There in the picture is a hole in a castle wall. It is overgrown with nature, almost like it is healing the damage done by battles past. Bestow Castle in Cheshire.
There are two passages that came to mind when looking upon this picture;
Undaunted and fearless,
unswerving, unstoppable.
They storm the city,
swarm its defences,
Loot the houses,
breaking down doors, smashing windows.
There must have been at some point attackers laying siege to this castle and it has had its walls stormed. Enemies over and through the walls to lay havoc.
10 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door,
but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
God seems to be talking about sin, and the great and terrible day of judgment will be open us at some point but we must enter through the door. Jesus Christ is that door, that gate, that archway to the inner sanctum.
Joel 2 may seem gloomy to read but in fact it is full of hope. For it tells us after all these descriptions of how terrible it will be on that day, it tells us that there is hope.
English Standard Version
12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
Acknowledgement of our sin must be from the heart, it must be with repentance. But look at what great things he says will follow;
English Standard Version
21 “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice,
for the LORD has done great things!
The great things that God has done for us is that He paid this terrible price for our sins and He cast the sins away with death. We can be glad and rejoice. Like the healing of the wall with the plants the Lord God will heal us and in time perhaps, or even instantly He will make us a new person.
But the celebrations don’t stop there for the next passage just blows me away when I read it.
English Standard Version
“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.
God is telling us, although how much Joel understood this revelation back then, that all people will receive the Spirit. Young, old, male and female, there is no distinction. We live in the age that God will pour His Spirit on anyone that chooses to accept Him, not in the age when only God’s special chosen person like Samson would receive the Spirit.
We all have a chance of hope and glorious joy to accept God. But one final warning must be made that we must be will receptacles. We can not be a full glass of water for God to pour in His everlasting water of life. We must let go of attachments to vain things, things we worship that get in the way of love. We must be prepared to put our faith into action, to defend the walls and defend the Lord our God.
Dear Lord, let me go out and defend you will all my heart renewed in your Spirit. Let me go out in love, treating everyone with equal love. Dear Lord help me to understand this calling to lead people to God. Help me not to feel worried but to feel fearless, to speak with compassion on those that are not choosing You because they can not or will not see the danger they are walking to. Help the lost, bring them all into your pen through the gate.
Through Jesus Christ your Son
Amen
with blessings
Graham
365 Exhortations 