Knights of the MHz message for 9/30/18
Good morning to you all. This is N6GRF in Pleasanton. Today we will conclude the study of the book of Joel considering chapter 3. Joel describes a time when all nations will be gathered for judgement on account of how they have treated Israel.
V1 - 8: Verses 1 – 3 read “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgement with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations, and have divided up my land, and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and have sold a girl for wine, and have drunk it. The sins of Tyre and Sidon and all the regions of Philistia are listed in verses 4 – 8 which read “What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will requite your deed upon your own head swiftly and speedily. For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border. But now I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will requite your deed upon you own head. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off; for the Lord has spoken. Amos 1; 1 – 15 and Amos 2; 1 - 3 describe the same thing. Because the Philistines sold Israelites as slaves to other nations, the same thing would happen to their own children. They would be sold to the Sabaeans, who were famous traders from southwest Arabia. The queen of Sheba who visited Solomon was a Sabaean (see I Kings 10; 1 - 13, II Chronicles 9; 1 – 12).
V9 - 21: These verses describe a coming holy war between the Lord's warriors and all of the other nations around them. Verses 9 – 12 read Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war, stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.” Hasten and come, all you nations round about, gather yourselves there. Bring down thy warrior, O Lord. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the nations round about. The valley of Jehoshaphat is unidentified. Tradition places it in the Kidron valley. The language here is the opposite from that in Isaiah 2; 4 and Micah 4; 3. Micah 4; 3 reads He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall sit every man under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. For awhile, there was a program exploring the use of nuclear warheads as tools for excavation of harbors and canals. It was called the Plowshare Program appealing to these verses. In the end it was decided that the residual radioactivity was likely to make the results unfit for the intended use. The Sedan nuclear event was another cratering test. The radiation level at the rim of the crater is too high for one to remain there very long.
Verse 14 – 15 read Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. And the Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. This sounds very similar to the description of end times. The valley of decision is the valley of Jehoshaphat.
The remaining verses of the chapter describe the future of Jerusalem, and a time of prosperity. It also says Egypt will become a desolation and Edom a wilderness.
Knights of the MHz message for 9/23/18
Good morning to you all. This is N6GRF in Pleasanton. Today we will continue the study of the book of Joel considering chapter 2. Joel refers to the “day of the Lord” as a coming catastrophe of judgement: an invasion by an all-consuming army of locusts who destroy all sources of food. Repentance will bring deliverance. Joel then describes the final end times amidst signs in the heavens.
V1 - 11: Verses 1 – 3 warn of coming disaster. They read: Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but after them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them. The great and powerful people refers to a tremendous swarm of locusts. Priests warned people of coming danger by blowing the ram's horn, called the shofar (see Hosea 5; 8, Amos 3; 6, Zephaniah 1; 16, Revelation 8; 6 – 13). Clouds of locusts can be so thick that they are like a dark cloud. They leave no growing plant life behind them and even consume the stubble. Walls are no barrier to them. They burst through any defenses and enter through windows. The sky is darkened both by day and by night. Joel calls them the Lord's army and their coming the day of the Lord. The description of the locusts in verse 4 is like that in Revelation 9; 7 – 10.
V12 - 17: These verses are a call to repentance. Verses 12 - 14 read: “Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil. Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? George Handel used some of this passage (rend your hearts and not your garments) in his oratorio “Messiah.”
V18 - 27: God in his mercy promises relief from the plague. He will drive the army of locusts into the desert and into the sea and satisfy them with food. The dead locusts will cause a foul stench in the land. The beasts of the field are promised green pastures and the vines and fruit trees will again produce their fruit. Abundant rain will come, the threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats full of oil and wine. The beginning of verse 25 is often quoted: I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten,...
V 28 – 32: Joel describes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Verses 28 – 29 read: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dreams dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out my spirit. Joel was referring primarily to the Jews here. Mark 13; 27 and Revelation 6; 12 also describe the coming day of the Lord. ( Mark also says this will be followed by the coming of Jesus in clouds with great power and glory.) Verses 30 – 31 read: “And I will give portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Blood here refers to the color of the moon. Perhaps it is caused by the intense smoke. Verse 32 refers to those who worship the Lord (see also Genesis 4; 26, 12; 8, Psalm 116; 13.) Many people have tried to predict when these events will occur, but Jesus himself said it will be a surprise for everyone (see Mark 13; 21 – 23, Matthew 24; 36, 44, Luke 21; 8, 17; 20). Jesus also said we should not believe their predictions.
Knights of the MHz message for 9/16/18
Good morning to you all. This is N6GRF in Pleasanton. Today we will begin a study of the book of Joel. Almost nothing is known about Joel except his name. His father's name was Pethuel. There are many others with the name Joel in the Bible. It appears that he lived in Judah about 539 – 331 B.C. He was well acquainted with the temple and was able to exercise his ministry within it. There is no mention of Assyrians or Babylonians in the book. When a locust plague ravished the country Joel viewed it as God's judgement and called on the people to repent. He went on to describe the Day of The Lord and it's final judgements and blessings. We will begin with chapter 1.
V1 - 10: Joel calls on everyone both young and old to tell subsequent generations about what happened. Verses 4 – 7 give a poetic description of the destruction: What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and without number; its teeth are lions' teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines, and splintered my fig trees; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white. He goes on to describe the reaction of the people to the resulting specter of famine. Verses 8 – 10 describe the significance for those in the temple: Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth. The cereal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord. The fields are laid waste, the ground mourns; because the grain is destroyed, the wine fails, the oil languishes.
In verses 11 – 12 he turns to the workers in the field: Be confounded, O tillers of the soil, wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished. The vine withers, the fig tree languishes. Pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are withered; and gladness fails from the sons of men.
In verses 13 – 14 he returns to the priests: Gird on sackcloth and lament, O Priests, wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because cereal offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all of the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God; and cry to the Lord.
Verses 15 – 20 are a lament: Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed shrivels under the clods, the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are ruined because the grain has failed. How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep are dismayed. Unto thee, O Lord, I cry. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field. Even the wild beasts cry to thee because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. Seed shriveling in the dirt means that not only what was growing is gone, but so is the hope for the future. Without seed there is no replacement. Even the wild animals and the domestic animals are suffering. Drought has even taken hold. Fire and flame represent the most severe destruction.
Chapter 2 describes the locusts as a vast conquering army and the Lord's response to it. Recovery is promised. Joel 2; 25 is often quoted: “I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten,.....”
Knights of the MHz message for 9/9/18
Good morning to you all. This is N6GRF in Pleasanton. Today we will conclude our study of the book of Hosea considering chapters 13 and 14. God reviews the history of Ephraim and Israel, considering all that he had done for them and yet they were ruined by their prosperity. Their destruction is called for as a result. At the close of the book it is stated that there is yet time to repent and turn from their ways.
Chapter 13:
V1 - 16: Ephraim was exalted in Israel, but turned to Baal and was destroyed as a result. They went from bad to worse, turning to idols made of silver. They would become like the morning dew which quickly goes away or like smoke that goes away. Verses 4 – 8 read I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no god but me, and besides me there is no savior. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; but when they were fed to the full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. So I will be to them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk beside the way. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rend them. Israel would be destroyed with none to help. There would be no king or princes to save them. The Lord would not redeem them from death. Idols were forbidden in Exodus 20; 2 – 5. Isaiah 45; 21 states that there is no other God. Verses 14 – 16 read Shall I redeem them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction? Compassion is hid from my eyes. Though he may flourish as the reed plant, the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come, rising from the wilderness; and his fountain shall dry up, his spring shall be parched; It shall strip his treasury of every precious thing. Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
Chapter 14:
V1 – 9: There is a change of tone in this chapter. The first two verses indicate that there is still time to return to the Lord for with him there is mercy (see Psalm 130, Isaiah 55; 6 – 9). Verse 3 points out that there is no hope for help from Assyria. Foreign alliances are futile. Verses 4 – 7 read I will heal their faithlessness; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be as the dew to Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, he shall strike root as the poplar; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow, they shall blossom as the vine, their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon. Verse 8 is an appeal to Ephraim. It reads O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress, from me comes your fruit. Verse 9 concludes the chapter and the book with an appeal. It reads: Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.
In closing, read Proverbs 4; 11 – 12: I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered; and if you run, you will not stumble. Also consider Ecclesiastes 12; 11 – 14, which has a touch of humor. It says Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. It also says that God will bring every deed into judgement, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Nothing is hidden from Him.