Book of Joel Chapter 2 Vs. 12

 Return to the Lord

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: Joel 2:12

Therefore also now... The 3rd section of the prophecy of Joel (Joel 2:12-32, unfulfilled; will be fulfilled in the restoration). Next, Joel 3:1.

Thirty-two Predictions—Unfulfilled:

1. Then (when Israel repents as commanded in Joel 2:12-17) the Lord will be jealous for His land and pity His people (Joel 2:18).

2. The Lord will answer and say unto His people, Behold, I will send you corn, wine, and oil (Joel 2:19).

3. You will be satisfied with it.

4. I will make you a reproach among the heathen no more.

5. I will remove the northern army (antichrist) far off from you (Joel 2:20).

6. I will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face to the east sea, and hinder part toward the utmost (Mediterranean) sea.

7. His stink and ill savor will come up (Joel 2:20; Eze. 39:11-16).

8. The land will be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things (Joel 2:21).

9. The pastures of the wilderness do spring up (Joel 2:22).

10. The trees will bear their fruit.

11. He will give you the former rain moderately (Joel 2:23).

12. He will cause the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, to come down for you in the first month.

13. The floors will be full of wheat.

14. The fats (vats) will overflow with wine and oil (Joel 2:24).

15. I will restore the years that the locust, the cankerworm, the caterpillar, and the palmerworm have eaten (Joel 2:25).

16. You will eat in plenty (Joel 2:26).

17. You will be satisfied.

18. You will praise the name of the Lord your God.

19. My people will never be ashamed (Joel 2:26-27).

20. You will know that I am in the midst of Israel (Joel 2:27).

21. You will know that I am the Lord your God, and none else.

22. It will come to pass afterward (after the restoration of Israel) that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28).

23. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.

24. Your old men will dream dreams.

25. Your young men will see visions.

26. Upon the servants and handmaids I will pour out My Spirit (Joel 2:29).

27. I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, fire, and pillars of smoke (Joel 2:30).

28. The sun will be turned into darkness.

29. The moon will be turned red like blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord (Joel 2:31).

30. It will come to pass that whosoever will call on the name of the Lord will be delivered (Joel 2:32).

31. In Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as God has said.

32. There will be deliverance in the remnant of Israel whom the Lord will call.

Therefore also...

גַּם

gam

gam

By contraction from an unused root meaning to gather; properly assemblage; used only adverbially also, even, yea, though; often repeated as correlation both... and: - again, alike, also, (so much) as (soon), both (so) . . . and, but, either . . . or, even, for all, (in) likewise (manner), moreover, nay . . . neither, one, then (-refore), though, what, with, yea.

Now...

עַתָּה

‛attâh

at-taw'

From H6256; at this time, whether adverbial, conjugational or expletive: - henceforth, now, straightway, this time, whereas.

Saith...

נְאֻם

n^e'ûm

nah-oom'

From H5001; an oracle: - (hath) said, saith.

the Lord...

יְהֹוָה

y^ehôvâh

yeh-ho-vaw'

From H1961; (the) self-Existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God: - Jehovah, the Lord. Compare H3050, H3069.

Before this terrible and intolerable day, which is near at hand, comes. Before these judgments and calamities threatened take place, though just at hand; serious repentance is never too late, now is the accepted time (see Luke 19:42).

turn ye even... In the day when He will come with His army to take over the kingdoms of the world, turn to Him with all your heart, and rend your heart with fasting, weeping, and mourning, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He repents (changes His mind) regarding the evil He has done to you (Joel 2:12-14). Against whom they had sinned, and who had prepared his army against them, and was at the head of it, just ready to give the orders, and play his artillery upon them.

And yet suggests, that even now, that if they turned to the Lord by true repentance, not, feignedly and hypocritically, but cordially and sincerely, with true hearts, and with their whole hearts, he was ready to receive and forgive them.

turn...

שׁוּב

shûb

shoob

A primitive root; to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point); generally to retreat; often adverbially again: - ([break, build, circumcise, dig, do anything, do evil, feed, lay down, lie down, lodge, make, rejoice, send, take, weep]) X again, (cause to) answer (+ again), X in any case (wise), X at all, averse, bring (again, back, home again), call [to mind], carry again (back), cease, X certainly, come again (back) X consider, + continually, convert, deliver (again), + deny, draw back, fetch home again, X fro, get [oneself] (back) again, X give (again), go again (back, home), [go] out, hinder, let, [see] more, X needs, be past, X pay, pervert, pull in again, put (again, up again), recall, recompense, recover, refresh, relieve, render (again), X repent, requite, rescue, restore, retrieve, (cause to, make to) return, reverse, reward, + say nay, send back, set again, slide back, still, X surely, take back (off), (cause to, make to) turn (again, self again, away, back, back again, backward, from, off), withdraw.

ye even to...

עַד

‛ad

ad

Properly the same as H5703 (used as a preposition, adverb or conjugation; especially with a preposition); as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with): - against, and, as, at, before, by (that), even (to), for (-as much as), [hither-] to, + how long, into, as long (much) as, (so) that, till, toward, until, when, while, (+ as) yet.

The Targum is, “turn ye to my worship with all your heart”.

with all your... In view of this the elders, priests, ministers, children, and entire congregation were called to fast and pray for mercy (Joel 2:15-17). External signs of inward grief and sorrow, testifying their hearty return to the Lord, which, though, without the heart, signify nothing, yet should be shown where hearty repentance is, for the honor and glory of God.

me with all...

כּוֹל כֹּל

kôl kôl

kole, kole

From H3634; properly the whole; hence all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense): - (in) all (manner, [ye]), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, [no-] thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso (-ever).

your heart...

לֵבָב

lêbâb

lay-bawb'

From H3823; the heart (as the most interior organ); used also like H3820: - + bethink themselves, breast, comfortably, courage, ([faint], [tender-] heart([-ed]), midst, mind, X unawares, understanding.

צֹם צוֹם

tsôm tsôm

tsome, tsome

From H6684; a fast: - fast (-ing).

and with weeping...

בְּכִי

b^ekı̂y

bek-ee'

From H1058; a weeping; by analogy, a dripping: - overflowing, X sore, (continual) weeping, wept.

and with mourning...

מִסְפֵּד

mispêd

mis-pade'

From H5594; a lamentation: - lamentation, one mourneth, mourning, wailing.

This is for the near time of Joel, and for now, as well. God’s people must fast and pray in sincerity. The prayers must come from our hearts, and God will hear and answer our prayers.

There is such a spread of A.I.D.S & COVID that it threatens to wipe out many of our children and grandchildren. This, in my opinion, is a judgment of God upon a society that has gone mad. Only God can stop it. We must call our nation to true repentance now.

Renewed Call to Repentance

Before such an invincible army the nation’s only hope was to turn immediately even now, Joel 2:12) to the Lord in repentance. This section contains two formal appeals for repentance (Joel 2:12-14, 2:15-17). The first concludes with a motivational section (introduced by for, Joel 2:13-14).

An appeal for a sincere change of heart

The Appeal

The Lord Himself urged the people to repent with genuine sincerity (cf. with all your heart and rend your heart and not your garments) accompanied by fasting and weeping and mourning. Repentance is the desired outcome of the Lord’s judgments (cf. Deut. 4:30; 30:1-2; Hos. 3:4-5; Amos 4:6-11).

Book of 1 John Chapter 2 Vs. 22

 Warning Concerning Antichrists

1 John 2:22 "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son."

Who is a... Question 1. Next, 1Jhn. 3:12.

A liar (ὁ ψεύστης)

Rev., correctly, the liar. For a similar interrogative phrase see 1Jhn. 5:5. It marks the lively feeling with which the apostle writes. By the definite article, the liar, the lie is set forth in its concrete personality: the one who impersonates all that is false, as antichrist represents every form of hostility and opposition to Christ. The denial that Jesus is the Christ is the representative falsehood. He that denies is the representative liar.

that Jesus is... Three false doctrines of that day:

1. That Jesus is not the Christ.

2. That God is not the Father of Jesus.

3. That Jesus is not the Son of God.

The Jews and the Gnostics in particular denied the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus Christ. They considered Him a common man, the son of Joseph and Mary (Mat. 13:55-57; Mark 6:3).

He is antichrist... Anti means against. To deny Jesus brings death to the one who denies. Jesus is Life and Truth. Christ interchanges with Messiah. These that John is speaking to, then are possibly those looking for Messiah, and did not recognize Him in Jesus. To deny the Son, is to deny the Father who sent Him.

He that denieth (ὁ ἀρνούμενος)

The article with the participle denotes the habitual denial. Lit., the one denying, the one who habitually represents this attitude towards Christ. The words are aimed at the heresy of Cerinthus, a man of Jewish decent and educated at Alexandria. He denied the miraculous conception of Jesus, and taught that, after His baptism, the Christ descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and that He then announced the unknown Father and wrought miracles; but that, towards the end of His ministry, the Christ departed again from Jesus, and Jesus suffered and rose from the dead, while the Christ remained impassible (incapable of suffering) as a spiritual being.

Literally, the liar: He is the epitome of a lying deceiver who claims to represent Christianity as John’s opponents, probably Gnostics, were doing, but who accords Jesus Christ less than His full due as Savior and coequal partner with the Father.

These should be sobering words for modern understandings of religion and Christianity which deny Christ His scriptural status by making Him less than fully divine.

The Father

The title the Father occurs always in its simple form in the Epistle. Never his or our Father, or the Father in heaven.

The antichrists are liars for they deny that Jesus is the Christ, that is, God’s Son and the appointed Savior (cf. John 4:29, 4:42; 20:31). Could this be the Christ? she asked them. More literally, her question was, This couldn’t be the Messiah, could it? The question expected a tentative negative answer. She framed the question this way, in all probability, because she knew the people would not respond favorably to a dogmatic assertion from a woman, especially one of her reputation. Just as Jesus had captured her attention by curiosity, so she raised the people’s curiosity. They decided to investigate this matter.

Book of Joel Chapter 2 Vs. 11

 The Day of the Lord

And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Joel 2:11

And the Lord...

יְהֹוִה

y^ehôvih

yeh-ho-vee'

A variation of H3068 (used after H136, and pronounced by Jews as H430, in order to prevent the repetition of the same sound, since they elsewhere pronounce H3068 as H136): - God.

shall utter His... Nature has not gone awry; the locusts are not beyond God’s control. They move at His specific command.

נָתַן

nâthan

naw-than'

A primitive root; to give, used with great latitude of application (put, make, etc.): - add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, X avenge, X be ([healed]), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit consider, count, + cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute do, X doubtless, X without fail, fasten, frame, X get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), X have, X indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), + lie, lift up, make, + O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, X pull, put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up). + sing, + slander, strike, [sub-] mit, suffer, X surely, X take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, + weep, X willingly, + withdraw, + would (to) God, yield.

His voice...

קֹל קוֹל

qôl qôl

kole, kole

From an unused root meaning to call aloud; a voice or sound: - + aloud, bleating, crackling, cry (+ out), fame, lightness, lowing, noise, + hold peace, [pro-] claim, proclamation, + sing, sound, + spark, thunder (-ing), voice, + yell.

before His army...

חֵל חֵיל

chêyl chêl

khale, khale

A collateral form of H2428; an army; also (by analogy) an entrenchment: - army, bulwark, host, + poor, rampart, trench, wall.

for the day... The prophet concluded with a rhetorical question (Who can endure it?), to suggest that no one can endure this great and dreadful day (cf. Mal. 3:2; Mal. 4:5).

for His camp... These creatures are certainly at his beck and command: He can command the locust to devour the land (Chr. 7:13); which may be meant by his uttering his voice here; though Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it of the Lord’s giving notice of this judgment by his prophets before it was known.

מַחֲנֶה

machăneh

makh-an-eh'

From H2583; an encampment (of travelers or troops); hence an army, whether literally (of soldiers) or figuratively (of dancers, angels, cattle, locusts, stars; or even the sacred courts): - army, band, battle, camp, company, drove, host, tents.

for He is... For the Day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it? The day appointed by the Lord to take vengeance on the Jews for sin. And this, being the day of his wrath, is very dreadful and intolerable.

So any season may be called, in which God remarkably pours down his wrath on men because of their sins (see Rev. 6:17). Such was the time of Jerusalem’s destruction, both by the Chaldean's and Romans.

This could be the army of the locusts, or the army of the LORD that is made up of all the believers in Christ. The weapon that each of them use, is the Word of God (two-edged sword). This army is obedient to the wishes of the LORD. The answer is no one can abide against God.

עָצֻם עָצוּם

‛âtsûm ‛âtsûm

aw-tsoom', aw-tsoom'

Passive participle of H6105; powerful (specifically a paw); by implication numerous: - + feeble, great, mighty, must, strong.

that executed His word...

דָּבָר

dâbâr

daw-bawr'

From H1696; a word; by implication a matter (as spoken of) of thing; adverbially a cause: - act, advice, affair, answer, X any such (thing), + because of, book, business, care, case, cause, certain rate, + chronicles, commandment, X commune (-ication), + concern [-ing], + confer, counsel, + dearth, decree, deed, X disease, due, duty, effect, + eloquent, errand, [evil favoured-] ness, + glory, + harm, hurt, + iniquity, + judgment, language, + lying, manner, matter, message, [no] thing, oracle, X ought, X parts, + pertaining, + please, portion, + power, promise, provision, purpose, question, rate, reason, report, request, X (as hast) said, sake, saying, sentence, + sign, + so, some [uncleanness], somewhat to say, + song, speech, X spoken, talk, task, + that, X there done, thing (concerning), thought, + thus, tidings, what [-soever], + wherewith, which, word, work.

for the day...

יוֹם

yôm

yome

From an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literally (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figuratively (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverbially): - age, + always, + chronicles, continually (-ance), daily, ([birth-], each, to) day, (now a, two) days (agone), + elder, X end, + evening, + (for) ever (-lasting, -more), X full, life, as (so) long as (. . . live), (even) now, + old, + outlived, + perpetually, presently, + remaineth, X required, season, X since, space, then, (process of) time, + as at other times, + in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), X whole (+ age), (full) year (-ly), + younger.

of the Lord...

יְהֹוִה

y^ehôvih

yeh-ho-vee'

A variation of H3068 (used after H136, and pronounced by Jews as H430, in order to prevent the repetition of the same sound, since they elsewhere pronounce H3068 as H136): - God

great and very terrible...

יָרֵא

yârê'

yaw-ray'

A primitive root; to fear; morally to revere; causatively to frighten: - affright, be (make) afraid, dread (-ful), (put in) fear (-ful, -fully, -ing). (be had in) reverence (-end), X see, terrible (act, -ness, thing).

and who can... Question 3. Next, Joel 2:14.

מִי

mı̂y

me

An interrogitive pronoun of persons, as H4100 is of things, who? (occasionally, by a peculiar idiom, of things); also (indefinitely) whoever; often used in oblique construction with prefix or suffix: - any (man), X he, X him, + O that! what, which, who (-m, -se, -soever), + would to God.

abide it...

כּוּל

kûl

kool

A primitive root; properly to keep in; hence to measure; figuratively to maintain (in various senses): - (be able to, can) abide, bear, comprehend, contain, feed, forbearing, guide, hold (-ing in), nourish (-er), be present, make provision, receive, sustain, provide sustenance (victuals).

Rev. 17:14 “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him [are] called, and chosen, and faithful.”

Rev. 19:11 “And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him [was] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”

The prophet concluded this with a rhetorical question (Who can endure it?), to suggest that no one can endure this great and dreadful day (cf. Mal. 3:2; 4:5). If the army in Joel 2:1-11 was in Joel’s day, it may foreshadow the army in Joel 3:1-21.

Book of 1 John Chapter 2 Vs. 21

 Warning Concerning Antichrists

1 John 2:21 "I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth."

I have not... I write to confirm the truth you already know, and to warn you against those who would seduce you (1Jhn. 2:26-27).

I have not written (οὐκ ἔγραψα)

Or I wrote not. Or, strictly, I wrote. Compare I write (1Jhn. 2:12, 2:13), and note the change of tense. The past tense, I wrote, does not refer to some previous writing, as the Gospel, but, like the present, to this Epistle. The present, I write, refers to the immediate act of writing: the aorist is the epistolary aorist, by which the writer places himself at the reader's stand-point, regarding the writing as past. See on 1Pet. 5:12. I write, therefore, refers to the Apostle's immediate act of writing; I have written, or I wrote, to the reader's act of reading the completed writing.

As a result of their anointing, the readers perhaps primarily the church leaders had adequate instruction in the truth of God. John wrote them precisely because their apprehension of the truth was correct and because… the truth should never be confused with a lie.