Day 199: Times for War

Isaiah 17:1-14 Ephraim (another name for the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the name of its largest tribe) was listed here with Damascus, the capital of Syria, because Israel and Syria were allies against Assyria, while Judah had remained a vassal of Assyria. In 735 BC, Syria and Israel attacked Judah in an effort to depose King Ahab, but Assyria stepped in to defend Judah and defeat the invaders. Thirteen years later, Assyria defeated Israel and exiled many of its people to Assyria. 

Joel 3:1-21 The Lord announced the future judgment on the last day of all people who refused to repent of their sins. At the same time, he promised to restore Israel to its former glory. This is an apocalyptic prophecy of the end times, with the establishment of the Kingdom of God as the New Israel intimately linked to the coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ, who would announce the definitive Kingdom of God and, thereby, usher in the final age. (CCC 678, 715, 1287)

Ch 3:10 Plowshares into swords...into spears: The prophet reversed the metaphorical exhortation of Isaiah and Micah to indicate the necessity to prepare for war of a spiritual nature by prayer and penance expressed in ritual offerings. The objective of this spiritual combat is to overcome sin and win others to repentance and conversion in the face of final judgment. (CCC 2243)

Ch 3:13 Mark’s Gospel makes a clear allusion to this verse in the parable about the seed and the harvest (cf. Mk 4:26-29).

Ch 3:14 Day of the Lord: This is the Final Judgment, the Second coming of Christ at the end of time. (CCC 677, 1021)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

• Fr. Mike forgot to mention yesterday that one of the really big deals in The Book of Joel Ch 2 

• Remember THE DAY OF THE LORD being a really big deal for Joel?

• Joel 2:28-29, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out my spirit.”

• This came to pass in the FEAST OF PENTECOST!!

• When St. Peter gave the speech on Pentecost in calling people to repentance, he quotes THIS VERY VERSE!

• Too bad Fr. Mike failed to mention this yesterday because IT IS A BIG DEAL

• THE DAY OF THE LORD not only HAPPENED with the locusts that destroyed the land, the armies that were going to invade and mow down and bring God’s justice and His invitation and call back to his heart

• THE DAY OF THE LORD that HAS come in PENTECOST and WILL COME AGAIN ultimately is what we heard today in Joel Ch 3

• This is SO INCREDIBLE AND IMPORTANT FOR US TO REALIZE!

• Joel ends talking about IN THAT DAY...

• What will happen after THE DAY OF THE LORD when justice ONCE AGAIN REIGNS?

• Joel 3:18, “And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water…”

• These people remembered what it was to live past this plague of locusts

• These people knew what it was to not have wine or milk

• These people knew what it was to not have food because the animals all died

• This was such a PALPABLE EXPERIENCE OF DESOLATION

• And the people did not want to go back to that

• So God’s CONSOLATION that he offers is DEFINITELY something that they want 

• Joel says something that kind of goes against what we read in Isaiah Ch 2 and in The Book of Micah

• Joel says in Ch 3:10, “Take your plowshares and beat them into swords. Take your pruning hooks and beat them into spears and let the weak say, ‘I am a warrior.’”

• Isaiah 2:4 says, “They are going to beat their swords into plowshares. They are going to beat their spears into pruning hooks…”

• Micah says the same thing

• And here is Joel who says they need to prepare for WAR because this is what is going to come

• We realize that ultimately in fulfillment we are meant to live in peace with God and with each other and within ourselves

• BUT…

• As the Book of Ecclesiastes said, THERE IS A TIME FOR WAR

• As long as we live in this world that is so brutal, this world that is marked by violence, there are going to be times when you have to take your plowshares and beat them into swords and take your pruning hooks and beat them into spears and say, “I’m a warrior.”

• Even the weak, not just the mighty, will say this

• It’s not God’s PLAN

• REMEMBER…

• The prophet’s job is not necessarily to FORETELL the future but to FORTHTELL 

• To be able to say, “In this moment, this is what you need to do, not because it is the best thing or that it is God’s plan necessarily, but because you might actually HAVE TO FIGHT.”

• Plowshares into swords

• Pruning hooks into spears

• It’s just the price, the cost of living in a world that has been BROKEN BY SIN

• The BIG CALL is not necessarily to take up arms against others in physical violence

• The CALL for us as CHRISTIANS is to be able to see the DEEPER SPIRITUAL REALITY about this

• Just like we saw the King of Babylon is an IMAGE of Lucifer

• Remember, St. Paul said, “Our battle is not with FLESH AND BLOOD but with PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS.”

• WITH DEMONS AND DARK FORCES THAT HAVE COME AGAINST US

• Even that brokenness in OURSELVES and the brokenness that gets manifested IN THE WORLD

• This is STILL a SPIRITUAL BATTLE that every single one of us is in the middle of

• So back in Isaiah Ch 16, there is an Oracle to Moab

• Moab is now modern day JORDAN right across the Jordan River on the east side of the Promised Land

• The Moabites had been enemies of Israel

• And so here is God saying, “Yeah that’s coming to you.”

• In Chs 16 and 17 we have an Oracle concerning Damascus

• The remnant in Syria will also experience the Justice of God

• Remember the Justice of God is ALWAYS oriented toward CONVERSION, GOODNESS, FULFILLMENT

• Even in Isaiah 17:7, “In that day men will regard their Maker…”

• Basically those pagan people, non Jewish people, and even those Jews who were living up there in Syria in the region of Damascus

• THEY WILL REGARD THEIR MAKER

• They will REMEMBER the fact that there is a God in Heaven

• “...Their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel…”

• They will realize all of this stuff, all this destruction, all the condemnation that is coming upon the people, and not just the people of Israel, but the people of the world, is meant to GET THEIR ATTENTION, it is meant to WAKE THEM UP!

• C.S. Lewis said, “We can ignore pleasure. We can ignore God speaking to us in good ways. But PAIN insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures. He speaks to us in our conscience. But SHOUTS IN OUR PAINS. PAIN IS GOD’S MEGAPHONE TO AROUSE A DEAF WORLD. No doubt, PAIN as God’s megaphone is a TERRIBLE instrument that may lead to FINAL and UNREPENTED REBELLION. BUT... it gives the ONLY opportunity for the bad man for amendment. It removes the veil. It plants the flag of truth within the fortress of the rebel soul.” 

• This is what God is saying

• C.S. was a modern day “prophet”

• This is what Isaiah is saying

• God’s punishment is ALWAYS oriented towards “TURN BACK TO ME!”

• Isaiah 17:7-8, “In that day men will regard their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel; they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.”

• In those days they will TURN BACK TO GOD because His voice was LOUD ENOUGH IN THEIR SUFFERING AND IN THEIR PAIN that they could actually LISTEN

• That is Fr. Mike’s prayer for himself

• “God, I don’t want you to make you bring me pain in order for me to listen. But even in the midst of pain help me listen to you, God.”

• And that’s a prayer for ALL OF US

• “No Lord, yeah, if I could just hear your voice without pain, Awesome. Fantastic. Let me turn to you. Let me repent of whatever I need to repent of. Let me belong to you fully. But if pain comes along, if suffering comes along, if justice, or even just evil that you allow to happen comes along, help me to hear your voice in the midst of that pain. When a storm comes along, Lord, help me to see your face in the midst of that storm. If tempests can kick up and are threatening to drown me, Lord, help me to have your heart in the midst of that pain.”

• That’s Fr. Mike’s prayer FOR YOU

• PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

• This is a GREAT WALK but we are all walking together and there is something about the fact that every single one of us who is listening to this is going through SOMETHING

• Every single one of us is facing SOME SORT OF BATTLE

• SOME KIND OF ENEMY

• SOME KIND OF OBSTACLE

• We can’t do this on our own

• So we pray for each other

• STICK WITH IT!!

• What’s going to happen is that we will see each other soon, maybe tomorrow

• Pray for me (Bobby) because I am so exhausted 😮‍💨

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and glory. We thank you so much, God, for your word. We thank you for the Prophet Joel who was with us for only two days. And yet, your prophet Joel not only prophesied that yes young men would see visions and dream dreams that’s fulfilled in the New Covenant, but also he calls us to repentance just like your Prophet Isaiah called the people of Judah and us to repentance as well. Help us to give our hearts to you more fully this day and every day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”