Joel is fascinating! The background to this book shows that during his prophecy a queen was on the throne - Athaliah, the daughter of Jezebel a very wicked queen. Athaliah was just as wicked - she killed all the possible heirs to the throne. But a priest hid one in the temple, Joash. Imagine - God had his plan even when this woman plotted against him. God had promised David that his heirs would always sit on the throne of Israel.
Joel's prophecy was warning of judgment to come against God's own people. God is absolutely fair and sin in God's people is just as serious as sin outside of God's people.
Notice verse 3 "tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation "
How important it is to warn our children of Gods judgment - this is not just a message for Joel's day but for ourselves as well.
In chapter 1 verses 1 to 12 we see a description of the locusts. They march like soldiers eating everything in their wake. In the rest of the chapter Joel calls for a national act of repentance. The consequences of not repenting were clear - there would be a repetition.
How many times have we been warned of God's coming judgment and we have not repented? Make no mistake God has to act.
There was no alternative but to repent. The people had no crops, nothing left to eat. No future. No hope.
In chapter 2 Joel uses the picture of locusts swarming to show that the Babylonians would come in judgment on Israel. They had a scorched earth policy which meant every human and every animal would be destroyed in their path. One day the shofar trumpet will sound Joel said.
One day the trumpet of God will sound to mark the end of time - we are told this later in the New Testament. Will we repent now before it is too late? Joel called for true repentance - rend your hearts and not your garments. God still asks us to do the same today but will we?
A verse that is familiar to everyone who reads the prophecy of Joel. The imagery in this chapter is amazing! God's promise to Israel was total restoration. Not just physical but spiritual. And this is what Peter himself referred to in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. The coming of the Holy Spirit on all people.
The second sign would be seen in the heavens - the sun would darken and the moon turn blood red. The sun darkened the day Jesus died on Mount Calvary. Astronomers can also prove that on the same day the moon turned blood red.
The third thing Joel prophesied was salvation for everyone whom the Lord called. This was a double salvation - verse 32 when people call on the name of the Lord (Jesus) and for those who the Lord calls. 3000 were saved on the day of Pentecost and they were all Jews.
The last word is vindication. All the prophets end with a note of promise. When will this prophecy be fulfilled? No one knows - not even the angels in heaven. Will this mean the nation of Israel is fully restored and given back all her land? We don't really know. But there will be judgment, of that we are certain.
"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... but Judah shall dwell for ever and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion."
UNLOCKING THE BIBLE: JOEL
by DAVID PAWSON
Theme: The Day of the Lord is coming when he will settle accounts - will also mean judgment for Israel. God is absolutely fair and sin in God’s people is just as serious as sin outside of God’s people. Joel was first of the prophets to say this.
What sparked off this prophecy? A natural disaster – a plague of locusts hit the country. Locusts are like great big grasshoppers. In a swarm of locusts there can be 600 million. They have a voracious appetite with heads like horses eat up every living plant in sight. A swarm can cover 400 square miles. Eat up to 80,000 tonnes of food a day. Travel 2000 miles a month, 2 to 10 miles a day for 6 weeks then they swarm.
It had happened in Egypt – 1 of the 10 plagues but Goshen remained untouched. God protected his people but now it had come to his people. Comparatively rare in Israel, they come up to North Africa but rarely to Israel.
Joel told them that this was
the first of the warnings to God’s people. Not accidental, God is given you a
warning Joel said.
God was given a warning to his people – so serious they didn’t have enough grain to offer in the temple. The worship stopped. The nation faced drought, bush fires, starvation, devastating – vineyards, corn fields, olive groves all gone. Joel told them God had done this to them.
Disasters whether come directly from God are always a reminder of God’s judgment – remember Jesus and the tower of Siloam. Every earthquake, typhoon, flood or natural disaster is a reminder! This was a direct act of God and sparked off this prophecy in Joel.
The chapter divisions are correct in Joel - chapters 1, 2 and 3 are actual sections of the prophecy. Bishop of Lyon made these divisions as rode on horseback from Paris to Lyon.
Chapter 1 verses 1 to 12 contain a vivid description of the locusts, almost a biological description of the locusts. How march like soldiers, ate everything up, hear them munching - so vivid.
Verses 13 to 20 calls for a national act of repentance – if don’t repent then there will be a terrible repetition. God is giving you a chance, turn back to God or else worse will happen. He does not say repent of what. We are left to research in Kings to find out what is happening that the nation should be doing something wrong.
”Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.” verse 8
What was going wrong? There is a reference to priests in Joel no reference to the king yet accusing the nation of something wrong – when you read the book of Kings you find there is a queen, Athaliah, on the throne, not a king. That was not God’s will. He had promised David as long as they kept the statues of God they would never lack a son to sit on the throne. He allowed them a king but not a queen. The queen was the queen mother, when the king died she seized the throne and she murdered every son of the king so she could be queen. No-one stopped her. She had killed every boy of the royal line. Her mother was Jezebel. One was saved by the high priest and hid in the temple. Had she managed to kill every boy there couldn’t be a son of David on the throne. Satan was behind this – similar to King Herod when Jesus was born. The boy in this case was Joash. Shortly after Joel preached they had the courage to remove the queen and put Joash on the throne. That could be the national sin referred to here in Joel. Unless you truly repent and put things right Joel told them, otherwise there would be terrible repetition.
Chapter 2 describes a repetition of the plague of locusts – but is this really a plague of locusts? What he sees is an army coming like a plague of locusts. Remember the picture of horses heads marching in ranks of the locusts. This plague is the prefiguring of an army marching on the land destroying everything. He is seeing the Babylonians coming. They had a scorched earth policy. Did not only kill the people but destroyed every living thing – trees, sheep, cattle. They left nothing alive. A very similar picture to a locust plague. Chapter 2 is not another plague of locusts but a picture of a locust army. In Revelation the picture of a plague of locusts comes up again followed by an army from the east. Relationship here between animal locust swarm and human locust swarm coming. One day you will hear the trumpet alarm (shofar) – that is the second plague. He repeats that God is looking for true repentance. The first time they went out and got drunk. Instead of repenting at Joel’s first sermon they drunk themselves into a stupor. Interesting the reaction to the sermon - some people prepare, others get drunk and that is what happened at the first call to repentance by Joel. This time he calls for true repentance – “rend your hearts and not your garments” chapter 2 verse 13. If they have true repentance Joel promises them that God will restore the years the locusts have eaten (chapter 2 verse 25). What grace!
God promised them - If you truly repent I will never do this again – keeps on repeating this throughout the verses. Not only that but there will be a total restoration, not just physical but spiritual. He makes wonderful promises. In that total restoration I will pour out my spirit on all kinds of people – verses 26 to 29. Not fulfilled until Passover in Acts 2. Peter referred to it himself. It was a Jewish occasion when the spirit of God fell and led to saving of 3000 people. That was the first of the promises. There will also be signs in the heaven – even the sky will take note of what is happening on the earth. The sun will be darkened and the moon will be turned to blood. When Jesus died on the cross the sun did darken for 3 hours, an eclipse of the sun. Astronomers claim that both of these events did actually happen at that time. The third thing Joel said would happen – salvation for everyone whom the Lord called and who called on the Lord. Double salvation. God calls on people to be saved and when they call on him they will be saved. Call on the name of the Lord (Jesus) and you will be saved! People need to do that for themselves and if they do that they will be saved. Peter picked it up at Pentecost and 3000 people were saved. Not just restoration of crops, wine and corn being restored but of hearts and lives. This will all happen on the “day of the Lord”. Keeps using this phrase. The New Testament picks that phrase up too. There is a day coming. Satan has had his day but the Lord will have his day! When the Lord brings the world under his rule. It will be the day of Jesus – a long day according to Revelation. Very prominent phrase in the New Testament.
Joel chapter 3 has a vision of the Valley of Decision, a real
valley. It is outside Jerusalem, on the eastern side, the valley of Kidron.
Jerusalem has 3 valleys in total – the Hinnom valley on the western side, the
Tyropoeon valley up the centre and the Kidron valley. The valley of Kidron lies
between the city and the Mount of Olives. The Valley of Judgment. It is full of
Jewish, Christian and Muslim graves. It is believed to be the place of
resurrection when God will make a decision about our eternal destiny. The valley
in which God decides who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Joel sees
multitudes, nations in that valley of decision. The valley where God decides
the eternal destination of every person, the final judgment. When God takes
vengeance on those who have set themselves against his people, his purpose,
what he has tried to do in the world, his decision will be final. The last word
is vindication of Israel, that God will vindicate his people and restore them
to their land. There are deeply divided opinions about this in the church
today. Most of the prophets end up with promises for the future of Israel. When
will they be fulfilled? Will they be fulfilled. 4 different opinions in the
church today. There are many prophecies of Israel back in her land and fully
restored and they have not come true. Will they ever? It depends on whether
these prophecies are taken literally or spiritually. Taking them literally
applies them to Israel. Taking them spiritually applies them to the church –
replacement theology. That the church is the new Israel. Majority of preachers take this view. Then
they claim all the old blessings for the church and keep the curses for Israel
which seems unfair. Then those who take them literally divide into 2 – promises
are conditional and have been forfeited by Israel and therefore extinction. No
future for Israel. Now out of God’s purposes. They are now just a nation, no
longer God’s people. Others say they were unconditional, he promised them the
land for ever. You may lose it but I will always bring you back again. In which
case then there is a future for Israel. Some would say they have been fulfilled
in their return from exile in Babylon so the promises are fulfilled. Some say
no they have not been fulfilled, God still has to give them the land promised
to them and lead them into eternity. God does not divorce people, he hangs onto
them and will bring them in at the last. All the Gentiles will be gathered and
then the Jews will be brought in. There are all these views – the promises of God
cannot be broken!
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