Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Dormition Fast Martyr & Archdeacon Euplos of Catania
Kellia: Joel 2:28-3:8 Epistle: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11 Gospel: St. Matthew 23:29-39
Joel 2:28-3:8, especially vs. 3:1, 2: "For then, in those
days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the
nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with
them there, on account of My people and My heritage Israel...." In this passage from Joel, the
Prophet continues to declare God's twofold message of judgment and restoration which one also
finds in the previous reading: "But the Lord was jealous of His land, and spared His people. And
the Lord answered and said to His people, 'Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and
ye shall be satisfied with them...'" (Joel 2:18,19). In the present passage, God's message now
takes on an international scope involving "all flesh" (Joel 2:28), "the heavens and...the earth" (vs.
2:30), and "all the nations" (vs. 3:2). In presenting God's larger vision of judgment and
restoration, the prophecy leaves behind a single disaster and specific promises that better days
will follow, and introduces the "great and terrible day of the Lord" (vs. 2:31) when God will
"restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem" (vs. 3:1) for His People and His heritage (vs. 3:2).
First of all, a time is coming "afterward," says the Lord, when "I will pour out My Spirit on all
flesh" (vs. 2:28). The ethnocentrism that marred the spiritual life of the ancient People of God
vanishes in this portion of Joel's prophecy in favor of that universal message we know from the
Lord Jesus' command to disciple all nations (Mt. 28:19), and we see why the Apostle Peter chose
to quote this very passage in the first proclamation of the Christian message on the day of
Pentecost (Acts 2:17). No longer may the gift of the Spirit be limited ethnically, but, as the Acts
shows, it is for Gentile Romans (Acts 10:44,45), hated Samaritans (Acts 8:14-17) - everyone
across the face of the entire world, "everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord" (Joel 2:32).
In this latter time, not only will the gift of the Holy Spirit be extended to all people, but also God
will "show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke" (vs.
2:30). Remember that from the time "the Bridegroom of the Church calleth the Magi" by a "star
which they had seen in the East [and] went before them, till it came and stood over where the
young Child was" (Mt. 2:9), there have been occasions when such signs in the heaven and on
earth have been manifested. "There was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour" as "the
sun was darkened" during the Crucifixion (Lk. 23:44,45), and an apparition of the sign of the
Cross over Jerusalem in 351AD, began at nine o'clock in the morning, "brighter than the sun and
more beautiful than the loveliest rainbow." It was seen by believers and unbelievers alike. And
the Lord promises that His return will be like lightning filling all the heavens (Lk. 17:24).
Most significantly, the Lord revealed to Joel both the universal salvation which is now available
in and through the Church for all peoples, and the universal judgment which God will accomplish
when He gathers "the nations and bring[s] them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and...enter[s]
into judgment with them there, on account of My people..." (Joel. 3:2).
For all who have assaulted God's People, the notorious persecutors such as Antiochus Epiphanes,
Herod, Nero, Diocletian, Hitler, Stalin and all deluded men who believed they could wipe out the
presence of God, to them the Lord declares: "If you are paying Me back, I will turn your deeds
back upon your own heads swiftly and speedily" (vs. 3:4). Conversely, through all time, the Lord
Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, is rousing and restoring His own beloved who have been held in
bondage "to leave the places to which" they were sold and return to Life (vs. 3:7). The whole
creation, O Christ, hath been transfigured by fear beholding Thee suspended on the Cross, and
the sun was darkened when Thou didst endure all for us. Glory to Thee.