Psalm 65 Joel 2:23-32 2 Timothy 4:6-8; 16-18 Luke 18:9-14
The Hope of all the Ends of the Earth
Christian doomsday and end-of-the-world alarmists often latch on to such images whenever there is an eclipse or a blood moon or a stray asteroid in space. “You see,” they cry! “Just as Joel predicted! It’s the final countdown. Are you ready? Don’t get left behind!”
But…was that what Joel was predicting?
The first indication that our Last Days Madness promoters may be wrong in their fearmongering assumptions is the Spirt-filled Apostle Peter’s interpretation of this specific prophetic word as being fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost…more about that later…but first some background.
In the Ancient Near East, the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars either represented gods and goddesses or earthly kings and rulers. One still sees remnants of this ancient pagan religious belief today in the use of astrological signs or the so-called “Signs of the Zodiac” to predict the future or to define personality traits.
Just as an aside, I saw a wonderful meme the other day in which the one person asks the other, “So, what’s your zodiac sign?” to which the other person answers, “Dinosaur.” “But that one doesn’t even exists,” the enquirer replies. The comeback is classic. “None of them exist.” The natural celestial objects were created by God and have no independent power of their own, so it is a monumental waste of time asking an alignment of planets to predict my personal life.
Now, unlike the other nations around Israel, the people of God were expressly forbidden to worship the heavenly bodies, but, like the other nations, they did often use them as symbols or images to describe authority figures or even empires.
For instance, in Genesis 37:9-10 Joseph told his brothers about a dream he had had. “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” His father immediately interpreted this dream as referring to Joseph’s family. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”
Then, in Isaiah 13 the overthrow of Babylon was portrayed in terms of stars and their constellations not giving their light; the sun being darkened and the moon no longer shining; and the heavens being shaken, and the earth being moved out of its place.
None of these things happened literally at the time of the fall of the Babylon, nor did anyone at the time expect them to be literal events – everyone understood that they were metaphors used to describe the overthrow of an empire.
Here’s another example: In Ezekiel 32 the prophet depicted the demise of Pharaoh of Egypt in terms of his light being extinguished, the heavens covered, the stars, the sun, and the moon darkened.
Earlier in Joel 2, the prophet spoke of the earth quaking, the heavens trembling; the sun and moon growing dark, and the stars diminishing their brightness in his description of an imminent invasion of Israel by their enemies.
Now, bearing all this in mind, let’s go back to the Apostle Peter and his sermon on the day of Pentecost. Without any explanation, Peter simply stated that what the Jerusalemites had just witnessed with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was a fulfilment of what Joel had prophesied, complete with blood, fire, smoke, dark sun, and red moon. Some scholars have indicated that the sky was darkened at some point during the crucifixion and that there may well have been a blood moon that Passover, but I think they are barking up the wrong tree.
Why do I say that?
Well, because I think Peter was simply repeating what he had heard Jesus say when describing the period between the crucifixion in AD 33 and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. In Luke 21, Jesus warned his disciples that when they saw Jerusalem being surrounding by the Roman armies, then they would know that Joel’s prophecy (among others) was about to become reality. “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
You can also find this in the parallel passages in Matthew 24 and Mark 13.
A careful reading of the context of each of these parallel passages, together with the cultural understanding of what was meant by these cataclysmic images, shows that Jesus was speaking of the destruction of the vestiges of the Old Covenant, the collapse of the old regime and the old system, symbolised by the razing of Jerusalem and the Temple by Roman armies in AD 70. The “sun, moon, and stars” that would fall were the members of the governing body of Israel who had rejected and crucified Christ, as well as the system they upheld. Their house, Jesus said, would be left desolate.
Now, if you remember, the major outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit in Israel’s history (besides his coming on various individuals like Moses and the prophets) occurred during the opening ceremonies of the Tabernacle and the first Temple. In Exodus 40 we are told that the pillar of cloud that had led the Israelites out of Egypt, covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle…a cloud by day and fire by night…” (Not to mention the fire and smoke and loud sounds that accompanied God’s presence on Mount Sinai!)
Then in 2 Chronicles 7 we read that when Solomon had finished praying, “fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple.”
God poured out His Holy Spirit on the Tabernacle and then later, on the Temple to indicate his presence with his people. God was with them.
But what is interesting to note is that we don’t see this happening again…not with the rebuilding of the Temple under Zerubbabel, nor with the rebuilding or renovation of the Temple by King Herod.
Until Pentecost…the Holy Spirit of God came down upon the 120 members of believers gathered together in the Upper Room in the visible form of fire…but this time the fire did not fall on a building or on any one, single individual. No, rather it divided and came upon every believer. In other words, from Pentecost onward, believers are the New Temple. The old order has passed away. The new has come.
Paul said as much in 1 Corinthians 3. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
So, what does this mean for us living in the 21st Century?
Well, first, it means that with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit – God in us – the effects of the Fall have been reversed. The gates of Paradise have been flung wide open and we can once more walk with God as did Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. (Remember Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross – TODAY you will be with me in Paradise.) The full meaning of Immanuel or “God with us” has been fulfilled. The Tabernacle or Temple of God is us. God is not far off…God is near…God lives with us and in us.
But it also means that the promise made to Abraham, that in his Seed all the families of the earth would be blessed…that his offspring would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore, the stars in the night sky…this is being fulfilled in and through us. The Israel of God has now become what it was intended to be…a light to the nations…all nations are being drawn into Israel. In Galatians, Paul called the church both the Jerusalem from above, as well as the Israel of God. Jesus rules over and in and through us. We are the New Israel and Jesus reigns over us as the Davidic King from his throne at the right hand of God…and through us, he is reconciling the world to God.
Consequently, all the distinctions from the past…all the divisions between sons and daughters, old men and young men, servants and masters…all dividing walls have been broken down. All who have been baptised into Jesus are all sons and daughters of God…there is no more division between Jew and Gentile, slave or free, male or female…we are all one in Christ Jesus…we are all members of Abraham’s family because we have been united in the family of God by the indwelling Holy Spirit. As the Psalmist said, God, our Saviour, is the hope of all the ends of the earth.
All…all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus…all are delivered from death…all are saved from a transitory lifeless life…we have been given the eternal life-giving breath of God…all who believe are filled with the Holy Spirit. In fact, the fulness of the Godhead is resident within us…according to Jesus, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit come to make their home with us. All that is required, according to Peter and the other New Testament authors, is a turning away from the old and an embracing of the new…repentance and incorporation into Jesus. In Jesus all are united as one…one family…one Body.
This is the beauty of what Jesus taught us in our Gospel parable. Notice, it is the outcaste…the rejected…the despised tax collector who returned home from the Temple justified by God rather than that self-proclaimed squeaky-clean Pharisee. Why? Because the tax collector realised his sin…he realised his need for forgiveness…he realised that he could not earn his righteousness…that only God could forgive him, cleanse him, and bring him back into the family.
As Paul said, the crown of righteousness is awarded to everyone who fights the good fight, who finishes the race, everyone who keeps the faith…
Blood, fire, and billows of smoke…the destruction of Jerusalem served both as the final sign of judgement on apostate Israel as well as the vindication of all believers in Jesus. Deliverance has come. So live out your freedom in Jesus…your trust and reliance on the righteousness and mercy of God…live it out before the world so that those who are blind might see and be attracted to your light – the light of Jesus shining in and through you.
You, dearest beloved brethren, you are filled with the greatest power in the universe! So, live like you are! Live like you are filled with the Holy Spirit of God – live like you are the means through which Jesus the King of kings is reconciling the world to God – live out your true identity as sons and daughters of the Most High and Almighty Creator God – live in this reality so that all who encounter you might see and experience the power and goodness and mercy and love of God and be added into our family as well.
Shall we pray?
© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2022
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