This is the beginning of a series from the Book of Joel. You will find Joel in the Old Testament, in a section of the Bible that is often referred to as the minor prophets. Joel is the second of the minor prophets. Joel has some very important things to say in the three chapters he wrote. Joel’s message is only to be considered minor based on the length of the book. Once you make it past the major prophets, you will find Hosea, and Joel is next, between Hosea and Amos.
There are probably a few verses in Joel that would sound familiar to some of you, but few people have verses from Joel memorized. You have probably heard, "Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning." So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.” If that does sound familiar to you, do you recall that it is Joel 2:12-13?
The parts of Joel that are most familiar to most of us are probably the parts that are quoted in the New Testament. In the second chapter of Acts, beginning in verse 17, Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32 -
"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 dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into dark-ness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.” In so doing, Peter is preaching to the crowds that this part of Joel’s prophecy is being fulfilled!
And, while those two passages may sound familiar to many of us, we should remember that there is much more to Joel’s prophecy. Let us now read the introduction of Joel.
Joel 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
This verse contains almost everything that is certain about Joel. The name of Joel may reference as many as 12 or 13 men found throughout the Old Testament, but we cannot verify with any degree of certainty that the writer of this prophecy is one of those other references. No time frame is given. No king’s reign is indicated. There is no definitive marker that tells us when Joel lived, who was king, who was high priest, or what enemy was coming to conquer. For this reason, we can take great comfort in knowing that this book is as relevant to us to-day 2700 years later on the other side of the earth. While there is here a warning about an imminent threat from a physical enemy, we know that there is also spiritual enemy.
The lack of specific information should not be a concern or a distraction, but rather a comforting assurance that this prophecy is intended for all of God’s people, all over the world, throughout time, until Jesus returns.
While we may not know exactly which Joel wrote this prophecy or when he lived, we can learn three things from this first verse. We know what this book is. It is the word of the LORD. Whenever we see L-O-R-D in all capital letters, we are clued in to this being the personal name of our Almighty God. LORD is a substitute. Some people believe it is a substitute for the name that we might pronounce as Jehovah. Other people believe that another pronunciation is more accurate. They insist that the name of God is pronounced Yahweh. So long as we understand when we read L-O-R-D in all capital letters that we are talking about the One, True and Living God, and we give proper reverence to Him, I will not argue as to whether it is pronounced Jehovah or Yahweh. For the sake of consistency with most English translations, I will use the pronunciation “Jehovah” for this message. Our understanding should be that He is the One who knows for certain how His Name sounds in Hebrew. We know that He calls Himself “I AM that I AM,” indicating that He is self-existent, uncreated, all-powerful, all-knowing, Creator of all things, Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace, Ever Living God of all gods, and King over all kings, to whom belongs all glory both now and forever. He is the One who is the ultimate Authority. He has made us to sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
It is His Word that was given to this prophet. The prophet is not at liberty to speak his own word. He cannot bring his opinion. He has no authority on his own. The prophet must speak the Word given to him by God. The Word of God carries with it the authority of God. This is special revelation. It was given to Joel. It was not given to Joel for safe-keeping. If it needed to be kept safe, God would have kept it to Himself. This special revelation was given to Joel, that Joel might deliver the message. That defines the role of the prophet: A messenger to whom God gave a message to be given to others. A short definition would be that a prophet is a mouthpiece or a speaker for God. Now, before anyone takes offense to that, please allow me to clarify. Yes, I do believe that God can reveal whatever He chooses to whomever He chooses. I also believe that God uses His creation to accomplish His purposes. In Psalm 19:1, King David wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.” God reveals His creative power in His creation. The Apostle Paul expounds upon this in his letter to the church at Rome.
Romans 1:18-20 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
God’s own Word tells us that we can know that there is indeed an Almighty Creator by observing creation. We can and should have some basic elementary concept of God as a power greater than we are, and it is the observation of creation that should reveal this to us without His Word. His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
That is general revelation. When God has a specific message that is intended for specific people, He uses a specific messenger. Sometimes this is necessary due to our weakness. At Mount Sinai, Moses gathered the men of Israel to come near the foot of the mountain to receive God’s message. The experience of the voice of God from heaven was so terrifying to Israel that they begged Moses to go between them and God. In Exodus 20, after God has spoken the Ten Commandments, we read, “Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die."
So, in His mercy, God has ordained that special specific messages to specific people would be delivered from those He chose to reveal His Word to. Joel is one such man. The Word of Jehovah came to Joel; therefore, Joel is a prophet of Jehovah.
There are at least two other things that we can learn from verse one. Joel is the son of Pethuel.
This is important. Names have meaning, especially biblical names. We see this over and over again in the Bible. Notably, Abram and Sarai. God changed their names to Abraham and Sarah. Abram means father of height. That was the name Terah gave to his youngest son. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means father of a multitude. Sarai is thought to mean “contentious” or “quarrelsome.” God changed her name to Sarah, which means “princess.” When they were told that they would have a son in their old age, Sarah laughed. God told them they would name their son Isaac. This name means “laughter,” perhaps a life-long reminder of Sarah’s unbelief. The next name change we encounter in the Bible is Isaac’s son, Jacob. Before crossing back into Canaan land with his wives and children and flocks and herds, Jacob wrestled with an angel of the Lord. The name Jacob means “supplanter;” we might better understand that as scoundrel. It was a fitting name. He had conned his brother and deceived his father in matter of the birthright.
However, years later as he is returning home with a family and a fortune of his own, Jacob was given a new name by the angel of the Lord. No longer would Jacob be known as “Scoundrel.” His new name would be Israel, which means “a prevailing prince with God.” All of these name changes: Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, and Jacob to Israel, resulted in changes of the name-bearers. Names of negativity or insignificance were changed to names of prominence and significance. Not unlike the gift given to born-again believers, when the Lord no longer sees us as unworthy sinners, but as blood-bought saints. When the Holy Spirit miraculously changes the unregenerate, He imparts spiritual life where once was nothing but the deadness of trespasses and sins. And now, no longer are we the wayward sons of Adam, but the redeemed brothers and sisters in Christ, and we carry the new name of Christian! Don’t tell me that your name isn’t important. If you call yourself a Christian, make your calling and election sure. Leave no room for doubt in the minds of anyone. Let the light of Christ shine through you in all that you say and do.
We still have not answered the question of Pethuel, or Joel for that matter. Both of their names are important. Pethuel named his son Joel. That tells us something about the both of them. A father’s choice of his son’s name tells us something about the father. It tells of his belief and his hope for his son’s future. Pethuel may have been a simple man. Not necessarily simple-minded, but simple; as in “uncomplicated.” He may not have been one who saw many shades of gray. In naming his son Joel, Pethuel has made a declaration. It is a statement of his faith. Pethuel’s choice for his son’s name would have con- vinced everyone that Pethuel himself was named correctly. It will be helpful for us to learn a little more Hebrew. El means the One. It is a singular noun. Not just one. Not just any one. It means THE One. El means God. It is not His personal name, as what we’ve discussed already. It is descriptive of who or what He Is. He is the One. There is no other. Moses taught all of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
Hear, O Israel, Jehovah is El. The LORD is God!
And Pethuel was a man who knew the writings of Moses. He was convinced that Moses was right. He agreed with the truth that Moses preached. Pethuel named his son Jehovah is God. Jo El.
We have taken the long way to get here, but now we can say we know a little more about the writer of this book. He was a prophet. We know this because the Word of Jehovah was given to him. It was a direct, special revelation. It was God’s purpose to use Joel to deliver this message. The prophet’s name declares the faith of his father, and doctrine of Israel: Jehovah is God, Joel. What better name for a messenger of God? As we’ve observed a few times already, Joel’s name says as much about Joel’s mission as it does about his father Pethuel. We have repeatedly said that Pethuel is convinced. It was not an accident that Pethuel was convinced. By now, you may have noticed that Pethuel ends in “el” the same way Joel ends in “el”, and we said that “el” means God. You may have begun to put some of the pieces together and suspect that Pethuel name has something to do with his faith in God, too. One of the more probable meanings of the name Pethuel is “persuaded by God.” Yes, Pethuel was convinced that Jehovah is God, and even his own name speaks of his faith. What a marvelous beginning to this book of prophecy!
A man so convicted, so trusting, so sure, so persuaded by God that he names his son Jehovah is God. A man whose name means Jehovah is God receives special, direct revelation from the Almighty Himself. A word from Jehovah was given to a messenger. The messenger was a faithful messenger, and delivered the Word from Jehovah, a warning to all of mankind. In the next message of this series, we will take a look at this warning message to see what it meant to Joel’s hearers, and by God’s grace we will hope to see how Joel’s message is relevant and applicable to us today.
But as this message has been so concentrated on the meaning of names, I want to ask each of you to consider your own name. As important as your unique identity is, and as special as name given to you by your parents is in identifying you, there is an even more important name. There is an even more important identity. It is a name that separates goats from sheep. It is a name that is not given to you by your parents, but by our Father in heaven. It is a special name. It is a name that identifies you by who you truly are and what you truly believe. It is a most blessed name. Do you claim the name of Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord? Have you given a great deal of thought to what that means? Do you call yourself a Christian, admitting that without Christ you would be lost? Do others know this about you? If you call yourself a Christian, what do your friends think about Jesus? If you are truly saved by Jesus, and you call yourself a Christian, have you submitted to His lordship over your life? Brothers and sisters, we must live it daily, exalting Jesus in all that we say and do. The world is watching. More importantly, Jesus is watching. Do not assume that you can be a secret disciple. IF you are truly following Jesus, the world will know that you are different. Let the world know that you belong to Christ. Stand up and be counted among His people. When God the Son took on flesh and tabernacled among His creation, He did so to demonstrate His love for us. He lived a life of perfect obedience, earning righteousness for us. He took our sins upon Himself, and suffered the wrath of the Father against our sins. When He cried out, “It is finished!” He had completed the work of salvation on our behalf. He has reconciled us to our Father in heaven. His righteousness has been imputed to our account. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ. He commands us to repent and believe. Where are you in your journey of faith today? Listen to His word again, “And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.” He alone is the source of salvation. Call upon Him, He is your only hope!