Day 198: The Day of the Lord (2024)

This episode explores themes of divine justice and repentance, focusing on prophetic insights from the Bible books Isaiah and Joel.

1. Biblical prophecies often have both an immediate historical context and a deeper spiritual meaning.
2. The fall of Nebuchadnezzar and the allegorical fall of Lucifer illustrate themes of pride leading to downfall.
3. Joel’s depiction of locust devastation and the subsequent invasion symbolizes the pervasive and destructive nature of sin.
4. Genuine repentance involves heartfelt transformation, not just outward displays of piety.
5. God's mercy is highlighted as a promise of restoration, not only of material losses but of lost time and spiritual opportunities.

1: Introduction to Prophetic Books

Father Mike Schmitz introduces the prophetic books of Isaiah and Joel, setting the stage for a detailed exploration of their themes. Father Mike Schmitz: "Today we encounter God’s voice in the scriptures of Isaiah and Joel, reflecting on justice and mercy."

2: The Prophecy of Isaiah

The chapter discusses Isaiah's prophecy against Babylon and its king, linking it to the spiritual fall of Lucifer. Father Mike Schmitz: "Isaiah’s words not only predict historical events but also offer a spiritual reflection on pride and downfall."

3: The Message of Joel

Joel’s vivid descriptions of locust plagues and impending doom are analyzed, emphasizing repentance. Father Mike Schmitz: "Joel uses the locust plague to symbolize overwhelming destruction that leads to a call for repentance."

1. Reflect on personal areas of pride and seek humility.
2. Use historical and spiritual readings of scripture to deepen understanding.
3. Embrace genuine repentance in daily life, focusing on internal change.
4. Consider the impacts of your actions on others and strive for kindness.
5. Regularly examine your spiritual health through prayer and reflection.

Fr. Mike introduces us to the prophet Joel, and the unique timing of his ministry in the midst of tragedy. He also touches on the prophecy concerning Lucifer and St. Michael the Archangel, and how the two are directly contrasted to show the glory of God. Today's readings are Isaiah 14-15, Joel 1-2, and Proverbs 10:17-20.

People

Father Mike Schmitz

Books

Isaiah, Joel

Content Warnings:

None

Father Mike Schmitz
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Bible in a year podcast where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in Ear podcast is brought to you by ascension using the great adventure Bible timeline. We'll read all the way from Genesis to revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story. Today it is day 198. We are reading from Isaiah, chapter 14 and 15.

Also, we are diving into the book of the prophet Joel, chapters one and two, as well as praying or getting wisdom from proverbs. I'm so used to talking about the psalms and how we pray the psalms, but for the next foreseeable future, we will be reading from the proverbs, chapter ten today, verses 17 through 20. As I said, we are diving into the book of the prophet Joel. And Joel is only three chapters long. In fact, he's one of the minor prophets, and as one of the minor prophets he's going to be just shorter.

And that means Joel today, Joel tomorrow, and then nahum the next couple days in Habakkuk, the next couple days after that. Baruch Zephaniah. You would know all of this if you downloaded your own Bible in a year reading plan. You can do that now if you'd like by visiting ascensionpress.com bibleinaear. You might realize that the Bible translation I'm reading from is the revised standard Version, second catholic edition.

I'm using the great adventure Bible from Ascension. You also can too. You also can subscribe to this podcast. You also might realize that I just mixed up the download the Bible in a year reading plan and the Bible translation I'm reading from. And if you're someone who really likes consistency, well, you've probably really liked these introductions.

And in this day, just slight variation on the consistency. As I said, it is day 198. We're reading Isaiah, chapter 14 and 15. Joel, chapter one and two, and proverbs 1017 20, the book of the Prophet Isaiah chapter 14 Restoration of Israel. The Lord will have compassion on Jacob, and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and strangers will join them, and will cling to the house of Jacob, and the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord's land as male and female slaves.

They will take captive those who were their captors and rule over those who oppressed them. When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil, and the hard service with which you were made to serve. You will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon. How the oppressor has ceased. The insolent fury ceased.

The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution. The whole earth is at rest and quiet. They break forth into singing. The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, since you were laid low, no humor comes up against us. Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come, it rouses the shades to greet you.

All who were leaders of the earth, it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. All of them will speak and say to you, you too have become as weak as we. You have become like us. Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps. Maggots are the bed beneath you, and worms are your covering.

How you are fallen from heaven, o day star, son of dawn. How you are cut down to the ground. You who laid the nations low, you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you. Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?

All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb. But you are cast out, away from your sepulchre like a loathed, untimely birth, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pitae like a dead body trodden under foot? You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. May the descendants of evildoers never more be named, prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the earth and fill the face of the world with cities. I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant offspring and posterity, says the lord.

And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the lord of hosts. The lord of hosts has sworn, as I have planned, so shall it be. And as I have purposed, so shall it stand. That I will break the Assyrian in my land and upon my mountains trample him under foot, and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder. This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth.

And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? In the year that King Ahaz died, came this oracle. Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod which struck you is broken.

For from the serpent's root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying serpenthenne. And the firstborn of the poor will feed, and the needy lie down in safety. But I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant I will slay. Wail, o gate, cry, o city, melt in fear, o philistia, all of you. For smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.

What will one answer the messengers of the nation? The lord has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge. Chapter 15 an oracle concerning moab. An oracle concerning moab. Because ar is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone.

Because Kir is laid waste, in a night, Moab is undone. The daughter of Dibon has gone up to the high places to weep over Nebo and over Mediba. Moab wails on every head is baldness, every beard is shorn. In the streets they put on sackcloth. On the housetops and in the squares everyone wails and melts in tears.

Heshbon and Eliele cry out. Their voice is heard as far as jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud. His soul trembles. My heart cries out from Moab.

His fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishia. For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping. On the road to Horonaim, they raise a cry of destruction. The waters of Nimrim are a desolation. The grass is withered, the new growth fails, their verdure is no more.

Therefore the abundance they have gained and what they have laid up, they carry away over the brook of the willows, for a cry has gone round the land of Moab. The wailing reaches to Aglaim, the wailing reaches to beir elim. For the waters of Debon are full of blood, yet I will bring upon Debon even more a lion for those of Moab who escape for the remnant of the land.

The Book of Joel, chapter one. Lament and call to repentance the word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of hear this, you aged men. Give ear, all inhabitants of the land. Has such a thing happened in your days or in the days of your fathers? Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children and their children another generation.

What cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten. And what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. Awake, you drunkards, and weep and wail all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth, for a nation has come up against my land, powerful and without number. Its teeth are lions teeth, and it has the fangs of a lionesse.

It has laid waste my vines and splintered my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it down. Their branches are made white. Lament like a virgin clothed with sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth. The cereal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord.

The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord. The fields are laid waste, the ground mourns. Because the grain is destroyed, the wine fails, the oil languishes be confounded, o tillers of the soil, wail, o vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished, the vine withers, the fig tree languishes, pomegranate palm and apple. All the trees of the field are withered, and gladness fails from the sons of men. Put on sackcloth and lament, o priests, wail, o ministers of the altar, go in, pass the night in sackcloth, o ministers of my God, because cereal offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.

Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry to the Lord. Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. Is not the food cut off before our eyes? Joy and gladness from the house of our God. The seed shrivels under the clods, the storehouses are desolate, the granaries are ruined because the grain has failed.

How the beasts groan. The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them. Even the flocks of sheep are dismayed. Unto you, o Lord, I cry, for fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field. Even the wild beasts cry to you, because the waterbrooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Chapter two the day of the Lord is coming. Blow the trumpet in Zion. Sound the alarm on my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is near.

A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness like blackness. There is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people. Their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but after them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.

Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run as with the rumbling of chariots. They leap on the tops of the mountains like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble like a powerful army drawn up for battle. Before them, peoples are in anguish. All faces grow pale. Like warriors, they charge like soldiers, they scale the wall, they march each on his way.

They do not swerve from their paths. They do not jostle one another. Each marches in his path. They burst through the weapons and are not halted. They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls.

They climb up into the houses. They enter through the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his host is exceedingly great. He that executes his word is powerful.

For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome. Who can endure it? Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning, and tear your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and repents of evil. Who knows whether he will not turn and repent and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for 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, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber between the vestibule and the altar. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord weep and say, spare your people, o Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations.

Why should they say among the peoples, where is their God? Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. The Lord answered and said to his people, behold, I am sending to you grain, wine and oil, and you will be satisfied. And I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his front to to the eastern sea and his rear to the western sea.

The stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things. Fear not, o land. Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things. Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green. The tree bears its fruit.

The fig tree and the vine give their full yield. Be glad, o sons of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God. For he has given the early rain for your vindication, and has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain as before. The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer and the cutter, my great army which I sent among you.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God, and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions, even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days. I will pour out my spirit portents in heaven and judgment of the nations. And I will give signs in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered.

For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said. And among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

The book of proverbs. Chapter ten, verses 1720. He who heeds instruction is on the path to life. But he who rejects reproof goes astray. He who conceals hatred has lying lips, and he who utters slander is a fool.

When words are many, transgression is not lacking. But he who restrains his lips is prudent. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The mind of the wicked is of little worth.

Father in heaven, we give you praise, and with our mouths we want to. We want to give you glory, and we want to say words that honor you, God, because you are so good, you love us so well, and you love us so fully every single day. So please, Lord, help us to know your love. Help us to know your name. Help us to know your voice, and help us always to speak of your love, to speak of your name, and to speak with the voice that you would speak.

Because it is true that we need to guard our words and we need to guide our words. Another way to say it, Father, I just ask that you guard my words and that you guide my words. In Jesus name we pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Gosh, you guys, how awesome this is. What a unique kind of place we get to be here by going through the Bible like this. And in the book of the prophet Isaiah now, we've gotten every single day you might have, I don't know how you've been coming into this book of the prophet Isaiah, because you might think, well, gosh, well, here's Isaiah preaching, you know, 700 plus BC, somewhere in there. 700, 600 plus BC in there. And, like, what does he have to say for us?

And yet at the same time, we hear about him talking about Judah, repent. And here comes Babylon. And all these kinds of things. There are still interspersed in the prophet Isaiah, these familiar words. Hopefully they're familiar to you.

For example, today in chapter 14, here is Isaiah. He's talking about the king of Babylon. He's talking about Nebuchadnezzar, right? And he says to the king, this is verse, chapter 14, verse four. You will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon.

So he addresses very specifically, here's who I'm talking to. How the oppressor has ceased, and how he's insolent fury has ceased, basically. You know, how the mighty have fallen is, I believe, where that saying comes from, because it'll say later on in verse ten, it says, all of them will speak and say to you, you too have become as weak as we right? You're king of Babylon, for crying out loud. You are the biggest king in the biggest superpower at that time.

But here, you too have become as weak as we. You have become like us. And your pomp is brought down to Sheol. Right? It's the abode of the dead.

Now, here is this piece that you might be familiar with, where it says how you are fallen from heaven, o day star, son of the dawn, how you are cut down to the ground. You who laid the nations low. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the far north.

I will ascend, etcetera, etcetera. I will make myself like the most high. But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. And now, guess this is a directly a prophecy against the king of Babylon, and we would identify as Nebuchadnezzar. And yet there's also a spiritual meaning to this prophecy.

Remember, the prophets aren't necessarily foretelling the future. They're forth telling. And not only that, but they have an immediate meaning. A lot of the prophecies have an immediate meaning and a distant meaning. They have the short term and the long term kind of meaning.

They have a maybe a very clear historical sense. And they also have a spiritual sense. And in this case, this is where we get the name Lucifer, where it says, how far you have fallen from heaven, o daystar, son of the dawn. The translation of Odestar is Lucifer. It's the name Lucifer.

It's Satan himself. And one of the origin stories, essentially, of Lucifer is that here is Lucifer, who is an angel of light. The name means light bearer, right? Or o day star, Lucifer. Being a good angel, God only makes good, but used his free will to rebel against the Lord by saying, essentially, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God going on, I will make myself, like, the most high.

So, yes, here is the king of Babylon, who could have been saying things exactly like this, but in the real way, in a spiritual sense, this is what Lucifer had done, basically saying, I will not serve and I will make myself like the most high. Now, we contrast that, and we're going to, in the next number of weeks, we're going to get to the prophet Daniel as well. We're going to get more stories about other angels like this, for example, like Michael, the angel, Archangel Michael. We already heard about the Archangel Raphael. His name means God heals, which makes sense because, right, he healed Sarah of that affliction of the demon Asmodeus.

He healed tobit of his blindness. Michael, his name means who is like God? And it's not a question of describing. I remember my name is Michael. Right?

Obviously. And I remember growing up thinking like, oh, who was like God? Yeah, the one. The one who was like God. And yet Michael doesn't mean statement, who is like God.

It means question, who is like God? Because Michael led the angels in heaven in battle against Lucifer, the light bearer. Right? The daystar who had rebelled against God. Because why did Lucifer.

What did Lucifer say? Lucifer said, I will make myself, like, the most high. And here is Michael, whose name means who is like God, question mark. So you have Lucifer saying, I will not serve. And Michael saying, I will serve.

Lucifer saying, I'll make myself like God. And Michael's saying, no, no, no, listen. Who is like God? And so we have in this brief chapter here, chapter 14 of Isaiah, we have not only the prophecy about the king of Babylon, who will ultimately be toppled, but we also have the prophecy against and about Lucifer, who will ultimately be toppled, which is remarkable for us. So that's Babylon and chapter 14.

We also have Moab in chapter 15. And what happens is there's an oracle concerning moab. And basically, that is Moab. You're going to be destroyed, and there's going to be refugees that come out of Moab, and things are going to be really difficult. Now, that's moving on from Isaiah to Joel.

We only have two days with the prophet Joel. And so it. What can you say here? We'll say a couple things. One is, we don't know exactly when Joel was written.

We do know that he was preaching to the southern kingdom of Judah, but we're not exactly sure when. What we do know is that his preaching of this writing, of this book, the prophet Joel, came on the heels of a national tragedy. And that national tragedy is in chapter one, verse four. It talks about the locusts, this plague of locusts that had happened in the land, that stripped everything. Right, he said, with the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten.

With the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten. With the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. And basically everything is gone. Like, just these people, they know. They had the experience of, yeah, a plague of locusts is really bad.

That's what happened to the Egyptians, and we were spared from that. But now that's happened to us, and it's horrible. And Joel is saying, yes, but here's what's coming. What's coming is even worse than a plague of locusts. What's coming is, are these soldiers, this army that's coming to you, and what they're going to do.

If you think the plague of locusts was bad, this is going to be even worse. Those locusts were all over each other. They were completely disordered, and they stripped everything bare. He said, there's an army coming, and they're going to be completely ordered. They're not even going to touch each other.

They're going to march, lock, step in line, and they're going to destroy everything. And so he is basically saying, and that's the day of the Lord. You experienced this, Joel's phrase, right? Is the day of the Lord. You experienced a kind of day of the Lord with the locust thing.

But this army is coming, and that's going to be the day of the Lord. In fact, that army that's coming, he says, this is the voice of God, which is just. It's difficult. It's difficult to accept because it says, the Lord utters his voice before his army. This is chapter two, verse eleven.

The Lord utters his voice before his army for his host, meaning army, is basically, battalion is exceedingly great. He that executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome. Who can endure it? So we think, wait, this is God's army?

Well, no, this is God allowing this army to essentially call Israel. Right. The people of Judah back to repentance again and again and again is that whenever God allows tragedy to befall his people, it is always oriented not toward their destruction, but to their education. It's not towards their end, but it's to their repentance. And that's always the goal.

God, always, that day of the Lord is meant to bring justice. That day of the Lord is meant to bring the righteousness, right, vindication. But always, always is meant to bring his people back to him. It's one of the reasons why God, after he says this, Joel, has the Lord say, even now, return to me with all your heart. This is after, here comes the soldiers, here comes this incredible army.

This is the day of the Lord coming. Yet even now, and even that yet is so good, yet even now, return to me with all your heart. With fasting, with weeping and with mourning, tear your hearts and not your garments. Basically, you know that. Render your hearts, not your garments.

Tear your hearts, not your garments. What that means is, don't just look holy. Don't just tear your garments and look holy. Tear your hearts like, be holy. Don't just look like a good worshiper.

Actually worship me. Don't just look like someone who repents. Actually repent. And what's going to happen is I will. He says so powerfully, he says, fear nothing, o land.

Be glad and rejoice. Fear not, people, because I will restore to you and love this. I love this verse in chapter two, verse 25. I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten. So not just, I'm going to restore to you your crops, not just, I'm going to restore to you your homes or your land.

I'm going to restore the time you lost. And that's something so powerful, this promise of God that, and we come back to him, and when we're his again, the restoration isn't just, here's your stuff back. It's I'm restoring to you all that you lost and more. I'm even going to restore the years that you lost, the time that you lost. And this is, again, the great promise of God, but also the great invitation from God to come back to him with all our hearts.

And so that's the invitation for me and for you is let's not just sound holy. Let's not just look holy. Let's actually be holy. Let's not just sound like people who love God. Let's actually be people who love God.

I'm praying for that, for you all. And please pray for each other for that. Because, again, here we are in the middle of this time together, and we need each other, and we need God's help, and so we do pray for each other. Please pray for me. I'm praying for you.

My name is Fr. Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God blessed.