Now, I'd like you all please to turn to the next verses that we are going to look at this afternoon in the prophet Joel, Joel chapter 2. We are going to deal today from verse 12 of chapter 2 into verse 27 of the same chapter. I'm going to read those verses, Joel chapter 2, verse 12 to 27. Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your heart, and not your garments. And turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Who knoweth if he will turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion. Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the people. Sanctify the congregation. Assemble the elders. Gather the children and those that suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests and ministers or servants of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar. And let them say, spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to a reproach that the heathen should rule over them.

Why should they say among the people, Where is their God? Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Yet the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn and wine and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith. And I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen, But I will remove far off from you the northern army and I will drive him into a land barren and desolate with his face towards the east sea and his hinder parts towards the uttermost sea and his stink shall come up and his ill savor shall come up because he has done great things.

Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for the pasture of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, For he has given you the former rain moderately. And he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month. And the floor, that is the threshing floor, shall be full of wheat. And that shall overflow with wine and oil.

And I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten. and a canker worm, and a caterpillar, and a polymer worm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you, and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and none else, and my people shall never be ashamed. And I stop here with the reading. I think it is always wonderful to me that when we study the prophets, when we read the prophets, you can see the two sides of the story.

On the one hand, you see God's disciplining his people. After all, remember, God raised prophets to Israel in order that the prophets will speak to the nation. The prophets will speak to the nation for correction, for instruction. And that's why God raised prophets, men of God, men of old, have spoken to the people of Israel in order that Israel will listen to the voice of God and be in obedience, live a life that will be honoring to the Lord. And you know, beloved brothers and sisters, thank God that in the present day in which you and I live in today, in the church of Yeshua the Messiah God also raised men whom he had gifted and not only had gifted to talk but he had exercised their hearts to speak to us to you and I and the reason that we need these brothers in a public way and these sisters in this field that God had given to them to speak to God's people that we will be restored to the Lord thank God but the same message that is being proclaimed through the prophet is not only for condemnation but there is also a message of the love of God for restoration for the people of God you will notice now in the section in which we have read today from Joel 2 verses 12 all the way to verse 27 there are a few beautiful points that have been brought up.

Let me remind you. In chapter 1, we have covered already in the present time when Joel was preaching to the nation of Judah, there was already a locust invasion. Destroyed the crap. Everything had been in a terrible shape. God asked the nation, repent that I will bless you. I will restore to you the blessing that I had for you. Then from verse 13 on, He moved forward and he began to speak to the nation about a future invasion that we have dealt with it already, a demonic invasion. We have connected that with Revelation chapter 9. In this text, beloved, he's speaking about a third invasion in a very short way.

Just give us a glimpse about it. And it's no longer a locust invasion. It's no longer a demonic invasion in the middle of the tribulation. but he's speaking about a human army which will invade the land which God will deal with. In fact, it is very much known by other passages as the Battle of Har Megiddo, Armageddon. And we are speaking about it in a moment, but before we even get to these verses, notice what he does. Always, God desires to see his people restored and he desires to see repentance from his own people. So look what he says, verses 12 to 17, he is calling them to repent.

Just like he has done in chapter 1 when he asked them in verses 13 and 14 where he said to them, Lie all night in sackcloth, chapter 1, ye ministers of God, for the meat offering and the drink offering have been holden from the house of your God. sanctified a fast call a solemn assembly repent he said in chapter 1 after the invasion of the locusts now he's speaking forward to the future day and he's saying to them in chapter 2 verses 12 to 17 he says you're going to have a time where there will be an awful time in that day the day of the Lord and if you are going to repent I'm going to answer and I'm going to bless you so notice what he does verses 12 to 17 he called them to repentance first of all verse 12 in verse 12 he asked them to turn to god with all their heart notice chapter 2 verse 12 therefore also now sayest the lord turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning you know beloved you see what god wants from israel what he wanted from them and what he will expect from them.

He wants them to turn with all their heart. He doesn't want a little part of their heart. He wants the whole heart of the individual. You know, in the scripture, when we talk about heart, we often talk about an organ that is in the body that God had given us, the one, the pump, that gave us pumping the blood. But in the scripture, it's much more than merely, of course, the heart, every man has a heart, but the heart is the central member, if you will, of the inner being of every one of us God wanted the people of Israel to have the seat of the intellect the emotion and the will to be turning from themselves from their own way to turn to him he didn't want them to be away from him and so he said to them in verse 12 you know the Lord I want you to turn to me with all your heart.

You notice, by the way, the heart here is singular. Even if he's speaking to all the nation, he said, turn ye, plural, but then he says in verse 12, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and it's singular. In other words, he want every individual from the nation of Israel to turn to him with all his heart. Now, isn't it true, just for ourselves to apply this to ourselves, isn't it true that oftentimes, as believers, our hearts are not set on the things of the Lord? You know, we can be believers, we are believers, but oftentimes our total heart is not really committed to the Lord.

Remember the prophet said, trust in the Lord with all your hearts and lean not on your own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path how often time the proverb says my son solomon says give me thine heart out of the heart as the issues of life the proverb says you know what jesus the messiah said what come out of the hearts the thoughts the mind the things that coming out of our hearts all wickedness and all things that are evil coming not what coming to the mouth what coming inside defile a man but that which comes out of the heart and God want our hearts to be so much

committed to him and so much desiring to live for him that we will not have a partial heart for him he said about Israel our people years ago and he will say it to you and I these people come to me with their mouth and their lips and with their hearts they are far away from me Isaiah chapter 29 god wants our hearts my son he said give me thine heart you know what that in many many places today especially those that want to train people to follow what they believe they take the children and they are appealing to their hearts right from youth and when they grown up they literally gave them over their

hearts so they can impose upon them things that they believe.

Why do you think people do today what they do in all kind of terrorism and suicide and all kind of things that is going on in this world today? Why? Because these people, they gave their hearts over. And really, they gave their hearts over instead of to God, to the enemy of God. God said to the believers, give me your heart. God says to Israel in chapter 2 and verse 12, therefore now he says, the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. You see, if once our hearts, once Israel's heart will be turned to the Lord, there will be the external action.

What's going to happen?

There will be fasting, there will be weeping, and there will be money there will be true repentance true repentance is ascension and that's what was god is looking for the nation of israel he calling them to repent and so in verse 13 the first part look he says i want you to rend your heart and not your garments notice verse 12 verse 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments you see it's not enough to rend the garment you see when a person rent his garments he or she has an expression of brokenness an expression of mourning but what's the point if there is only an external expression when the heart is not right

with God and so God's saying to them he says you know what I don't want you to rent your garment or yet Jacob did it historically or yet Abraham did it historically when you look to our forefathers historically they have expressed this but they also were broken from inside it was not only merely external do you know by the way and i believe it's true that many of the people in israel today who have lived in gaza and they had to leave their home many of them have ripped their clothes as a sign of mourning because they felt they lost their home biblically speaking by the way that really belonged to the nation you read

it in the book of joshua god have given the land of gaza to the tribe of judah but you know what these people who are they don't believe in the messiah as yet but they believe that this is their home they believe that biblically we are giving away the home which god has given the nation of israel and many of them expressed this when they left with the ripping of the clothes.

Now, beloved, you see, and I believe they were very sincere, but you see, when it's come to the nation of Israel in its totality in the future day, God want the nation of Israel to rend their heart and not merely their clothes.

To be so broken before the Lord, which we have already read in Zechariah chapter 12, to be so broken before the Lord that the heart is rend before God and they say Lord we need you that's what God want to bring Israel into their wits end that there will be nowhere to turn except to him and so he says to them in this verses 12 and 13a that God wants their heart and not merely the external rending of the clothes and notice now why God would want people you want Israel to rend their heart and not merely that close to turn to him with all their heart because he's a gracious God he's a forgiving

God it says in verse 13b in verse 14 God is a gracious God he's a merciful God he's slow to anger and he's a kind God look what it says in our chapter verse 13b it says turn to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful he's slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil who knoweth if he will turn and repent and leave blessing behind him even a meat offering and drink offering unto the Lord your God you see that's how precious the kind of a God that we have when Israel have gone astray when God finished to judge and to punish his people he always delight

to see a change a true repentance and he is so gracious he's so gracious that he will forgive the nation and he will bring them back he will restore the nation and that's why he's saying to them the lord is gracious the lord is merciful he's slow of anger and he's of great kindness you know david when god wanted to punish him because he was counting and numbering and counting the people, how many people he had, and he wanted to kind of go with the strengths of the people, and God said to him, listen, because you have done so, I'm going to ask you to choose what kind of discipline I'm going to give you.

And you know, he gave him certain things to decide for me. You know what he said? I'd rather fall into the hand of God than to the hand of man. It's far better to fall to the hand of God than to the hand of man. Why? Because our God, the God of Israel, is a God that is gracious, He is merciful, He is slow to anger, and He is so kind, so loving. That's the kind of God we serve. That's the kind of God that Israel has. And so, beloved, you see, now He is calling them to repent in verses 15, 16, and 17. Look at that. He is asking them to have a national prayer and a national fasting.

Not only an individual, but a national. There will be a collective, though there will be individuals will do so, but it will be a whole, total national repentance. And it says here, notice in verse 15 to 17. In verse 15, he's saying to them, blow the trumpet. Remember, it's not in Toronto, it's not in Chicago, it's not in Europe. It's nowhere in this world, but blow the trumpet in Zion. And Zion, Zion, is Yerushalayim, Jerusalem. He's speaking to the nation of Israel. And that's why he says this is the second time. Blow the trumpet in Zion. Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the people. Sanctify the congregation.

Assemble the elders. Gather the children, those that suck the breasts. And let the bridegroom go forth out of each chamber. Let the bride out of her closet. Let the priests and the servants of the Lord whip between the porch and the altar. Now, let's see for a moment how specific God is dealing. He is not only looking for some. This is a national repentance. This is a national confession. This is not merely one individual here and one individual here. You know, in the last 2,000 years of the church age, there are Jewish people who came to faith in the Messiah in Canada, in America, in Europe, in Israel.

But these are individual Jewish people, such as ourselves, who came to faith in the Messiah in this present day. But that is nothing compared to what's going to happen in the future day. God is now speaking to the nation, and he says, listen, you've got to gather the people, in verse 15, to blow the trumpet into a solemn assembly. It is a serious assembling of the nation. Again, Numbers 10, verse 1 and verse 10, the trumpets that God had asked Israel to have and the blowing of the trumpet was a gathering of the nation to listen to the voice of the Lord. And so they gathered the people, sanctified the congregation, assembled, notice, the elders, the children, the babies, those that sucked the breasts, the bridegroom would come out of his chamber, The bride will come out of her closet, you see.

She is waiting for her bridegroom to come out of his chamber to take her to the wedding. Come out. There's something important to be done. Children, come out. Fathers, come out. Bridegroom, come out. Let's go and let's gather ourselves together. The priests and the ministers weep, notice where it is, between the porch and the altar. That tells us, beloved, in the tribulation period, there will be a temple. Oh yes, there was one temple built by Solomon. That had been destroyed when Nebuchadnezzar came and burned him up. And took the vessels and brought it to Babylon. After 70 years, Ezra and Nehemiah and Zerubabel came and built a second temple.

That had been destroyed in 70 AD by Titos. Burn everything, left nothing, not one stone upon another. Here we are talking about another porch and another altar that will be in the future. It's not here today. There's no temple. I just came from Temple Mount four weeks, five weeks, six weeks ago. No temple there. Something else is at the Temple Mount or Mount Moriah. But there will be a temple. There will be a temple that the Antichrist or the counterfeit Messiah in the middle of the tribulation will sit and claim that he is God. There will be a temple there that will be built and when the majority of the nation of Israel will make an agreement with the counterfeit Messiah in the beginning of a tribulation and he will promise them, you carry on your temple sacrifices, have the blood atonement.

But you see, you and I can never be part of it because you and I have already atonement made. The moment we're going to go and offer a sacrifice on any altar, what we are saying, that Jesus, the Messiah, is not enough. We have an altar, Hebrews chapter 13, that the ones that have sacrificing on the other altar have no part of. Hebrew Christians were told by the writer to the Hebrews in chapter 13, we have an altar. And our altar is the person of Yeshua, the Messiah. But they will build an altar. There will be a porch, there will be a temple in the tribulation period of which God wanted them to recognize that Even though it will be built eventually, God wanted Israel to realize that there will be a final temple.

And that temple will be where the Messiah himself will reign. That temple of the tribulation, God will not sanction. And he will not be honored at that temple. I want to show you this. Turn to Isaiah 66 quickly. The last chapter of the prophet Isaiah. Look at Isaiah chapter 66, speaking about Israel's future hope. Isaiah 66 verse 1. And to thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that ye will build unto me? And where is the place of my rest? For all those things has mine hand have made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord.

But to this man will I look, even to him that is a poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word. Verse 3. He that killeth an ox, it is he that slew a man. He that sacrifice a lamb, is as he that cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation, is as if he offered a swine's blood. He that burneth incest, is as he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abomination. You see what God is saying? Where is the house that you're going to build for me? He says, if you're going to kill an ox, it's going to be as if you have slain a man, verse 3.

You're going to sacrifice a lamb, it's going to be as if you cut off a dog's neck. God will not sanction the temple of the tribulation. It will not be pleasing to Him. All the sacrifices that will be offered at the tribulation period, it will not be pleasing to the Lord. And God said to them, Ye, they have chosen their own ways. They have delighted in their abomination. God will have no part in a temple that will be setting him aside and setting the Messiah aside and not accepting him. And you see, what he's leading there, he's leading the nation towards the end of the tribulation period in Joel chapter 2, leading the nation.

show them after the nation will finally recognize that then the nation will finally be regathered and be restored and notice now verses 16 and verses 17 of our chapter joel chapter 2 after he said in verse 15 blow the trumpet in zion where he says in verse 15 notice verse 16 and verse 17 he continue and he says this gather the people sanctify the congregation assemble gather the children those that suck breasts let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber and the bride get out of her closet let the priests and the ministers of the lord weep between the porch and the altar and let them say spare thy people oh lord give not thine

heritage to a reproach that the heathen should rule over them why should they say among the people where is their god the priests and the ministers will whip and will confess and have a solemn assembly and god will eventually will respond to their repentance and look what he says now in verse 18 on from verse 18 to where we read at the end verse 27 God promised a blessing after repentance to the land and to the people first of all in verse 18 God will be a jealous God for the land and for his people he says in verse 18 then will the Lord be jealous for his land you notice it's his land it's

his land you notice it says here they are his people his land and his people he have entrusted the land to the people of israel he has given the land to the nation this land is mine we read in the book of leviticus god have given the land to the nation he is jealous of his land there's a few time in scripture that we read about god being a jealous god you know it's israel as the wife of jehovah of jehovah god jealous over the nation god jealous over the land that he has given to his people and so it says then will the lord be jealous for his land and also he will be

jealous for his people in verse 19 god is going to do something about it he's going to provide it says here verse 19 yet the lord will answer and he will say to his people behold i will send you corn and wine and oil and you shall be satisfied therewith and i will no more make you a reproach among the heathen you know israel still today is in one way or another a reproach in many places wherever they go they are still not in the place that god wanted them to be and god says i will no more a reproach among the heathen just look at the history of our nation of the nation of

israel how many times israel had been a reproach they have been sometime by the hands of the romans sometime by the hands of the egyptians sometime by the hands of the babylonian sometime by the hand of the assyrian sometime every time every generation and generation and generation they have ended up to be a reproach and shame in shame many many generations here he's taking them to the end.

There is no more, there is coming a time. It no longer is going to happen. And notice what he says now in verse 20. Remember I said to you that there will be a third invasion? The third invasion, it's towards the end of the tribulation, found in the glimpse here in verse 20. God will judge the invading army that's going to come from the north. Verse 20. But I will remove far off from you the northern army and I will drive him this is the army into a land barren and desolate with his face towards the east sea and his hinder part or his back part towards the utmost sea.

And his stink shall come up and his ill savor shall come up because he has done great thing. And this word here in verse 20, when it's come to the word great thing, is monstrous things. You have done awful things. You know what is interesting here? That there will be the end of the tribulation. From other scriptures, we know that there will be a war, which we often call the war Armageddon. The nations will be headed up by the counterfeit Messiah, the Antichrist. He will gather the nations of the world that will gather against the nation of Israel in an area called Armageddon. It's really in the north of Israel.

And the armies of the Antichrist will gather to attack the Jewish people who will dwell in the land towards the end of the tribulation. I've got to show you this from other passages, so please turn to Zechariah, where we just read earlier. Zechariah chapter 12. Let me show you just this in the first nine verses of Zechariah chapter 12. The Armageddon campaign against Israel will end with the destruction of the army of the Antichrist. Zechariah chapter 12, verse 1. The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretches forth the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling, Unto all people round about, when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day, again, that day, speaking about the end of the tribulation, specifically the tribulation time. In that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. All that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces. though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it in that day, saith the Lord I will smite every horse with astonishment and his rider with madness and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah and I will smite every horse of the people with blindness and the governors of Judah shall say in their heart the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God in that day I will make the governors of Judah like the hearers of fire among the wood and like a torch of fire in a sheaf and they shall devour all the people round about on the right hand and on the left and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even Jerusalem.

And the Lord also shall save the tents of Judah. First, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God as the angel of the Lord before him and it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem you see he is taking us beloved brothers and sisters to the battle to the final battle that will happen in the last days at the end of the tribulation and he's showing to us what he is going to do to the people now, it's not locusts anymore, that was historically in the time of Joel it's not demons activity, that was somewhere in the middle of the tribulation but it's going to be a human invasion gathering of all the nations at the end of the tribulation who will gather to attack the people of Israel, where will they gathered to let me show you please quickly turn to revelation chapter 16 and i'm going to show you where they will be gathered to revelation chapter 16 and you look at this what john the apostle john who received that revelation from the risen messiah look what john has to say concerning the future gathering of the nation in Revelation chapter 16.

I'm reading from verse 13 to 16. Revelation chapter 16, verse 13. And I saw, John is saying, three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon. The dragon is Satan. And out of the mouth of the beast. the beast is the antichrist and out of the mouth of the false prophets the false prophet is the false prophet as it says here and they are the spirits of demons working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God almighty verse 15 behold I come as a thief blessed is he that watches and that keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame and he gathered them notice this together into a place called in the Hebrew language Armageddon or Har Megiddo there is a hill in the valley of Israel there and there is a huge valley if you ever have an opportunity to go to Israel We often go there to Armageddon, to the area where we literally observe the flat location below the plateau, below the mountain, below the hill, called Armageddon.

And right below there, there will be the gathering of the nation in preparation for the attack against the city of Jerusalem and the people of Judah. Now, what the Lord will do to them? Beloved, look what he's going to do to them. Back to Joel, this one verse 20, that is a very important verse. In verse 20, God is going to attack and He's going to judge this invading army. I will remove, verse 20, far from you the northern army, and I will drive him into the land barren and desolate with his face towards the East Sea and his back part towards the Atomos sea and his stink shall come up and his ill savior shall come up because he has done, as it says here, he has done great thing.

And I said to you earlier, great thing, monstrous things. He has done awful things to the nation and to the nations of the world. Now, let me just, it's interesting, you look at those words it says the northern army the army is going to come from the north but then it says that he's going to drive him to a land that is barren and desolate when the if you connect it with various passages in the New Testament like Matthew 24 and Revelation 12 you find out that once they're going to come from the north of Israel and of course further north even but from the north of Israel into the land they are going to go through the city of Jerusalem and they're going to continue to the south the south here where it says the northern army is going to come into the land barren and desolate the barren and desolate place where God is going to destroy the army is in the south, is the Negev the desert that God has given to the people of Israel the area called the Negev today then it says that the other part of it his face will be to the east sea The East Sea has to do with the east of Israel.

And if you look at the map to Israel, the Dead Sea is on the east. And then he says, and to the uttermost sea, it's the west. And the west sea is the Mediterranean. He's going to come from the north. God is going to go through the land. And eventually God will destroy them in the south, the Negev. Some of them going to be taken and being destroyed, thrown into the East Sea, this is the Dead Sea, and some of them into the West Side, this is the West, which is the Mediterranean Sea. And what's going to happen, it says here, that his stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he has done, as it says here again in verse 20, monstrous things, awful things.

And I don't have to read you many passages in the prophets, the suffering, the persecution that will occur in the tribulation period. We can't even imagine judgment after judgment that's going to fall upon this earth.

In this world in which we live in today, when the judgments of God and the allowing Satan to get his way at the second half of the tribulation, and all the sorrow that's going to happen here on this earth, it is unimaginable we talked a little bit about this last week it is an awful thing for those who are going to have to remain here in the seven years of tribulation god called it somewhere else in the prophet called jacob's trouble sarat yaakov the sorrow of jacob but jacob going to be saved out of it many of the jewish people many of our people who would not come to the messiah will end up suffering

in this particular time in the tribulation period well he's now quickly in verse 21 to the end to verse 27 that's where we stopped verse 21 to 27 here is the rejoicing that's going to come for the nation of israel who will accept what god had provided for them just quickly verse 21 to 27 a few things in verse 21 he says fear not all end be glad and rejoice for god will do great things verse 22 be not afraid or beasts of the field for the pasture of the wilderness do spring for the tree beareth her fruit the fig tree and the vine will eat their strength he's now taking them after israel repented

after the nations have been destroyed the armies of the antichrist and israel has been regenerated god is telling them the kind of a blessing that will flow for the people of israel verse 23 be glad you notice how many times in verse 21 rejoice and be glad verse 22 be not afraid he's speaking about them to be happy verse 23 be glad you children of zion he's speaking to zion he's speaking to israel be glad ye children of zion rejoice in the lord your god for he has given you the former rain moderately and he will cause to come down for you the rain the former rain and the latter rain in the first months

you see israel did not receive the former and the latter rain in due season for many generations.

God promised them the former rain, this is the yore, the latter rain, this is the malkosh, the rain going to come upon the land of Israel in exactly the way that God had planned it to be, so Israel will have much vegetables and fruit to grow that even animals will be satisfied. Verse 24, and the threshing floor shall be full wheat and the vets shall overflow with wine and oil and I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten and a Kenkin worm and the caterpillar and a Palmer womb my great army notice by the way he called even when he goes back now he's connecting them back with what happened historically he says all these invaders with army they've been allowed by him he sent them as a judging army against the nation of israeli calling them my great army he said which sent among you he sent these armies the first invasion the second invasion the third invasion were allowed by god actually sent by god in order to restore the nation of Israel back to himself and finally in verse 26 and 27 ye shall eat in plenty be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God that has dealt wondrously with you and my people shall never be ashamed and ye shall know and notice verse 27 ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel.

God wanted to be the center of the people of Israel. When the tabernacle was built, Exodus 25, God says, make me a sanctuary that I will dwell within you. He wanted to dwell within them. When you and I are gathering together as believers today, Jesus the Messiah said, where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of you. Here he's speaking about Israel in the future. I am going to be in the midst of my people Israel. And you know, the I here who is going to be in the midst of the people of Israel, it will be God in the person of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah.

He, the Messiah, will be as the center of the nation of Israel. And that I, the Lord your God, and none else, and my people shall never be ashamed. I remember a song that was written by, I think it's one of the songs that Jews for Jesus has on their record or cassettes. And it is taken from Romans chapter 1. The Apostle Paul, a Jew, a Hebrew, many years ago said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, of Messiah, for it is the power of God unto salvation. And I remember the singers took that song, that verse, and they said, I am ashamed of my sins and the sins of my people, but I am not ashamed of the gospel.

You see, Israel will not be ashamed of God. Israel will not be ashamed of their Messiah in a future day. Today, they are not yet seeing that Jesus is the Messiah. And that's why Israel do not want to talk about the Messiah, do not want to talk about Yeshua as the Messiah. But in a coming future day, if you take this text and connect it with other texts like Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11, and other passages in the New Testament, when Israel will open their eyes and see the King, the Messiah, they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn. We read it, Zechariah 12, 10.

And they shall weep as they repent, and they confess. They shall see Him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn. And the Him, beloved brothers and sisters, is none else but the one that was pierced for our sins, for our iniquities, Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah. They shall never be ashamed. Let me ask you a question. Are you ashamed of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah? If you are, and if I am, sometime because of whatever the world around us, I encourage you, I wish there will be more ashamed of our sins than the shame of the Lord Jesus. he bore our sins on the tree he paid the penalty for our sins and we ought not to be ashamed of him they shall never be ashamed that's what's going to happen when israel as a nation is going to be regathered well beloved up to this point we have been speaking about concerning the prophecy of joel he is giving us an additional details in the rest of chapter 2 and chapter 3 of which we're going to have to cover in order to get a complete picture of the prophecy of Joel at this time.

So can we say amen to that?