This morning, we’ll wrap up our brief look at the book of Joel. Please open up your Bibles and turn to that book. Once again, before we take a look at the passage we’ll be examining in more detail today, let’s take a moment to review the overall structure of the book.
Review
[Use chart as a visual aid]
Three sections in Joel:
1. The past locust invasion (1:2-20)
2. A near-term judgment – invasion by a human army (2:1-27)
3. A far-term judgment and restoration (2:28-3:21)
We also need to review our definition of the “Day of the Lord”. Based on what we’ve seen here in Joel and what is confirmed other places in the Scriptures, we’re using this working definition for now, subject to modification as we learn more in future studies.
The “Day of the Lord” = a cycle consisting of:
• God revealing man’s sin,
• A means of salvation,
• An opportunity for repentance,
• Judgment,
• Restoration
Although we have seen this pattern demonstrated throughout the entire book of Joel, there are some aspects of this cycle that will be revealed even more clearly as we examine the final part of the book beginning in Chapter 2, verse 28 and examine…
THE FAR-TERM JUDGMENT AND RESTORATION
As we come to verse 28 of chapter 2, it is quite clear that Joel is describing a third and very separate description of the “Day of the Lord”. In fact, the way that Joel is divided in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, makes this even clearer. In the Tanakh, verses 28 through 32 of chapter 2 actually comprise a separate chapter 3 and then Chapter 4 begins with what we have in our Bibles as Chapter 3, verse 1. But even without that clue from the Tanakh, we shouldn’t have much problem seeing that the entire last part of Joel, beginning in 2:28, describes an event that was far in the future when viewed from Joel’s perspective:
As we discovered last week, there is a noticeable change in the verb tenses between Chapter 1 and the rest of Joel. While the verbs in chapter 1 are almost all in the past tense, the verbs in the rest of the book are primarily future tense. But there is another clear change in perspective that occurs in 2:28. Beginning with that verse, Joel uses a number of phrases in this section that leave no doubt that he understood that he was looking at an event which would take place well in the future, one that was separate from the army invasion described in 2:1-27:
• And it shall come to pass afterward… (2:28)
• …in those days… (2:29)
• And it shall come to pass… (2:32)
• …in those days and at that time… (3:1)
And, as we’ll see this morning, there is some very clear evidence in the rest of Scripture that will help us to identify and understand the event, or more accurately, the cycle, of the “Day of the Lord” that Joel is describing here.
There is so much here in this passage and we obviously won’t have time to cover it all this morning, but let me just point out a few of the more significant aspects of the “Day of the Lord” that Joel describes for us.
1. This “Day of the Lord” is a cycle, not an event
This principle is one of the keys for a proper understanding of the Book of Revelation. Although, as we’ll see even this morning, there are some aspects of the “Day of the Lord” that involve major cataclysmic events, the entire “Day of the Lord”, as we have indicated with our definition of that term, is actually an entire cycle.
We can see this most clearly by going to Acts chapter 2 and observing how Peter uses the Book of Joel in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost. Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Acts 2. I’m going to begin reading in verse 14:
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Earlier in that chapter, we find a description of the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit in order to empower His followers to carry out His command to go and make disciples of all nations. And as many onlookers observed the results of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon those in that place, many came to the conclusion that those Christ followers were drunk.
But Peter uses our passage from Joel to explain what is going on. I want you to pay particular attention to verse 16, where Peter says, “But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel…” The “this” that Peter is referring to is what these observers are seeing as a result of God pouring out His Holy Spirit on these believers. There can be no doubt that Peter understood that what was occurring right then and there was the beginning of the cycle of the “Day of the Lord”. So the first thing we can determine about this cycle of the “day of the Lord” is that it:
o Began on the Day of Pentecost
However, it is also quite clear that not everything in Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled completely on the Day of Pentecost. In particular, the events described in Joel 2:30-31 – the signs here on earth as well as in the heavens – clearly did not occur on the Day of Pentecost. And they have still not occurred yet. In other words, the Day of Pentecost cannot be the “Day of the Lord” in its entirety since there are still events associated with that cycle that are still to occur in the future.
The fact that the final “Day of the Lord” began on the Day of Pentecost has tremendous significance for us since it means that we are now living in the “Day of the Lord” or as Peter described it as the “last days.” David Guzik describes how this ought to shape our thinking about the “last days”:
Many have the wrong idea of the "last days," thinking only in terms of the final years or months immediately before the return of Jesus in glory to this earth, or the rapture of the Church. Scripturally, we can think of the last days as an era, one that began with the birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost. Since that time, the Church has not been rushing towards a distant edge that represents the consummation of all things. Instead, at the Day of Pentecost the Church came to the edge - and has run parallel to the brink for some 2,000 years.
So, using nothing more than the Scriptures themselves, we can easily identify the beginning of the final “Day of the Lord” described by Joel. And even though we can’t predict exactly when it will occur, we can also determine some things about the end of this cycle.
In verses 30 and 31, Joel describes signs that will occur on the earth and in the heavens “before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” While the term “Day of the Lord” is normally used to describe the entire cycle, as we have seen, the final culmination of that cycle is often referred to in terms similar to the one used by Joel – terms like:
day of the great slaughter
day of their calamity
day of the Lord’s wrath
day of reckoning
In other words, there will come a time, unknown to us, when God will bring the “Day of the Lord” to an end with a cataclysmic judgment. And that judgment will be preceded by the signs described by Joel, other Old Testament prophets, Jesus and in the Book of Revelation by John. So not only can we determine that the Day of the Lord began on the Day of Pentecost, we can also determine that it…
o Will end with the “great and awesome day of the Lord”
There is just no way that I can emphasize enough that we need to keep this first principle in mind. The “Day of the Lord is a cycle, not just one event. It is the same cycle that we see pictured all throughout Scripture, beginning in Genesis and continuing all the way through Revelation.
2. The “Day of the Lord” involves both judgment and grace
Joel, in a manner that is consistent with the rest of Scripture, pictures the “Day of the Lord” as a combination of two seemingly contradictory acts – judgment and grace. That is certainly consistent with our definition of the Day of the Lord – particularly the last two steps in the cycle – judgment and restoration. So we’ll look at those two aspects in that order – beginning with judgment.
Judgment
Although, as we’ve seen already, and we’ll see consistently in our study of the Old Testament prophecies that provide us with a framework for the Book of Revelation, that no one is immune to God’s judgment just because they are God’s children, in this section Joel focuses primarily on the judgment that is to come against those nations who have harmed Israel. Beginning in 3:1 God describes some of the ways that other nations have violated His people. And God promises that He will avenge all of those actions.
The Bible reveals to us that God is patient with us because He does not want any to perish. Peter even described God’s patience as salvation:
And count the patience of our Lord as salvation…
2 Peter 3:15 (ESV)
But there will come a time when God will run out of patience and will bring the judgment that is deserved against those who rebel against Him. Once again, we see that same pattern repeated continuously throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. But there seems to be a common behavior, what I’m going to refer to as a “trigger”, that seems to lead God to act in judgment.
o The ‘trigger” – violence against God’s people
“Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the people of Judah…
Joel 3:19 (ESV)
In the weeks to come, we’re going to develop this idea in much more depth, both on Sunday mornings and in our Thursday night Bible study. And you’re going to be amazed at some of the things that we’ll learn about this idea of violence against God’s people.
For now, let me just encourage you to be on the alert for this idea as you read the words of the prophets and even in the accounts of Jonah and Noah that we’re looking at on Thursday nights.
o The scope – universal
The second aspect of God’s judgment that is clear here in Joel is that it is unlimited in its scope. Joel indicates the universal nature of judgment when he uses these phrases:
…all the nations…(3:1)
… all the surrounding nations… (3:12)
We obviously have examples in the Scriptures of how God brings judgment against various people at various times. We looked at one of those accounts last week in Isaiah 36 and 37 when God wiped out an entire army of Assyrians who were ready to attack Judah. But since the flood, there has never been a judgment with such a universal scope to it.
In Joel 3:2 and again in 3:12, we find that God is going to bring all the nations down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat for the purpose of bringing judgment against them. This is the only place in the Bible where we find reference to the Valley of Jehoshaphat and the location of this valley is uncertain. There is an interesting play on words here since Jehoshaphat means “the Lord has judged.”
Although there has been a lot of speculation on exactly where this valley might be, we frankly just don’t have enough information to identify its location. But what we can determine for sure is that it is a place where God is going to bring all the nations of the world in order to bring universal judgment.
o The finality
It’ interesting that God calls for a completely different response to this judgment than to the two previous judgments we’ve seen in Joel – the locust invasion in Chapter 1 and the army invasion in Chapter 2. In both cases, God called for the people to respond to those judgments with repentance and mourning.
Nowhere in this description of this final “Day of the Lord” do we find a call to repent. Instead, beginning in verse 9, here is how God commands the people to prepare this time:
Proclaim this among the nations:
Consecrate for war;
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
let them come up.
Beat your plowshares into swords,
and your pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
Hasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O Lord.
The picture here is unmistakable. There will come a time when there is no more opportunity for repentance. And so all the nations will be able to do that point is to prepare for war – a war which they cannot possible win. Even in our English translations we can catch a lot of the sarcasm that God uses here. He tells the people to go ahead and turn their farming tools into weapons and to boast of their military prowess. But the clear implication is that none of those weapons are going to be of any use when God brings His final judgment.
This whole picture of judgment is not pretty at all. But not only is the “Day of the Lord a time of judgment, it is also a time of God’s…
• Grace
In the midst of all this gloom there is a ray of hope, which is first hinted at in 2:32:
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
Joel 2:32 (ESV)
In particular, I want you to see that word “survivors”. The KJV translates that word “remnant”. And just like He has done throughout history, even in the midst of this final judgment, God is going to preserve a remnant for Himself. Here are just a few examples of God preserving a remnant that come to mind:
God brings a flood to completely destroy the earth, but he preserves a remnant in the form of Noah and his family and pairs of animals.
When the people of Nineveh repented as a result of Jonah’s preaching, they became a remnant preserved by God.
When Jesus died on the cross most of His followers deserted Him, but God preserved a remnant and on the Day of Pentecost they received the power of the Holy Spirit and followed Jesus’ command to go and make disciples.
The remnant in the Bible is always a result of God’s grace. And here in Joel, we find several aspects of that grace:
o Available to all
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was only poured out on certain men at certain times for a specific purpose. But when the “Day of the Lord” began on the Day of Pentecost, that all changed. God’s Holy Spirit and His grace would henceforth be available to all.
That is the main point Joel is making in 2:28, 29 and which Peter was making using that same passage on the Day of Pentecost. We often get so wrapped up in dissecting that passage that we miss the forest for the trees. By naming sons and daughters, old men and young men, male servants and female servants, Joel was merely trying to point out that anyone regardless of race, gender, social class or religious background had God’s grace available to them.
That is why some time later, Paul used this same passage to confirm that both Jews and Gentiles had God’s grace available to them:
For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:11-13 (ESV)
But even though God’s grace is available to all, that doesn’t mean that everyone will experience that grace, as both Joel and Peter made quite clear.
First there is…
o The need for repentance
Although he doesn’t use that word in this section of Joel, the concept of repentance is woven throughout the book and it is also implied when he writes about calling on the name of the Lord. So it is no surprise that when the people were convicted of their sinfulness and their need for God’s grace that Peter, who had just quoted Joel, also focuses on the need for repentance.
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:37-38 (ESV)
The Bible, from cover to cover, is clear that without true repentance, there is no grace. Once again, Paul confirms this truth for us:
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
2 Corinthians 7:10
In that passage, Paul also gives us some hints about what is required in order to truly be repentant. It is more than just being sorry for our sin or sorry that we got caught. It requires us to mourn over our sin the same way God does and to do whatever we need to do to make a U-turn and not make that sin a lifestyle.
In addition to real repentance, there is a second requirement for God’s grace:
o Must call on the true God
In Joel 2:32 we find that everyone who “calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Joel makes it quite clear that there is only one true God, whom he refers to as “the Lord” whom we can call upon if we wish to experience God’s grace.
Unfortunately we live in a culture where people are calling on the God of their own choosing or, even more common, the God of their own making, and have been deceived into thinking that they are going to be able to partake in God’s grace. Perhaps they would do well to listen to these words of Charles Spurgeon:
The pity of it is that the most of people in these days worship a god of their own invention. They do not make an image of clay, or of gold, but they construct a deity in their minds according to their own thoughts. They proudly judge as to what God ought to be, and they will not receive God as he really is. What is this but a god-making as gross as that which is performed by the heathen? What can be more wicked than to attempt to imagine a better god than the one true and living God? As the deity of your fancy has no existence, I would not recommend you to trust in him.
o A call to serve
You’ll notice that in 2:32, Joel describes the remnant as those whom “the Lord calls.” Unfortunately, many Christians, just like the Jews have a completely unbiblical understanding of what it means to be called by God. God’s call, is not a call to privilege, but a call to serve. While we certainly do obtain a multitude of benefits as a result of being called by God, that is not the primary purpose. Let me illustrate by going back to the examples I cited earlier:
Noah was called by God for the task of being a preacher of righteousness prior to the flood and to repopulate the earth after the flood.
When God preserved the people of Nineveh, that was a call to worship and serve God
When God preserved the apostles, He gave them the task of making disciples.
APPLICATION
We’ve covered a lot of material this morning and even then, we’ve only scratched the surface. So I’m going to leave you with just one application this morning. But before I discuss this application briefly, let me first address any of you here this morning who have never committed your life to Jesus. If you have never done that, then the Bible is clear that you are going to experience God’s judgment, not His grace. I’m not saying that to scare you, but merely fulfilling my responsibility to share with you the truth of the Scriptures. And it is my prayer that today you will repent and call upon the one true God so that you can enjoy God’s grace. Pastor Dana or I would love to talk to you more about how to do that.
But for the majority of us here who have made that decision, let me share this one application with you:
1. God’s call in your life is a call to make disciples
The Bible frequently refers to those who are followers of Jesus Christ as those who have been “called”. And as I mentioned earlier, although there are certainly privileges and benefits associated with that “call”, the primary reason for that call is that we have been tasked by God to make disciples. That’s not my opinion. That’s the command of Jesus Himself:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19, 20 (ESV)
For far too many Christians, the “Day of the Lord” has become nothing more than the object of endless speculation and conjecture. But, as we’ve seen this morning, we’re in this period we call the “Day of the Lord” right now. It began on the Day of Pentecost and it will come to an end some day. And although we don’t know when that day will be, we know that when it arrives, it is going to be too late for our family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers to repent and experience God’s grace. And that, if nothing else, ought to be a great motivation for us to obey the words of Jesus and fulfill our call to make disciples.
The call to make disciples is not just for the pastors or the elders or our teachers. Every single follower of Jesus has been commanded by Jesus Himself to make disciples. And no matter where you are in your walk with Jesus right now, you can be used by God to lead people into a relationship with Jesus and help them to become fully devoted followers.
