Tuesday – End of Revelation; Quick read of Joel

Readings: Rev 18:15-24, Rev 19:1-20, Joel 1:1-12, Joel 1:13-20, Joel 2:3-11

The daly readings that I’ve been using interestingly don’t take us through the end of Revelation. But it picks an interesting place to stop – the victory of the Lord. The Harlot – false religion – has been thrown down. All heaven, saints and elders and angels rejoice over that in song. Then Christ the King appears – the original rider on a white horse – backed by the armies of heaven. This rider and His army throw the political beast into the lake of fire. All that remains is final end of Satan himself and the new creation. Revelation is a very hard read because everything is pictures. Nothing is straight – but this section. We have seen cities fall in smoking heaps. We have heard merchants (maybe today we do hear them given the wailing about getting in on the bailout) crying about trading partners that made them rich evaporating (where is Bear Stearn and Lehman). We have seen commanders at the front of armies. We have seen wedding receptions. There is nothing fantasy or odd about the victory of Christ the King. The images are hard and real and true. Just as that Cross that produced the blood that dipped the riders gleaming white robe in blood is hard and real and true; the victory won on that cross for us will be completed. We can have no doubt. And that is the ultimate message from this hard book. All kinds of scary things, things we don’t understand will happen, but the Lord Jesus reigns – and he reigns for His people. And when their number is full and complete – everyone will see that hard and real and true reign.

Joel is a short book. He is one of the 12 minor prophets all collected in our bibles before the new testament. The Jews also collect these together as the book of the 12. In Sunday worship we’ve been reading snippets from some of these 12 prophets. They can be harsh. Almost all are calling to repentance and warning about exile and ruin. Joel is no different, but he tends to be softer and has an analogy. A locust swarm has devastated Judah. The crops are gone. The vineyards are picked clean. These locusts are used as a prefigurement of the Day of the Lord. Judah has received a call to repent through the locusts before the greater army comes in judgment. The Babylonians will come. The Romans after them in 70 AD will come. All are small letter days of the lord. The Day of the Lord will come and it brings judgment – who can endure it. In Christ we are able to stand. In Christ that day of judgment is our day of victory.