BETWEEN THE PORCH AND THE ALTAR
Joel 2:17-18
Between the porch and the altar, the priests of the altar, ministering to the Lord, will each be weeping and will say, “O Lord, spare Your people; do not give Your inheritance to reproach, that the Gentiles should rule over them, lest they should say among the Gentiles, ‘Where is their God?’ ”
But the Lord was zealous for His land and spared His people.
Encouraging Words
Up to this point, Joel has been writing about the challenges that his people have been facing and the practices of the church. The altar is where the priest would prepare and offer up the sacrificial lamb for the people of the land. This was a blood sacrifice. The porch is where the people would stand in their sin, sickness, and death, waiting and hoping on the sacrifice. The priest stood between these two worlds filled with death. At this point in the text, Joel turns to the future, the coming High Priest, who would offer up the final and ultimate sacrifice that would bring salvation to His entire creation. Jesus is both this High Priest and the Sacrificial Lamb. Glory be to God!
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