The Message of Joel
Joel is a little known short prophecy in the Old Testament, but its message is timeless and so important. It is a story about an invasion of locusts that was destroying the land, yet it clearly has a God-inspired message. The short book begins:
“The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.” Joel 1:1
It is clearly a very important message from God as the nation’s elders and everybody in the land needs to hear and understand it. This message needs to be passed on to future generations because it is timeless:
“Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors? Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children and their children to the next generation.” Joel 1:2-3
Background
It is significant that we are told nothing about Joel or his father, we don’t know when this was written This is probably deliberate as its message is timeless. Everybody needs to hear this message.
The book tells the story of an invasion of a vast horde of locusts that destroys everything in the land; vines, trees and food supplies are rapidly destroyed.
The message is clear. God is in control of even natural disasters. The second half of the first chapter is a call for everybody to repent and turn back to the Lord. This destruction is called ‘the day of the Lord’.
“Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.” Joel 1:15
The second chapter is similar but it is now in the future. The account of the invasion of the locusts is again depicted in great detail.
“Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming.” Joel 2:1
The writer is now talking about a future judgment. Readers are reminded that God is the source of this crisis:
“The Lord thunders at the head of his army, his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?” Joel 2:11
The application of this violent story is again spelt out. The people must turn back to God.
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Joel 2:12
This is not just a fable, it is a message from God. God doesn’t just want outward devotion, only a heartfelt turning back to him will do:
“Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” Joel 2:12-13
This reminder about the loving graceful character of God is often repeated in the Old Testament, being first given to Moses when he gave him the Ten Commandments a second time.
“And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished . . .” Exodus 34:6-7
This repentance, or rethinking of the direction they were going was not just to be an individual response, it was to be an urgent national response:
“Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.” Joel 2:16
The priests should remind the Lord that it is his reputation that will be damaged if his people continue to suffer in this way.
“Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” Joel 2:17
Does it always need tragedies to bring a people to their senses and start to pray?
During the Dunkirk evacuation, early in the Second World War, the British Expeditionary Force faced possible annihilation as they were trapped by German forces. King George VI declared May 26, 1940, a national day of prayer, and churches across Britain were filled with people interceding for deliverance. What followed is often referred to as the “Miracle of Dunkirk,” with favourable weather conditions and the heroic efforts of civilian and military vessels enabling the evacuation of over 338,000 soldiers. It reflected the realisation that at times humans realise how powerless we arewhen facing overwhelming challenges and the need we have to seek divine intervention.
When God’s people returned to their Lord everything changed.
“Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people. The Lord replied to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. “I will drive the northern horde far from you,” Joel 2:18-20
The blessings that God will again give to his people are described in great detail. The reason the Lord will act in this way is to remind his people of one vital fact:
“Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.” Joel 2:27
Historians have great difficulty fitting this story into the accounts of the history of the Jews, they have been repeatedly shamed throughout their existence. It seems that this is a timeless allegory that applies to all of God’s people and looks forwards to a permanent secure future. Its message is similar to that of the book of Job, reminding us that God is in control and that whatever life throws at us we are to remain faithful and dependent. Psalm 44 has a similar message, God’s people felt that God had deserted them and they didn’t know why:
“But now you have rejected and humbled us ; . . . All this came upon us though we had not forgotten you; we had not been false to your covenant. Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path.” Psalm 44:9.17-18
The lesson for us is clear, God is our.God and what he demands of us is that we remain faithful to him whatever life throws at us.
Relevance to today
Two disasters are being described, the first was the destruction due to the locust invasion and the second is the destruction in ‘the day of the Lord’. The ‘day of the Lord’ is used in two ways in Scripture but always refers to judgment. The first ‘day of the Lord’ was the coming of Jesus. His crucifixion was very much a day of judgment, it was when God himself paid the price for our sin. Our sin was judged and it was God himself who paid the price and was judged on our behalf. The final day of judgment is when Jesus will return to judge and punish all who have rejected the salvation he has won for us - that will indeed be a terrible day when, as Jesus himself said, people will be
“. . . thrown outside, into the darkness where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 8:12
What will happen in between these judgments, the period that the Bible defines as ‘the last days’?
The Spirit will be poured out
Joel tells us that, at the beginning of that time, there will be an outpouring of God’s Spirit:
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” Joel 2:28
‘Afterward’ refers to the first judgment. At that time God’s presence would be given to all his people, Joel makes this clear who the all are in the next verse:
“Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Joel 2:29
The meaning of these verses is made clear by Peter in his first sermon at Pentecost where Jesus is exalted by the pouring out of the Spirit onto all his followers with the result that they tell out the gospel multilingually.
“. . . ‘we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!’ Amazed and perplexed they asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’” Acts 2:11-12
There are many attributes that result from the presence of the Holy Spirit but one constant feature is that he enables his people to tell others the gospel about Jesus.
Joel explains what was to happen at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to all God’s people, irrespective of their age, class or gender. There is no distinction, all are given God’s Spirit to enable us to be Christ’s representatives by what we say and how we live.
In the Old Testament God’s Holy Spirit was poured out on a few individuals for specific purposes, often to empower them for leadership, prophecy, craftsmanship, or other divine tasks. Thus Moses had been given the Spirit of God and God then gave this spirit to the seventy elders so that they could ‘prophecy’ (Numbers 11:16-17, 25). Prophecy is primarily ‘forth-telling’ the message of God, only occasionally is it also ‘fore-telling’ the future. Similarly Joshua, who succeeded Moses in leading the Children of Israel into Canaan, was given the Spirit of God (Numbers 27:18). This Spirit was also given to various judges such as Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson, to enable them to lead Israel. The Spirit was also given to God’s prophets and certain kings. Of particular note was King Saul, who was given God’s Spirit to ‘enable him to prophesy’ (1 Samuel 10:6,10).
Today God has given his Spirit to all Christians. Anyone who does not have this Spirit of Christ is not a Christian:
“And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not yet belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9
As God promised through Joel, in these ‘last times’:
“I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” Joel 2:28
In Numbers 12 we read an account of the jealousy that Aaron and Miriam had for Moses. This seems to have been precipitated by the gifting of the seventy elders so they could proclaim God’s message to the people. Aaron and Miriam asked:
“Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” Numbers 12:2
The Lord was livid and confronted them and said,
“Listen to my words: ‘When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I will reveal myself to him in visions, I will speak to him in dreams. But this not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles: he sees the form of the LORD. Why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?’” Numbers 12:6-8
The normal way for God to reveal his understanding was to give prophets ‘visions and dreams’
In Acts chapter 1 people from the nations, who were in Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths, had very little understanding about what God was doing at that time. They understood little about Jesus until Spirit empowered Christians explained the gospel to them in words they could understand (Acts 2:11). Following this Peter gave a brilliant description of the gospel of Jesus and the response that God wanted. He had been taught by Jesus himself, face to face, so there was no need for dreams or visions. It was this direct teaching that enabled them to know the truth about God.
Martin Luther King, the black equality campaigner in the United States famously said, ‘I had a dream’. How we need people to have such dreams today. His dream was a longing to see a fair future for all people whatever their colour.
All true Christians have been given a revelation from God, a new understanding, a new birth, about what it means to be one of God’s people and what God wants to use us to achieve. God has given us an understanding of the gospel of Christ, he has opened our eyes.
All Christians will speak about God
“Your sons and daughters will prophecy” Joel 2:28
In Numbers 12 the elders received dreams and visions that qualified them to speak God’s thoughts. In Acts 2 it was the same empowering of God’s Spirit that gave God’s people the understanding and courage needed to share the gospel with others. This is always what God wants his people to do.
In Acts 2 there were people in Jerusalem from ‘every nation under the sun’ (Acts 2:5). Then . . . all were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak . . .’ (Acts 2:4). The emphasis is obvious, people from all these nations heard the Christians explaining the gospel in words they could understand, even using their own dialects (Acts 2:8). It was the content of the message that struck them most:
“ . . . we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.” Acts 2:11
Explaining the gospel, declaring the wonders of God, is prophesying. Peter led God’s people in this respect. He addressed this multinational crowd and explained clearly that the gospel is the message about Jesus.
This is what Joel 2 is about. Prophecy is usually given by speech, by using our tongues. This is why it is important for us to pass on God’s message to children. Today so many are ignorant of the gospel because no-one has had the courage to tell them the news about Jesus. We have been given God’s Spirit so we can both understand and then speak. God wants to give us new ideas, dreams and visions as to how to get this message about Jesus out to others.
The rest of the book of Acts is about how the Christians spread the message that God had given them to other nations and people. If church members are not speaking to their friends and neighbours about Jesus something is desperately wrong. Don’t they have the Spirit of Jesus?
3. The wonders God will show
“I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Joel 2:30-31
This prophecy sounds bizarre with ‘blood and fire and billows of smoke’. What is all this about? At other times the Old Testament prophets used similar language:
“The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.” Isaiah 13:10:
“Will not the day of the LORD be darkness and not light - pitch dark, without a ray of light.” Amos 5:20
“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.” Amos 8:9
“The sun and the moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine.” Joel 2:15
We have been given the answer as to what these signs refer to in the New Testament. Jesus himself used such language to describe what will happen at his second coming to judge the world and take his people to himself:
“But in those days, following that distress, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.” Mark 13:24-27
All the gospels mention the darkness that occurred at Jesus’ crucifixion, for example
“. . . darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two” Mark 23:44-45
These signs are all related to the Day of the Lord’ and God’s judgment. Some of these happened when Jesus died, the darkness, earthquake and tombs opened:
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” Matthew 27:50-53
In a real sense the cross is the day of judgment. Then God’s judgment against all our sin was brought forward and put on Christ. However the ‘day of God’s wrath’ is still to come. Joel also describes this ultimate judgment:
“The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.” Joel 3:15-16
This judgment will be cosmic, all of the Lord’s creation will recognise what is happening and who rules.
The book of Joel is teaching us that the day of the locusts points forward to the ‘Day of the Lord’. When verses 28-29 were fulfilled, the pouring out of God’s Spirit on people when they all share the message of God, this shows that the days are numbered and that the final day of judgment is nearby. We are in the ‘last days’.
Peter makes a subtle change in Joel’s wording. Joel said,
“And afterward I will pour out my spirit . .” Joel 2:28
In contrast Peter said,
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit . . .” Acts 2:17
What Joel saw as a future event, Peter saw as a sign of the ‘last days’.
It is as if God has stretched the ‘day of the Lord’ so that it starts with the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus and will end with his return to ‘judge the quick and the dead’. Pentecost heralded these ‘last days’.
The Holy Spirit has been given to God’s people as ‘the first-fruits’, as a foretaste and guarantee of the full inheritance believers will receive in the future. Paul wrote:
“Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.” Romans 8:23
He is the first part of what is to come later when Jesus returns.
The urgency of the mission
In a game of limited overs cricket, as the final overs are being bowled the batters open up. Risks have to be taken if those runs are to be scored. So in the Christian life we are now in the last days so we need to be urgent about our task. We have had the Holy Spirit poured out on us because God’s final judgment is soon to come.
The explorer Ernest Shackleton led a team to cross Antartica via the South Pole. In 1915 their ship ‘Endurance’ became trapped in pack ice and the ship was crushed and sank. Using lifeboats the team reached the bleak, uninhabited Elephant island, far from shipping routes. Shackleton and five crew members set of in a small lifeboat to seek help from a whaling station 800 miles away. It was a perilous journey in stormy freezing conditions.
The men left behind on Elephant Island waited 105 days for Shackleton’s return. To keep morale high during this time, Frank Wild, Shackleton’s second-in-command, played a crucial role. He would gather the men each day and say,
“Lash up and stow your things, boys. The Boss may come today.”
This routine helped keep the men focused and hopeful, preventing despair in the harsh conditions.
Joel is doing just the same. The Day of judgment is imminent but Joel reminds the Lord’s people that they are safe:
“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.” Joel 2:32
The place of safety is with the Lord. Jerusalem, Zion, represents where the Lord had his home, the temple. Joel is saying that the only place of safety is in a personal relationship with the Lord. ‘Call on his name, return to him’ is the prophets urgent message.
Notice in this verse that the word ‘calls’ comes twice. The first ‘call’ is when we call out to God. The second call is to acknowledge that God has in fact called us. How do I know if the Lord is calling me to be a privileged member of his Kingdom, can I be sure? That is the second ‘call’. The answer is in the first ‘call’. I have called upon God to save me.
This is a great verse for any concerned about the predestination/freewill issue. If we have called on God for salvation and have submitted to his Lordship then we know we have been called. When we call on him for salvation we are answering his call. It is a great verse on assurance.
If you compare Peter’s sermon with what Joel says Peter seems to cut the quote short, he only mentions our call on God. Peter ends the quote with,
“ . . . everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” Acts 2:21
However at the of end his talk Peter returns to complete the quote from Joel. After telling people about who God’s Saviour is, the Lord Jesus, he finishes with the second ‘calling’, God is calling some people to be his people. What a privilege.
“The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:39
Between the two ‘calls’, ‘All who call on the name of the Lord’ and ‘all God calls’ Peter has inserted a long section explaining ‘the name of the Lord’ on whom we must call if we are to be saved.
Remember Joel had said
“…everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The name on whom we must call is Jesus, it is only faith in him that can give anyone assurance of salvation. Peter said:
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Acts 2:36
So Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 is Joel 2:28-32 with a big insert explaining the significance of Jesus.
This is why Christians are safe, we have come to Jesus, to Zion. John Newton’s hymn beautifully encapsulates this teaching:
“Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion city of our God . . . Saviour, if of Zion’s city, I, through grace, a member am, Let the world deride or pity, I will glory in Thy name.”
When we genuinely call on the name of Jesus we are safe, saved. We have come to Zion, to Jerusalem.
So we can see that the book of Joel is much more than a story about locusts. Its message is relevant for everyone. Its main point is that there is a judgment for all, but God has poured out his Spirit so that we can be certain we are saved and can tell others about the only answer before that final day.
God has called us all to be involved in this mission because there are millions that God longs to be saved. Look back to Joel 1:3:
“Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.”
But don’t just tell of the locusts, share the explanation Peter gives us.
Amy Carmichael was a missionary in India in the early 20th century. She was there for 45 years, teaching the gospel, founding a mission and setting up an orphanage.. In one of her books she imagines a sheer cliff face and then she sees crowds and families walking towards this cliff edge. All are blind and one by one they fall over the cliff. Why doesn’t someone warn them? Then she sees groups of sighted people sitting in groups on the grass making daisy chains. Every now and then they would stand up and sing a hymn, then sit down and carry on making daisy chains.
This was Amy’s way of shaming the church. How can you just sit there?
God has revealed himself to us, and has taught us the gospel. He has given us his Holy Spirit so we have the power to talk about Jesus and his gospel. Why don’t we tell the spiritually blind people what lies ahead?
BVP
