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Ouachita Hills College

The Twelve

Scott Burgess

Joel: Juggernaut Meets Judge

Well, I like alliteration, so a lot of times my titles will have alliteration in them.

So today we've got the juggernaut meets the judge.

So I'm assuming you haven't, anybody use the word juggernaut this week?

I like the word, so we're going to have the juggernaut meets the judge and based on our text this morning, we're going to have a little study in the book of Joel.

I think, well, it's a short maybe, but actually I've got a better reason.

There is a little quotation right here that prompted me in this direction, so I'll just, we'll start off with that.

It says here, as a people and as individuals, we need to have a deeper sense of our duty to God and our responsibility to the world.

There should be more earnest study of the scriptures.

I've been deeply impressed with the importance of studying the book of Daniel in connection with the smaller prophets.

We commonly call them minor prophets, same thing, especially Malachi.

And we need to give careful attention also to the lessons taught in the building of the tabernacle and of the temple, meaning Solomon's Temple, and in the temple service.

Through the prophets, God has given a delineation of what will come to pass in the last days of this earth's history, and the Jewish economy is full of instruction for us.

Now I've seen that before, but I came across it more recently and I thought, yes, I want to do this.

The very first verse of Joel says this, the Lord, sorry, the word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

The prophet's name, Joel, it's Actually, there is no J sound in Hebrew.

Every time you see a J, it's really a Y sound.

And whenever you have a name that begins with Yo, or Yoho, like for instance, Yahoshua, Joshua, that tells you it has something to do with God's name, Jehovah or Yahweh.

And if it ends in L, you probably can guess.

So you string those together and put the word is in there and you get something like Yahweh or Jehovah is God.

And interestingly enough it appears 7 times in the book.

The word Zion also appears there, but we won't go any won't explore that.

And the very fact that this appears 7 times and it's kind of scattered evenly throughout the book just sort of suggests that even the prophets name tells us something about our own experience.

We need to be able to truly come to say the Lord is God.

Well, it's like anybody could say they accept Jesus as their Savior.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's genuine, right?

We need to come to understand what it really means to live out the fact that the Lord, He is God.

Now also, I thought this was interesting.

Well, it turns out that the word patah is the same word that you may know from the book of Hosea.

You know how it says, I will allure her, I will draw her into the wilderness, God's people.

So it's something like God, notice how it ends in L, God allures.

The Father is the God who allures, and His Son is Yahweh.

So it's just interesting that God has such a control over things that he can even choose people whose names are significant, and just the names themselves tell us something about the experience we're to have.

After this brief introduction, The book starts and says, has this been in your days or even in the days of your fathers?

Tell you your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation.

So I invite you Just look at that carefully there.

Has this been in your days or even in the days of your fathers?

When you look at the present, Joel's present right there, he says, okay, we can look back to the days of your fathers, has it been?

He says, but we start with your days, and then he says, now, okay, counting from you, you've got your children, right?

So you've got your own generation and your children, and then let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

So looked at that way, we're gonna go with 4.

Now I realize there's a prior generation, but we're going to move forward.

Now, in the next verse, he tells us what it is.

You know, what's this incredible thing that hasn't been?

He says, that which the palmer worm has left has the locust eaten.

And that which the locust has left hath the canker worm eaten.

And that which the canker worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.

So notice, that'll make it a little easier to count, you've got 4 animals that are all of the, we'll just say they're in the locust family.

There's not total agreement on exactly which kind these are, but it doesn't much matter.

Now, if you start browsing around a commentaries, which I've almost dispensed with entirely, they just bore me.

But if you look at them, you will see something like, is this a literal invasion of locusts or is it allegory or figurative or whatever and they put out all their thoughts there and I just look at it and think well I don't like guesswork.

I wonder if the Bible itself maybe even the book itself can make it clear.

Can the common man figure it out without seeing what scholar A, B, and C had to say?

And when A, B, and C don't agree, it's not helpful.

Well, it turns out the book itself is pretty clear And the Bible is so plain, I think that we don't have to worry worrying that we're being fanciful or anything else.

It says, for a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion.

He has the cheek teeth, the fangs of a great lion.

Just notice right there, it says a nation, right?

Okay, so let's just do the common sense test.

Holy or Hideous? Habakkuk’s Burden

Well, good morning, everyone, and I hope you're having a wonderful Sabbath.

Holy or hideous, Habakkuk's burden, so we're going to be continuing our study through the minor prophets, And 1 question that might be asked is, well, why would we study Habakkuk?

Anybody here heard a sermon on that recently?

All right, well, notice this statement that we're given right here.

This is from Review and Herald of November 10th, 1896, paragraph 11.

It says, as a people and as individuals, we need to have a deeper sense of our duty to God and our responsibility to the world.

I've been deeply impressed with the importance of studying the book of Daniel in connection with the smaller prophets, we commonly call them the minor prophets, especially Malachi.

And we need to give careful attention also to the lessons taught in the building of the tabernacle and the temple and in the temple service.

Through the prophets God has given a delineation of what will come to pass in the last days of this earth's history, and the Jewish economy is full of instruction for us.

So please notice right here, attention is drawn to studying the minor prophets.

And it says here that this is through these prophets, God has given a delineation of what will come to pass in the last days of this earth's history.

So it's very relevant for us to understand these prophets better.

And since I'm not aware that we've done a whole lot of examination on of them.

I figure this is a good time as good a time as any to get ourselves acquainted.

So I'm going to share this morning what I have personally learned thus far concerning Habakkuk.

Oh by the way before moving on notice also that as we study through the minor prophets we should pay a lot of attention to what it tells us about the building of the tabernacle, that would be Moses' tabernacle, and the temple, meaning Solomon's temple.

Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 1, it says, the burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw.

Now to understand the value of that very verse right there, God, it seems over and over in the Bible, has overseen events to the point where even people's names come under his review.

And he makes sure that certain key people have names that are very significant.

And Habakkuk is based on this Hebrew word here.

Folks, you'll see I've put it in orange, big letters on the screen there.

The word is Chabak, and that word means to embrace.

So let's give you a couple of verses from scripture to see kind of what that means Proverbs 4 8 we read exalt wisdom and she shall promote thee She shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her.'" When you havoc her.

Again, Proverbs 5.20, "'And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?" So, just based on that, we should expect that the prophet Habakkuk's message has something to do with exalting wisdom and perhaps also cautioning us against embracing a strange woman.

I believe in Revelation we know of a very strange woman that we are to avoid like the plague.

So with that in mind, let's go on and let's just see if that doesn't bear out in this book.

The chapter opens with Habakkuk pleading with the Lord.

It says here in Habakkuk 1 verse 2, How long, O Lord, literally Yahweh, shall I cry for help and you not hear?

How long shall I cry out to you about violence and you not save?" Verse 3, Why do you show me wickedness and make me behold wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me, there is strife and contention arises.

Anybody here recognize that things seem to be very wrong?

Wickedness does seem to be in the ascendancy and nothing seems to be checking it.

Notice verse 4, for this reason the law or literally Torah, now Torah doesn't literally mean law, it's better translated as instruction.

Instruction, law is slack and judgment or in this case righteous judgment never goes forth.

Since the wicked surround the righteous Perverted judgment goes forth.

Now I'm wondering here, does that not sound like it could aptly describe what's in our newspapers today?

Does it seem like every time you turn around that the wicked are getting away with their wickedness and people that seem to be innocent or guilty of just the most trivial little wrongs get the book thrown at them.

It does seem like it describes events that fit our day.

Now, The Lord is always pleased to answer us when we cry out to Him and tell Him our burdens.

The Lord responds to His prophet Habakkuk here.

He begins His response at verse 6 and He says, For now I am raising up the Chaldeans.

You realize the Chaldeans are none other than the Babylonians.

Now generally speaking in the scriptures are the Babylonians the good guys or are they the bad guys?

They're always presented in a negative light.

So God's solution to answer Habakkuk's plea for justice is to raise up the Babylonians, the bad guys?

You can see how this might be very unsettling to the Prophet and to us it seems confusing.

It doesn't seem on the surface to jive well with our overall understanding of Scripture.

Habakkuk 1 verse 9, it says, All of it, that is the nation of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, comes for violence.

Their face is set toward the east." Now by this time you know the Habakkuk must really be scratching his head thinking, wait a minute Lord, I've been crying out to you.

You've been pleased to answer me and you're saying your solution is to raise up the Chaldeans and you're saying that all of the nation comes for violence?

To understand what the Lord is saying here, let us notice a detail about what he just said.

He said that yes, all the nation of the Chaldeans comes for violence, but he also said their faces set toward the east.

If you study out the heading east, I recommend looking in the book of Genesis.

The very first mention of anybody heading east is in Genesis 4 16.

After Cain did his wicked deed with his brother Abel, it says that Cain headed east of Eden.

Genesis 11 verse 2, you will learn that the people who founded the Tower of Babel, they headed east to do so.

There are other mentions in the book of Genesis, I won't go over them here, but suffice it to say that if you study it out, you will find that over and again in the book of Genesis, people heading east is always followed by them getting into some sort of trouble.

I am not saying here that if you ever have to move east for a job or for mission service or anything else that that's necessarily evil.

I am saying that in the Bible, God points out that if wicked people move, he will tell you if they move east because the symbolism of the east is that it is associated with wrongdoing.

By the way, when Jesus comes, he comes from the east toward the west.

So when you head toward the east, you're taking the opposite path of Jesus.

Continuing on, Habakkuk 1 verse 11, It, referring once again to the nation of the Chaldeans, will pass through and become guilty, attributing his strength to his God, that is, his false God.

Now, everything that's been said here sounds bad.

And of course, you expect bad things of Babylon.

But the question comes, how could this then be God's solution to the prophet's plea?

So if you are too, you're in good company.

The prophet himself didn't fully understand it.

Notice here in Habakkuk 112, if you translate it literally it says, are not you from, not from of old, literally the expression from of old, literally it says, are not you from the east?

See, it just said that the Babylonians right there instead of verse 11 excuse me in verse 9 they have their faces set toward the east, apparently in the direction of God, against God, against His people.

And now Habakkuk, he's saying, well, are you not from the east, Yahweh, my God, my Holy 1?

Oh, Yahweh, you have appointed him as your agent for judgment.

Oh Rock, you founded him, that is the nation of Babylon, as your agent for correction.

Sanctuary in the Sea: Jonah

Father in heaven, thank you so much for these Sabbath hours.

Thank you for the chance to come together to be with you.

I ask that you will keep our hearts attuned right now that we can follow the thoughts.

I pray that they would be yours if there is anything that is incorrect.

I pray that you would alert me ahead of time, or else that you would blot that from people's minds and they would walk away only with truth.

May you equip us to be able to give this message with power to the world, Father.

Teach us what surrender is, that we can be conquerors.

We thank you in the name of Jesus and for his sake.

Well, we had our opening text here from Job 12, verse 8.

And if you've noticed in the Bible, there's a lot of things that we learn based on an understanding of nature.

The plants and the animals both are to teach us many lessons.

And so today we are going to take up some scripture or we're going to hopefully learn some lessons from that very thing.

And so this morning we're going to look at what I've entitled Sanctuary in the Sea.

We've been looking at different minor prophets.

So it shouldn't be too hard to guess which 1 this is here, we're in the sea.

And for those of you that have not been here for any of these presentations, let me just share with you 1 thought, just why consider any of the minor prophets.

And so Here's a text that I found that's very useful.

I've been deeply impressed with the importance of studying the book of Daniel in connection with the smaller prophets, especially Malachi, and we need to give careful attention to the lessons taught in the building of the tabernacle and in the temple service.

Through the prophets, God has given a delineation of what will come to pass in the last days of this earth's history and the Jewish economy is full of instruction for us.

Now this morning, we are going to look at a smaller prophet.

We're going to look at the book of Jonah, but also notice here it gives a few things.

It says it's good to do so in connection with the book of Daniel, but also directs our attention here to the temple and the temple service.

So this morning, as we look at Jonah, we're going to note some connections especially with the temple.

What I'd like to do here to begin with is in chapter 1 just make a few observations just starting at the beginning.

Jonah's given a commission, and God tells him, "'Arise, ' and then he tells him to go somewhere." Where is it that he's to go?

And then he also tells them, the reason is, their wickedness has come up, and he says, before me.

They might think, okay, why are we breaking that down into 4 pieces?

Well, notice, in verses 3 through 5, we find that Jonah did in fact arise and then instead of going to Nineveh he flees to Tarshish, so he does right the opposite.

And then it's interesting, God pointed out that the Ninevites' wickedness had come up before him.

But then the text very clearly says that Jonah went down to Joppa and he went down into the boat.

Sort of again going away from God, hinted at in the text.

And then it says here, fascinatingly enough, that he went down into the boat from before the Lord or before Yahweh.

The sins of the Nidavites came up before him.

So just looking at those right there, you see those 4 points, they match or they are opposite, but they go together, 4 pairs there.

Let me put it back on the screen there for you.

He's told to rise, go to Nineveh, for their wickedness has come up before me.

He goes down, he goes down from before the Lord.

And Jonah, on a scale of 1 to 10 as far as obedience, what would you give him there?

So in that case, if Nineveh's bad and Jonah's not following the directions too well, what does that suggest about him?

Kind of, sort of got a heart similar to that of Nineveh.

But he's also God's prophet, which is a little bit disturbing there, but there you have it.

Now, it tells us in verse 6 of chapter 1 that he goes down.

Now, your text is going to say to the sides of the ship.

But if you search out that word, you'll find out in Scripture it's generally something more like the extremities.

He goes down to the extremities of the ship, almost like he's going as far away from God as he can.

But then, here's another thing to look at.

I love to just look at words and look very carefully.

It turns out if you look up the word ship in chapter 1, there's more than 1 word translated to ship.

And right here in verse 6, it's not ship.

Well, you might wanna double check me right here.

Let me make sure I don't have a typo in front of me here?

Well, let me show you how that word is translated elsewhere and you just tell me.

First Kings 6, 9, referring to Solomon, it says, So he built the house and finished it, the house of the Lord, and he covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.

Does that look like ship would fit in that text?

A few verses later, 1st Kings 6 verse 15.

And again, Solomon built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house and the walls of the ceiling." It's not a ship, it's a ceiling.

1 Kings 7.7, again referring to Solomon, he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment.

And it was covered with cedar from 1 side of the floor to the other.

Nothing to do with ships, obviously, in this context.

We had, once it's translated as covered, another as a, oops, excuse me, one's as a ceiling, which if you will is a type of interior cover for your room, and then again, covered.

It's also covered with cedar in these contexts.

So when we go back to Jonah, yes, he's in a boat.

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