Weep Between the Porch and the Altar
Joel 2:15-17

“Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly;
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders,
Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?”

Today we are going to focus on one phrase from this reading in the Book of Joel in our discussion on overcoming strongholds: let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar. Let’s set this very briefly in context. Joel is speaking to the people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah (or Israel). His prophetic voice came at a time when the land had been stripped bare, crops had been lost and food was sparse. Death surrounded the people of Judah. Joel describes what has taken place by speaking of the locusts.

Locusts symbolize destructive enemy powers. Moses makes mention of them, we read of them in Revelation, and Joel begins his prophetic word to the people of Judah by describing what the locusts had done to the land, in 1:4:
“ What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; and what the crawling locust left; the consuming locust has eaten.” The land had been laid waste by the locusts: chewing; swarming; crawling; and consuming locusts. What Joel describes in the natural is a lesson for us in the spiritual. In the spiritual land there are locusts – destructive enemy powers. We can recognize them by their order of attack:

• Chewing: those things which eat away at us (our minds, bodies, souls);
• Swarming: those things which then come in and surround and hound us, with seemingly no relenting or releasing;
• Crawling: those things which then come upon us – this is s stronghold;
• Consuming: those things that then overtakes us and robs us of our victory in Christ.

The word of the Lord given by Joel gives the instruction to the people of Judah, beginning in 2:12: “Now, therefore, says the Lord, turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart, and not your garments…” This is a call to repentance. In 2:15 the Lord asks for the trumpet to be blown. This is the second trumpet, as the first was to be sounded in 2:1. This is a call to repent, to corporately repent and turn to the Lord. As the people are gathered together, the priests are then called forth – those priests who minister to the Lord – to come and weep between the porch and the altar.

This word was spoken in the time of Solomon’s temple. That temple included a porch as well as an altar. Leading up to the porch was a series of steps. This explains the Scripture of “going up to the house of the Lord,” Isa. 2:1-4. The porch, which was covered, was situated just before the Holy Place. In order to go into the Temple, the priest had to go through the porch: made of cedar (incorruptible) and overlaid with gold (divinity). Access to the presence of God in the Temple was achieved by going through the porch, the entrance point. Our relationship to Father is through His Son and so there is only one way to enter. The porch is the place of entrance.

Then there is the altar, which is the altar of incense. The altar of incense was located immediately before the veil leading into the Holy of Holies. At the altar the priests would present the daily sacrifice, daily lamp lighting, and daily incense. The five ingredients required for incense as written in Ex. 30:34-38 symbolize the perfect incense of intercession of Christ: sweet; pure; holy; perpetual; and fragrant. The incense of prayer and especially that of intercession took place at the altar of incense. We are called to the altar to bring our spiritual sacrifices; receive fresh oil daily; and to offer our prayers and intercession. The altar is the place of the sacrifice of prayer.
Located between the porch and altar were two important elements: the lamp stands and table of showbread. There were ten golden lamp stands in Solomon’s temple, illuminating the Holy Place with its light and daily re-supplied with fresh oil. The number ten symbolizes order. In this we see that the lamp stands are a picture of Christ: the Light of the world. It is also a picture of the church, called to be a light.

There were also ten gold tables of showbread in the Holy Place. We recognize Jesus as the Bread of Life. The tables could only be seen by the illumination of the light from the lamp stands. From this we gain an understanding that it is only through the light of the Holy Spirit that we clearly see and discern the word of God.
The priests would enter in and offer sacrifices. We are priests and we are called to do the same. We enter in through Jesus Christ and offer the spiritual sacrifices of worship and prayer. It is in that place: the place between
entrance and sacrifice that the Lord called the priests to weep.

This place has additional significance, as pointed out in the Book of Acts. As we turn to Acts 3:11, we read of the healing of the lame man which occurs at the gate Beautiful. After the healing occurs, verse 11 states, “ Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch, which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.” It was at the porch that the people gathered to bear witness in amazement of the miraculous. It is important to understand the very same gate the lame man sat at begging was the place of his healing –even when he wasn’t seeking a healing! The porch was a place of witness and testimony.

As we look further at Acts 5:12, we read the following, “and through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch.” It is noteworthy that the people were of one accord. They were in agreement, united, and harmonious in that place. Biblically, whenever people were gathered in one accord, things happened!

We have this spiritual Solomon’s Porch – a place of access and entrance where we can gather together in unity (Ps. 133) and as we pray, we intercede, we weep between that porch and altar, we find it is the place of the miraculous. In that spiritual space we come – we go up to the House of the Lord, we enter in, we have illumination of Truth by the Spirit, and we offer our spiritual sacrifices to the Lord. He calls us at times to weep, for “there is a time to weep and a time to laugh,” according to Eccl. 3:4. As we come forth with the tears of sorrow from God’s broken heart and offer them to Him, He responds. He responds powerfully. He responds lovingly. He responds miraculously. He breaks chains that bind. He takes our tears and uses them to overcome strongholds that hinder us, hinder our loved ones, and hinder our communities.

Who will come and weep? Who will sow tears of sorrow to reap morning joy? Who will present the lost to the Lord? Who will come forward with the brokenhearted and present them to God? Who will cry for the lives taken at Virginia Tech? Who will travail in tears for this community, for this country? Who will come to the place of the miraculous and present the prisoner for freedom, the afflicted for healing, the oppressed for freedom?

Who will cry out, “Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. For then the Lord will be zealous for His land…He will answer and say to His people, ‘Behold I will send you new grain (provision) and new wine (true teaching) and oil (fresh anointing).” He will restore to you the years that locust has eaten, and He will pour out His Spirit on all flesh…there will be prophecies and dreams and visions.”