probably he would have written his prophecies during the time of Ezra Nehemiah. After the people have come back to the land from exile. So now in this new time, when the people have come back from exile, it's a chance for them to start a new life. To not go back to their old ways. So Joel has commissioned at this time to talk to the people and tell them that if they can live a new and different way of life, then the Babylonian invasion has taken place. But all these other things will not happen to them. God can protect them and shield them from the future attacks. So Joel speaks probably at this point of time, that is when his prophecy maybe was given. He also uses other images, not just the locusts. He also describes the attack of the enemy like lion which is attacking. Maybe in chapter one verse six if you could read out. 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 fans of a fire's lion. So this is another image which is used when you see a pack of lions attacking wild buffalo or something. You have this National Geographic videos where you have a pack of lions, they go and attack the buffalo and they bring it down. And then they show you the animals feeding on the poor buffalo. And then at the end of the video when you see what is left, all you have the ribs of the buffalo and maybe the legs, the hooves, that's it. Every bit of meat is gone. So here the enemy is being described that it has teeth like the teeth of a lion and the fans of a lioness. They will tear apart the prey until nothing is left, till only the bones are left. So that kind of imagery is used in this particular verse to describe the enemy. So God used a whole different types of object lessons and pictures and images and all that to talk to his people. But the hearts of these people had become hard. They had not plowed the ground and made it soft. So that same thing can happen to us. We can listen to sermons every single day. We can go to meetings all the time. We can read Christian books about the teachings of the Bible but the ground is hard. The seeds will not be able to bring out the crop. So we need to make the soil of our hearts soft by digging and removing the stones and the other obstacles which are lying over there in the ground. So Joel talks about these judgments which will come upon them. And then he also goes on to talk about future restoration which God will bring. So Joel, he's the one who prophesies about this very popular thing that we're all familiar with. So maybe we could have someone read out how God will one day restore the people. Joel chapter 2 verses 28 and 29. Joel 2, 28 and 29. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all class. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesize. Your old man shall dreams dreams. Your young man shall see visions. And also on my men servants and on my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days. So the Lord speaks judgment but he also starts talking about the new things which he will do in the future. So we know right, Joel chapter 2 verses 28 and 29. They were fulfilled in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit is given to the people. So the Lord says I will pour out my spirit on all people, not just the people of Israel but all people. So that everyone will start living according to the spirit. So the restoration which Joel talked about has already started from the time of the book of Acts. We see the work of the Holy Spirit taking place in the world. In the book of John, God talks about how once the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. So all that is already happening, there are people from different countries coming to the Lord. There are people accepting salvation from different people groups. So the work of restoration has already started and it will continue till the end times. So there are some interesting prophecies given in the book of Joel regarding this. Maybe we could have someone read out for us Joel chapter 3 verses 9 to 11. Joel 3 9 to 11. Now when you are reading Joel chapter 3 verses 9 to 11, what exactly do you observe over here in verse 10? How is this verse different from what we generally hear in sermons? Is verse 10 saying something which sounds different from what we generally hear? Where it says beat your plowshares into swords, beat your pruning hooks into spears. What do we generally hear? Anyone online, anyone wants to touch upon this? In what way is what Joel saying over here different from what we generally hear? Or have you never heard at all anything about plowshares and pruning hooks? Have any of you ever heard any sermons at all about plowshares and swords and pruning hooks? No, you have not come across sermons like that. Okay, let's look at Isaiah chapter 2 if someone can read out for us verses 3, 4 and 5. Isaiah chapter 2, 3, 4 and 5. Many people shall come and say, come and let us go up the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and review many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up swords against nations. Neither shall they learn for any more. O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. What is the difference between the Joel passage which we read? Okay, I mean most of the students are like fast asleep. So, wake up your brain and try to figure out this puzzle. What is the difference between Joel and the Isaiah passage? Joel passage was Joel 3 verse 9 to 11. Isaiah passage is Isaiah chapter 2 verses 3 to 5. Anyone who's alert, can you point out the difference between the Joel passage and the Isaiah passage? What does it say regarding the plowshares and the spears and the pruning hooks? Exactly, like Akhil who's wide awake and paying attention says that you have the reverse being mentioned. Usually in our sermons, we talk about how our day will come when the Lord will say, take all your swords and other military equipment and turn it into agricultural implements because war is not going to be there anymore. There will be peace. So, you will not even need any military equipment anymore. So, take all your military equipment and turn it into agricultural implements. Turn it into plowshares so that you can dig the ground. Turn it into pruning hooks which you can use for cultivation. That is the passage, the Isaiah passage which is generally preached about how a day will come when war and violence will cease. Just like Sanjay pointed out over here in the online class. So, war will be removed, peace will be established and then you can have agriculture happening in peaceful environment. But in Joel, you have the exact opposite being mentioned. In the Joel passage, God is crying out and saying, all of you warriors, rouse yourself, get up, let's come, let's fight is what the Lord says. And over there, the exact opposite is being instructed. The Lord says, take all your agricultural implements and turn it into military weapons because war is coming and you will have to fight. Okay, so hopefully actually some of you are awake now. There's a contrast. Joel is talking about one time period. Isaiah is talking about a different time period. So, what is being spoken about over here? In the Joel passage, most probably it's referring to the final war when all the nations, they want to turn against God and they want to fight against him. So, it's probably talking about the battle of Armageddon. God will say, all of you want to rebel against me, all of you want to fight against me, fine, come. Convert all your agricultural implements into weapons. Come, come and fight. So, the Lord says, there are two, in the Joel passage, it says come and gives one instruction. In the Isaiah passage, also it says come and it gives a different instruction. So, in the Joel passage, the Lord is speaking to the nations and he says in Joel 3 verse 11, come quickly all your nations from every side and assemble, bring down your warriors because God says, I'm ready. You want to fight with me? Let's fight. And you know, the Lord is saying, I will win the battle. So, that is your Joel passage where God is saying, come, bring your weapons, let us fight. On the other hand, the Isaiah passage takes place after the battle of Armageddon. War is now finished. God has established himself as righteous victor. He is on the throne. The millennium rule of Christ is going to begin. It's going to be a time of peace. And now at that time, you're not going to be needing any military weapons anymore because the battle is now over. So, now over here in Isaiah passage, when the Lord says come, he doesn't say come for war. He says, in Isaiah chapter 2 verse 3, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to worship. And again, there's a come in verse 5 where the Lord says, come descendants of Jacob. Let us walk in the light of the Lord. So, now the darkness is removed, the war is over. The Lord has established his throne and now there is going to be only light. So, you have a contrast between the Joel passage and the Isaiah passage because Joel is talking about that final war between good and evil, between the Lord and all these rebellious nations. And Isaiah is talking about the time of peace which will come after the battle of Armageddon. So, Joel is the one who talks about this and he also makes another promise. In Joel chapter 3 verse 18, we have something else which is mentioned. If someone can read out for us, Joel 3 verse 18. 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. A fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord and water of the valley of Echesias. It says the fountain will flow out of the Lord's house. Now, what does this remind us of? Which book of the Bible talks about that? Which talks about, you know, prosperity and then it talks about a fountain which is flowing from the Lord's house. Anyone online? Does it remind us of any other Bible passages? Sister Revelation? Exactly. So in Revelation, you basically have a life-giving river flowing out from the Lord's presence. So here in Joel chapter 3 verse 18 is talking about how one day all of creation will be renewed, the earth will be restored into a new kind of Eden. In the very beginning, in the book of Genesis, you had a perfect garden of Eden but then after that the fall happens, sin enters the world but then in the end, they will once again be a new Eden established. So these are the positive prophecies that are given at the very end, you know, of the book of Joel. So here in the book of Joel, it is a lesson that is being given to the people who have come back from exile. Now they can have a new chapter, a new beginning in their lives if they wish to and the Lord is giving them, you know, this kind of encouragement and telling them I can stop the judgments. I can give you a different kind of a life if you choose to repent. And he says, stop doing an outward show. Stop tearing your garments. Instead, be willing to tear your heart. Be willing to completely repent and change your ways. So these are the things which are promised in the book of Joel. So unless you have any questions, we can actually conclude. So next class we will have, after Joel and Amos, we'll have Obadiah. So next week we'll have Obadiah onwards. So anyone has any questions? No, all right. So we'll close with a word of prayer then. Lord, we just thank you so much for the things that we could learn today. Help us a lot to be people who are very, very careful to sow seeds of righteousness into the soil of our hearts on a regular basis. We pray a lot that we will not become overconfident when things are going well. We will not stop fearing you and honoring you, but rather we will be people who will continue to do what is good. We will continue to sow righteousness into our lives so that when the time of harvest comes, we will reap the fruit of righteousness. We will reap unfailing love of the Lord. We will reap blessings. So we pray a lot that we will be willing to tear our hearts and not just put on outward shows of holiness so that Lord, you can bless us and you can build our lives. Lord, we see in these books of the Old Testament that the Israelite people refused to listen to your voice and so they suffered. But Lord, we who are living in the New Testament times help us to have a very different response. Unlike those people, we pray a lot that we would be willing to respond and when we respond, we pray, oh Lord, that you would shower us with your blessings and you would bring us into complete peace. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.