Bereansearching Bible Studies

Introduction

The Book of Joel is a relatively short, three chapter, book that is attributed to the prophet Joel (יוֹאֵל (yô’ēl))^H3100, meaning “Jehovah is God“, which is dated to ~800 BC. The only Biblical time cross-reference, which we can be confident in, is that Joel would have lived sometime after King Jehoshaphat* (because mention is made of the “valley of Jehoshaphat” in both Joel 3:2 and Joel 3:12) and before the destruction of the ten northern tribes of Israel, which took place in 710 BC.

*King Jehoshaphat was the fourth king of Judah under the divided monarchy, the son of Asa. We are first introduced to him in 1 Kings 15:24, but are told nothing more than that he succeeded Asa. Later, 1 Kings 22:42 tells us that he was 35 years old when he began his reign and that he reigned 25 years (estimated to have been from ~873 to ~848 BC).  A more comprehensive account of his reign can be found in 2 Chronicles 17:1–2 Chronicles 22:9.

Joel might have prophesied sometime before Amos and lived during the reign of Joash (Jehoash), the king of Judah 2 Kings 12:1, “¶In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Zibiah of Beersheba. And Jehoash did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.” The forty year reign spanned the period from ~835 BC to ~796 BC.

We should also note that Joash provoked God and was warned by the prophet Zechariah (the son of Jehoiada) in 2 Chronicles 24:20, “¶And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.” But Joash did not listen, and had Zechariah killed as we read in the next two verses 2 Chronicles 24:21&22.

The Book of Joel is part of a collection of twelve books of the so-called “Minor” prophets, which include the Books of Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The so-called “Major” prophets being four longer books of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. These are misnomers, as all of the prophets of God are equal in the eyes of God, and we know, according to 2 Timothy 3:16&17, that “All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.“

Summary of the Book of Joel

Given the likely time period, It would seem that Joel was prophesying warnings of Judgment first against the ten northern tribes of Israel at the time during the reign of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel (17 years, ~814 to ~798 BC) warning of the earthly judgment to come in 710 BC from Assyria, but also that which would also befall Judah and Jerusalem from Babylon culminating in ~587 BC. Preeminent, however, is the spiritual focus of the book, which is another warning of the final Judgment Day (“The Day of the LORD”) that is most assuredly coming soon at the end of the world.

The central message of Joel, is similar to what we found to be the case in the Book of Nahum. The Book of Joel is about God’s vengeance (judgment) for the unsaved as opposed to God’s comfort (salvation) for God’s Elect. Judgment is global in the sense that, throughout Joel, judgment will come both upon Israel as well as upon the nations of the world (3:2-3). Salvation is global in the sense that God will one day pour out his Spirit “on all flesh” as prophesied by Joel in Joel 2:28 and fulfilled at Pentecost in Acts 2:17, so that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32).

We can therefore say that Joel has some profound warnings to the Israel of his day, which have equally profound implications for us in our day. Key among them is God’s warning to all the world of the Judgment Day that is coming soon (with language that similar that of Zephaniah), and God’s petition for all to repent of their sins and turn back to God before that Final Judgment Day comes. It gives us the promise of the coming of the LORD Jesus Christ as the means of God’s Mercy and Grace in fulfillment of God’s Law to atone for those sins at the cross at Passover in 33AD, together with the promise of the coming of God’s Holy Spirit to evangelize the world that was fulfilled at Pentecost in 33AD (Acts 2:16-21). It also offers comfort to the believers, who represent the Eternal Israel of God, that they will be safe with God in Heaven for forever.

Practical Application*: The applicable theme of the Book of Joel is to teach us all that without repentance, God’s judgment for sin will be severe, thorough, certain, and eternal. Our trust should never be in our possessions or our own works, but only in the LORD our God. God is completely Sovereign over ever aspect of His Creation, both in time and space, and will, at various times in history and through to this day, use what appear to be only common sorrowful natural or evil manmade occurrences (pestilence, plagues, drought, famine, earthquakes and wars) as punishment for unbelief and to draw sinners back to Him. Moreover, by God’s Divine long-suffering Mercy and Grace, God has provided the definitive plan for repentant mankind’s salvation though the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was crucified for the sins of His Elect, and exchanging the believer’s sin for His Perfect Righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). Time is almost up! God’s judgment will come swiftly for everyone one way or another, “as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 3:3 and Revelation 16:15), and everyone must be ready. Today is the day of salvation! (2 Corinthians 6:2) “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7). ONLY by God’s imputed righteousness can anyone escape God’s just Wrath on the Day of the LORD, Judgment Day. (*Adapted from: Summary of the Book of Joel, which is included here because the pattern it provides cannot be made any more clearly or succinctly.)

Joel Chapter 1

Chapter 1 can be summarized as providing us with a detailed description of an impending Judgment that will come upon National Israel (whether focusing on the kingdom of Judah alone, or together with the kingdom of the ten northern tribes) and which is metaphorically described in a number of ways that includes references to locusts and caterpillars. In any case, it is most importantly a prophetic warning to all of mankind of the impending wrath of God on Judgment Day.

The warnings include:

1. A warning that the Judgment to come will be unprecedented. (v. 1-7).
2. A call for lamentation and mourning because of it. (v. 8-13).
3. Instruction to gather and repent and cry out unto the LORD God in that time of misery (v. 14-20).

Joel 1:1, “¶The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.“

This is similar to the introduction we find in Jonah 1:1. Jonah was a prophet of God because he received the word of the LORD and so it is with the prophet Joel(יוֹאֵל (yô’ēl)) ^H3100, meaning “Jehovah is God“. We are also told, like in the Book of Jonah, the name of the father of the prophet Joel. Joel’s father’s name is Pethuel (פְּתוּאֵל (pᵊṯû’ēl))^H6602, which is generally thought to mean “Vision of God”. However, when we look closer at the root word from which “vision” is derived, we find this. It is derived from the root word פָּתָה (pāṯâ)^H6601, which has been translated into English by the King James translators a number of ways: entice (10x), deceive (8x), persuade (4x), flatter (2x), allure (1x), enlarge (1x), silly one (1x), silly (1x). So then, looking at the context of

1) Joel being a prophet of God, and

2) Pethuel being Joel’s father, then it is more likely the better translation would be “Persuasion of God” or “Enticement of God“.

The rest of the Book of Joel is most certainly a declaration by God’s warning to the world, and warnings are always intended to “persuade” the hearers.

The following three verses are reminiscent of the plague of locusts brought upon Egypt by God in Exodus 10:1–20 . But the difference here is that this is describing a judgment that has been brought against God’s people, National Israel!

Joel 1:2, “Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?“

God is specifically declaring to the entire world that they need to listen to the Word of the Lord, and that which is being declared addresses that which has never happened before, but which must be told.

Joel 1:3, “Tell ye your children of it, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation.“

God is telling us that this declaration must be told to not only the people of Joel’s day, but to every generation going forward in time until the end of time. We are reminded of Psalm 78:4, “We will not hide [them] from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.“

Joel 1:4, “That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.“

God has an issue with His people in the first instance, and the world overall in the second instance. God has been bringing judgment upon His people (National Israel first, and later the churches) for their apostasy and to the world overall for denying their Creator God and the mercy that He would bring if they would only repent.

We also see similar descriptions of God’s punishments brought against National Israel in the Book of Amos, as we read in Amos 4:9, “I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured [them]: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.” Note how this is again referring us back to Exodus 10:1–20 .

We also see similar language in God’s condemnation of Nineveh in Nahum 3:15-17, “There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away. Thy crowned [are] as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, [but] when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they [are].“

Similarly, God goes into extensive and horrific detail on the consequences that will befall His people for their disobedience to Him in both Leviticus 26:14–46  and Deuteronomy 28:15-68. And please also see the similarity with what we find in Isaiah 34:1-17.

Joel 1:5, “Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.“

The problem begins with the ones who are responsible (“the priests, the LORD’s ministers“) for teaching the people the Truth of their situation and their need to turn back (repent) from their sins and from disobeying God and to cry out to God for mercy. But the priests of God at that time were as if they were asleep and drunken, but not with the wine that leads to repentance and salvation (the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God). They therefore cannot speak that Truth.

Joel 1:6, “For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth [are] the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.”

That nation is that which is of the devil, the accuser, the adversary, and the father of lies that bring only false gospels of man’s works, which only lead mankind away from the True God of the Bible and into apostasy. This is reminiscent of Deuteronomy 28:49&50, “The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as [swift] as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:” This prophecy was fulfilled historically with the captivity of the remains of National Israel by Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon but it also points us to the time just before the end when the devil and his dominion are loosed to come upon the earth to bring a pre-judgment for the same disobedience as we read in Revelation 9:7&8, “¶And the shapes of the locusts [were] like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads [were] as it were crowns like gold, and their faces [were] as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as [the teeth] of lions.”

Joel 1:7, “He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast [it] away; the branches thereof are made white.“

God, by using the earthy adversary (Nebuchadnezzar) against National Israel (typified by the “fig tree” per Hosea 9:10, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time:…”) for its apostasy, and at the end of time, by using the spiritual adversary (the devil) punishes the apostate churches (and hence the world) during the “Final Tribulation” just prior to Judgment Day, as we read in Isaiah 5:6, “And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.“

We also see similar language in Nahum 2:2, “For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.”

Joel 1:8, “Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.“

Isaiah 22:12, “And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:“

Proverbs 2:17, “Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.“

Jeremiah 3:4, “Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou [art] the guide of my youth?“

Joel 1:9, “The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’S ministers, mourn.“

It would seem that this is saying that when the land is desolate then there will be no more means by which to make an offering of any kind. But if the land (the world) is desolate, then it is because the true Gospel has been cut off, and the world is desolate as a result along with the fact that there are effectively no more petitions to God being made to God for mercy.

Joel 1:10, “The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

Here we see the resulting lack of the True Gospel is being made more plain. We know that, Spiritually speaking, the corn (representing Jesus’s Body), the wine (representing Jesus’ shed Blood) and the oil (representing the anointing power of the the Holy Spirit) are the essence of the Gospel of Salvation through the Person and Work of the LORD Jesus Christ. But that true Gospel of Salvation is neither being preached nor being heard.

It is also noteworthy that in Hosea 2:21-23,  we read,  “And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to [them which were] not my people, Thou [art] my people; and they shall say, [Thou art] my God.“

Similarly in Deuteronomy 11:14, “That I will give [you] the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.”

The Word of God, the Bible, emphatically tells us that Jesus Is the Word made flesh John 1:14, Is the Bread of Life John 6:35,… so then 

1) Jesus’s Body is represented by the corn (also meal or bread) Matthew 26:26,

2) Jesus’s Blood of the new testament is represented by the wine Matthew 26:27&38, and

3) The Holy Spirit of Truth Is represented by the (olive) oil. Psalm 23:5. The Holy Spirit Is The One who anoints, sanctifies, fills, readies the believer to see Christ, and brings light, joy, and spiritual health. Please see also the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the Parable of the Ten Virgins.

Joel 1:11, “Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.“

Jeremiah 14:3&4, “And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, [and] found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.“

Joel 1:12, “The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, [even] all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.“

Isaiah 24:11&12, “[There is] a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.“

Jeremiah 48:33, “And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; [their] shouting [shall be] no shouting.“

Joel 1:13, “Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.“

Jeremiah 4:8, “For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.“

Starvation and Drought in Advent of Judgment Day: The Great Tribulation?

Joel 1:14, “Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders [and] all the inhabitants of the land [into] the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,“

2 Chronicles 20:3, “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” and 2 Chronicles 20:13, “¶And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.“

Leviticus 23:36, “Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it [is] a solemn assembly; [and] ye shall do no servile work [therein].” For more on this please see the verses listed here in: “Solemn Assemblies“.

Zephaniah 3:18, “I will gather [them that are] sorrowful for the solemn assembly, [who] are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.“

Joel 1:15, “Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD [is] at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

This is clearly speaking again of Judgment Day, not just for National Israel and its destruction but the Judgment Day at the end of the world. We see this also in Jeremiah 30:7, “Alas! for that day [is] great, so that none [is] like it: it [is] even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.“

Also: Isaiah 13:6, “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD [is] at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.” and Isaiah 13:9, “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.”

The Famine in the Land

Joel 1:16, “Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, [yea], joy and gladness from the house of our God?“

We see the exact opposite when there is obedience back in Deuteronomy 12:6, “And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks: And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.“

Joel 1:17, “The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.“

The Gospel is gone and there is nothing to feed the starving animals who representing people of the world, but most particularly God’s people in the churches.

Joel 1:18, “How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.”

These beasts and the flocks of sheep (like the trees and the vines in the vineyard mentioned earlier) are all allegorical representations of the people who are groaning and languishing for lack of the true Gospel being preached to them by the priests in that day (and by the pastors in our day). It is a time of “Spiritual Famine”!

Remember what we are told by God in Amos 8:11, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find [it]. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.“

Hosea 4:3, “Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.“

“the Beasts Groan”

This should also remind us of Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only [they], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, [to wit], the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for [it]. ¶Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to [the will of] God.” [Side Note: Please see the Esther study and the review the information posted there on the first of the two chamberlain eunuch’s, Hegai (Hege) (הֵגֵא (hēḡē’) ^H1896, who cared for Esther and anointed her, and whose name can be interpreted as meaning “Groaning“!]

Joel 1:19, “O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.”

Psalm 50:15, “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” and Jeremiah 9:10, “For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through [them]; neither can [men] hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.“

Joel 1:20, “The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.“

Job 38:41, “Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.“

Psalm 104:21, “The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.“

1 Kings 17:7, “And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.“

Joel Chapter 2

Joel Chapter 2 can be summarized as follows:

1. The chapter begins with a continuation of the metaphorical prophetic descriptive warning of the horrors and desolation of the impending attack that will come against the land of Judah, which also serves as a spiritual prefigurement of “The Day of the Lord”… Judgment Day! (v. 1-11),
2. Which is followed by a cry to the people, when they are under this sore judgment, to return and to repent, to fast and pray, and to seek unto God for mercy, with instructions (v. 12-17).
3. With the promise that, upon their repentance, God would remove the judgment, would repair the breaches made upon them by it, and restore unto them plenty of all good things (v. 18-27).
4. The chapter ends with the prophesy of the forthcoming establishment of eternal kingdom of the Messiah, beginning with the pouring out of The Holy Spirit in the latter days (v. 28-32) (which first required the intercession by God through the perfect Sacrifice of the LORD Jesus Christ).

Judgment Day Foretold, “The Day of the LORD”

Joel 2:1, “¶Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for [it is] nigh at hand;“

“Blow Ye the Trumpet“

While the verse is reminiscent of Jeremiah 4:5, “¶Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.” and Jeremiah 6:1, “O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.” Then later in Joel 2:15, “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:“, we are also reminded of the context, which is pointing to Judgment Day. And that brings us to 1 Corinthians 15:52, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.“

It is also interesting to note Numbers 10:9, “¶And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.”

Ezekiel 33:1-9, “¶Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take [any] person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. ¶So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked [man], thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Judgment Day is “Nigh at Hand“

The trumpet sounding points to Judgment Day and indeed it is near (and “nigh at hand“). Obadiah 1:15, “For the day of the LORD [is] near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.” and Zephaniah 1:14, “The great day of the LORD [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly, [even] the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.“

Again, looking back at Isaiah 13:6, “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD [is] at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.“ and Isaiah 13:9, “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.”

Note that “The day of the LORD” is found five times in the Book of Joel, with the other four being:

Joel 1:15, “Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD [is] at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.“

Joel 2:11, “And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp [is] very great: for [he is] strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?”

Joel 2:31, “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.“

Joel 3:14, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD [is] near in the valley of decision.”

In each case, these verses are not just a warning to National Israel of the destruction to come from the Babylonians, it is a clear warning of Judgment Day that is to come at the end of the world for all of mankind, and moreover, that Judgment Day is very near!

Joel 2:2, “A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, [even] to the years of many generations.“

This language is almost identical to that which we find later in Zephaniah 1:14-16 regarding Judgment Day, “The great day of the LORD [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day [is] a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.“

Amos 5:18, “Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the LORD [is] darkness, and not light.“

Amos 5:20, “[Shall] not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?“

Joel 2:3, “A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land [is] as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.“

Zephaniah 1:18, “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.“

Zechariah 7:14, “But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.“

Joel 2:4, “The appearance of them [is] as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.“

While this might seem reminiscent to what we find in Revelation 9:7, “¶And the shapes of the locusts [were] like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads [were] as it were crowns like gold, and their faces [were] as the faces of men.”, there is a difference in that Revelation is referring to God’s Judgment on the earth during the Great Tribulation when the devil is loosed, while here in Joel we are reading about Judgment Day. This premonition in Joel rather reminds us of the army of saints, which will accompany Jesus on Judgment Day. Please see this post: “The Believers (The “Saints”) Will Be With Jesus in Executing Judgment on Judgment Day!” 

Joel 2:5, “Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.“

Revelation 9:9, “And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.“

Joel 2:6, “Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness (פָּארוּר (pā’rûr))^H6289.“

Nahum 2:10, “She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain [is] in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness (פָּארוּר (pā’rûr))^H6289 (“pale with terror”).

Joel 2:7, “They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:“

Joel 2:8, “Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and [when] they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.“

Nothing can stop the predetermined Judgments of God.

Joel 2:9, “They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.“

God’s Judgment will come swiftly as a thief in the night.

Jeremiah 9:21, “For death is come up into our windows, [and] is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, [and] the young men from the streets.”

1 Thessalonians 5:2, “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord  so cometh as a thief in the night.“

2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.“

For more details regarding Judgment Day and the end of creation, please see this post: “The Heavens Shall Be Rolled Together as a Scroll“.

Joel 2:10, “The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:“

Psalm 18:7, “Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.”

Judgment Day is explicitly described as a time when the world will endure a great earthquake and heavens will be shaken as we read in Revelation 6:12, “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;” and also Revelation 16:18, “And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, [and] so great.“

It should be noted that God inspired Joel to describe the sun and moon being darkened three times, as it is also stated clearly in Joel 3:15, “The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.” and also in Joel 2:31, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.” Clearly the great and terrible day of the LORD is Judgment Day and we know that it is coming at a time when the sun and the moon are darkened as we read in Isaiah 13:9-11, “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for [their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.“

Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:“

Mark 13:24, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,“

Revelation 6:12-17, “¶And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?“

We are also told to remember God and to return and cry out to Him for mercy before the Final Judgment Day arrives in Ecclesiastes 12:1&2, “¶Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:”

The sun, moon, and stars are God’s time keepers

Before leaving this subject of the sun, the moon and the stars, we need to be reminded of why God created them in the first place. The sun, moon, and stars are God’s time keepers while we are still in this temporal realm as we read in Genesis 1:14-18, “¶And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good.” This is brought up again in Jeremiah 31:35, “Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, [and] the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts [is] his name:”

NOTE to the Reader: When the end of the world comes, there will be no more need of the sun or the moon in the new creation, for we read in Isaiah 60:19&20, “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.” and Revelation 21:23, “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof.” And Revelation 22:5, “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light:and they shall reign for ever and ever.“

Joel 2:11, “And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp (מַֽחֲנֶה (maḥănê))^H4264 [is] very great: for [he is] strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD [is] great and very terrible; and who can abide it?“

Genesis 32:2, “And when Jacob saw them (angels), he said, This [is] God’s host (מַֽחֲנֶה (maḥănê))^H4264: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.” מַֽחֲנַיִם (maḥănayim)^H4266 means “two camps”

Jeremiah 10:10, “But the LORD [is] the true God, he [is] the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.“

Jeremiah 25:30, “¶Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread [the grapes], against all the inhabitants of the earth.“

Judgment Day (that “great and very terrible” Day) is when the LORD Jesus Christ will descend from Heaven with His saints (who are the ones who comprise the camp of His mighty army as we saw prefigured in Judges 4&5). No one can abide or survive that Great and Terrible Day, once having fallen under the Wrath of God.

Jeremiah 50:34, “Their Redeemer [is] strong; the LORD of hosts [is] his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the in habitants of Babylon.” and Revelation 18:8, “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”

And we should remember all of these verses in Isaiah Chapter 13: Isaiah 13:1-16, “¶ The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, [even] them that rejoice in my highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, [even] the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye; for the day of the LORD [is] at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces [shall be as] flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for [their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proudto cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts,and in the day of his fierce anger. And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land. Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined [unto them] shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.“

We must remember that Isaiah’s prophesy has a two-fold meaning, it pertains to both:

1. Because of the literal, physical and historical, destruction of Israel by Babylon we read of God’s foretelling of both Nebuchadnezzar’s and Babylon’s subsequent destruction by the Medes and the Persians
2. Because of the destruction of the corporate Church by the devil in the last days (the devil is loosed during the Final Tribulation), God is telling us that He will destroy both world and the devil’s kingdom on Judgment Day. Noting that the next chapter, particularly the verses after Isaiah 14:12, refer specifically to the devil who was represented by Nebuchadnezzar.

Zephaniah 1:14&15, “The great day of the LORD [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly, [even] the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day [is] a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,“

Malachi 3:2, “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he [is] like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:”

Revelation 6:17, “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?“

There Is Still Hope! Repent!

Joel 2:12, “Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye [even] to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:“

Isaiah 55:6&7, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.“

Isaiah 51:3, “For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.“

Jeremiah 4:1, “¶If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.”

Hosea 12:6, “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.“

Joel 2:13, “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.“

“Rend Your Heart“

The heart is always key with God. God knows our hearts. We are completely transparent to Him. Psalm 44:21, “Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.“

Psalm 34:18, “The LORD [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.“

Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.“

James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.“

“the LORD your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful…”

Psalm 103:8, “The LORD [is] merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.”

Jonah 4:2, “And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, [was] not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou [art] a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”

2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.“‘

Exodus 34:5&6, “¶And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him (Moses) there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,”

Psalm 86:5, “For thou, Lord, [art] good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” and Psalm 86:15, “But thou, O Lord, [art] a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.“

Micah 7:18&19, “Who [is] a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth [in] mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.“

Ephesians 2:4-6, “¶But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:“

Psalm 34:17-19, “[The righteous] cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many [are] the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.“

Joel 2:14, “Who knoweth [if] he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?“

Does not this sound exactly what the king of Nineveh said in Jonah 3:9, “Who can tell [if] God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” and then God’s response in the next verse in Jonah 3:10, “¶And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did [it] not.“

Joel 2:15, “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:”

We can see that this was standard practice in the Old Testament as we read in Numbers 10:1-3, “¶And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” It is also consistent with the blowing of the last Trump on Judgment Day as we read earlier in 1 Corinthians 15:52.

Joel 2:16, “Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.“

Sanctify, Assemble, Gather

Exodus 19:10, “¶And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.”

Zephaniah 2:1-3, “¶Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, [before] the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you. Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.”

The Bridegroom and the Bride

Psalm 19:5, “Which [is] as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, [and] rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.“

Jeremiah 33:10&11, “¶Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say [shall be] desolate without man and without beast, [even ]in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast, The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD [is] good; for his mercy [endureth ]for ever: [and] of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.“

Revelation 21:2, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.“

Joel 2:17, “Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where [is] their God?“

Weeping Between the Porch and the Altar

Here the priests and ministers of the LORD are to weep “between the porch and the altar.” This phrase brings to mind that it was also “between the porch and the altar“, roughly 200 years in the future, when God showed the prophet Ezekiel abominations being committed in Ezekiel 8:15-18, “¶Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen [this], O son of man? turn thee yet again, [and] thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, [were] about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen [this], O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, [yet] will I not hear them.“

Also, Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, was put to death for his faithfulness in the court of the Temple (which is located between the porch and the altar); such that his precious blood God would require at their hands, and therefore, similarly to turn away the judgment threatened for the people, there is where the priest and ministers must weep. 2 Chronicles 24:20, “¶And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon [it], and require [it].”

Begging God Not to Make a Reproach of the People Among the Heathen

The priests and the ministers must weep and pray and beg the LORD God to “Spare Thy people”.

Exodus 32:11, “¶And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.“

There is also this Messianic verse Psalm 42:10, “As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where [is] thy God?“

Deliverance and Restoration Promised to God’s People (the Eternal Israel) After the Cross

Joel 2:18, “Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.“

Exodus 32:14, “And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

Where Is Their God?

This is reminiscent of when King Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, and his army came to Jerusalem demanding surrender and berating the God of Israel in 2 Chronicles 32:17, “¶He wrote also letters to rail on the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of [other] lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand.” The Assyrians were subsequently completely defeated upon besieging Jerusalem by the Angel of the LORD during the reign of King Hezekiah (2Ki 19:35-39, Isa 37:36–38; 2Ch 32:20–23 ). The Bible tells us in those passages that Sennacherib returned to Nineveh in shame, and subsequently, while he was “worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god“, he was murdered by two of his sons.

Psalm 115:2&3, “Wherefore should the heathen say, Where [is] now their God? But our God [is] in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.“

Joel 2:19, “Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:“

This brings us back again to the points elaborated upon with regard to Joel 1:10. It is the promise of Salvation through the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, by His Sacrificed Body (the corn), His shed Blood (the wine), and by the anointing of His Holy Spirit (the oil).

Zechariah 9:17, “For how great [is] his goodness, and how great [is] his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.“

Joel 2:20, “But I will remove far off from you the northern [army], and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.“

Historically, according to Isaiah chapter 10, which was written roughly 100 years after the warnings of Joel to National Israel (about the same time as Nahum, ~700 BC), God describes how He had used Assyria, first led by king Shalmaneser (a “Type” of the devil), as an instrument (or tool) of Judgment described as a “rod” of anger in God’s Hand to come from the north destroy the ten northern tribes, identified as “Israel”, back about 722-720 BC, Isaiah 10:5, “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. The next king of Assyria, Sennacherib (another “Type” of the devil), Sennacherib was described by God as an “axe” in the hand of God as the Hewer bringing destruction to all the fenced cities of Judah circa ~701 BC, as well as later leading a siege against Jerusalem that God thwarted.  Later, king Nebuchadnezzar (another “Type” of the devil, please see: Nahum) was used by God as a “hammer” to destroy Judah and Jerusalem, who would also come from the north to take the people captive into Babylon as we read in Jeremiah 1:14-16, “¶Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.“

But within these judgmental historical accounts God has interwoven prophetic dire warning implications for the entire world. During the Final Tribulation (which it appears we may now be in), God is telling us that He will loose the devil to bring evil upon the world in the run-up to Judgment Day. On that Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, God will save His people from their sins and restore the fellowship with God that had been lost by bringing them into Heaven forever. And on that Day, God will bring the Final and Eternal Judgment upon the devil and all of the unsaved of the world when they will be cast into Hell forever. God will pour out His wrath upon the adversary, the devil, who with his army, had been used by God to bring the initial destruction and despair upon the world and seemed to be unbeatable in doing “great things”.

Joel 2:21, “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.“

God is promising that He will also do “great things” and it will be something to be glad about and to rejoice over. We see a related promise in Jeremiah 50:20, “In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and [there shall be] none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.“

Joel 2:22, “Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.“

Here God is assuring His own people, the Eternal Israel, to not fear or be afraid, because there will be a restoration of that which was lost previously.

Joel 2:23, “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first [month].“

Be Glad and Rejoice!

Isaiah 41:16, “Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, [and] shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.“

Habakkuk 3:18, “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.“

Zechariah 10:7, “And [they of] Ephraim shall be like a mighty [man], and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see [it], and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.”

His Word with “Rain”

Isaiah 55:10-13 tells us the following: “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign [that] shall not be cut off.“

This is because God is making the analogy that just as literal “earthly” rain comes down from heaven, from literal physical clouds, to bring temporal physical life in the form of harvested crops like grain for literal bread, and similarly so does the Word of God, as “spiritual” rain, comes down from Heaven to bring eternal life and prosperity to the hearers as God so ordains by the effectuation of God’s Holy Spirit. Moreover, just as God can provide or withhold earthly rain to mankind, so God can provide, or withhold His Word, to mankind. God can bless the earth with rain, or God can punish the world by not sending it leading to drought and famine.

Former Rain, Latter Rain?

But what about “the former rain, and the latter rain”? Well we read these words in Joel 2:23, “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first [month].“

The word “rain” appears four times in Joel 2:23. It might at first seem as though God is saying that what National Israel had, beforehand, only brought life to them in moderation, but now will be bringing plentiful and abundant life, coming via both the “former rain” and the “latter rain” at the beginning. (Note that the word “month” is italicized, which informs us that it was inserted by the King James translators and it was their presumption of the meaning.)

It should also be noted that much of Joel Chapter 2 uses very similar language to what we find in Deuteronomy 11:1-16, where God commands complete obedience from His people, and conditionally promised them these benefits in return: “¶Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway. And know ye this day: for [I speak] not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and [how] the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day; And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that [was] in their possession, in the midst of all Israel: But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did. ¶Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; And that ye may prolong [your] days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey. For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, [is] not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst [it] with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: But the land, whither ye go to possess it, [is] a land of hills and valleys, [and] drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God [are] always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. ¶And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give [you] the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And [then] the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and [lest] ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.“

And let us see in particular the context of the “former and latter rain” as we find it in Hosea 6:1-3, “¶Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, [if] we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter [and] former rain unto the earth.“

Leviticus 26:4, “Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.“

Job 29:22, “After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide [as] for the latter rain.“

We can sum-up the above verses by saying that everyone must repent of his or her sins and turn back to God, and He will abundantly pardon, and God will become unto us as the rain, both the latter and former rain, and raise us up in Christ just as Jesus rose from the grave on the third day. God’s Precious Word (Jesus Christ) Is what Is necessary to provide the believers with life, eternal life, and will sustain them.

Zechariah 10:1, “¶Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; [so] the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.” While this verse can most certainly be taken literally in that God did and does provide literal temporal rain for the growing of earthly sustenance, it must also be understood as having an important spiritual meaning, which points us to salvation that can only come from God in the form of His Word, Who Is Jesus.

Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.“

On the one hand, perfect obedience to God’s Laws Law of Moses (the Old Covenant of the Old Testament) would have ensured National Israel all of God’s plentiful benefits, but, on the other hand, it was, and is, impossible for anyone (other than Jesus) to perfectly keep the Law, thus National Israel would remain in bondage to the Law and the consequences of breaking that Covenant. That is why they needed, and all of mankind needs, the Promised Messiah, Jesus Christ (Who Is The Word made flesh). Jesus kept the Law perfectly, and, through His Atoning Sacrifice, paid for the sins of His sheep. Jesus imputed that perfection to the believers by Grace through His Faith. Jesus’ payment made possible the forgiveness of sins as part of the New Covenant of the New Testament as foretold in Jeremiah 31:31, “¶Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:“. Moreover, that blessing of forgiveness for sin through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice would not just apply to the remnant of National Israel, but also to all of God’s elect from all the nations on earth (the Gentile world as promised to Abraham in Genesis 12:3b.

For more on this please see the post on “the former rain and the latter rain“.

Jesus Is The Fountain of Living Waters

Jesus, Who Is “The Word”, working effectually together with God’s Holy Spirit, is represented by the “latter rain” and the “former rain”, whereby Jesus would provide the Living Water, which is the Gospel of Salvation for all who would believe in Him as we read in John 4:13&14, “¶Jesus answered and said unto her (the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well), Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” and John 7:37, “¶In the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)“

Note: Jesus was clearly quoting Old Testament scripture, so we should search the Old Testament to find appropriate source reference(s): Proverbs 18:4, “The words of a man’s mouth [are as] deep waters, [and] the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.” Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” Isaiah 43:20, “The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, [and] rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.” Isaiah 44:3, “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.” Isaiah 55:1, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah 58:11, “And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” We also should note that in Job 32:18, we read, “For I am full of matter (מִלָּה (millâ)^H4405 (or “words”), the spirit within me constraineth me.” (See also Jeremiah 2:13 and Jeremiah 17:13 referenced below.)

John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.” Only The Holy Spirit can “quickeneth”, which means to “make alive” or “bring to life”.

Revelation 7:17, “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.“

Revelation 21:6, “And he (Jesus) said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.“

Revelation 22:17, “¶And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Which is reminiscent of Zechariah 14:8, which prophetically speaks of the time when Jesus would come in time, and again in eternity, “And it shall be in that day, [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.“

The Old Testament not only makes mention of “Living Waters“, but God specifically identifies Himself as being the Fountain of Living Waters as we read in Jeremiah 2:13, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, [and] hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”, and again in Jeremiah 17:13, “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, [and] they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.“

Another mention can also be found in Song of Solomon 4:15, “A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” Genesis 26:19, “And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.” “Springing” is the same word as “Living” or “Life” in the original Hebrew: חַי (ḥay)^H2416.

And consider these verses:

A Teacher of Righteousness?

Moreover, there is something else here that is not obvious when casually reading only the English translation in the King James Version of the text. In the margin of this teacher’s Bible for Joel 2:23, it says that in the original Hebrew this verse reads as follows: “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you a teacher of righteousness according to righteousness, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first [month]“.

This is extremely important because it is telling us that there is more here than simply earthly refreshment and prosperity that is associated with plentiful rain in the agrarian world of the Old Testament. Rather, it is providing us with expanded spiritual insights and understanding, which are entirely consistent with the context of the subsequent verses (particularly Joel 2:28-32).

We have already seen how the “rain” can be representative of God’s Word. We also know from John 1:14 that Jesus Is The “Word”, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” And Nicodemus called Jesus “Rabbi” (meaning “Master”) and was a term that the Jews used to honor someone as a “teacher”).

We also know from Ephesians 6:17, “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:”

And “The Holy Spirit” Is also known as “The Spirit of Truth” as Jesus told us in John 14:17, “[Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” and John 15:26, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:” and John 16:13, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.“

This is made all the more clear in 1 John 2:27, “But the anointing (χρῖσμα (chrisma) ^G5545 which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing (χρῖσμα (chrisma) ^G5545 teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.“

And note how consistent this is with what we read in 1 Corinthians 2:13, “¶Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.“

Additional information on this can be found in the post entitled “The Hearing Ear and the Seeing Eye“

And let us not forget what we are told in 2 Peter 1:21, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.“

Joel 2:24, “And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.”

The Threshing Floor of God will be plentiful in the harvest (e.g., of wheat); and the wine press and the oil press will yield abundantly in the form of wine and oil….which once again points us to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ:

1. His Body Is represented by the “wheat” (from which “bread” is derived, sometimes also referred to as “corn”)
2. His shed Blood Is represented by the “wine”
3. The blessing of eternal life, through the new birth, by the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit Is represented by the “oil” which was first poured out at Pentecost.

Leviticus 26:4, “Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.“

James 5:7, “¶Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”

The Harvest is the End of the World

This would seem to indicate that Jesus will return at the end of the world (“the harvest is the end of the world;” according to Matthew 13:39) when the world is ready to be reaped and all who are to be saved will have been saved and the wicked are most wicked. Jesus said in Matthew 13:39 when explaining to His disciples the meaning of the “Parable of the Tares of the Field” that, “The enemy that sowed them (the tares) is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.” For more on this please see the “Parable of the Sower.“

Mark 4:26-29, “¶And he (Jesus) said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.“

Matthew 13:30, “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.“

Joel 3:13, “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness [is] great.“

Revelation 14:19, “And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast [it] into the great winepress of the wrath of God.“

A Promised Drought to Come?

And Finally, we must remember again what God said in Amos 8:11, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find [it]. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.” This would suggest that at some point in time, the Word of God (Who is Jesus Christ) will be very scarce in the world, and many people will spiritually die for the lack of hearing the Word of God, which is the only means for eternal life. It would not be inconsistent to believe that this period would come at the same time as the Final Tribulation just prior to that Great Day of the Lord, Judgment Day and the coming of the LORD Jesus Christ on the clouds of glory.

The “Former Rain and the Latter Rain” Is God’s Word, Coming Down From Heaven Throughout Time and Yields Fruit by the Effectual Working of God’s Holy Spirit

As this teacher has come to understand, the solution for interpreting this verse is that the believers can be glad and rejoice in the fact that because Jesus is on the throne in Heaven at God the Father’s Right Hand, that God has sent both His Word (Typified by the “rain”) and His Holy Spirit to “teach” the believers the Word of God (that testifies of Jesus) by giving them spiritual ears and spiritual eyes to know The Word, Jesus Christ, and His Truth and Righteousness beginning with the Old Testament Era in Genesis 1:1 and later, post-Resurrection, with Pentecost at the start of the New Testament Era. Hebrews 1:1&2 sums it up nicely, “¶God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”

It would seem then, that if God compares His Word to “rain”, then the “former rain” would represent the Old Testament era while the “latter rain” would represent the New Testament era until Judgment Day when the harvest of souls occurs. And the Living Water is the combined effect of the Gospel of Salvation brought to mankind by the Word and the Holy Spirit working together according to the Will of God the Father.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” and we are told in 2 Peter 3:13, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” The believers who seek after righteousness are seeking Jesus for their Salvation and will have Jesus’ righteousness imputed to them forever in the new heavens and a new earth.

Joel 2:25, “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.“

Again the great restoration of that which was lost due to the Fall of Adam is come by God’s Great Love, Grace, and Mercy for His people by the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. There is no Restoration or any New Creation without Jesus Christ.

Joel 2:26, “And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.“

Yes, God pulls His people out of the depths and gives them everything beyond measure and they will never be ashamed and will praise His name for ever and ever. Psalm 31:1, “[[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.]] In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.”

Joel 2:27, “And ye shall know that I [am] in the midst of Israel, and [that] I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.“

This is again, repeated twice, the Heavenly promise of God for His people, the Eternal Israel of God. They will be His people and He will be their God together forever in Heaven because the Atoning Sacrifice of The LORD Jesus Christ, which makes it possible to take away the reproach of sin and death. And the believers will never be ashamed.

Note the harmony with what we find in Romans 10:8-11, “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, [even] in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.“

Isaiah 49:23, “And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with [their] face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I [am] the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.“

And think about how this also harmonizes with John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“

Leviticus 26:11, “And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.”

Isaiah 45:5, “I [am] the LORD, and [there is] none else, [there is] no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:“

The very last chapter of Isaiah sums things up, of which the following is one excerpt…Isaiah 66:13-16, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And when ye see [this], your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and [his] Indignation toward his enemies. For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire., For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.“

The Promise of The Holy Spirit Following Jesus’ Sacrifice

Joel 2:28, “And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:“

This verse might seem a bit out of sequence, but the reality is that there are in fact “two” Judgment Days…The first one was at the Cross of Calvary for the elect of God (those who are the believers and the Eternal Israel of God) for whom Jesus Christ was their Substitute, and the second and last one being for the unsaved of the world who will bear the full wrath of God’s Judgment alone.

This is why God can transition us back historically and prophetically to the Cross and post-Resurrection of Jesus period of the New Testament era beginning at Pentecost when God pours out His Holy Spirit on the believers.

The Apostle Peter, on Pentecost in 33 AD, under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, specifically addressed Joel Chapter 2, verses 28-32 in Acts 2:16-21, “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.“

And note the consistency with Ezekiel 39:29, “Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.“

Isaiah 54:13, “And all thy children [shall be] taught of the LORD; and great [shall be] the peace of thy children.“

Zechariah 12:10, “¶And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn.” What a beautiful Messianic verse pointing us to Jesus the One and Only Savior!

Joel 2:29, “And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.“

In the Apostle Peter’s declaration he quoted this verse in Acts 2:18, “And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:“

There is also a literal historical earthly fulfillment recorded for us here in Acts 21:9, “And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.“, but there is also spiritual fulfillment throughout the New Testament Era because we know from Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one inChrist Jesus.“

Every believer is a servant and handmaid of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God, by the anointing and indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit, equips the believers to bring the Gospel of Salvation to the world in conformity with the Great Commission. Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” And with the bringing of that Gospel is the accompanying warning of the Judgment Day to come for those who do not repent and cry out to God for mercy through Jesus Christ for salvation before it is too late.

The Day of the LORD, Judgment Day is Coming!

Joel 2:30, “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.“

The Apostle Peter specifically quoted this verse from Joel in Acts 2:19, “And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:“

Luke 21:11, “And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.“

Joel 2:31, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.“

The Apostle Peter also quoted this verse from Joel in Acts 2:20, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:“

And the Apostle Peter prophesied again in  2 Peter 3:10, “¶But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.“

This verse in Joel is also entirely consistent with what Jesus said in:

1. Matthew 24:29, “¶ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:“
2. Mark 13:24-26, “¶But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.“

See also on “the role of the Saints on Judgment Day“.

Isaiah 13:9, “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.“

Malachi 4:5&6, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (This prophecy, concerning Elijah, was fulfilled as Jesus explained in Mat 17:10-13)

A more focused study on the topic of the celestial effects coming on Judgment Day can be found in the post: “The Heavens Shall Be Rolled Together as a Scroll”.

Joel 2:32, “And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.“

Whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered

At the end of the Apostle Peter’s testimony concerning the Prophecy of Joel on Pentecost, he said in Acts 2:21, “And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.“

Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

1 Corinthians 1:2,”Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called [to be] saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ  our Lord, both theirs and ours:“

‘All Israel’ shall be saved (“For they [are] not all Israel, which are of Israel:” Romans 9:6)

Romans 11:26, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:” (referring back to Psalm 14:7 and Isaiah 59:20)

Isaiah 46:13, “I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.”

Jeremiah 10:25, “Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.“

All the nations will be represented, but only a remnant will be saved

A remnant is a tiny piece of the original whole, most often in reference to a large piece of cloth of which a tiny piece (a remnant) is separated out and remaining when the greater part has been used or sold. It is a clear reference to a surviving trace. 

Isaiah 11:11, “And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.”

Jeremiah 31:7, “¶For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.“

Ezekiel 6:8, “Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have [some] that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.“

Ezekiel 14:22, “Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, [both] sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, [even] concerning all that I have brought upon it.“

Micah 2:12, “I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of [the multitude of] men.”

Micah 4:7, “And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.“

Micah 7:18, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth [in] mercy.”

Zephaniah 3:13, “The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make [them] afraid.“

Zechariah 8:12,”For the seed [shall be] prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these [things].“

Romans 9:27, “Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:“, (which is referring us back to Isaiah 10:22, “For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, [yet] a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.“)

 Matthew 20:16, “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.“

Matthew 22:14, “For many are called, but few [are] chosen.”

Joel Chapter 3

Chapter 3 can be summarized as foretelling of that which is yet to come upon the unrepentant, un-regenerated, and reprobate souls who are not counted among God’s Elect, but it also serves as a vivid reminder that God’s love is inseparable from His justice, and His promise of deliverance and restoration extends to all who are of the Elect, those who trust and seek Him for His Mercy.

Upon the fulfillment of the promise of the deliverance in Mount Zion and Jerusalem (when God shall “bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem“; Chapter 3 is a commentary on that promise, showing what that deliverance shall be, how it shall be wrought by the destruction of the church’s enemies, and how it shall be perfected in the everlasting rest and joy of the church. In the historical context this was achieved temporally with the deliverance of Jerusalem from the besiegement of Sennacherib and his army in Hezekiah’s time, and also in the much later return of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon before the Advent of the Messiah, the LORD Jesus Christ. But more importantly, it spiritually points us to the greater and eternal redemption wrought for the believers through the Person and Work of the LORD Jesus Christ. Moreover that fulfillment will be coincident with the destruction of God’s spiritual enemies and all their agents, and will have its full accomplishment on Judgment Day.

We see in Chapter 3:

1. Of God’s reckoning with the enemies of his people for all the injuries and indignities that they had done them, and returning them upon their own head (v. 1-8).
2. Of God’s judging all nations when the measure of their iniquity is full, and appearing publicly, to the everlasting confusion of all impenitent sinners and the everlasting comfort of all his faithful servants (v. 9-17).
3. Of the provision God has made for the refreshment of his people, for their safety and purity, when their enemies shall be made desolate (v. 18-21).

Joel 3:1, “¶For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,“

Jeremiah 30:3, “For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.“

Bringing “again the captivity” is another way of saying ‘Restoration’. We must remember that Jesus iIs The One Who takes “captivity captive” as we read in Psalms 68:18, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, [for] the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell [among them].” and in Ephesians 4:8, “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.“

Psalm 68 is a Messianic prophecy pointing to Jesus, and in Ephesians it is a specific statement about the Lord Jesus Christ referring back to Psalm 68!  Jesus Is The Only means whereby the Elect of God are delivered from the bondage to sin and oppression of Satan and finally and fully restored into fellowship with God at the end of time!

Ezekiel 38:14, “¶Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know [it]?“

Joel 3:2, “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and [for] my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.“

Zechariah 14:2, “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”

Isaiah 66:16, “For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.“

Ezekiel 38:22&23, “And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that [are] with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.”

Please see below for more on the “Valley of Jehoshaphat” under Joel 3:12.

Joel 3:3, “And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.“

God condemns Edom/Esau’s progeny for not coming to the Help of Israel/Jacob’s progeny in Obadiah 1:11, “In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou [wast] as one of them.”

And what about the trading a boy for a “harlot”and selling a girl for “wine”. Doesn’t that sound familiar? IT should remind us of what we read about in Revelation 18:1-3, and that Great Harlot Babylon, “¶And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” We clearly see the connection of the reprobates pursuing the great “harlot” (“Babylon”) (this world and the one allowed to rule over it) and to drink the “wine of the wrath of her fornication“. Remember that what is said in Revelation 17:5, “And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.“

Joel 3:4, “Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly [and] speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;“

Amos 1:6, “¶Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment] thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver [them] up to Edom:”

Matthew 7:2, “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.“

Joel 3:5, “Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:“

The enemies of God will worship false gods and seek to deceive and catch away the true believers who are God’s real treasures: Daniel 11:38, “But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.“

Joel 3:6, “The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.“

God allowed foreign forces to invade and plunder Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem, but in the end there was not only a restoration of a remnant, but God promised retribution upon those foreign enemies. There are many such prophecies in the Book of Ezekiel.

Joel 3:7, “Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:“

Isaiah 43:5&6, “Fear not: for I [am] with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;“

Jeremiah 23:8, “But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.“

Joel 3:8, “And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken [it].

Ezekiel 23:42, “And a voice of a multitude being at ease [was] with her: and with the men of the common sort [were] brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.“

Joel 3:9, “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:“

Ezekiel 38:7, “¶ Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.”

Joel 3:10, “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I [am] strong.“

Note how this is the exact opposite of what we read in Isaiah 2:4, “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” and Micah 4:3, “And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.“

This is because the Joel 3:10 is speaking to the preparation by the saints for war on Judgment Day, and Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 are speaking of post-Judgment Day, when there is no more war, only peace in the new Heavens and the new Earth.

Joel 3:11, “Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.“

Again this is the preparation for the Battle of Armageddon and Judgment Day when Jesus brings His saints down with Him from Heaven to destroy God’s enemies, the heathen.

Psalm 103:20, “Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.“

Isaiah 13:3, “I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, [even] them that rejoice in my highness.“

Judgment Day Forewarned

Joel 3:12, “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.“

“Jehoshaphat“, which was also the name of a king of Judah, who was the great grandson of king Solomon (Circa 914-889 B. C), is in the original Hebrew, יְהוֹשָׁפָט (yᵊhôšāp̄āṭ)^H3092, which means “Yahweh”/Jehovah judges” or “Jehovah decides” (hence also valley of decision). The “decision”, or the “Judgment”, that has been/will be made in the valley is God’s Final Decision. And we can know that it relates to Judgment Day because of the additional descriptive language such as “The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.” and “the heavens and the earth shall shake:” Please see: The Heavens Shall Be Rolled Together as a Scroll“.

The Valley of Jehoshaphat thus may be a symbolical name of the place where the ultimate Judgment of God will take place; which some Biblical scholars claim to be the Valley Kidron located next to Jerusalem. We have already seen above how the Kidron Valley can be clearly shown to be symbolic of “Hell” (an allegorical “type”, or word picture for Hell) where the final Judgment by God will be carried out. The “Valley of Jehoshaphat” (or “threshing”), on the other hand, is somewhat akin to the “Valley of Megiddo”, representing where the final “battle” will take place at the end of time.on the other hand (and hence also the valley of decision) could just as well be another symbolical reference to the Valley of Megiddo and therefore also the so-called “Battle of Armageddon” representing the spiritual location where the actual Final Judgment/Decision of God will take place. While not a real “battle” in an earthly sense, it will be when all of God’s enemies are destroyed on Judgment Day. (Please see these studies: The Saints will participate in bringing Judgment and The Battle of Armageddon).

Psalm 96:13, “Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.”

John 12:48, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.“

Joel 3:13, “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness [is] great.”

Matthew 13:37-43, “¶He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked [one]; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Revelation 14:15-20, “And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. ¶And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. ¶And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast [it] into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand [and] six hundred furlongs.“

Jeremiah 51:33, “¶For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshingfloor, [it is] time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.“

Isaiah 63:2-4, “Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.”

Revelation 19:13-15, “And he [was] clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies [which were] in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

Joel 3:14, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD [is] near in the valley of decision.“

This brings us back to Joel 2:1, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for [it is] nigh at hand;” This also hearkens us to Joel 3:2 and Joel 3:12 regarding the “Valley of Jehoshaphat”.

Joel 3:15, “The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.“

This brings us back to Joel 2:10, “The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:” and Joel 2:31, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.“

Joel 3:16, “The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD [will] be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.“

Isaiah 51:5, “My righteousness [is] near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.“

Joel 3:17, “So shall ye know that I [am] the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.“

God Is HOLY, and no unclean thing can stand in His presence. Much like we read in Deuteronomy 23:14, “For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.“

Also we are reminded of Exodus 29:33, “And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate [and] to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat [thereof], because they are holy.“

For more on Zion, God’s holy mountain, the new Jerusalem, and the new temple, please see this post.

Judah Will Be Blessed (The Eternal Judah, The Church of Jesus Christ)

Joel 3:18, “And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.”

“New” points us to the newness that only Jesus can and will provide

The new wine points us to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His precious shed blood is the new wine that made possible the newness of life to all who hear the Gospel, and who come to the fountain of living waters, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Please see more on this below under verse 23.)

Revelation 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” and Revelation 21:5, “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.“

Isaiah 65:17, “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” Isaiah 66:22, “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 2 Peter 3:13, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.“

Zechariah 14:6, “And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the light shall not be clear, [nor] dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, [that] at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, [that] living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.” Note the harmony with Revelation 22:1&2, “¶And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations.”

Jeremiah 2:13, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, [and] hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.“

John 4:14, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.“

John 7:38&39, “He that believeth on me (Jesus), as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) ” And the reference of which Jesus spoke is most likely Proverbs 18:4, “The words of a man’s mouth [are as] deep waters, [and] the wellspring of wisdom [as] a flowing brook.“

Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.“

Isaiah 44:3, “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:”

Joel 3:19, “Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence [against] the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.“

God will hold His enemies, who are also the enemies of His people ( His children), accountable and God will punish them accordingly in Hell for eternity.

Joel 3:20, “But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.“

Jesus, from the tribe of Judah and all of His spiritual seed (the believers, the Eternal Israel of God) will dwell forever in the New Jerusalem in Heaven.

Joel 3:21, “For I will cleanse their blood [that] I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.“

Isaiah 4:4, “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.“

Conclusion

The Book of Joel provided a call to remembrance to National Israel of the terrible things that would shortly come to pass for the nation’s apostasy. God forewarned of the nation’s destruction by enemy forces let loose by God’s hand as the punishment for that apostasy. The message is then given that there is a way of escape, if only they would turn back to God before that Great and Terrible Day, the Lord’s Day, which is Judgment Day.

Are we not all admonished to remember the things that God had done to unbelievers in the past to teach us how we are to live today and going forward?

1. 1 Corinthians 10:11, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Corinthians 10:6, “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” (These verses are excerpted from God’s warnings to avoid the errors of National Israel found in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13).
2. Romans 15:4, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience  and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.“
3. 2 Timothy 3:16&17, “¶All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for  correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.“

And Finally, God makes clear that in the Final Tribulation, leading up to Judgment Day, God will loose the devil bringing and evil pre-judgment upon the world. That period will be cut short, otherwise no flesh would be saved. (Matthew 24:22 and Mark 13:20)

However, the devil along with all of God’s enemies, will be destroyed when Jesus comes down from Heaven with all of His Saints on Judgment Day. The Saints will then be in the presence of Almighty God for eternity in the new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (Isaiah 65:17,  Isaiah 66:22, and 2 Peter 3:13)

NOTE: This paper is still a work in progress, and will be continue to be updated as appropriate, going forward.