God the Destroyer

In Joel 2:1-14, God is preparing to utterly destroy Zion and all its inhabitants, similar to His plans for Nineveh. God also destroyed many who came out from Egypt, as well as countless other Christians and chosen Israelites. In fact, God will destroy multitudes and only save a remnant most times. Sure God destroys the Philistines/ non-Israelites and non-Christians, but has an especially severe destruction for Christians and His chosen (Joel 2:14). In both instances (Nineveh also) fasting was involved, indicating that this was the only way they would be saved. Also, with Hezekiah (Is 38). They fasted and prayed and were spared, but if they hadn’t, or if they failed, then Gis said He would not just kill them, but utterly destroy them.

‭‭Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬ ‭
1 Blow the [a]trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;
For the day of the Lord is coming,
For it is at hand:
2 A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.
A people come, great and strong,
The like of whom has never been;
Nor will there ever be any such after them,
Even for many successive generations.
3 A fire devours before them,
And behind them a flame burns;
The land is like the Garden of Eden before them,
And behind them a desolate wilderness;
Surely nothing shall escape them.
4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like swift steeds, so they run.
5 With a noise like chariots
Over mountaintops they leap,
Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,
Like a strong people set in battle array.
6 Before them the people writhe in pain;
All faces [c]are drained of color.
7 They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like men of war;
Every one marches in formation,
And they do not break ranks.
8 They do not push one another;
Every one marches in his own [d]column.
Though they lunge between the weapons,
They are not [e]cut down.
9 They run to and fro in the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses,
They enter at the windows like a thief.
10 The earth quakes before them,
The heavens tremble;
The sun and moon grow dark,
And the stars diminish their brightness.
11 The Lord gives voice before His army,
For His camp is very great;
For strong is the One who executes His word.
For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible;
Who can endure it?
A Call to Repentance

12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord,
“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
13 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.
14 Who knows if He will turn and relent,
And leave a blessing behind Him—
A grain offering and a drink offering
For the Lord your God?

All life is a gift from God, it is not a right and God having g given will also, in his time,take away that life

The question is. What do we do with what God has given us?
Johm3:18 is a dreadful warning.

God usually calls us to do the impossible, or our own actions get us in trouble (which was the case with Nineveh). God then requires us to obey Him to the tee or He will allow “the Day of the Lord” to come upon us. The threat is always present. Even Paul acknowledged God’s severity and wrath. The destructive a d and anger of the Father also demonstrates the different personalities if the Trinity - God the Father who lives to bring wrath and destroy, God the Son who loves and intercedes, and God the Holy Spirit who equips us and gives us power to obey Jesus.

Do you even know what the Day of the Lord is? I doubt you do.

Yeah, Joel 2, or maybe you can fill me in oh high and puffed up almighty knowledgeable master. God’s impending attack on Zion. Most of the OT is God’s judgement on the Israelites, in fact Deut 18 is a good example of the ratio of God’s blessings on obedience (v 1-14) vs God’s judgement on their disobedience (v 15-68). Do you even know what Gods judgement is? I doubt you do.

No.

So I would imagine you are about t Lemme ask you this? What would have happened to Jonah if he hadn’t repented? Also, what would have happened to Zion (Joel 2:15) had they not fasted. What would have happened to Nineveh if they had not fasted?

The DAY OF THE LORD is yet future. This is when Jesus Christ returns at the 7th trump. Christ establishes His Kingdom on earth, ending this flesh age. For Christians, those who have persevered until the very end, there is the first resurrection to eternal life (immortality). ….And Satan is cast into prison where he is held captive for a millennium. Jesus Christ has returned in all of His majesty, bringing with Him His army of saints. Read Revelation 19-20.

@Burn1986 : Are you feeling all right?!

@Burn1986 : I mean, you're not on something, are you?!

So, if they don’t fast then they will/ would have suffered utter destruction. What happens in Duet 28:15-68 (Curses will chase you down and overtake you). The point is we are all given a choice. Gods sits by waiting. And the fact of the matter is that when God has told you to do something, he expects it or He will allow destruction to come on us and our whole families. Could we say more Israelites died in the OT from Gods judgement than lived? How many from the first generation of over 2 million went in to the promised land - two. How many more did God kill in battle, with sickness, catastrophes? How many Christians today will end up as casualties?

For some it’s almost better that they don’t get saved. It’s all fun at first and everything is great. Then it begins. There’s a reason Jesus tells them “… with persecutions…” it’s funny how we just kind of glaze over that part. Persecutions are just that - hurtful and horrible.

So you’re afraid of persecution?

2 Peter 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

His chosen are to be redeemed through the refiners fire affliction indeed

Yes if you read until the end of the prophets you finds this conclusion

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.”
‭‭Malachi‬ ‭3:1‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
‭‭Malachi‬ ‭4:5-6‬ ‭KJV‬‬

then the gospel begins fulfilling that

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, Which shall prepare thy way before thee. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭1:1-2, 4‬ ‭

“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elijah , which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:13-15‬ ‭KJV‬‬

my point to your op is Jerusalem was chosen

“but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.”
‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭6:6‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”
‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭3:2‬ ‭KJV‬‬

And they would destroy themselves

“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭21:20‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭23:37-38‬ ‭KJV‬‬

He chose then but then

“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22:2-9‬ ‭KJV‬‬

We can see the chosen we’re destroyed not by him by his intent he had invited them but they refused his invite but by themselves rejecting his offer of salvation

ultimately God isnt trying to destroy anyone he’s trying to save everyone . We destroy our own selves when we reject his many warnings of destruction like Adam did

“Dont eat the fruit it will surely kill you “

this is not Gods attempt to destroy man but to save them keep them safe from harm if we listen to him we’ll live rather than the fate ahead of everyone now which is death

Keep in mind, it was only until the Israelites were threatened with utter death, that God opened up the Red Sea. It was only when Jonah was dying that God came through. Lazarus had to die and sit for four days until he was raised. God the Father made his relatives wallow for a little bit until He was satisfied. Job lost his whole family and his health until God was satisfied. Manasseh and the other kings, even later with Nero, killed scores of Christians until God the Father was satisfied. God made an example of Jesus. What makes us think we will escape destruction from God?

Ultimately, Jesus connects to the prophesy in Joel and shows us what he is prophesying about: the Second Coming

The Summary meaning to Joel 3 in the Hebrew [Tanakh] where it was written FIRST:
1. And it shall come to pass that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh before the great and terrible day of HaShem come



We know this is about the Second Coming because Joel describes the Tribulation Period when Jesus Returns:
3. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

4. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of HaShem come.

^
It matches the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory

From the Book of Job we see 2 things immediately.

1. God allows trials and tribulations because it ultimately shows where the person suffering is loyal to. Do they go to God, try to fix it themselves, give up? And do they remain faithful during the entire trial.

2. Satan made accusations like if there was no Hedge of Protection Job would curse You and die. So Satan is seeking where you are weakest at.

The fact is we will have at least 10 trials/tribulations in our lives if we live long enough. It's safe to say in the first trials we learned some hard lessons and by the time we got to the final trials we immediately said to God I trust You, give this to You, You handle it.

If we read the Bible it seems to point we go through trials because everyone of us will have our own "Hour of Trouble."

The Bible shows 3 times when they tried to kill Jesus that He escaped and said it was not His Hour yet.
But in the Last Supper and in the Garden Jesus said my Hour has come.
And we know the sufferings and Death of Jesus.
And we know the Victory that follows.

All throughout Church History we see a same pattern.

The problem for us, today, is we know where we are at on the timeline from Adam until now. We know the prophesies that tell us what is going to happen in the next possible months and very short years if that long. We know the [[Generation]] of people in Daniel, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 24, Thessalonians 5, Revelation is literally US RIGHT NOW.

We also know that the Prophet Joel said God would be ""Pouring out His Spirit"" on [ALL flesh] until the Second Coming. That tells us there is going to be Suffering. Even if we are "Rapture" there will be Suffering before it takes place. The true WRATH doesn't even happen until the midpoint when the antichrist sits in the Temple proclaiming to be God and makes WAR on the Saints.

That tells us, some of us, if not most of us, maybe even all of us, will have our own HOUR.

The Bible also tells us there will be a Great Falling Away. This seems to be connected to the ""HOUR.""

So learn from your trials and tribulations now. Learn to immediately to give it to God, trust in God, remain faithful to God until it ends. For your HOUR is coming. And for many, this will be the FIRE that confirms or separates people from God.

Yeah, we are probably all afraid of persecutions. I’m not gonna take off gleefully running right into the Lions mouth, duh. That’s not the right context here, though. Jesus talks about a hundredfold blessing with persecution’s (or attacks) attached. We’re all gonna face persecutions if we’re seeking God.