Joe 1:9 | KingComments | STEP | The first consequence of the destruction of the harvest is that no more grain offering and drink offering can be brought into the temple. It seems that the Judeans did bring offerings until the disaster came, because the removal of the offerings is attributed to the locusts. This could mean that until then the people have fulfilled their religious obligations to bring the prescribed offerings. But as they fulfill their duties to God, they also fill up the measure of their iniquity and God’s judgment comes on it. A person can perform the external actions that are part of his religion with great care without his heart being involved. The loss of offerings is a major disaster. Grain offering and drink offering are mentioned because they are vegetal and are therefore directly affected by the locust plague. A description of the grain offering can be read in Leviticus 2. Like all offerings, the grain offering is a picture of the Lord Jesus. Animal sacrifices are a picture of the work the Lord Jesus did on the cross. The grain offering is not a bloody offering. It therefore speaks of Him as Man on earth, Who in His life preceding His work on the cross has devoted Himself completely to God. The drink offering is a sacrifice of wine which is poured out over another offering, the main offering ( ; cf. ). It speaks of joy – of which wine is a picture – with which the Lord Jesus offered Himself to God. The spiritual meaning is important to us. The disappearing of the mentioned offerings means that a situation could arise among the people of God, that they no longer realize Who the Lord Jesus is for God. There is no longer any awareness of the Lord Jesus’ complete devotion to God, as presented in the grain offering. It is also no longer thought of the fact that it was His joy to do the will of His Father, as the drink offering shows. It means that we stop telling God – that is what ‘offering’ means to us – how wonderful the Lord Jesus served Him and that He always did so with joy. There is no longer any fellowship with God. God, with Whom everything is about His Son – Who He is, what He did and how He did it – is wronged. What a great loss for God. He who wrongs God also wrongs himself. Anyone who does not know the Lord Jesus as the true grain offering and drink offering, doesn’t know that his own life can be an offering. Someone who lives only for himself and his own pleasures knows nothing of the dedication to God and the joy it brings. Priests who perceive such an attitude in God’s people can only weep for it. Priests are people who are used to being in the presence of God. They know what is fitting, they know God’s holiness, His love, and desires. They also share in His grief and the pain that causes the unfaithfulness of His people. In Israel, only the descendants of Aaron are priests. In the church all believers are priests ( ) . Yet there is a difference between being a priest and behaving as a priest or serving as a priest. Only believers who really live in fellowship with God will serve as priests and will sympathize with God. They know in what He is wronged when His people live only for themselves. In meetings where spiritual sacrifices are brought, that is, where God is honored, they will notice the nature and content of those sacrifices. They will notice whether sacrifices are brought that honor God, or that they are sacrifices that show only their own advantage.

‏ Joel 1:9

No Grain Offering nor Drink Offering

The first consequence of the destruction of the harvest is that no more grain offering and drink offering can be brought into the temple. It seems that the Judeans did bring offerings until the disaster came, because the removal of the offerings is attributed to the locusts. This could mean that until then the people have fulfilled their religious obligations to bring the prescribed offerings. But as they fulfill their duties to God, they also fill up the measure of their iniquity and God’s judgment comes on it. A person can perform the external actions that are part of his religion with great care without his heart being involved.

The loss of offerings is a major disaster. Grain offering and drink offering are mentioned because they are vegetal and are therefore directly affected by the locust plague. A description of the grain offering can be read in Leviticus 2. Like all offerings, the grain offering is a picture of the Lord Jesus. Animal sacrifices are a picture of the work the Lord Jesus did on the cross. The grain offering is not a bloody offering. It therefore speaks of Him as Man on earth, Who in His life preceding His work on the cross has devoted Himself completely to God. The drink offering is a sacrifice of wine which is poured out over another offering, the main offering (Num 28:7 ; 14; cf. Phil 2:17). It speaks of joy – of which wine is a picture – with which the Lord Jesus offered Himself to God.

The spiritual meaning is important to us. The disappearing of the mentioned offerings means that a situation could arise among the people of God, that they no longer realize Who the Lord Jesus is for God. There is no longer any awareness of the Lord Jesus’ complete devotion to God, as presented in the grain offering. It is also no longer thought of the fact that it was His joy to do the will of His Father, as the drink offering shows.

It means that we stop telling God – that is what ‘offering’ means to us – how wonderful the Lord Jesus served Him and that He always did so with joy. There is no longer any fellowship with God. God, with Whom everything is about His Son – Who He is, what He did and how He did it – is wronged. What a great loss for God. He who wrongs God also wrongs himself. Anyone who does not know the Lord Jesus as the true grain offering and drink offering, doesn’t know that his own life can be an offering. Someone who lives only for himself and his own pleasures knows nothing of the dedication to God and the joy it brings.

Priests who perceive such an attitude in God’s people can only weep for it. Priests are people who are used to being in the presence of God. They know what is fitting, they know God’s holiness, His love, and desires. They also share in His grief and the pain that causes the unfaithfulness of His people.

In Israel, only the descendants of Aaron are priests. In the church all believers are priests (1Pet 2:5). Yet there is a difference between being a priest and behaving as a priest or serving as a priest. Only believers who really live in fellowship with God will serve as priests and will sympathize with God. They know in what He is wronged when His people live only for themselves. In meetings where spiritual sacrifices are brought, that is, where God is honored, they will notice the nature and content of those sacrifices. They will notice whether sacrifices are brought that honor God, or that they are sacrifices that show only their own advantage.