how to read the Bible

What Does Joel the Prophet Have to do with Jesus? [Excerpt from "How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens"]

 

I picked up How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens and dared author Michael Williams to show how the Book of Joel focuses on Jesus. This is what I found in Williams’s book. -AF

 

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Give me what I deserve! We all might want to think twice about demanding that, because what we think we deserve might diverge significantly from God’s judgment on the matter.

The prophet Joel ministered during the time when a severe drought and locust plague were crippling the land. God’s people had evidently assumed that divine blessing was their right, no matter how corruptly they lived. But God reminded them by means of these natural disasters that abundant life was realized only in relationship with him. When that relationship was ignored or allowed to fade, then the protective barriers against death and destruction were lowered and the enemies of life could charge in. In Joel, this phenomenon is called “the day of the Lord.” It is a day when the consequences of turning away from God and the need for his salvation are realized.

 

Joel reminded them that when … they unplugged themselves [from God, the life-generating power source], it wouldn’t take long before things in their lives got awfully dark.

God’s people were looking forward to the day of the Lord as a day when God would judge all those other people who had rejected him and gone their own way. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that God’s judgment could include them as well. They needed to return to him and recommit themselves to their relationship with him in order for there to be any rescue from the dangers that stalked them down the dark alleys they had taken. So Joel called for fasting, prayer, and mourning (2:12). For God’s people the good things of life would not come about because they were somehow better than other people, but because they were plugged into the unfailing, life-generating power source. Joel reminded them that when by their faithlessness they unplugged themselves, it wouldn’t take long before things in their lives got awfully dark.

 

Joel saw in the immediate disasters of drought and locust plague vivid reminders of the coming day of the Lord when God’s judgment would be amplified to a global scale. Everyone on earth would come to a place called “Jehoshaphat,” which means “the Lord judges” (3:2, 12). The ultimate day of the Lord is coming when comprehensive and final divine judgments will overwhelm mankind like a colossal tsunami and make the devastating drought and locust plague of Joel’s day seem like minor inconveniences. Then, too, the only island of life in a sea of death and destruction will be found in relationship with God.

 

Joel

The prophet Joel, from an 18th-century Russian icon.

 

[Joel through the Jesus Lens]

The apostle Peter quoted from Joel’s prophecy on the day of Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension (Acts 2:17–21), indicating that Jesus’ death on the cross was our day of the Lord, when God’s judgment for our disobedience was experienced on our behalf by our sinless representative. Joel told God’s people of his day that the disasters they were experiencing were the natural result of abandoning God, and their effect was intended to remind them that their life was found in God alone.

 

On the coming final day of the Lord, when all nations will gather before the Lord for judgment, the one and only criterion that will hold any sway before the Judge of all the earth will be relationship with him. Those who have such a relationship through faith in Jesus Christ will enjoy the life that flows from that relationship. Those who don’t have such a relationship will experience the dire consequences. Jesus experienced those dire consequences so that all who come to the Father through faith in him can be assured of life. He is the one who will do the judging on the day of the Lord, and he knows the sheep that belong to him [see Matthew 25:31-32].

Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. The day of the Lord is coming. Joel sees “multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision” (3:14). Those who decide to turn to God for life through faith in his Son will have nothing to fear on that day. They will be safe and secure inside the stronghold of his love (3:16). Why would anyone choose plan B?

 

[What this Means for Us Today]

To experience [a foretaste of the restoration of all things], we have to make sure our chairs are scooted up to the table of God’s grace.

Believers today live between “days of the Lord.” Jesus has already experienced our day of judgment and has enabled us even now to enjoy a foretaste of the restoration of all things that will take place when he returns again on the final day. To experience that foretaste, however, we have to make sure our chairs are scooted up to the table of God’s grace. Only in our relationship with the source of life can we expect to realize true life for ourselves. We can only really live when we live together with him…

 

We may look forward to the day of Christ’s return with confidence that he has paid the price for our sin. But more than that, we may look to our Lord for life. As long as we are trusting in him, we will never be disappointed and we will never have to fear. Instead of the day of the Lord being a “dreadful” time for us (2:11), it will be a time of rejoicing, of fruitfulness, and of security (2:19–27)…

 

There are many who are hoping that their lives will have been “good” enough to merit a pass on the day of judgment. Others are waiting for the day to come when they can finally experience life. Some are just trying not to think about the coming day of judgment. How easy it is to resolve all of these concerns about that day through faith in Jesus Christ! Jesus offers us his own righteousness to replace our blameworthiness, unshakable joy to replace our circumstantially determined happiness, and justifiable confidence in him to replace our justifiable doubt in ourselves. The day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision (3:14). Let’s decide for life in Christ.

-Michael Williams

 

Watch the “Jesus Lens” Web Event

Want to know more about reading the Bible through the Jesus lens? Watch the discussion with author Michael Williams.

 

Learn More about How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens Learn More

Learn more about Dr. Williams’s book, How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens.

 

More Posts You May Like

Looking for Your Life’s Purpose? via Michael Williams
Esther, Mordecai & Jesus via Michael Williams

-Adam Forrest, Zondervan


(Images & some styling above are web-exclusive features not included in the text of How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens. Image attribution: By 18 century icon painter (Iconostasis of Kizhi monastery, Russia) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer’s personal opinions are shared only for information purposes. To receive new Zondervan Blog posts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

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Looking for Your Life’s Purpose? [Excerpt on Ecclesiastes from "How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens"]

 

Can Ecclesiastes, written by the Teacher who said "Everything is meaningless!" tell us anything about Jesus? See Dr. Paul Williams's answer in this excerpt from How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens.

 

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It is difficult at times to understand the direction our lives are going, or the direction they should be going. It's as if we're driving in the fog on a curvy road…

 

The Teacher [who wrote Ecclesiastes] concluded that life "under the sun" is without meaning… [What kind of meaning?] Usually, when we or others talk about meaning in life, we mean personal security and significance — something that makes us feel valued, worthwhile, and fulfilled. We want to know that it would have made a difference if we had not been born…

 

The Teacher of Ecclesiastes shows us that on our own we can't figure out the meaning of life. That meaning does not lie in our pleasures or conveniences, in our wisdom or in our foolishness, in our work or in our possessions. The Teacher discovers that life does indeed have meaning, but a meaning that is frequently beyond our ability to grasp when we limit our perspective to the created realm.

 

Teacher

The author of Ecclesiastes, "the Teacher," imagined by Gustave Doré (1832-1883).

To find meaning and purpose in life, we are forced to turn our perspective from the realm "under the sun" to the realm that exists beyond the sun, beyond creation, where God dwells. We must turn to God in humility, acknowledging our creaturely limitations — and, with reverence, acknowledging that he has no such limitations — and submitting ourselves to his care and guidance. Ultimately, the meaning of life does not reside in things that we think will bring us satisfaction, but in things that bring God glory. Our goal in life is to make these the same thing. And there was one human being who has showed us just what that looks like.

 

The Jesus Lens

As we saw in the book of Job, our circumstances can change in a moment. If we look for contentment, significance, security, or meaning in those circumstances, we're going to have a hard time rebooting when our programs crash. It has taken the Teacher a while to arrive at the same conclusion as the book of Psalms: meaning in life is not found "under the sun" — in the human experiences and trappings that are subject to changes beyond our comprehension. Rather, meaning in life is found "above the sun" — in our relationship with our Creator.

 

'Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life."' -John 14:6

It makes sense. Only by reconnecting with the source of life can we expect to know life in its fullest. That is what Jesus tells his disciples as they struggle to understand the suffering and death he would experience. As painful as those things are … they cannot affect our true life if that life is connected to the source of life, who never changes and who always satisfies the deepest cravings of our hearts.

 

In Christ alone is found meaning, purpose, and direction in life. When we, like the Teacher, try to find meaning for our lives in anything else, we also will be forced to conclude, "Meaningless! Meaningless! … Everything is meaningless!" (1:2; 12:8). Only by being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ ("the way") can we finally find what it is we've been looking for ("the life")

 

[What this Means for Us Today]

The Teacher was rummaging around "under the sun," looking under every stone for anything that would supply some explanation for what makes human life worthwhile. He found lots of things that made great promises, but ultimately failed to deliver. He was full of human wisdom and knowledge (1:16), but that wisdom and knowledge couldn't provide answers to the basic questions of life. That wisdom and knowledge are available only through Jesus Christ. That is why the apostle Paul worked so hard to make sure everyone had access to the answer to the meaning of life.

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. -Colossians 2:2–3

We may know in our Bible-trained heads how we're supposed to answer questions about life, but do we really believe those answers? We spend hours, days, even years of our lives chasing after things that we believe will make our lives significant, when we could have that significance any time we chose. There is an old joke about someone who is outside, looking in the grass for his lost ring. His friends show up and offer to help. They ask him where he lost it. He tells them he lost it in the house. When they ask him why he is looking for it outside, he tells them, "The light is better out here." How [useless] to look for something where it can't be found! Let's stop looking for the meaning of life where it can't be found. Let's look for life's purpose in the eternal truths that God has revealed to us in Christ.

 

Hook Question

How would you rate the meaningfulness of your life right now? …

 

The Teacher tried just about everything to find meaning in life without any reference to God. Perhaps you have, too. But there isn't any. Only when we return to our Creator in reverence and acknowledge our need for him will the fog start lifting and our path into the future come into focus. We will have life — full, meaningful, energizing life.

-Michael Williams

 

Watch the "Jesus Lens" Web Event

Want to know more about reading the Bible through the Jesus lens? Watch the discussion with author Michael Williams.

 

Learn More about How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens Learn More

Learn more about Dr. Williams's book, How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens.

 

More Posts You May Like

Esther, Mordecai & Jesus via Michael Williams

 

- Adam Forrest, Zondervan


(Images & some styling above are web-exclusive features not included in the text of How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens. Image attribution: Gustave Doré [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons. This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's personal opinions are shared only for information purposes. To receive new Zondervan Blog posts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

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Esther, Mordecai & Jesus [Excerpt, "How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens"]

 

Can Esther, the only book of the Bible that doesn't mention God, tell us anything about Jesus? See Dr. Paul Williams's answer in this excerpt from How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens.

 

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Sometimes it seems as if God has left the building. Certainly it must have seemed so to Esther. She lived under the rule of a foreign world power. Her father and mother were dead, and she was raised by her crusty older cousin, Mordecai. Now she had even been taken from his care by royal decree and brought into the king's harem, where, obeying her cousin's instructions, she kept her Jewish ethnicity secret. Surely none of these events were on her list of life goals. But despite all of these twists and turns in her path, Esther's future looked bright. Of all the concubines in the harem, Esther pleased King Xerxes the most, and he made her his queen. God had not, in fact, left the building.

Little did Esther know that God had providentially placed her in the queenship in order to bring about the deliverance of his people from Haman, who was bent on annihilating the Jews.

 

Mordecai regularly visited Esther, and during one of his visits he discovered a plot to assassinate the king. Esther revealed the plot to the king and gave Mordecai credit. Later, when Mordecai refused to kneel before Haman, the king's honored official, Haman was furious. He found out that Mordecai was a Jew and decided to take steps to eliminate not only Mordecai, but all of his people as well… Employing all of his slithery skills, Haman succeeded in persuading the king to issue a decree to annihilate the Jews. Mordecai informed Esther of the dire situation and that the life of every Jew was in jeopardy. He persuaded her to put her own life in jeopardy by going to the king unbidden in order to appeal for the lives of her people.

 

That night, during a divinely induced bout of insomnia, the king had the official records read to him (which, evidently, were a potent sleeping aid), and he discovered written there Mordecai's previous whistle-blowing regarding the assassination attempt. The king decided to publicly honor Mordecai, further enraging Haman. Shortly therafter, at a banquet she had requested, Esther revealed to the king Haman's plan to exterminate the Jews. Now it was the king's turn to be furious, and Haman ended up impaled on the very pole he had prepared for Mordecai. Moreover, at Esther's request, the king decreed that the Jews had the right to protect themselves against any who might attack them. Thus, by God's providential working through Esther and Mordecai, the Jews were saved. There would one day be an even greater deliverance brought about by God, by an individual who would seem just as unlikely a candidate to do so — a lowly Jewish carpenter who lived under Roman occupation.

 

The Jesus Lens

For the Jews under Persian rule, the odds were stacked against them. Their only hope was that the one to whom all authorities must ultimately answer would somehow provide for their deliverance. And God did just that through Esther and Mordecai. God put Esther and Mordecai just where they needed to be, at just the time they needed to be there, to bring about his salvation.

 

'When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law.' -Galatians 4:4–5

For human beings under the rule of sin, the odds are stacked against us. Our only hope is that God will somehow provide for our deliverance as well. And God did just that through his own Son. God became human, at just the right time, to bring about his salvation…

 

[What this Means for Us Today]

'We are Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.' -2 Corinthians 5:20

God used Esther and Mordecai to bring about the deliverance of his people. But his people had to be notified! So Mordecai wrote in the name of the king and sent the news throughout the kingdom by mounted couriers on fast horses [Esther 8:10].


God used Jesus Christ to bring about the deliverance of his people. But his people have to be notified today as well. We have the privilege and the responsibility to carry this news as fast and effectively as we can throughout the world. Okay, maybe not by mounted couriers on fast horses, but by word of mouth, by print and electronic media, by lives that communicate to everyone who sees us that we have good news to share…

 

Mordecai and Esther

Mordecai and Esther. Not so different from you and me?

As Christ's ambassadors, we have been providentially provided to proclaim deliverance through him to those who are perishing. We have been made children of the King…

 

Hook Question

What does it mean to be Christ's ambassador? What does an ambassador do? Do you speak to others in the King's name and authority or in your own?

-Michael Williams

 

Watch the "Jesus Lens" Web Event

Want to know more about reading the Bible through the Jesus lens? Watch the discussion with author Michael Williams.

 

Learn More about How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens Learn More

Learn more about Dr. Williams's book, How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens.

- Adam Forrest, Zondervan


(Images & some styling above are web-exclusive features not included in the text of How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens. Image attribution: From a synagogue interior wood panel in Dura Europos, Syria. Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons. This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's personal opinions are shared only for information purposes. To receive new Zondervan Blog posts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

 

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