Fictional MBTI – Tony Stark (ENTP)

15 June, 20152 August, 2021Marissa

As many of you know, I’m a big fan of using fictional characters to illustrate how Myers-Briggs® types work. I’ve written about Captain America as an ISFJ and about Loki’s more controversial personality (which I identify as INFJ), so I thought we’d continue with that series by talking about one of the most beloved and recognizable characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I’ve seen Iron Man from the comics typed as an ENTJ or ESTP, but most people agree that in the Tony Stark portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe is an ENTP. David Keirsey called this type “The Inventor.” While I often think Keirsey’s type descriptions are too stereotypical, it does fit Tony Stark.

It is so natural for ENTPs to practice devising ingenious gadgets and mechanisms that they start doing it even as young children. And these Inventors get such a kick out of it that they really never stop exercising their inventive talent, though in the workplace they will turn their technological ingenuity to many kinds of systems, social as well as physical and mechanical.
David Keirsey

The Personality Hacker video that you can watch if you click this link is a pretty good overview for the type. ENTPs lead with a process called Extroverted Intuition (“Exploration” in Personality Hacker’s system). It’s supported by Introverted Thinking (also called “Accuracy”). Their tertiary function is Extroverted Feeling (“Harmony”), and their least developed function is Introverted Sensing (“Memory”). We can see this in Tony Stark’s character throughout the MCU movies.

Exploration/Accuracy

Tony just became an expert on thermonuclear astrophysics. No big deal.

I really love Personality Hacker’s nicknames for the cognitive functions. Antonia Dodge writes that the reason they chose “Exploration” as the name for Extroverted Intuition was because “the best pattern recognition system for the outer world is to mess with everything that can be messed with, and to explore, explore, explore.” Types who use Extroverted Intuition easily bounce from one idea to the next, often out-loud, as they sort through and experiment with different possibilities. This doesn’t mean they can’t focus. They just need to find something that captures their attention. Once they have something to focus on, it can consume them (at least until they understand it well enough to lose interest and move on to the next challenge).

This is where their secondary function, Introverted Thinking, comes in. An ENTP’s Intuition is focused outward gathering information and sorting through data. When they need to think deeply about something, their inward-focused decision-making process comes into play. For ENTPs, this process is concerned with “Accuracy.” Antonia Dodge says the ultimate goal of a type using Accuracy is “information purified from incongruities, inconsistencies and biases which produce clean concepts and an understanding of how things work.”

ENTP Characteristics

Dr. A. J. Drenth in his profile of an ENTP and Isabel Meyer in her book Gifts Differing both mention several defining characteristics of the ENTP personality type. Let’s look at a few.

“Despite their tendency toward restlessness and distractibility, ENTPs can focus when partaking in stimulating discussions or activities” (Drenth). Just witness how focused Tony can be when speaking with Bruce Banner (discussions) or while alone in his private workshop (activities).
“ENTPs may not always seem to ‘have a point,’ quickly bouncing from one idea to the next” (Drenth). Tony’s conversation with the other Avengers on the hellicarrier after they catch Loki lasts less than two minuets and the conversation bounces around like this:
- Begins explanation of Loki’s plan
- Takes a verbal jab at Thor
- Continues explanation of portals
- Notices and comments on the man playing Galaga
- Questions the design of Fury’s command center
- More on Loki’s plan, while planting a decryption program
- Explains his new expertise in thermonuclear physics
- Introduces himself to Bruce Banner and admires his scientific work and Hulk side
“They are more apt to consider how others may affect their projects than how their projects may affect others” (Meyer). Extroverted Feeling — the function ENTPs use to connect with people, is third on their function stack. They use it rather well to read people and manipulate them (Isabel Meyer says, “They enjoy from the cradle a remarkable ability to get what they want”), but people are not the first thing on their priority list. Even in Age of Ultron, where Tony creates Ultron to try and avoid a future where he causes his friend’s deaths, his first focus is on the project, not on how others will react.
“ENTPs scoff at what they see as unnecessary or overly rigid rules, regulations, or procedures” (Drenth). This is the source of much of Tony’s conflict with S.H.I.E.L.D and with Steve Rodgers (interestingly, ISFJs and ENTPs are exact opposites in their function stacks, and can easily act as stressors for one another).
When stressed, Naomi Quenk says ENTPs’ inferior function shows up in the form of “withdrawal and depression,” “obsessiveness” and “focus on the body” (i.e. “exaggerated concern about physical ‘symptoms'” of a real or imagined disease). Just watch Iron Man 3.

If you enjoyed this post, check out my other MCU typings:

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The Day of the Lord (Lessons from Amos)

13 June, 20156 September, 2024Marissa

As I was reading Amos in my quest to write about more verses I don’t often study, some verses about the Day of the Lord caught my eye. It got me thinking about two doctrines I’ve encountered related to what the church will be doing during the great tribulation that precedes Christ’s second coming.

One doctrine, the one taught in the churches where I grew up, says that some believers will be taken to a “place of safety” where God keeps them from the tribulation. The other, taught in most Evangelical and some Messianic churches, says that a “rapture” occurs where Christ catches believers up to heaven before the tribulation starts.

Both these ideas acknowledge that Jesus is coming back in the future to set up His kingdom on earth, and there will be great tribulation throughout the earth before that happens. Rapture doctrine (at least, the pre-trib version) teaches that He will come back twice — once to gather up believers pre-tribulation and once again to set up His millennial reign. The Place of Safety doctrine teaches that some, not all, believers will be taken to a physical place of safety on earth to wait-out the tribulation until Christ’s return. Today, I want to re-think the idea that believers are going to get-out of the tribulation, and what that might mean for our faith.

A Day of Darkness

If you believe that those who are faithful to God are taken out of the world before the great tribulation starts, then praying “thy kingdom come” is easy. We’ll get out of the worst of it and bypass all this judgement stuff so we can finally get to that reward we’ve been promised. But what if it doesn’t work out that way?

What if Revelation 12:13-17 really does mean the church will be taken to a safe place, but you’re part of the commandment-keeping remnant still in the earth and persecuted by the dragon? What if there is a rapture, but it’s mid- or post-tribulation instead of pre-trib?

Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him! Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it? (Amos 5:18-20)

There’s a note on this passage in my study Bible that says, “The people were taking for granted that the ‘Day of the Lord’ would be their day of triumph. Amos reminded them, however, that because of their unbelief and wickedness, it would be a day of judgement for them as well as the other nations.”

This made me think of us in the church, hoping for the end of the world because we know it has to come before Christ’s return, while thinking we might get out of the accompanying tribulation. Well, maybe we will, but I wouldn’t count on it. Matthew 24 clearly states Christ “will gather together His elect” “immediately after the tribulation” (Matt. 24:29-31). We have to be ready to stay faithful to God even if we go through the worst tribulation mankind has ever faced. If our faith is contingent upon being raptured away or taken to a place of safety, we could be in trouble.

Our Safe Place

I know this sounds bleak, but one thing we do know is that God’s people will suffer because our Messiah suffered (1 Pet. 2:18-25). If we really are living in the last days (as so many people think) and that includes having to go through the tribulation, I pray we’ll be those who can say “Thy will be done” rather than those who turn away because they were expecting something else.

I recently read The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. She was a Christian working with the Dutch underground in World War II who was caught and sent to several German concentration camps. At first, I thought the title refered to the secret room where she and her family hid Jews, but I soon found out she meant something else.

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word. (Ps. 119:114)

Corrie quotes this verse near the beginning of the book, and again near the end. Her sister just died, she’s trapped in the medical ward waiting for release from the third camp she’s been held in, and she writes this: “His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will! Don’t let me go mad by poking about outside it.” We don’t need to go anywhere for God to keep us safe. We just need to stay in His will. Our safety doesn’t depend on anything other than our relationship with Him.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” (Ps. 91:1-2)

The New Living Translation has “place of safety” here instead of “fortress.” Reading on in this Psalm, we read of people living with “terror by night” and arrows by day (verse 5) in a place where pestilence and destruction are rampant (verse 6), and people fall dead all around you (verse 7). That’s not a physically safe location, but it doesn’t matter when you are dwelling in God.

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling (Ps. 91:9-10)

We’ve all known Christians who’ve suffered — and we’ve probably been a suffering Christian. Clearly, this isn’t a promise for complete physical protection for every follower of God. It is a promise, though, that God won’t let anything happen to us that can’t work out for good (Rom. 8:28).

Keep Watch

We have to constantly work on developing a close relationship with God, and learning to follow Him the way He commands. That’s what’s important — not trying to figure out when He’s returning or if we’ll be raptured or where the place of safety might be. God is our focus, and if we keep our eyes on Him He will work things out.

Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matt 24:42-44)

If we knew exactly when and how God’s plan would unfold, there’d be little need for trust or faith as the “evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). We could have everything planned out and controlled and feel assured in our own efforts. but that’s not what God wants. He wants to see what we’ll do when we have to rely on Him completely.

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 24:45-51)

There has been far too much smiting of fellow servants in the churches by people who don’t live like they could find themselves face-to-face with Jesus at any moment. We can’t let our faith slip because we think we have time or that we’ll get a warning. I’ve lost far too many friends to sudden, unexpected causes of death to think there are guarantees in this life.

God doesn’t call us to a life of comfort. He does promise He’ll never leave us and that, if we stay faithful, we will triumph with His son at the end. He doesn’t give us all the answers, but He gives us the only one we need. Grow closer to Him, stay vigilant, and trust Him as your place of safety.

One For The Extroverts

8 June, 201520 November, 2017Marissa

Extroverts are Just As Amazing As Introverts | marissabaker.wordpress.com — credit

This is a great time to be an introvert. We see articles and books popping up all over the place defining introversion, listings wonderful qualities of introverts, and making sure the extroverts know that introverts are just as good (and dare we imply, better?) than them. Introverts Unite (separately)! Introvert Power!

But I wonder when reading some of these articles if we’ve done the extroverts a disservice. Are we introverts in danger of taking our quest for recognition as extroverts’ equals to the extreme of thinking we’re “better than them”? If people could ever be balanced in a quest for equality, it should be those who study type theory. The very fact that introversion and extroversion is hard-wired into our brains should tell us that not everyone thinks the same, and that’s okay.

So with that in mind, here’s a post for the extroverts. You’re awesome, too. Most of the introverts posts like this are addressed to extroverts with the goal of debunking myths surrounding introversion, so we’ll try and do something similar for assumptions we have about extroverts.

1. Extroverts are Intelligent and Sensitive

Let’s get two things straight right from the get-go: introverts don’t have a monopoly on intelligence or sensitivity. Extroverts can be intelligent (and introverts can be unintelligent). Extroverts can be sensitive (and introverts can be insensitive). In fact, the Sensory Processing Sensitivity trait is independent of introversion and 30% of the people who qualify as Highly Sensitive are extroverts. At least two of my extroverted friends are HSPs, and even the ones that aren’t are way more in-tune with their own and other people’s feelings than most introverts give them credit for.

2. “Extrovert” Doesn’t Equal “Social”

Introverts tend to think of extroverts as the people who crave the society of others, and who have an annoying habit of trying to drag introverts out of their shells. But extrovert doesn’t necessarily mean someone who is always social. It means someone who is oriented to the the outer world of people, places, and/or things. They are more likely to recharge among other people than alone, but not always. This is especially true of the more “introverted extroverts” like ENFJs and ENTJs. As one article puts it, ““Extrovert” is not Latin for “has Red Bull flowing through veins.””

3. Extroverts Can Be Shy

Often, the extroverts who tell introverts that we can “recover” from our introversion think this because they were shy as kids and assume “introvert” is the same thing they experienced when they were shy. Shyness is not the same as introversion, and it isn’t an uniquely introvert phenomena. Extroverts can also suffer from shyness and social anxiety. It might actually be harder for them, because at least as a shy introvert you are oriented to living inside your head, whereas an extrovert who is shy wants to be around people but is also terrified of them at the same time.

4. Extroverts Get Things Done

I recently saw someone ask what the world would look like if introverts were in charge. Most of the responses (all from introverts) were along the lines of “peaceful,” “harmonious,” and “quiet.” The first thing I thought? Nothing would ever get done. We’d be so busy trying to avoid conflict that the world would fall apart. As a society, we need extrovert’s energy to connect people, force conflict resolutions, advocate for change, and step-up as leaders. Can introverts do that? sure. But many extroverts thrive in those roles and find that it comes naturally to them.

5. Extroverts Do Think

This should be obvious, but even for those of us who know deep-thinking extroverts there can still be an assumption that most extroverts just word-vomit whatever pops into their heads and dash through life acting instead of thinking. Granted many extroverts do love to talk and sometimes words get out that haven’t gone through a filter yet, but that doesn’t mean they don’t think deeply about things. If you’ve spent any one-on-one time at all with an extrovert, it quickly becomes obvious that they aren’t all shallow. Most of my closest friends are extroverts, and I’ve learned to value their insights and thoughts on a wide range of subjects.

If you’re an extrovert, what is it that you wish people understood about you? If you’re an introvert, what do you love about the extroverts in your life?

Sins As Scarlet

6 June, 20155 June, 2015Marissa

When we were in Joel last week, the final verse started me thinking on the subject of God’s power to cleanse sin. We know God forgives sin, but do we believe that He will really forgive us? Our sins have separated us from God (Is. 59:2) — will He really take us back? Or if we don’t think that about ourselves, maybe we think someone else’s sins are too big for God to forgive.

And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

So he said, “Teacher, say it.”

“There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” (Luke 7:40-43)

This isn’t to say we should commit sins so we can love God more, but when we have sinned God delights in forgiving those who turn to Him. He wants to turn seemingly impossible situations and seemingly irredeemable people into something good. (As a side note, this is the verse that always pops into my head when I hear people say they doubt God could forgive someone like Hitler).

Invitation to Forgiveness

God’s goal is for all the people He created to repent and be saved. There will be some who out-right reject Him (Rev. 20), and they will be punished, but what he wants is a restored relationship with all men.

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword;” for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Is. 1:18-20)

This is an amazing passage. It’s like God is inviting His people to sit down and talk things over with Him. That’s one thing I love about Isaiah — the honesty and genuineness of God revealed in His messages to Israel. He really bares His heart, telling them how much He cares and how much He wants them to come back to Him so He can forgive and bless them.

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance; let us contend together; state your case, that you may be acquitted.” (Is. 43:25-26)

He doesn’t cleanse us because we deserve it, but because He is love and because He’s in the business of restoration.

Asking For Purity

Probably the most famous prayer for spiritual cleansing is David’s Psalm 51. This records how David asked for forgiveness after he committed adultery and murder, and because of his truly repentant heart God continued working with him even after these horrible sins.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Ps. 51:7)

Hyssop is an interesting herb in the Bible. It’s used ritualistically as a cleansing or purifying symbol (Lev. 14:1-7, 33-53; Num. 19:1-6), likely because it was literally used as a cleaning agent. Today, we’re finding out that hyssop oil has measurable antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antifungal properties. Perhaps this connection with purification is why it was used at the first Passover.

Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.” (Ex. 12:21-23)

With the Passover picturing Christ’s death, the hyssop (John 19:29) and blood signify not just “passing over” sins, but also removing them completely. The means by which our “red as scarlet” sins are made “white as snow” is washing in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14).

It makes sense, then, that the only sins we’re told God will not pardon involve rejecting Christ’s sacrifice (Heb. 6:4-6) and blaspheming God’s spiritual, redemptive Power (Matt. 12:31-32). You can’t be forgiven if you reject and hate the way to forgiveness. But that’s the only thing God can’t forgive. All those things we humans think of as the “worst” sins — the kinds of things David did, for example — those God can work with if we repent and ask Him to help us change.

Gulliver’s Travels

1 June, 201520 March, 2018Marissa

If you don’t count the children’s Great Illustrated Classics version of Gulliver’s Travels, then my first encounter with Jonathan Swift’s writings was “A Modest Proposal.” I loved it. Swift’s type of satire is one reason people are still saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Words are powerful, and if used well they can re-make society, destroy high-ranking people, and quite possibly get the writer in serious trouble.

Gulliver’s Travels was one of the first novels I chose for my Classics Club book list. I’d read excerpts from the Lilliput section when putting together a high school British literature course for my homeschooled brother, but this was the first time I’d read the entire novel.

The first two sections — “A Voyage to Lilliput” and “A Voyage to Brobdingnag” — read most like a fantastical travel-log, and if not for the footnotes in my Norton Critical Edition I would have missed quite a bit of the satire here, because so much of it was specific to Swift’s time period and to certain people in power while he was writing. The last two sections — “A Voyage to Laputa” and “A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms” — contained more general satire about the human race, which I think translated better to today. Here, we have priceless descriptions of things like lawyers:

I said, there was a Society of Men among us, bred up form their Youth in the Art of proving by Words multiplied for the Purpose that White is Black, and Black is White, according as they are paid. To this Society all the rest of the People are Slaves. For example, if my neighbour has a mind to my cow, he has a lawyer to prove that he ought to have my cow from me. I must then hire another to defend my right, it being against all rules of law that any man should be allowed to speak for himself. Now, in this case, I, who am the right owner, lie under two great disadvantages: first, my lawyer, being practised almost from his cradle in defending falsehood, is quite out of his element when he would be an advocate for justice, which is an unnatural office he always attempts with great awkwardness, if not with ill-will. The second disadvantage is, that my lawyer must proceed with great caution, or else he will be reprimanded by the judges, and abhorred by his brethren, as one that would lessen the practice of the law. …

Gulliver in discussion with Houyhnhnms, 1856 illustration by J.J. Grandville

“It is a maxim among these lawyers that whatever has been done before, may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice, and the general reason of mankind. These, under the name of precedents, they produce as authorities to justify the most iniquitous opinions; and the judges never fail of directing accordingly.”

By the end of the novel, I didn’t like Gulliver as a character, but as a narrative vehicle for Swift’s satire he was perfect. He’s annoyingly narrow-minded and Anglocentric for much of the narrative, until he completely flips the other direction after living with the Houyhnhnms. It’s a marvelous bit of writing. First, his criticism of the unfamiliar Lilliputian, Brobdingnag, and Laputa cultures highlights what is most laughable or deplorable in our own society. But just when we’re ready to condemn humanity for it’s lack of logic, ridiculous methods of government, insistence on violence, and a whole host of other flaws Swift brilliantly satirizes, Gullliver decides he hates the very people he’s been defending this whole narrative.

Once he’s expelled by the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver would literally rather die than go back to living among humans. He can’t stand the smell, touch, or society of people who lack the Houyhnhnms “Government of Reason.” You might think Swift is saying, along with Gulliver, that people are disgusting and that’s his take-away message. Yet it is Gulliver who has now become ridiculous, and I think Swift finishes this book by satirizing his own narrator’s conclusions about the human race. Just because Swift notices the flaws in society and his fellow man doesn’t mean he abandons all hope for us.

Click here to get a copy of Gulliver’s Travels. Please note that this is an affiliate link. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will receive a commission if you click on the link and make a purchase.

Cycles of Judgement, Repentance, and Blessing (Lessons from Joel)

30 May, 20156 September, 2024Marissa

I recently heard that pastors tend to use the same set of scriptures over and over when speaking. It’s probably not even on purpose — you just naturally go to the verses you know well and are comfortable with when writing about a given topic. I wondered if I do that in this blog, and started trying to think of scriptures that I don’t regularly quote. The minor prophets came to mind. I spend time in Hosea, but not really any of the others. And so I though, why not start a study on these 12 books and see what the Lord might have to teach me.

Repent From the Heart …

Joel begins with prophecies of destruction. First, he warns Israel that locusts will sweep through and destroy the food crops. There wouldn’t even be enough harvest to supply the offerings in the temple (Joel 1:9).

Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty. (Joel 1:14-15)

Mercy triumphs over judgement (James 2:13), but that doesn’t mean God won’t punish sin. Sometimes, that’s the only way to get our attention and save us by turning us back to Him.

In chapter 2, the prophecy shifts to what is still for us future events (at least, that’s what it looks like to me. Zodhiates’ study Bible says there is some disagreement among scholars). It sounds a lot more like Revelation, though, than a famine caused by locusts. Regardless of the timing, the conclusion of both prophesies is the same — an immediate call to repentance.

“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him — a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? (Joel 2:12-14)

We should stay close to God through both good times and bad, but if we have drifted away He is still ready to hear us as individuals and as a nation. Genuine repentance from the heart will always get God’s attention.

… And There Will Be Blessings

Joel tells us that when all the people — including the elders, youth and ministry (Joel 2:16-17) — come to God with tears and a request for mercy, He will hear.

Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people. The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.” … Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things! (Joel 2:18-19, 21)

God promises to send so many blessings that they will make up for everything that was lost in the plagues described earlier (Joel 2:25). This makes me think of a passage in Romans, where Paul writes, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). There’s certainly no reason Christians can’t be happy and joyful in their lives today, but often our walks are marked by trials and touched by sorrow. Either way, we have a magnificent future to look forward to, and focusing on that can help us endure as we follow in Christ’s footsteps (Heb. 12:1-3).

Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God and there is no other. My people shall never 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, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:27-29)

Fulfillment of this prophecy began on the Pentecost where the disciples were given the Holy Spirit, which Peter points out as he quotes Joel 2:28-32 when he explains what’s going on (Acts 2:14-21). The remainder of the prophecy, and Joel chapter 3, relate to future judgement.

In Joel, we’ve already seen cycles of judgement, repentance, and blessing. Now, the subject turns back to the tribulation and wars before the coming of Jesus Christ. Though things look extremely bleak, once again it will ultimately result in blessing for the people who stay faithful to God (Joel 3:16-21)

The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. (Joel 3:16)

There is hope and help for us now, and in the future if we whole-heartedly draw near to God. That’s a main message of the book of Joel — bad things are going to happen because of sin, and therefore we need to draw near to God and repent so good things can happen to us in the end.