God's Prophetic Promise - The Holy Spirit

Intro: We live in an era of broken promises. Nations sign important treaties and then break them at will. And many couples show little regard for their wedding vows.   This has even been true historically.

Kings of Italy and Bohemia both promised safe transport and safe custody to the great pre-Reformation Bohemian reformer, John Hus. Both, however, broke their promises, leading to Hus's martyrdom in 1415. Earlier, Thomas Wentworth had carried a document signed by King Charles I which read, 'Upon the word of a king you shall not suffer in life, honour, or fortune." It was not long, however, before Wentworth's death warrant was signed by the same monarch!

This is still true today.  In this kind of society, we who are God's people should be known for keeping our promises.

The brilliant Christian scholar and writer C. S. Lewis took that truth seriously. He was determined to pay what he had vowed. His biography tells of the suffering he endured because he kept a promise he had made to a buddy during World War I. This friend was worried about the care of his wife and small daughter if he should be killed in battle, so Lewis assured him that if that were to happen he would look after them. As the war dragged on, the man was killed. True to his word, Lewis took care of his friend's family. Yet no matter how helpful he tried to be, the woman was ungrateful, rude, arrogant, and domineering. Through it all, Lewis kept forgiving her. He refused to let her actions become an excuse to renege on his promise.

However, too often, CS Lewis’ actions are the exception to the rule and not the norm when it comes to God’s people.  Could you imagine if God was like that?  Breaking His promises whenever it was inconvenient or convenient.  Fortunately the Scriptures remind us of this:

“if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” – 2 Tim 2:13

God is always faithful, and expresses this in His promises of mercy, which He has always shown His people.

Context:  Today’s text is from the book of Joel.  We do not know a lot about the Prophet Joel, essentially just his name and his father’s name (Pethuel).  Scholars are not sure when Joel was written, with dates ranging from well before the Babylonian Captivity, to after the return from exile.  What we do know is that a terrible disaster had befallen Judah.  They had experienced a great disaster.  Again, we are not sure if the mention of locusts is a literal swarm of locusts, or is symbolic of a neighbouring nation that had raided Israel.  It seems, based on the mentions of armies from the north, and other phrases used in Joel, that it was probably the latter.  What is not at issue is that this devastation was sent by the Lord.  Look at Joel 2:11; it identifies the Lord as the head of the army.  We also know that Israel had a lot of problems keeping their covenant with the Lord.  Most of the Old Testament historical books frequently mention Israel’s failure to keep their covenant, leading the Lord to send punishment in various forms, be it drought, illness, or invading foreigners.  Which bring us to this part of the text.  God has sent punishment, yet what he desires is not pain and suffering, but repentance and blessing for his people. 

1st Point – God’s Mercy and Compassion

-          we see at the beginning of this text that sees His people and pities them.  The Hebrew has a connotation of sparing someone. Israel has been punished and God shows compassion to his people.  Though Israel has broken the Mosaic covenant, and rightly deserved God’s wrath and judgement, God will see their pain, hear their prayers of repentance and restore the land.

-          God is holy and just.  Throughout Scripture, God sends punishment when His people sin and rebel against Him.  The whole book of Judges seems to revolve around Israel’s sinfulness and unwillingness to obey God.  However, God also relents when His people cry out to Him.  We also see God relent and send a leader to deliver His people.

-          For those of us who live under the new covenant, we are (or should be) aware of God’s mercy and compassion, realizing our sin has separated us from God, but through Christ Jesus, we have received ultimate mercy and compassion.  Paul reminds us in Ephesians that while we dead in our sins, he still saved us (Ephesians 2:1-10).

-          God cares about His people.  They are His people and He has made a covenant with them 

2nd Point – God’s Faithfulness to His Covenant

-          God is faithful; I’ll say it again: God is faithful.  Remember 2 Tim 2:13; even when we are not faithful, He always will be because it is essential to who He is

-          There are several times in Scripture makes a covenant with specific people.  He makes one with Noah after the flood, promising to never destroy the world via a flood (Gen 9:1-17).  He makes a covenant with Abraham, promising him more offspring than the stars in the sky (Gen 15).  He also makes a specific covenant with Israel through Moses.  This is the blessings and curses covenant that we see played out between the book of Exodus and the NT.

-          Earlier in the book of Joel, we see that Israel had failed to keep their responsibilities in their covenant relationship with the Lord.  As such, they had seen God’s hand of punishment.  From verses 18 onward, we see God’s promises to restore Israel when they had repented.  Look at these phrases: “I am sending grain, new wine and oil (Joel 2:19)… I will drive the northern army far from you (Joel 2:20)… I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25)… God is faithful to His covenant.  He fulfills His promises.

3rd Point – God’s Promise – The Spirit

-          in Joel 2:28-32, we see a promise from the Lord that many are familiar with; the promise of His Spirit.  The Lord was making a promise to the people of Israel that one day all people would have His Spirit on them

-          at this point in biblical history, God’s people are identified by circumcision and by obedience to the Torah.  The Holy Spirit only seems to come upon people for certain purpose, such as Bezalel in Exodus 35:31.  God’s people at this point are defined by only externals

-          God’s promise of the Spirit is mentioned different ways in the OT.  In Jeremiah 31, God tells Israel He will make a new covenant that will be different, and will involve writing His law on their hearts.  In Ezekiel 37, the Lord tells the prophet Ezekiel that he will give the Holy Spirit to His people, and they will live again

-          Next week, we will look specifically at Acts 2, but I want to point out now that in that chapter the Lord mostly fulfills this prophecy.  I say mostly, because Peter ends with the first part of Joel 2:32.  There is a period that is mentioned in this text that seems to speak to a later day, something yet to come for the people of Israel.

Application

1)       Since we know that God is gracious and compassionate, we should come in humility to the Lord, confessing our sin and seeking his forgiveness.  1 John 1:9 states: “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”  God wants to forgive us and restore relationship with us.

2)       We can trust God to keep His promises because He is always faithful.  There are many times in life when we get discouraged, especially when we face trials.  One of the primary promises of Scripture for believers is the promise of His presence.  Hebrew 13:5 reminds us that neither will he leave us nor will he forsake us

3)       Though we face hardship now, we know that God is not done yet and will set this world right.  Right now, we experience God’s presence in the Holy Spirit, yet we still see the effects of sin in the world.  In Revelation, God completely fulfills His promises, eradicating evil and setting the world right.

Conclusion

“Promises, Promises” is a phrase used when we do not believe the person making the promise.  We should never use this phrase with God.  He will always keep his promise, even if we think it is taking to long.  God is gracious and compassionate.  He remembers His people and will forgive us when we seek Him.  God is always faithful to the covenant He has made with His people.  He is faithful to Israel under the Old Covenant, and through Jesus, he is faithful to the New covenant he has made with all people.  Finally, we can look forward to the future, knowing that God keeps his promises.  He has never broken a promise, and He never will.  Since we know God is faithful, let us strive to be just as faithful to Him, filled with His holy fire.