Joel 1:8-9

Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the husband of her youth. Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD. (Joel 1:8-9)

She never consummated her marriage. Her hopes were ashes; her gown was sackcloth; her dreams were smoke. The joy of intimacy, a relationship that was meant to be, was cut off. Short. Too soon. Joel’s grief mirrored the mourning of a betrothed loss. The grain offerings and the drink offerings were cut off from the house of the Lord. Their relationship with the Lord was cut off. He had promised to consummate their relationship, to dwell in the temple, and now the drink and grain offerings were no more.

The drink offerings and grain offerings were offered twice daily. It was part of their day rhythm—the rise of the sun and the rise of the incense smoke to the Lord. The offerings were daily central orienting, just as they always looked to the temple. The grain offering: dependence on the Lord for daily sustenance. Drink offering: pouring oneself out to the Lord. No longer was their dependence on the Lord or a giving of themselves. No longer did they trust the Lord for their daily provision.

It was a breach in relationship. Joel mourned. He mourned the communion with the Lord. He mourned the daily centrality of the Lord, as being the center of life and the center of each day. He mourned the relationship, like bread and wine to them. Although they may have had food, they missed the true sustenance. Although they may have drunk, they missed the living water and the wine poured out for them.

But as for you who forsake the LORD and forget my holy mountain…My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. (Is. 65:11a, 13)

Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God…They will eat but not have enough…because they have deserted the LORD.. (Hosea 4:6b, 10)

Someone asked a pastor once, “If the Holy Spirit disappeared from your church, what would change?” The pastor was convicted that it would keep running—not much would be different. If the church was gone today, would our society miss something? Would I miss something? If the daily offerings today were cut off, would we miss it?

Would we miss the communion with the Lord? Would we miss the daily orientation of the Lord, or does the clock do that well enough for us?

If we saw the church as not fully expressing the body of Christ, would we mourn? Would we, like Joel, cry out?

At the same time:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (Eph. 5:25-27)

He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. (1 Cor. 1:8-9)

Jesus was the bread of life, the grain offering, broken on the cross for us. Jesus was the drink offering, who poured out his blood for us. It was he who consummated God’s promise, “I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord” (Hos. 2:19-20). We have the joy of a bride whose wedding is sure. It is bought! We rejoice in radiance, our ashes traded for a crown of beauty!

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. (Rev. 19:7)

But while they [the ten unprepared virgins] were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. (Mat. 25:10).

Then he [the king] said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. (Mat. 22:8)

Do I daily orient myself to the Lord, looking to him for daily sustenance and pouring myself out to him? Do I daily offer my grain and drink offerings to him? Or do I get lost, and seek to eat that which does not fill and drink that which does not satiate? Do I mourn to find joy, or do I search for joy that will end in mourning?

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. (John 7:38)

The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. (John 3:29)