April 2023
Joel – Be Saved
09/04/23 09:31
Joel 2:32 speaks about ‘the survivors’, the same word as in Isaiah 1:9. The verse is quoted by Peter in Acts 2:39, and in verse 40 we still hear echoes from it. What is this ‘remnant’ in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and what is its application?
‘Be saved’ is a more accurate translation of the verb in Acts 2:40, presuming that Luke deliberately used a passive voice rather than a middle voice (‘save yourselves’). But what it implies in koine Greek and how this form is used in other instances, we will have to further investigate. This is the only instance in the New Testament. A passive imperative sounds a bit odd, but in the case of the verb ‘to save’ the passive and middle voice forms are different and here Luke has chosen the passive voice. Maybe it is grammatically comparable with ‘be filled’ in Eph. 5:18, but the verb ‘to fill’ does not have a passive form that is distinctive from the middle voice and here it is in the present tense. ‘Be saved’ is in the aorist tense. Anyway, Peter seems to exhort the people to be saved. But we have to consider the context. He says, ‘Be saved from …’ Now we would expect him to say something like ‘the wrath of God’, ‘God’s judgement’ or ‘eternal condemnation’, but instead he says, ‘… from this crooked generation.’ By this he either means to be saved from its direct bad influence and wickedness or from its inevitable lot of God’s condemnation. To me the best option seems to be the former. In that case the exhortation is to see how we should change our lives, our customs, our behaviour, our associates in such a way that the unbelieving community cannot draw us away from our devotion to God. Here ‘salvation’ could imply protection, rather than the promise of eternal life. Apparently we need God’s help to do so. So ‘withdraw yourselves, with God’s help, from the wickedness of this world.’ We are in the world, but not of it. We ‘abide in Christ’. ‘Be saved’ could also have a soothing and comforting implication: be saved from its tyranny, cruelty and injustice, its suppression and its corruption, everything that makes victims and causes suffering, abuse of power and position.
These devout Jews and proselytes in Acts 2 were witnessing a different kind of worship. It was worship under the direct authority and guidance of the Holy Spirit. There was no temple service involved, no high priest or other priests or Levites. Here was a fresh start of a new community of the people of God in the midst of a society that claimed to be the people of God but was in fact utterly corrupt. So the first hearers may have heard the exhortation to ‘be saved from this crooked generation’ as to make a fresh start as people of God, the direct authority of the Holy Spirit being the exclusive way of true worship instead of temple service. They must have known its grip on society and how it served as an excuse for power, comparable with pope Leo X’s project of building the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The Kingdom of God is the only answer to corrupt society, including religion.
The idea in Joel is that if God would indeed pour out His Spirit on all flesh prophetic ministry as a call to God’s people to return to God would no longer be necessary or even wanted. ‘To prophecy’ would get a different meaning, a much more positive purpose. Jeremiah’s prophecy was to break down and to build, to plant and to pluck up. The prophet’s message under the New Covenant was to be more on the planting and building side.
‘Be saved’ is a more accurate translation of the verb in Acts 2:40, presuming that Luke deliberately used a passive voice rather than a middle voice (‘save yourselves’). But what it implies in koine Greek and how this form is used in other instances, we will have to further investigate. This is the only instance in the New Testament. A passive imperative sounds a bit odd, but in the case of the verb ‘to save’ the passive and middle voice forms are different and here Luke has chosen the passive voice. Maybe it is grammatically comparable with ‘be filled’ in Eph. 5:18, but the verb ‘to fill’ does not have a passive form that is distinctive from the middle voice and here it is in the present tense. ‘Be saved’ is in the aorist tense. Anyway, Peter seems to exhort the people to be saved. But we have to consider the context. He says, ‘Be saved from …’ Now we would expect him to say something like ‘the wrath of God’, ‘God’s judgement’ or ‘eternal condemnation’, but instead he says, ‘… from this crooked generation.’ By this he either means to be saved from its direct bad influence and wickedness or from its inevitable lot of God’s condemnation. To me the best option seems to be the former. In that case the exhortation is to see how we should change our lives, our customs, our behaviour, our associates in such a way that the unbelieving community cannot draw us away from our devotion to God. Here ‘salvation’ could imply protection, rather than the promise of eternal life. Apparently we need God’s help to do so. So ‘withdraw yourselves, with God’s help, from the wickedness of this world.’ We are in the world, but not of it. We ‘abide in Christ’. ‘Be saved’ could also have a soothing and comforting implication: be saved from its tyranny, cruelty and injustice, its suppression and its corruption, everything that makes victims and causes suffering, abuse of power and position.
These devout Jews and proselytes in Acts 2 were witnessing a different kind of worship. It was worship under the direct authority and guidance of the Holy Spirit. There was no temple service involved, no high priest or other priests or Levites. Here was a fresh start of a new community of the people of God in the midst of a society that claimed to be the people of God but was in fact utterly corrupt. So the first hearers may have heard the exhortation to ‘be saved from this crooked generation’ as to make a fresh start as people of God, the direct authority of the Holy Spirit being the exclusive way of true worship instead of temple service. They must have known its grip on society and how it served as an excuse for power, comparable with pope Leo X’s project of building the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The Kingdom of God is the only answer to corrupt society, including religion.
The idea in Joel is that if God would indeed pour out His Spirit on all flesh prophetic ministry as a call to God’s people to return to God would no longer be necessary or even wanted. ‘To prophecy’ would get a different meaning, a much more positive purpose. Jeremiah’s prophecy was to break down and to build, to plant and to pluck up. The prophet’s message under the New Covenant was to be more on the planting and building side.
Joel – The God Centred Gospel
03/04/23 07:33
At first sight Salvation in Joel is mainly about escaping the wrath of God. This is, indeed, the gospel. In the gospel God Himself is the centre of attention and direction. ‘God so loved the world …’ In the gospel God does not say to humanity, ‘Please, repent’, but ‘Repent!’ Likewise, in Joel the Lord urges the people of Judea to return to Him. When Jesus is sent into the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God we are confronted with a kind of dualism of evil. There are wicked people, but there are also crowds of victims of evil. Wrath and mercy go hand in hand. That is probably the reason why God is asking the prophet to proclaim to the nations to consecrate for war in the Valley of Decision. There it will become clear who is on the Lord’s side and who is not. Apart from the fact that this is describing a future event the prophecy expresses the ardent hope and the urgent necessity for the establishment of the righteous reign of the Kingdom of God. This picture of God’s final judgement is more than the fulfilment of a long awaited vindication; it is part of the call to repentance. The promises are given to help return to the Lord now. They emphasise the urgency.
Joel – The Day of the LORD
01/04/23 07:14
One of the major themes in Joel is the Day of the LORD. It appears in all sections:
1. judgement of Zion
1.1 the locusts – 1:15
1.2 the army – 2:1-2, 11
2. the promise of the Spirit – 2:31
3. judgement of the nations and restoration of Zion – 3:14, 18.
From this observation we may ask ourselves if the Day of the LORD refers to three different events. From a historical perspective it does, but from a prophetical perspective it does not. And the latter is our concern. We will find application in the prophetical perspective only. Of course we can lay down the three aspects of the Day of the LORD historically, namely the destruction of the kingdom of Judea/Benjamin by the Chaldeans, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the establishment of the eternal Kingdom of God. But if we concentrate on each aspect in stead of seeing it as a whole we may miss the point. Maybe that is why the only thing we get to know about the prophet himself is that he is the son of Pethuel, so we may have to find some significance in the meaning of that name, which is Vision of God, or Enlargement, Opening up. We may say that God is opening up His heart. He must judge on the basis of His covenant, but that is not His final word. His judgement is inextricably bound up with His love and His purpose of dwelling with mankind. For that reason 2:13 is the heart of the book: God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. His judgement is loving discipline at the same time and even bound up with the promise of vindication. And that is all laid down in His covenant. So first of all we have to look at Joel as a typical prophet, whose task it is to lead God’s people on to the right track towards the fulfilment of His promises.
1. judgement of Zion
1.1 the locusts – 1:15
1.2 the army – 2:1-2, 11
2. the promise of the Spirit – 2:31
3. judgement of the nations and restoration of Zion – 3:14, 18.
From this observation we may ask ourselves if the Day of the LORD refers to three different events. From a historical perspective it does, but from a prophetical perspective it does not. And the latter is our concern. We will find application in the prophetical perspective only. Of course we can lay down the three aspects of the Day of the LORD historically, namely the destruction of the kingdom of Judea/Benjamin by the Chaldeans, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the establishment of the eternal Kingdom of God. But if we concentrate on each aspect in stead of seeing it as a whole we may miss the point. Maybe that is why the only thing we get to know about the prophet himself is that he is the son of Pethuel, so we may have to find some significance in the meaning of that name, which is Vision of God, or Enlargement, Opening up. We may say that God is opening up His heart. He must judge on the basis of His covenant, but that is not His final word. His judgement is inextricably bound up with His love and His purpose of dwelling with mankind. For that reason 2:13 is the heart of the book: God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. His judgement is loving discipline at the same time and even bound up with the promise of vindication. And that is all laid down in His covenant. So first of all we have to look at Joel as a typical prophet, whose task it is to lead God’s people on to the right track towards the fulfilment of His promises.
