Month: August 2023

Week 31  Micah 4

In the last days, the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem will become the most important place on earth. I stop when I read this.
Most of the time I’m trying to attach some meaning to what I’m reading and it looks like in the last days (some time future to Micah) a Temple (a real building made of stone concrete steel wood glass) that’s geographically located in the city of Jerusalem (currently the “capital” of modern-day Israel) will become the most important place on earth. That’s what Micah says. Still…I move cautiously. How a prophetic projection pans out in literal-and-actual fact can be a bit tricky.
For one thing Micah was a guy writing >2500 years ago in a >2500 year-old language in a way his >2500 year-ago audience could understand. But Micah didn’t know anything about artificial-intelligence or trans-oceanic flight. So miscommunication is a real possibility.
For another thing I remember that OT content is full of Pre-liminary Material. By contrast NT readings will be moving me into a bunch of Post-liminary Material. Similarities? For sure. But with developmental-complexities that I have to finesse.
Anyway today I’m left to decide between:
Q#1: in the last days will a literal Temple located geographically in Jerusalem be the most important place on earth?
And Q#2: in the last days will a non-literal Temple not located geographically in Jerusalem be the most important place on earth?
For the time-being I’m sticking with Micah’s literal forecast.

Note: quote from Micah 4:1 (NLT)

Week 31  Joel

Joel uses the phrase day-of-the-Lord five times.
I check a word book. It looks like Obadiah Zechariah & Malachi use the expression once. Amos Zephaniah & Ezekiel twice. Isaiah three times. So Joel has more to say about it than anyone else.
When I look at Joel’s five references I don’t get any impression that the day-of-the-Lord is something to look forward to:
The day of the Lord is on the way, the day when destruction comes from the Almighty. How terrible that day will be!
Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the Lord is upon us. It is a day of darkness and gloom
The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing. Who can endure it?
The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon will turn bloodred before the great and terrible day of the Lord
The day of the Lord will soon arrive. The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.
Joel says that the day-of-the-Lord will be terrible. Destructive. Fearsome. Unendurable. He also adds physical-observable-astronomical elements – the sun will get dark. The moon will turn blood-red. No starlight.
The day-of-the-Lord hadn’t happened yet. It was future to Joel. And it either isn’t or is future to me now. If I had to guess I’d say it’s yet to come. But there’s likely a big debate about that.

Note: quotes from Joel 1:15 2:1-2 2:11 2:31 3:14 (NLT). Reading report for January-July: 64% completed. So I’m still ahead.