I want to invite you out to our Sunday afternoon services from 3:00 pm- 4:30 pm.
Coming Soon! True Holiness Christian University offering Bachelor’s, Master’s, and DD’s in Systematic Theology!
I ask that you join us in our time of bereavement for the loss of our beloved leader International Presiding Prelate the late Apostle James Brant, Jr. whom the Lord called home Sunday, July 10.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
There are signs of a growing awareness regarding social justice in our world today, but much of the celebrity attention to the issue approaches it in purely humanistic terms without any point of reference in God or faith. To those attracted intuitively to the notion of justice but hopelessly disconnected from the ultimate source and standard of all true justice, Joel’s message comes as a jarring reality check: only God, the Sovereign Creator and Lord of the universe, is completely holy and just. There can be no real justice in the midst of humanity if you exclude the Ruler and Judge of all the earth. The only justice that is consistent, enduring and truly devoid of human prejudice is God’s justice.
A pivotal concept in Joel’s message found in the book of Joel is the phrase “the day of the LORD,” which occurs five times in the book (1:15; 2:1,11,31; 3:14). Rooted in the common belief that a powerful military ruler could win a major battle in a single day, this key notion in the prophetic tradition denotes God’s swift and decisive victory over his enemies, bringing deliverance to his people. Three applications of the concept in Joel point to God’s justice on display in three expanding circles.
In the first instance, God’s justice necessitates impending judgment on the disobedient nation of Israel. God’s instruments of justice are a horde of terrifying locusts and a formidable army of foreign invaders.
Second, God’s justice compels him to call to account the invading foreign nations—the very people he used to bring justice to Israel—and to punish them for their wrongdoing against Israel. God’s justice applies to everyone (see Joel chapter 3).
A third wider circle of God’s justice, while not as explicit, is clearly alluded to in Joel: a prediction of a future messianic age in which a universal outpouring of God’s Spirit will herald a final day of universal judgment and the return of Christ, and then usher in an ideal era of justice and righteousness (2:28–32). So, from start to finish, it is God’s justice that is on display in Joel.
Till next week,
God Bless.
Rev. Dr. Robert L. Harrison, PhD – pastorrobharrison@gmail.com, @drrobharrison (Twitter), Robert Bob Harrison (Facebook)
Pastor – The Apostolic Open Door Church of God & True Holiness – 2800 41st Ave. N, St. Pete – www.weareholiness.org | Church of God and True Holiness, Intl. www.trueholinesschurches.org
First Vice President – NAACP St. Petersburg Branch
Chaplain – Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Pinellas
Parent Support for Education Board | Chaplain – Dept. Juvenile Justice for Circuit 6
