How the Book of Joel Teaches a Post-Trib Rapture - Joel Chapter 1 (Part 1) | Pastor Roger Jimenez

thank you um amen thank you very much for getting to the sermon let me say thank you uh for the for the gift it's very extremely uh generous of you uh brother joel or if you're listening you know i'm not sure where you're at but uh thank you it's uh incredibly kind of you to offer to do that and and to all of you who if you who gave just thank you i don't i don't really know what else to to say it's it's a very thoughtful gift very practical gift if you've ever been to our bathroom you know could use the work um so thank you very much we really do appreciate it and we appreciate um you allowing us to serve with you uh just this afternoon i was on the phone with a pastor it's been in the ministry less than i have and he's just asking me some advice and dealing with some difficult situations and just and things and asking you know what i do with this and what i do and i'm helping them and you know i kind of joke with them how do you like being a pastor and he said yeah i can't believe you've done this for 11 years you know and uh but but it's it's it's not hard to do it with a church like this and we really do appreciate all of you so thank you thank you thank you it's highly appreciated we're humbled um that you would do that so i guess uh in honor of brother joel i'll have to preach out of the book of joel tonight so joel chapter number one if you would joel chapter number one and we're going to start a new uh book of the bible tonight joel chapter one we'll go verse by verse through this chapter joel chapter number one if you look look down at verse number one the bible says the word of the lord that came to joel the son of pathu and of course tonight we're going to start this brand new book of the bible the book of joel and we honestly don't know a lot about the prophet joel there are some prophets we know more about and some prophets we know less about we don't know a lot about the prophet joel but we we do have this short book it's only three chapters long but these chapters are just jam-packed uh with information and and just kind of by way of introduction and i would encourage you if you have somewhere to write some notes down as we start a brand new book of the bible be good for you to have a place to take down some notes because then when we finish the book you'll have all these notes that you can assemble together all on on one book of the bible and i do want you to know that the book of joel is a book that is in a section of our bible that's known as the minor prophets if you ever hear me or a preacher talk about the major prophets and the minor prophets the book of joel is in the section of scripture referred to as the minor prophets that's the old testament the end of the old testament you've got the major prophets isaiah jeremiah lamentations ezekiel daniel and then you have the minor prophets hosea joel and all the way down to the book of malachi and um the the name has nothing to do with the quality or the importance of the books uh they're referred to as the minor prophets because of just the length of the books obviously you have big books like isaiah and jeremiah and ezekiel and then you've got smaller books like the book of joel and the book of joel is in this section of the minor prophets and again just kind of by way of introduction there's there's a theme in the book of joel these three chapters have a theme through them and it is the theme of the day of the lord in fact i'd like you to look down just real quickly at verse number 15. joel chapter number 1 and verse number 15. the bible says alas for the day it says for the day of the lord is at hand and as destruction from the almighty shall it come so i want you to notice that this book has a theme chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 and the theme is the day of the lord so what we're going to do tonight is we're going to go through the chapter the vast majority of the chapter i'm going to preach chapter one in two sections part one tonight part two next sunday night and in the first section or the first sermon we're going to focus on the end times prophecy and the correlations between uh joel chapter one and uh end times uh literature in the in the bible and then in the second sermon we're gonna focus on the practical application and kind of go through some of the practical things that the prophet joel talks about i feel like there's too much information to cover in one sermon so we're gonna deal with the end time stuff tonight and then we'll get into the practical stuff out of chapter one uh next sunday night just one more thing as we kind of prepare to delve into the book of job and it is something that is something you need to be aware of with joel but something you need to be aware of when when you really when you read any of the old testament prophets and it is this that old testament prophets often give us their preaching or their books of the bible they're given to us in two different views and the way i've heard it explained and it's it's kind of maybe helps you to understand it if you think of it uh like bifocal glasses if you're familiar with bifocal glasses uh they're the type of glasses sometimes you have glasses for people that are nearsighted or some that are farsighted but then you've got some people that are just blind in any way all the ways they can't see near or far and they've got these bifocal glasses no offense if you're one of those okay i'm not picking on you um but uh where you there there they've got a lens where you could see uh near and then they've got a lens for you to see far and on the same pair of glasses you're able to see both near and far that's how you should think of old testament prophets because they they often are speaking and preaching about current events that are near to them but then they will also use those as illustrations or as a uh uh a platform in order to speak about end times events that are far away so you want to be careful when you're studying books like the book of joel or ezekiel or daniel or whatever and realize that sometimes they may be talking about things that are actually happening in their current uh lives and sometimes they're talking about things that are further away and you've got these different views and that's why i'm going to preach two sermons out of joel because there's some things that are very practical in the book of joel that he's preaching to the people of his days but then there's other things that are he's given us a far view he's looking into the end times prophecy we're going to cover that tonight tonight i want to preach on the subject of how the book of joel teaches the post-trib rapture now if you're not familiar with that terminology let me just say this at meridian baptist church we believe in a post-tribulation rapture uh that's that's uh our biblical stance i will say this among many evangelicals and and and dispensational type evangelicals that is uh a different stance most of your tv preachers and most of your famous preachers that you know of today uh their position and i'll even say most baptists take a position of a pre-tribulation rapture and i'm going to show you tonight how the book of joel if we were to take the prophet joel and sit him down and ask him joel are you post-trib or pre-trib he would say i believe in a post-trib rapture and i'm going to prove that to you from joel chapter 1 tonight so if you're taking notes i've got three thoughts and maybe you can write these down number one joel chapter 1 describes the end times tribulation period now i don't know how many times you've read the book of joel or have you ever read the book of joel but when you read joel chapter number one and you begin to delve into the passage you'll find that he is talking of course about current events and things that are actually happening during his life but he's using that as an illustration of a future period of time which is known as the tribulation period and in joel chapter number one uh the end times uh the the the prophet joel describes the end times tribulation period let me prove that to you and let me give you some thoughts in regards to that i'd like you to notice and and this is going to be very much of a bible study so i would encourage you to take notes and be ready to flip in your bible we're going to look at a lot of different places the first thing i want you to notice is that like the tribulation period the prophet joel describes a very unique time look down at verse number two joel chapter one and verse two notice what he says he says hear this ye old men now he's talking to the old man in the nation of israel and the reason he's addressing the old man is because he wants to address people that have been around for a long time people that have a lot of experience people that could say uh yes you know i've been around for a while he says hear this ye old men and give ear all ye inhabitants of the land now notice the question he asked he says this have this been in your days or even in the days of your of your fathers what the prophet joel is asking when he gathers the old man he sends out this question to the old man the question he asks is this is this are the things that are happening the things that i'm going to describe to you and again the things that are happening are actually happening during the life of joel but he's using this as an example of a time period that is to come he says have this been in your days or even in the days of your fathers and what he's really saying is this the things happening right now are very unique they are not something that every generation would say oh yeah we dealt with that oh yeah we've lived with that oh yeah that's something that's common joel says look the things we're dealing with old men have you seen this before isn't this unique now here's what's interesting keep your place there in joel chapter one that's our text for tonight and goes into the book of matthew matthew chapter 24 if you would in the new testament you have the book of matthew matthew 24 of course is the famous chapter on the olivet discourse where the lord jesus christ gave uh uh the the uh the timeline for end times event and what joel is saying and here's what i i want you to understand i believe that what joel is talking about are literal physical things happening in his time frame now do they all exactly apply to his time or are they some things that are happening in his time and he's using those as an illustration of the future you know it's it's it's hard to know that remember sometimes it's it's near and sometimes it's far but what he's saying is this he's saying isn't this unique now you and i can actually uh understand that and we can actually comprehend that because you and i are actually living right now in a time that we could say hey ye old man have you ever had this before you know dealing with coronavirus this is not something that is only unique to us it's happened through world history but it's not something that uh maybe the last generation or the generation before that could say yeah this is common oh yeah this is normal everybody lives through some you know worldwide pandemic where they lock you down everybody lives through that and what joel was going through was like that he was saying hey isn't this kind of unique you old man have you ever seen these things now that correlates with the fact that in the tribulation period that is what men and and people men and women will say are you there in matthew 24 look at verse 21 matthew 21 4 verse 21 the bible says this for then shall be great tribulation notice what jesus says such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no nor ever shall be now in a in a micro way sometimes we can say and joel is saying isn't what's going on kind of unique it's not something that any most people have gone through but in a very macro way the lord jesus christ says during the time of great tribulation it'll be a very unique time such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no nor ever it shall be so i want you to notice that the prophet joel is explaining this tribulation period and he starts by explaining uh a a period that is like the tribulation period in the sense that it is very unique it is a unique time let me give you another example go back to joel chapter number one not only does he describe a unique time but i want you to notice what he describes in verses three and four now to be honest with you verse three we're going to deal with next week in in detail but look at verses three and four it says tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their uh and their children another generation look what he says in verse four he says that which the palmer worm has uh has left has the locus eaten and that which the locust has left has the canker worm eaten and that which the canker worm has left has the caterpillar eaten so not only does joel describe a unique time but joel also describes a time of pestilence like the tribulation period joel says look let me describe this unique time what's so unique about it joel he would say well that which the palmer worm hath left had the locust eaten and that which the locusts hath left at the cankerworm eaten and that which the cankerworm had left had the caterpillar eaten he says there's this pestilence that is going around and and and destroying and killing everything well the bible tells us that's what the tribulation period is going to be like go to matthew 24. and you might want to keep your place in matthew 24 we're going to flip back and forth a little bit matthew 24 look at verse 7 matthew 24 verse 7. now the word pestilence deals with plagues and disease and sickness but it can also deal with uh like animals or beasts or insects that are are are causing death matthew 24 like verse 7 for nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdoms and there shall be famines notice these words and pestilences so joel says hey we're living in a unique time and jesus says uh the tribulation period is going to be such as was not since the beginning of the world joel says we're living in a time with all this pestilence the palmer worm and the locusts and the cankerworm uh and the caterpillar have eaten all of our uh harvest and all of our food and jesus tells us in matthew 24 that the great uh that the tribulation period um is going to be a time of pestilences when there will be pestilences upon the earth go to revelation chapter number six if you would revelation chapter six if you're able to keep your place in all three of these places revelation chapter six and look at verse seven in revelation chapter 6 we have described for us what we would refer to as the tribulation and the great tribulation period for those of you that like end times prophecy and maybe you can write this down or you can just kind of gather this the tribulation period is divided into two sections we have what we would call the tribulation then we we have the great tribulation in revelation chapter 6 it is outlined for us i like the fact that god likes to outline things it it helps all of us to be able to remember things so it's outlined for us using six different seals the first four seals are what we would refer to as the tribulation the the second two seals is what we would refer to as the great tribulation now for you to be able to remember that just remember this the first four seals are kind of easy to remember because they're commonly referred to as uh as the the four horsemen the first four seals have this correlation of these four horsemen this is what's known as the tribulation period this is actually what joel is referring to when he says don't we live in a very unique time he said this is a very unique time such as was not since the beginning of the world what's unique about it he says well there's pestilence the palmer would left uh uh that which the palmer worm has left at the locus eaton and that which the locust has left has the king of worm eaten and that was the king of women at the caterpillar ethan jesus said there's gonna be a time of pestilence in matthew 24. look at revelation chapter six look at verse seven notice what it says and when he had opened the fourth seal i heard the voice of the fourth beast say come and see and i looked and behold a pale horse here's one of the four horses or one of the four horsemen and his name that sat on him was death and hell followed with him and power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword and with hunger and with death we're going to come back to that in a minute notice and with the beast of the earth the bible says that this time known as the tribulation period is going to be a time when the this this fourth horseman is going to be given power over the fourth part of the earth to kill and one way he's going to kill is with the beast of the earth and joel says that which the palmer worm hath left at the locust eaton and that which the locust has left that the canker worm eaten and that which the cankerworm had left had the caterpillar eaten keep your finger in all of those if you're able to go back to joel chapter 1. we see that joel describes like the tribulation period joel describes a unique time we see that like the tribulation period joel describes pestilence let me give you a third one like the tribulation period joel describes a great war notice verse 5 joel chapter 1 and verse 5 awaken drunk curds and wheat and howl all ye drinkers of wine because of the new wine for it is cut off from your mouth look at verse six for a nation is come up upon my land strong and without number whose teeth are the teeth of lions and he have the cheek teeth of a great lion look at verse seven he hath laid the vine waste and and for those of you taking notes you can just write this cross-reference the vine is a reference to the nation of israel in isaiah 5 7 we're told that the vineyard of the lord of hosts is the house of israel he says he has laid my vine waste and barked my fig tree he has made a clean bear the idea is that he's killing this tree if you were to to remove all the bark from a tree if you were to make a clean bear it would die he says and cast it away the branches thereof are made white so i want you to notice that joel not only describes pestilence but he also describes this nation that has come up upon my land he says strong and without number whose teeth are as the teeth of lions and he had a cheek teeth uh a great line go to matthew 24 look at verse six notice what uh jesus describes during the great tribulation not only do they both describe a unique time not only do they both describe pestilence but they both also describe war here's what jesus said matthew 24 verse 6 and ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars see that you be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet for nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines and pestilence and earthquakes in diverse places go back to romans excuse me revelation chapter number six revelation chapter number six when we look at it in the book of revelation we see the same description here's what i'm saying you want to know people often they want to know what's the great tribulation what's the tribulation period going to be like what's the tribulation going to be like it's not that complicated if you read the bible i didn't say watch youtube videos said if you read the bible because you watch youtube videos they're going to tell you all sorts of crazy things about the during the tribulation period this is going to happen that's going to happen where i have all these weird things and and you know it makes for uh entertaining videos and might make for an entertaining movie but the problem is that a lot of it is not in the bible you've got to decide you know are you into science fiction or are you into the word of god now here's the point there's a lot of supernatural things that the bible talks about especially in the book of revelation but when we're talking about the tribulation period you say what characterizes the tribulation period it's characterized by pestilence it's characterized by war revelation six look at verse three and when he had opened the second seal i heard the second beast say come and see and there went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that sat there on notice to take peace from the earth that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword so what is the prophet joel describing he's describing a unique time just like the tribulation period is a unique time he's describing a time of pestilence just like the tribulation period is a time of pestilence he's describing a time of war just like the tribulation period is a time of war let me give you another one go back to joel chapter one look at verse eight like the tribulation period the prophet joel describes famines notice what he says in verse eight he says lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth why should we lament joel verse 9 the meat offering and the drink offering and of course the meat offering and the drink offering are offerings that were brought to the house of god that were offerings of food the meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the lord the priest the lord's ministers mourn look at verse 10. the field notice what he describes the field is wasted the land mourneth the corn is wasted the new wine is dried up the oil languishes what is he describing when he says the field is wasted the corn is wasted the the new wine is dried up what is he describing he's describing a famine look at verse 11 be he ashamed of your husband howl oh ye vine dressers for the wheat and for the barley and because the harvest of the field is perished the vine is dried up and the fig tree languishes the pomegranate tree the palm tree also and the apple tree even all the trees of the field are withered what is he describing this great famine because joy is withered away from the sons of men gird yourselves and lament ye priests hallelujah ministers of the altar come lie all night in sackcloth the ministers of my god for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholding from the house of lord the meat offering which is an offering of food cannot be given to the house of god it is withholding why is it withholding because the vine is dried up because the fig tree languisheth because the pomegranate tree and the palm tree and the apple tree even all the trees of the field are withered because the field is wasted because the corn is wasted because the new wine is dried up see joel is describing a unique time joel is describing a pestilence joel is describing war and joel is describing a famine what's interesting is that these are all the things that the lord jesus christ told us would characterize the tribulation go to matthew 24 look at verse 7. we've seen the verse but look at it again for nation shall rise against nation that's war and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines the prophet joel described the famine and pestilences the prophet joel described the pestilence and earthquakes and diverse places go to revelation chapter six revelation chapter six when you look at the four horsemen what do you see the same thing revelation chapter six look at verse five and when he had opened the third seal i heard the third beast say come and see and i beheld and lo a black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand balances throughout history and even today are used to measure out the price of food you go to the grocery store and you buy a certain amount of vegetables you're going to pay you're going to put those on a scale you're going to pay for their weight or whatever notice what he says verse six and i heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny and see thou hurt not the oil and wine what's being described here when he says a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny well matthew chapter 20 you have to turn there but you can write this in your notes in the margin of your bible if you like in matthew chapter 20 and verse two we are told that a penny in the bible times was one day's wages for manual labor if you went out and worked did manual labor for 12 hours you would get paid to get paid a penny was a reasonable price so when the bible says here that when the third seal is open and the black horse goes out and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand what does he do he makes a measure of wheat worth a day's worth of wages for labor and three measures of barley for a penny means that three measures of barley is now the cost of one day's worth of labor we see the cost of food go up why because there's a famine there's a famine so because there's less food it's more expensive just like you were paying you know 75 for a roll of toilet paper when there wasn't any toilet paper in the stores or whatever i hope you weren't paying that much but you know what i want you to notice is that joel yes he's prophesying near i really do believe that in his time there really were locusts on the land and i really do believe that in his time there was a northern army coming and threatening them and being hostile towards them i really do believe that during his time there was a famine but joel is speaking both near and far he is telling the people that there is coming a time when you can ask the old man have you ever seen this before have you ever seen something like this it's a unique time you say well what characterizes this unique time he says it'll be a time of pestilence it'll be a time of war it'll be a time of famine and when you compare that with the olivet discourse of matthew 24 and the seals in revelation chapter 6 what we walk away from is saying the prophet joel is describing for us in chapter one a period of time in end times prophecy known as the tribulation period you say why does that matter stay tuned and i'll i'll tie this all together and help you understand and hopefully you'll understand it but let me give you a second thought the first thought is this joel chapter 1 describes the end times tribulation period the second thought is this joel chapter 1 also describes the day of the lord as the day of god's wrath joel chapter 1 look at verse 14. sanctify ye of peace call the solemn assembly gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of lord your god and cry unto the lord why should we cry unto the lord look at verse 15 alas for the day for the day of the lord now i want you to know this because as you read your bible cover to cover as you go through and read through the old testament and even the new testament especially when you get into end times prophecy this term the day of the lord is going to come up over and over and over again in fact when it comes to end times prophecy this term the day of the lord is probably the number one theme event the number one thing talked about throughout all scripture when it comes to the end times and here the prophet joel describes for us because you might be asking yourself well what exactly is the day of the lord notice alas for the day of the lord is at hand notice how he describes it and as a destruction from the almighty shall it come what is the day of the lord the day of the lord is the day now i don't believe that it is a a physical 24-hour day uh in the sense that i believe it it's a time period it lasts longer than one day but it is a day it actually starts on a very specific day and it is the day that god begins to put into process or into play the wrath of the lord it's the day that god begins to initiate his wrath being poured out now before he can part his wrath there's some things he's got to do we're going to talk about that but that is what we're referring to when we're referring to the day of the lord it is the day of destruction the day that the almighty pours his wrath or begins to pour his wrath or begins to prepare the earth to pour his wrath upon the earth let me give you another example of that because i want you to be clear about that all right now keep in mind while we talk about the tribulation put that aside for a minute let's talk about the wrath of god and we're going to talk about a third thing we're going to tie it all together all right isaiah chapter number 13. you're there in the book of joel if you go backwards you've got joel hosea daniel ezekiel lamentation jeremiah isaiah isaiah chapter 13. when you get to isaiah put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it i think we're done with matthew in revelation so you can leave those alone if you need to isaiah chapter 13 look at verse number six actually i'm sorry we're not done with matthew in revelation you're like i just took my finger out well you'll have to find it again isaiah 13 look at verse six if you're in joel you go backwards you got hosea daniel ezekiel lamentations jeremiah isaiah isaiah 13 look at verse six how ye for the day of the lord is at hand it shall come notice how it's described look we can spend all night looking at passages about the day of the lord i'm not going to do that i'm just going to show you a couple you can study it out on your own if you like but i want you to notice how it's described throughout the bible it shall come as a destruction from the almighty i want you to notice what did joel say for the day of the lord is at hand and as a destruction from the almighty shall it come isaiah says for the day of the lord is at hand it shall come as a destruction from the almighty look look at verse 7 therefore shall all hands be faint and every man's heart shall melt now you don't have to turn to this but if you want to just write a cross-reference for those of you who like to study these things out or have some notes you can not right next to isaiah 13 7 write this reference luke 21 26 because in luke 21 we have luke's version of the olivet discourse where jesus christ goes through and explains end times prophecy and here's what luke says in luke 21 26 he says men's hearts failing them for fear isaiah said every man's heart shall melt it is a day where god begins to destroy the earth and every man's heart shall melt or luke said men's hearts failing them for fear look at verse 8 and they shall be afraid pains the word paying means sudden or sharp pains like when a woman goes into labor he says pains and sorrow shall take hold of them they shall be in pain as a woman that travails and again if you want to just write down a cross-reference you got first thessalonians 5 3 where it says as travail upon a woman with child talking about end times events it says pains and sorrows shall take hold of them they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth they shall be amazed one of another notice their faces shall be as flames look at verse 9 behold the day of the lord coming how is the day of the lord described cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light the sun shall be dark and then is uh going forth and the moon shall not cause their light to shine we're going to come back to that in a minute verse 11 and i will notice what's the purpose of the day of the lord and i will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity and i will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay low the hardiness of the terrible see when you go through the bible and you say why are you we understand the day of the lord is the wrath of god that's because you're a smart group and you go to a good church but let me tell you something most people who study end times prophecy right now do not have an understanding of the day of the lord they don't understand what the day of the lord is i don't understand why they don't understand because all you have to do is look up in the bible the term the day of the lord read it and it becomes very clear it's a day of destruction it's a day of fierce anger it's a day of wrath it's a day of great calamity it's the day that god destroys and begins to destroy the earth to punish the world for their evil but you talk to scholars today and they're just all confused about the day of the lord the tribulation so i want you to notice the prophet joel begins to write this short book for us and he begins by describing for us a period of end times prophecy known as the tribulation period so how do we know he's talking about the tribulation well it sure sounds like he's talking about the tribulation talks about a unique time filled with pestilence war and famine it's exactly what jesus described it's exactly what revelation describes and then and then the prophet joel begins to describe the day of the lord and he describes the day of the lord as a day of destruction of wrath of punishment of anguish like you notice thirdly tonight not only does joel chapter 1 describe end times tribulation period not only does joel chapter 1 describe the day of the lord as god's wrath but like you notice thirdly tonight joel chapter 1 describes the day of the lord as separate from the tribulation period now look at verse five again and and you and if you don't understand end times prophecy in these things that's okay i'm not mad at you but just realize this is important if you're going to understand the word of god and what the bible teaches i want you to notice what joel says in verse 15 alas for the day for the day of the lord i want you to notice these three words is at hand is at hand what does that mean because in other prophetic writings like the book of revelation when the chronology of end times is being explained we read things like this the great day of the lord is come is come is present tense like it's here we're in it that's not what joel says joel says alas for the day for the day of the lord is at hand the term is at hand is used throughout your king james bible several times and it means that it's close it's close in time it's about to happen it's the next thing to happen that's what is at hand means it means it's the next thing it means that you're on deck have you ever played baseball you've got a guy that's out there on uh and he's batting but then you've got a guy on deck he's the guy who's going to bat next he's ready that's what is at hand means the prophet joel says allah for the day of the lord is at hand now here's why this is important i want you to understand this if you were to ask joel joel it's really interesting that you in chapter 1 kind of laid out very similarly what the lord jesus christ laid out as a tribulation period i mean the famines the pestilence the the the the war that all sounds like the four horsemen that all sounds like the olivet discourse and joel would say well yeah it came from the same holy spirit and then if you were to ask joel so joel are you describing the day of the lord he would say no the day of the lord is at hand the day of the lord is about to happen he says and as destruction for the from the almighty he says shall it come so here's the question i have for you in joel chapter 1 and verse 15 if we're looking at it in a chronological way and by the way that's how it's written when he says words like is that hand and shall it come he's speaking to us in a chronology if we look at that chronology has the day of the lord came in the book of joel in verse 15 yet and the answer is no it hasn't came yet it is at hand it shall come in fact joel does not begin to really delve into the uh day of the lord until chapter two look at chapter two just real quickly but i want you to notice verse one even in verse 1 he makes it clear the day of the lord is at hand joel chapter 2 look at verse 1. blow ye the trumpet in zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain let all the inhabitants of the land tremble notice for the day of the lord notice what he says for it is nigh at hand he says it's a short distance away it's not yet here and then later on in the book he goes on to describe the day of the lord you say why is this important here's why joel is making sure that we understand that the things that he described in joel chapter 1 verses 2 through 14 are not the day of the lord he describes the pestilence he describes the war he describes the famine but he says those aren't the day of the lord the day of the lord is at hand he says those things are not the day of the lord the day of the lord shall it come he says those things are not the day of the lord for the day of the lord cometh for it is nigh at hand those things are not the day of the lord you say pastor minutes i'm not i don't understand why does this matter why would should we care about this here's why today nearly every end time scholar will teach and preach about this seven year tribulation period and they'll say the seven year tribulation period is a time in which god begins to pour out his wrath upon the earth and god begins to destroy the earth and god begins to you know do all these things upon the earth and during this tribulation period during the seven year tribulation period god is going to do he's going to pour out his wrath and they say we believe in a pre-tribulation rapture and you ask them well why do you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture and here's what they'll say if they have any answer for you which most of them have no answer for you but if they have any answer for you they'll quote to you first thessalonians 5 9. by the way i agree with first thessalonians 5 9 i like verses 1 5 9. first thessalonians 5 9 is a great verse they say for god have not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our lord jesus christ and they'll say well see the bible says that god has not appointed us to wrath by the way that is what the bible says amen and they'll say therefore we must be raptured before the tribulation begins because the tribulation is when god pours out his wrath see that's where you're mistaken because though i agree with you that god will not pour out his wrath upon the earth the tribulation period is never in the bible described as the wrath of god the tribulation period is never talked about as god pouring out his wrath in fact joel goes into detail to make sure we know that yes there is a period coming when there's going to be pestilence and war and famine but be assured that's not the day of the lord over there he says that's not the day of the lord that's not god's supernatural pouring out his wrath upon the earth and look if you read the book of revelation it's not that complicated i mean you read the the six seals and what do we have famines what do we have war what do we have earthquakes what do we have uh um pestilence now it's gonna be pretty bad during the tribulation period it's gonna be a unique time in history it's gonna be a time that has never been it's never been like that before but let me tell you something there's nothing supernatural about those things we have famines now we have wars now we have pestilence now we have all of those things now you say well what's the difference between now and then and by the way this is why it's so difficult for people and that's why you should not believe people when they tell you let me tell you when the tribulation is going to start we don't know when the tribulation is going to start and here's one of the reasons all throughout the bible god says it's like a woman in labor it's like a woman in travail well here's the thing about a woman in labor she doesn't just you know for those of you you single kids out there and all you've ever known about women in labor is what you've seen on tvs that's not how it's that's not how it goes you're not just like you know i'm sitting there just and my water broke and then like you're just like ah and pulling out a baby it'll work that way it's pretty it can be pretty slow and time consuming you know what it starts as a pain starts as a as a contraction it it you just got like oh i think i just had a contraction and they're not something you're not i think was it a braxton hicks i'm not sure was it real is this real you ever heard of the false alarms or they go to the hospital and they're like no you're not laborers you're just because they're they're they start having these contractions these women in labor they start having these small contractions but you know what happens is they slowly become more and more and more intense and eventually there's a climax where the baby's born and god says that's how the tribulation period is going to be you've had famines you've had earthquakes you've had wars you've had pestilence but it's going to get slowly worse and worse and worse and worse and worse but here's the thing there's nothing supernatural about that god says when i begin to pour out my wrath you'll notice when i begin to pour out my wrath you won't you won't be like oh was that a contraction i don't know see people say is the chronovirus is this the tribulation well that's the whole point of the tribulation we don't know i'm sure during world war one people say like this is the truth i mean this has to be the tribulation the kingdom shall rise up against kingdoms nations against canadians this has got to be it and then the war ended and then seven years later they started world war ii and they're like well surely this has to be it i mean this must be the tribulation period i mean war and kingdoms and nations and then it ended do you know what i'm saying people say oh the coronavirus has to be the tribulation i'm not saying it is i'm not saying it isn't i'm just saying you don't know and i don't know here's what i do know things that naturally happen are going to get more and more and more and more intense and and it's going to happen and obviously there's going to come a point where it's going to be very clear the bible says when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of daniel the prophet then you'll know this is it this is not a drill this is the real thing look i'm against the vaccines i'm against all of that don't misunderstand me but people say you think this vaccine card is the uh mark of the beast look when the mark of the beast comes you won't question it you won't be like i wonder if this is the mark of the beat no you'll know you'll know when it happens here's the whole point i'm saying is today people say the tribulation they connect the tribulation and the wrath of god is one event and they'll say because god will not pour out his wrath and therefore we've got to leave before it all starts but here's what they don't understand the bible disconnects the tribulation from the wrath of god as two separate events and he gives a very specific marker you say well how will we know go to joel chapter 2. if you study the day of the lord throughout the bible it'll become extremely clear that there are two things that characterize the day of the lord one is the wrath of god we've already talked about that the other is signs in the heavens joel chapter 2 look verse 31 the sun shall be turned into darkness let me tell you something you're not you're not going to like huh what is that i wonder if that's what he's talking about when the sun goes dark you'll notice the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood notice before the great and terrible day of the lord of the lord come you say how will we know when the day of the lord comes here's how you'll know because right before it starts the sun will turn into darkness and the moon into blood this is consistent throughout the entire bible go to isaiah 13. look at verse 10. joel says in joel chapter 2 because remember in john chapter 2 is where he describes the day of the lord in john chapter 1 he didn't describe the day of the lord he described the tribulation two different events joel chapter 2 he says in verse 31 sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood notice isaiah 13. look at verse 10 for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light notice the sun shall be darkened and in in his goings forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine the bible is very clear that right before the day of the lord there's there's a big sign in the heavens that happens and it's the sun and the moon the sun goes dark the moon turns into blood the stars go off and you're going to notice that matthew 24 look at verse 29 now just to prove to you now people like to argue with us you know they'll say you're you're not educated you didn't go to bible college i've been reading all these dispensational books and they say that it's all i mean i don't understand it but they got all these charts and it's really complicated and they said it's a seven year tribulation period show me that in the bible there's no seven year tribulation in the bible they say oh no it's all the wrath of god and god's gonna take us out of here before it all starts well you didn't get that from the bible have got that from charles larkin or you might have got that from uh peter ruckman you might have got that from somebody else but you didn't get it from the word of god matthew 24 29 notice how clear the bible is immediately after what immediately after the tribulation is this part of the tribulation no it's after the tribulation the tribulation happens then this happens what happens immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken the bible tells us that the sun is darkened and the moon doesn't give her light after the tribulation the bible tells us that the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the lord now i will confess to you that i did not graduate from bible college which is why i'm correct on most of my doctrines i will admit to you that i do not have a divinity degree i just got a king james bible but i will also attest to the fact that it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that when joel chapter 2 verse 31 says the sun shall be turned into darkness see if you can follow this i know you're highly uneducated hey we're in good company you know what they said about the apostles that they were ignorant and unlearned they said these are ignorant unlearned men no try to try to figure this out okay joel 2 31 the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon shall not give her light that's our marker the sun shall not turn so shall we turn into darkness and the moon shall not give her light notice before the great and terrible day of the lord and i know you didn't go to bible college but see if you can follow this the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before this happens before the great and terrible day of the lord then matthew 24 says immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her life so the tribulation happens then after the sun and the moon is darkened and that happens before the great and terrible day of the lord do you really need a big bible college degree to understand that i think you need to be saved and have the holy spirit god just gave us you say what is the end times chronology tribulation happens after the tribulation the sun and moon and darken and that happens before the great and terrible day of the lord these are not the same events they're separated by a big event called the sun and the moon uh the sun turning into darkness the moon turning into blood you say well what happens when the sun turns into darkness and the moon doesn't give her blood why is that so important here's why it's so important it's like the most important event of end times prophecy it's called the rapture amen matthew 24 look at verse 30. remember in verse 29 he told us the sun is going to turn into darkness the moon is the blood the the the stars of heaven you're they're not going to shine their lives look at verse 30. and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory verse 31 and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one hand of heaven to the other what is that that's the rapture when god you say why do why does god why does god rapture us out remember the timeline tribulation after the tribulation of those days the sun moon is darkened and that happens before the great and terrible day of the lord when that happens god sends his angels go to revelation god sends his angels to pick out to bring out the elect out of the earth now let's just think logically why does god do that here's why god does that because god will not pour out his wrath upon believers so right before remember what happens before the great and terrible day of the lord the sun and moon is dark and right why because right before god begins to part his wrath he has to gather the elect he has to gather believers he has to get them out why because god's not going to part his wrath on his children however that's not the tribulation the tribulation is not god pouring out his wrath it's just the earth and the things that have been happening upon the earth getting worse and worse and worse people say god has to take us out but he can't let us live through the tribulation that wouldn't be a just god well he can't let us live through what wars and famines and pestilence because believers have been living through war and famine and pestilence since the beginning if you study the book of revelation you'll find that the six seals they're all things that are upon this earth at this time war famines earthquakes present then you have the the you after you have the four horsemen you've got the fifth seal that's what we would refer to as the mark of the beast when there's great persecution upon all believers then you have the sixth seal let's look at it what's the sixth seal revelation chapter six see if you this sounds familiar look at verse number 12. and i beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black a sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood does that sound familiar and the stars of heaven fell into the earth even as a fig tree casteth her untimely fakes when she is shaken of a mighty wind and the heavens departed as a scroll when it was rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and and the chief captains and the mighty man and every bond man every free man hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains and set unto them to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from notice the wrath of the lamb amen when does god begin to part his wrath after the sixth seal is open when the sun and the moon go dark they said hide us from the wrath of the lamb verse 17 for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand look the bible is so clear about this at revelation chapter seven verse one excuse me if i'm confusing you with the bible and after these things i saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth that the winds should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree and i saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living god and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given notice to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea these angels are about to begin to hurt the earth and the sea but god says before you begin to hurt the earth and the sea before you begin to pour out my wrath saying verse three hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our god in their foreheads then he begins to seal the hundred and forty four thousand but then i want you to notice that people say to us oh the the the sun and the moon that's not the the rapture god's just sending angels and gathering his elect from the four winds of heaven that's just something else that's not the rapture and then you ask him okay well if that's not the rapture then where's the rapture in in the olivet discord they're like oh it's not there and you'll say the sun and the moon going dark that's not the rapture and and you'll ask him well where's the where's the rapture then in the book of revelation and they'll say it's not there and we're supposed to believe that jesus gave jesus look jesus did not talk a lot about end times prophecy believe it or not he spends three three chapters on on the sermon on the mount telling you how to treat your neighbor and how to love your fellow uh uh you know church members and fellow christians and he gives us one chapter called the olivet discourse and jesus just really messed up because in that he gives us one chapter and he just forgets to give us the biggest event the rapture it just you know slipped his mind and then jesus must just be a forgetful guy because then he gives us the whole book of revelation and forgets to add it there too well let me tell you something it is the rapture because at the end of chapter 6 we have the sun going dark the moon turning into blood and then they'll tell you you know what they'll tell you they'll say the book of revelation is not in chronology you can't understand it you need to buy my book but look in chapter six the sun goes dark the the moon turns into blood and then in chapter seven what do we have look at verse nine after this i beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands what is that all of a sudden there's a great multitude which no man can number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues in heaven you say what is that that's the rapture my friend and cried with a loud voice saying salvation to our god which sits upon the throne and into the lamb and all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and fell before the throne in their faces and worshiped god saying amen blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our god forever and ever and one of the elders answered saying unto me notice he asked the question he all of a sudden the sun goes dark the moon turns into blood in chapter six john is watching this all of a sudden there's a great multitude in heaven verse 13 and one of the elders andrew answered saying unto me what are these which are raid and white robes and whence came they it's like jesus wanted this to get in the book so he sends an elder to tell john to ask john a question you ever you know somebody asked a question you know they know the answer to they said hey john did you notice that when seal number six was open the sun turned into darkness and the moon turned into blood and then all these people showed up in heaven and he says what are these which are arrayed in white robes and when's came he says he says who are these people and where did they come from the word whens means from where verse 14 and i said unto him sir thou knowest and he said to me these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed the robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb you say everybody in the world everybody i mean every every famous preacher every tv preacher every john hagee everybody believes in the pre-trib rapture pastor well uh let me explain to you who doesn't believe in the preacher rapture jesus let me explain to you who doesn't believe in the preacher rapture the word of god because this is what they say this is what they say the tribulation period is a seven year period and and and it includes the famines and the earthquakes and the wars and the sun and moon turning into into sackcloth of hair and blood and then it includes all these other crazy things here's what's funny is if you read the book of revelation you know what you have in chapter six the seals normal things war famine pestilence then you have the sun and moon turn into blood at the end of the chapter chapter seven you have this great multitude in heaven which came out of great tribulation then you know what you have in chapter eight you begin to blow the trumpets and then all sorts of crazy things begin to happen on the earth i mean god begins to send all these beasts from hell god begins to send all these you know crazy then then it's the wrath of god when does the wrath of god begin after god gets his children out but not before the tribulation i hate to break it to you believers are going to live through the tribulation because the tribulation's not the wrath of god and here's what's interesting to me they'll look at us and say you uneducated fool you knew i'd be post trade pre-wrath rapture what is that you idiot well cause we'll say they'll say don't you know god's not gonna pour out his wrath and we say yeah we we know that we don't believe that the tribulation's not the wrath of god they're like you idiot you must have not gone to bible college here's the interesting thing if you were to sit down the prophet joel if we could bring the prophet joel to verdi baptist church tonight and sit him down and say joel you're going to answer my question do you believe in the tribulation he would say yeah i talked about it in chapter one of my book have you read it what is it troll it's famine and earthquakes and pestilence do you believe in the wrath of god yeah of course the day of the lord when god begins to part his wrath do you believe in the pre-trib rapture he would say uh no because these are two different events you say what would the prophet joel be if he was alive today a new ifb post-trib pre-wrath rapture non-educated because i'll tell you joel believes something that john hagee doesn't believe joel believes something that billy graham doesn't believe joel believes something that that every tv preacher you know of doesn't believe that the tribulation and the wrath of god are two different events and they are separated by a very specific event the sun turning into darkness the moon turning into blood god's people being raptured out one is the events of this earth getting worse and stronger and climaxing the other is the pouring out of god's wrath so yeah i'll stick with joe i'll stick with the olivet discourse i'll stick with the book of revelation because the book of joel maybe not the dispensational books maybe not all the commentaries maybe not ci scofield but the book of joel teaches a post-trib pre-wrath rapture that's why our heads are now void of prayer heavenly father thank you lord for your word thank you for this chapter in the bible i realize that sometimes these end times prophecy things can be complicated and difficult to understand lord i pray that you'd give us just just the the will to try to understand these things and the will to understand it and uh lord i pray that you would uh just bless us as we begin the study in the book of joel it's so deep there's so much to cover i pray that you would give us wisdom to hear these things and to learn lord help us to study to show ourselves to prove them to god as workmen that needeth not to be ashamed right dividing the word truth we love you in the matchless name of christ we pray amen

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Length: 64min 22sec (3862 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021