JOEL: Behold the Day of the Lord

Joel: The Basics Name of Book: Joel Author: Joel. Verse 1: “The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel” Meaning of author’s name: “Yahweh is God”

Joel: The Basics When Written: There is no indication in the text as to when the prophet lived. Possibilities include 835 B.C. (Joash king of Judah; Jehud king of Israel); 597-586 B.C. (Zedekiah, Judah’s final king; northern kingdom already exiled); post-exilic (following Israel’s return from Babylonian exile in 535 B.C.).

Joel: Themes The Day of the Lord Repentance The restoration of Israel

Joel: Political Background Since we don’t know when Joel prophesied, it is impossible to hone in precisely on Israel’s political situation. However, even a casual reading of this short book gives us ample clues of what was happening in the land at the time the book was written.

Joel: Political Background Among other things, the priesthood was not doing its job. These spiritual leaders were not spurring the people to spiritual growth; instead priests cared more about their own welfare than that of the people.

Joel: Political Background Also, the nation was on the verge of a catastrophic locust invasion which would devastate the land. The prophet would use this event as a type of invading nation which would come to destroy Israel’s land and people.

Joel: Key Verses Joel 2:13: “ ‘And rend your heart and not your garments.’ Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.”

Joel: Key Verses Joel 2:28-29: “It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”

Joel: Key Verses Joel 2:32: “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.” Joel 3:20-21: “But Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem for all generations. And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged, for the Lord dwells in Zion.”

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 The prophet launches immediately and somberly into his message: “Hear this, O elders, and listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days or in your fathers’ days? Tell your sons about it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons the next generation” (vv. 2-3).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 “What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; and what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; and what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten” (v. 4).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 Joel then addresses the nation of Israel as to how they should react to the coming plague: “Awake, drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine drinkers, on account of the sweet wine that is cut off from your mouth” (v. 5).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 Though the drunkenness of the people reflects a general immorality plaguing Israel, it also reflects the nation’s spiritual stupor. Joel is telling the Hebrews to arise from their worship of foreign gods and disregard of the God of Israel.

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 Joel next tells of an imminent and very real locust invasion, and employs it as a metaphor to describe an imminent and very real military invasion which will tear through the land and devastate it.

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 “For a nation has invaded my land, mighty and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the fangs of a lioness. It has made my vine a waste and my fig tree splinters. It has stripped them bare and cast them away; their branches have become white” (vv. 6-7).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 Because we can’t identify with precision the time in which the book was written, neither can we identify the invading nation. However, history tells us that the options are few. The invasion could have come from either:

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 Assyria, which exiled the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. Babylon, which exiled the Southern Kingdom in three separate deportations (606, 597, and 586 B.C.) and destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 586.

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 The point is: What the locusts will do to the landscape of Israel, the invading nation will do to the people and land of Israel. What we are looking at is utter destruction and devastation.

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 Joel correlates this soon-coming military invasion to a far-off onslaught of God’s end-times wrath, which the prophet calls, “the day of the Lord”: “Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty” (v. 15).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 In its ultimate sense, the Day of the Lord refers to God’s final judgment upon the earth at the end of the age. What is “the age” in view here? This is the time period from the creation of Adam and Eve until the return of Jesus Christ to the earth. Perhaps we can call it the “time of man.”

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 1 It is during this current time period, or age, when God has given Satan influence over unsaved men and women. Jesus refers to Satan as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31); and Paul calls Satan “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 The first two verses of chapter 2 continue the theme of the Day of the Lord, but ramps up the language and scope of that terrible time. Joel tells us that the Day of the Lord is:

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 “A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, so there is a great and mighty people; there has never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it to the years of many generations” (v. 2).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 Make no mistake about it, the Day of the Lord will be the most terrifying event in history. This is saying much considering the violent history of the human race and its horrific legacy of butchery, bloodshed, and carnage. The Day of the Lord will surpass it all. However, because its origin will be of the Lord, the punishment being meted out will be just, righteous, and warranted.

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 Joel goes on to describe an invading end-times military invasion, an army so ferocious that, “A fire consumes before them and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them but a desolate wilderness behind them, and nothing at all escapes them” (v. 3).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 This military force will be unique to the Day of the Lord, and is further described in verses 3-11. This army seems to consist of demonic beings rather than human ones, hence the “uniqueness” of this unstoppable military force.

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 “Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like war horses, so they run. With a noise as of chariots they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble, like a mighty people arranged for battle” (vv. 4-5).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 “Before them the earth quakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. The Lord utters His voice before His army; surely His camp is very great, for strong is he who carries out His word. The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome, and who can endure it?” (vv. 11-12)

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 Can this army be the same one described in Revelation 9:13-19: “Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God …

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 “… one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. …

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 “And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.”

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 In light of this coming destruction upon the earth, Joel calls Israel – and all humanity who will read his words in the centuries to come – to repentance (vv. 12-17).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 “ ‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments.’ Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.”

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 Verses 28 through 32 represent the most stunning passage of the entire book, and begin with these words: “It will come about after this [the Day of the Lord] that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind …” (v. 28).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 It continues: “And your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (vv. 28-29).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 Verses 28 and 29 were partially fulfilled in Acts 2:16-18. However, Joel 2:30-32 is not yet fulfilled, but will be at the end of the age. In classic Day of the Lord “language,” Joel writes: “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke. …

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 2 “The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” (2:30-31). Note the word “before.” This indicates to us that God will give watching believers a “sign” letting us know that He is about to pour out His wrath.

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 3 By the time we reach chapter 3, we are thoroughly transported to the end times, as introduced by the words, “in those days, and in that time” (v. 1).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 3 In prophetic writing, practically every reference to “that time” refers to the end of the age. Whereas the earlier prophecies of Joel contained both “near” and “far” implications, chapter 3 is all about the “far.”

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 3 Verses 2 through 16 address the pagan nations of the world – particularly those who oppressed and persecuted Israel – and tells them that God will gather all of them into the Valley of Jehoshaphat (v. 12) for the final showdown.

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 3 “Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations” (v. 12).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 3 The Valley of Jehoshaphat can refer to the final battle at Armageddon in Revelation 16:16, or may have a more general sense as in the proverbial “courtroom of God” – the place where He will pour out His judgment.

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 3 The final four verses of Joel’s electrifying book deal with Israel’s ultimate restoration. The prophet employs agricultural language to express Israel’s final blessing:

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 3 “And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with water; and a spring will go out from the house of the Lord to water the valley of Shittim” (v. 18).

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 3 Considering Israel has always been and continues to be “God’s Chosen People,” her history has been a sorrowful one, and too often caused by her own sin and rebellion against God. She has suffered terribly for her sin, and will continue to do so as we move rapidly toward the end of the age.

Joel Synopsis: Chapter 3 However, in the end-times, God will deal mightily with Israel as He cleanses and prepares her for the coming of His Millennial (1,000-year) Kingdom. At that time Israel – and the world – will see the fulfillment of verse 18 in all its wonder, jubilation, and glory!

Significance for Believers Reading the book of Joel should impress upon us both the sovereignty and grace of God. He is the supreme Master over His universe and will execute judgment, mercy, and punishment according to His absolute holiness, righteousness, and wisdom.

Significance for Believers The “rending” of hearts to God. God demands total worship, total reverence. Are you doing so with fullness of heart and humility?

Implications for the World Today Joel could have been speaking to us today when he said, “Awake, drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine drinkers” (1:5). Just as Israel suffered from spiritual drunkenness, so, too, does the vast majority of humanity.

Implications for the World Today Assuming the nations of the world will not “awake,” it appears certain they will be gathered by the Lord to the Valley of Jehoshaphat for final judgment. Today is the day for repentance if we are to avoid God’s final judgment of condemnation.