06: Minor Prophets - Joel 1:1-2:1

[Dunkle] Welcome. This is Minor Prophets class today, and we are starting a new book, the second of the Minor Prophets, the Book of Joel. So, if you’re not already there—which I’m not—we can turn there.

I thought I might mention, I don’t know if people watching recordings later would think, wow, they dress up a lot at ABC, which is not all that dressy, but I don’t normally wear a jacket for every class. Partly, it makes me look better on camera—taller, handsomer—but also it’s a nice place to clip the microphones. So, it’s good for that, and that works out that way. Not that that has anything to do with the Book of Joel.

So, we will get into the Book of Joel, and as we often do—or almost always—we want to give some background and introduction by going through what I call the Five W’s. The Five W’s of Joel, starting with who?

Who wrote the book? Well, it’s widely acknowledged that a prophet named Joel is the author of the book. There are several men named Joel in the Bible. Only one of them wrote this book, but we don’t actually think that there’s any reference to him in other places doing action, which means we know almost nothing about this Joel.

We know he’s the son of Pethuel, but we don’t know anything about Pethuel. Or one thing we don’t know is if I’m pronouncing his name the way he would have pronounced it. We know the meaning of the name Joel, and it’s a really cool meaning. It means Yahweh is God, if Yahweh is the correct pronunciation of what we call the tetragrammaton.

But it’s the two names of God from the Old Testament. Based on Elohim or El, that’s where you get the last part. And Joel, the first part, is from the Yah, from the YHWH. So using those names makes it, in my mind, kind of a cool name. If I had another son, maybe I’d name him Joel—but I’m not having another son—so we’ll move on from there. But you can keep it in mind for when you have children.

Let’s talk about when the book of Joel was written. And I’ll tell you, there’s a bit of divergence among scholars on when they think it was.

Many—and I believe it’s the majority—think that it was written early, that it’s one of the earliest of the literary prophets. Okay? And those who think that believe the book was written at around 835 BC, maybe as late as 795, but around that 800 BC mark, making it pretty early. And as far as early prophets, he’s there with Hosea near that same time, and Amos. So that far back, unless he was actually considerably later.

So there are a few scholars, I think smaller in number, who think he might have written even after the Assyrian conquest, which would put us in the early 700s to late 600s BC.

I tend to lean with the idea of it being early. And here’s where we can talk about internal evidence. What we call internal evidence is what do we see written in the Book of Joel that might give us clues as to when it was written.

Some of the things that we see in this book is it mentions enemies like the Philistines, the Phoenicians, Edom, Egypt. It mentions them, but it does not say anything about Assyria. It doesn’t mention Babylon. Really, not even Syria.

So this seems to relate to an earlier time in Israel’s history when they’re focused on just the neighbors right around them and not the neighbors further away.

Another thing that we see within the Book of Joel is he mentions the temple. He mentions sacrifice. This tells us that he must have written at a time when the temple still existed and sacrifice was going on. And that leads us to think, well, it was certainly before the Babylonian conquest and, along with the other things, makes us think even earlier than that.

Beyond that, there’s various speculation that is really just speculation. For the purposes of this class, if we say probably around 800 BC, one of the earliest of the written prophets, I think we’re good with that.

Where did he write? And where is the audience for whom he’s writing at his period?

There we believe, because of some of that internal evidence, Joel is working in Judah. I didn’t switch my map back. We could say he is during the time of the divided monarchy, but whereas when we talked about Hosea prophesying to the northern kingdom, Joel seems to be focusing on the southern kingdom. And he may well have been working in and around Jerusalem.

One of the reasons we think he’s down there is because he does mention the sacrifice and such. And he doesn’t really talk about idolatry and some of the things that the northern kingdom was doing. Hosea strongly condemned the idolatry of the northern kingdom. We don’t see Joel doing that.

So that leads us to think he’s probably in Judah, probably around Jerusalem.

Moving quickly through these W’s, the most important ones, I think, tend to be the why and what. And there is a pretty clear, simple theme in the Book of Joel, and that’s the Day of the Lord.

That phrase shows up, and that’s what he’s talking about—the Day of the Lord. The book foretells imminent physical disaster, particularly in the form of a locust plague. But it doesn’t stop there. It’s pretty clear from us reading today that it’s also prophesying the end time.

So we could make a distinction, if we want, between a day of the Lord—and I’ll propose that any time God steps in and intervenes in human affairs could be called a day of the Lord—but we in the Church tend to think of the Day of the Lord, the time when Jesus Christ is going to return.

If we think of the book of Revelation—the seven seals opened, seven trumpet plagues, seven last vials—there’s some overlap of some of the symbolism in Joel with those things. So this is another book with a pretty long horizon.

Still thinking of why, in the Book of Joel there’s some warning to the Jewish people of his time—warnings of what they’re doing wrong and what they need to do right. We could say there also seem to be warnings that pertain to Christians around the time of the end. And if that’s us, we want to pay attention. I say “if” because Christ said no one’s going to know when His time is coming. But I would say we should all live as though we’re at the end.

Because, as you’ve probably heard this said before, how much time do you have till Christ returns? However much time you have to live. At the end of our physical life, it’s the Day of the Lord for us. Christ will be here.

So let’s talk a little bit about what. And actually, I have verged into what. What and why often intermerge and overlap. Intermerge isn’t actually a word, is it? It is now. But Joel does serve as that warning.

Particularly to the Jews of that time, he’s warning them that they’re sitting and relaxing in comfort and not being diligent about worshiping God and serving Him. So he’s warning them because there’s going to be problems. There’s going to be punishment for that.

Would that relate to Christians in the end time? Could be, yes. So we don’t have to be going to a temple offering physical sacrifices, but we want to not get too comfortable and neglect proper worship, or else there could be problems—punishment for us. So these things come through.

Let me mention—I’ll make reference to Hebrew scholars—because, as I’ve told you here before, I’m not a Hebrew scholar. I can’t read or write Hebrew, but I’ve read works by those who can.

Understanding that Joel was written in poetry—most of the Old Testament prophecy is in poetry—the scholars say his writing is very pure and smooth. Sounds like a wine, maybe, but pure and smooth. They say he has fluid rhythms, regular parallelisms. The parallelisms are what Hebrew poetry does. Instead of rhyming sounds, it rhymes ideas. Joel was pretty good at that. Let’s just say it that way.

They say round sentences. I put that in quotes because, to be honest, I’m not sure exactly what it means, but I’m pretty sure it’s meant as a compliment. Joel was a pretty good writer.

One thing we can see just from the English: he uses some powerful images and symbolism. They’re dynamic, powerful things that seem to be conveying meaning. And we see that especially in chapter 2.

Most of the people in this room don’t go back to the times of the Worldwide Church of God, but if you did, we used to have an old hymnal that I just called a purple hymnal. There is a hymn that was in that hymnal, on page 118, drawing the language from Joel chapter 2, called Blow the Horn, Let Zion Hear.

What I’m saying is it was such powerful imagery and so dynamic that it moved someone to put it to song. And maybe we’ll play it sometime later when we don’t have the cameras running. If you’re watching this now, I bet you could Google or get on YouTube and find that song. I’ll say more about that when we get to chapter 2. I’m just commenting on the writing and the imagery.

So with that, I’ve got my Bible open to Joel. Let’s look at chapter 1, verse 1. This is pretty simple: “The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel” (Joel 1:1).

This is another case where we’re not sure exactly how the word came, but certainly Joel is saying this is God’s message. Joel is a prophet. And part of what he says is, “Hear this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land” (Joel 1:2).

Now before I talk about what he wants them to hear, we’ll note in this circumstance it’s pretty clear that elders means people who have lived longer. It’s not talking about an ordained elder in the Church. That’s really a concept that comes in the New Testament.

But in the Old Testament, elders are often—usually—people of greater age, and they’re leaders. They have a position of prominence. So he’s addressing the leaders, and he asks them a question. I believe a rhetorical question: “Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers?” (Joel 1:2).

Then he says, “Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation” (Joel 1:3).

So he’s asking, has anything like this happened before? I say it’s rhetorical because the implied answer is no. This is special. This is unique. You haven’t seen this before, and you’re going to talk about it.

Things like that come up today. We call it water cooler talk, but maybe beyond that—“I’ve got to talk about this. Everybody’s talking about it.” Well, what is it that’s going to happen that’s never happened before?

And he starts talking about locusts. Verse 4: “What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten” (Joel 1:4).

That’s a lot of locusts.

And I can attest to you that if you look in the right places, you can find pages written by scholars trying to figure out what species of bugs these are, because I’ve read through a lot of it. And a lot of it comes down to—we’re just not sure.

If you were looking at the Old King James, it actually uses different words than locust. It says the palmerworm, the locust, the cankerworm, the caterpillar. They’re translated from four different Hebrew words, which I will spare you from writing on the board and seeing my bad handwriting.

But another interpretation, and one that I kind of like, is that this might be relating to different phases of the development of whatever type of locust this is.

Because if you understand insects—and locusts are a type of insect—they go through what we call metamorphosis. They start out as an egg and then come out often as, we might use the term larva or caterpillar. And when the caterpillar that’s going to be a locust comes out, it’s hungry. It starts eating everything it can.

As they develop, they’ll start swarming together. That’s another stage. Then they go through metamorphosis and come out looking a little different. They’re not a worm anymore. They come out looking like a locust. And again, they’re eating everything they can to develop their bodies so eventually they can take flight. So these different words might be referring to this development.

And we might say, well, so what? Is this a lesson on entomology? It’s entomology, right? Etymology would be words. Entomology is insects.

Well, I think the point is—let me say two points. One is that this could be a prophecy of an actual locust plague in that time in Judah’s history, around 800 BC. God might have been warning them there’s going to be a plague. Actual insects are going to come, and they’re going to devour the crops. They’re going to eat up all kinds of things.

We don’t deal with that much in the United States today, certainly not in the cities where we live, but it wasn’t unknown in their time. I’ve got some concept of a locust plague because I read Little House on the Prairie when I was a kid. I see some people smiling. Some of you read those books. Didn’t Laura Ingalls Wilder at one point describe a locust swarm coming? Her description was pretty good. It made me feel like I was there.

This could be a warning that there’s a locust plague coming, and as it progresses it’s going to cause vast destruction. Look back to verse 3: “Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation” (Joel 1:3). Verse 2 says, “Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers?” (Joel 1:2). No, probably not. It seems it’s going to be devastating.

What the caterpillars don’t eat, the next stage will eat. And what they leave, the next stage will eat. So it’s going to be devastating to the country.

But it also seems—and I believe it does—symbolize a greater devastation from something that the caterpillar plague might represent: an invading army.

We see a depiction in chapter 2, verse 25. God mentions the swarming locust again, what they’ve eaten. He mentions the names, and at the end of verse 25 in chapter 2 He says, “My great army which I sent among you” (Joel 2:25).

Earlier in chapter 2 He describes an invading army. They leap on the walls and through windows. Scholars debate—is he talking about locusts crawling in the windows or soldiers? Maybe both. I like to see it that way.

So we could see a dual prophecy. Maybe even more than that. Maybe Joel is telling of an impending locust plague and resulting famine. The next big invasion that would happen for Judah would be the Babylonian army. We know Nebuchadnezzar sends his army and they conquer.

But later on in the Book of Joel we’re going to see symbolism that surely means the end-time Day of the Lord. So we could see multiple fulfillments of things that are described here.

And maybe the bottom line is—it’s devastating. We want to avoid this. I don’t want to endure a locust plague. I don’t want to endure an invading army. So what do I do?

Well, verse 5 says, “Awake, you drunkards, And weep; And wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the new wine, For it has been cut off from your mouth” (Joel 1:5). It says, “For a nation has come up against My land” (Joel 1:6).

That’s where I say I don’t think it’s just insects. “A nation has come up against My land, Strong, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, And he has the fangs of a fierce lion” (Joel 1:6).

Let me read verse 7, and then we’ll back up: “He has laid waste My vine, And ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and thrown it away; Its branches are made white” (Joel 1:7).

Locusts would do that, but there’s symbolism in that. More than once in these prophecies God uses a vine or a vineyard as a symbol of His people—Israel, we could say, or Israel and Judah.

I’m not going to turn there and read all of it, but Isaiah chapter 5 is the place where God expands on that metaphor probably the most. He talks about, “I built a vineyard, and I planted it,” and He really elaborates and says Israel was My vineyard.

So when we see “He has laid waste My vine” (Joel 1:7), we could call to mind that more than once God uses the vine or vineyard to symbolize His chosen people. But here it’s destruction.

A nation has come upon My land. Like I said, probably at first a physical locust plague that’s going to destroy physical vines and fig trees, but then symbolizing later an invasion of an actual army. That nation invading.

The thing I wanted to mention in verse 5 is that it says, “Awake, you drunkards.” Through Israel’s history—and we could say in modern times today—abuse of alcohol is a problem that seems to be perennial. It’s always in existence for some people. So we could address that.

But also, it seems like it might be symbolic of people who are distracted, enjoying the pleasures. “Hey, I’ve got good wine. I can sit back.” You drinkers of wine. But you haven’t noticed there’s a nation coming against My land.

And we’re going to see they haven’t been paying attention to worshiping God as they should. So I think there’s symbolism in referring to them as drunkards, as well as the fact that God’s Word makes it very clear that alcohol abuse is sinful and it shouldn’t happen.

The next thing I want to note is in verse 8: “Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth” (Joel 1:8).

That could cause some confusion because a virgin is someone who wouldn’t have a husband. The Hebrew there is the word bethulah. The Hebrew word can properly be translated as virgin, but it can also be properly translated as young woman.

So a young woman could have a husband of her youth, and it’s implying that she’s lamenting in sackcloth for her husband, meaning she lost the husband of her youth.

And I emphasize that because that’s got to be pretty severe mourning and lament. Say you’re nineteen or twenty years old, you find the man of your dreams, you finally get married, and suddenly he’s gone. Devastating.

God is not focusing on that event itself, but He says, “Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth” (Joel 1:8). What’s going to happen with this coming plague is so bad it’s going to bring that kind of feeling. Like a young woman who just lost her husband right at the beginning of their life together.

That’s the level of devastation God is trying to convey.

The source of lament, though, is not a woman losing a husband. All of verse 9 says, “The grain offering and the drink offering Have been cut off from the house of the Lord; The priests mourn, who minister to the Lord” (Joel 1:9).

Especially if we’re talking about a famine, could it be such a famine that enough food isn’t even available to do the proper sacrifice? It’s been cut off. And the rest of verse 9 says the priests mourn who minister to the Lord, the Eternal. They’re in mourning. They’re not able to do their job.

I’ll make a reference here because we’ve taught about the grain offering. That’s the word mincha. In the sacrificial system there were what we would call daily sacrifices—the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. It was like clockwork every day.

It consisted of a lamb and then a meal offering, which was one-tenth of an ephah. Scholars debate how much an ephah is—this much or that much—but you take a tenth of an ephah, along with one quarter of a hin of wine, which many think would be about a quart. Think of a nice meal for a family—maybe a big family. The morning offering and the evening sacrifice represented a good-sized family meal.

But it’s not here now. “The grain offering and the drink offering Have been cut off” (Joel 1:9). And the priests are mourning.

Verse 10 says, “The field is wasted, The land mourns” (Joel 1:10). There’s a famine, often associated with drought. God will promise cutting off the rain—you won’t have rain in due season—but He’s just been talking about a locust plague. And that’s devastating to the nation.

“Yes, the land mourns. The grain is ruined. The new wine dries up. The oil fails.”

I’ll pause and say, we could look at this very clinically if it happened in 800 B.C. But what if it happens to us today? If this is also a prophecy for the end-time Day of the Lord, I don’t think our people are well prepared to deal with famine. I’ll confess I’m not. I like to eat regularly.

It would be devastating to our modern nations to go through that, because we’re just not equipped. So it’s good to keep these things in mind if this prophecy has more than one fulfillment.

Verse 11 says, “Be ashamed, you farmers” (Joel 1:11). “Be ashamed” could be translated as be dismayed or disappointed. A farmer doesn’t have to be ashamed that he did something wrong if he doesn’t have a crop, but he is dismayed and upset.

“Wail, you vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field has perished.”

We’ve got vivid imagery, but I don’t think it’s just imagery. It’s pretty real.

Verse 12 continues, “The vine has dried up, And the fig tree has withered; The pomegranate tree, The palm tree also, And the apple tree—”

With this poetry, we’re getting synthetic parallelism. I’m going to list all these things to make sure you get the point.

 All the trees of the field are withered; Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men” (Joel 1:12).

What a metaphor. Our fruit is withered. Our joy has withered. I take joy in eating fruit at times, but we should also take joy in the proper worship of God. And he just made the point that the sacrifice and the offerings were cut off. That contributes to the withering of joy. We lose our joy that way.

So how should we react? How should the priests react?

Verse 13 says, “Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar.”

The priests and Levites who serve are leading the way in appealing to God. The spiritual leadership should set the example. That is something we see in the Book of Joel. And we would hope the people would follow that example.

“Come, lie all night in sackcloth, You who minister to my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God” (Joel 1:13).

The offerings are withheld. They’re not there because there’s a shortage. We could ask again, how does that relate to us today? We don’t have to bring a lamb and an ephah and a hin of wine. But in the modern era, we bring what we call spiritual sacrifices.

First Peter 2:5 mentions offering up spiritual sacrifices. We don’t want that to be lacking. And no insect plague should stop us from spiritual sacrifice.

What is that? Hebrews 13:15 gives us some definition: “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips” (Hebrews 13:15).

I can see that in a couple of ways. Obviously prayer—when we go and we praise and worship God, that’s the fruit of our lips. But something we do together as a congregation regularly, as we join in songs of praise, we should never take that lightly. We should see that as a spiritual sacrifice.

Hymn singing in services is, borrowing from Mr. Shoemaker, the most participative part of our worship service. Maybe prayer is participative too, because even if you don’t sing well you still join in the prayer. But we’re all singing together. It’s a great unifying experience. That’s a type of praise, a sacrifice of our lips.

Psalm 51:17, David’s psalm of repentance, says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17).

These are the sacrifices that we don’t want to have withheld from the house of our God.

Let me add one more: Romans 12:1, where Paul says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1).

We should be living sacrifices. That’s a spiritual sacrifice. We devote ourselves. We devote our time.

And you might say, why am I talking so much about this? Because it’s in the context. There’s mourning in verse 8—“Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth” (Joel 1:8)—because the offerings are cut off. We don’t want that to ever be the case here in God’s Church today. So we want to do what He said to the ministers—to gird yourselves and lament.

Verse 14 even says, “Consecrate a fast” (Joel 1:14).

The word consecrate could have been translated sanctify. It’s a holy thing. So when we’re consecrating a fast, it’s not just going hungry. I could fast because I need to lose weight, or because I have some other purpose. But when I’m fasting to draw close to God, it should be a holy fast. And when I say I, I mean all of us. It’s not just me.

It’s not about going hungry. It’s about seeking God.

He says, “Consecrate a fast. Call a sacred assembly.” So gather together. We do have a sacred assembly regularly on the Sabbath. Sometimes we need to come together at other times. “Gather the elders. The elders should be the leaders. Gather the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Eternal.”

When they went to the house of the Lord, it’s not hard to think what they meant. That’s why I said we think he’s referring to the temple in Jerusalem. There’s not a temple in Jerusalem now, and if there was, I don’t know that we would gather to it.

But 1 Peter 2:5 says that the Church is a spiritual temple. Peter calls us living stones, built up into a spiritual house. We could say individually, because of God’s Spirit dwelling in us, but especially collectively. So when we consecrate a fast and gather, it’s among the Church of God. There are things we want to be together for. I’d imagine especially if we’re approaching the Day of the Lord, or if we’re in a time of severe difficulty and trouble.

That phrase shows up in the next verse. Verse 15: “Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand” (Joel 1:15).

When God intervenes and causes something to happen, you could call it a day of the Lord. If there was a locust plague in 800 B.C., that’s a day of the Lord. But I don’t think we’re incorrect if when we hear the Day of the Lord, we’re thinking of that cataclysm at the end time.

We’re going to have the seals opened, the trumpet plagues. It comes as destruction from the Almighty. That’s something not to take lightly. And we say, Alas. It’s a time of mourning.

Matter of fact, I don’t have it here in my notes. Well, I do have a reference to Revelation 1, verse 7 that I was going to read.

Revelation chapter 1 and verse 7 tells us, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him.” The “Him” here is Jesus Christ. “Even they who pierced Him.” And what’s going to happen? “And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him” (Revelation 1:7).

There’s coming a time when Christ comes, and it’s going to be a time of mourning. Well, you might say, why would it be a time of mourning? It’s what we’ve been looking forward to. It’s super happy. It’s great. And it is—except for, well, destruction from the Almighty, as Joel said.

You know, I guess that I’ll confess this. I pray that God will send Christ and bring His Kingdom. I want the Kingdom of God. But I pray that He’ll make brief the terrible time beforehand. You know, let’s get past that terrible time as quickly as possible.

I know it has to come. It’s prophesied. It has its purpose. I’m not excited about that. But I think we can all be excited about the Kingdom of God on earth, about the millennial rule of Jesus Christ, all those wonderful things that we talk about during the Feast of Tabernacles. We’re excited about that. Not so eager and excited about those things coming beforehand.

I was looking ahead. There’s a prophecy. There’s a note in the book of Amos, and I’m trying to remember exactly where it says it. I might fall on it. But it says, you know, why are you excited about the Day of the Lord? What’s that to you? It says basically it’s a time of mourning and destruction. So we’ll come to that later, but I think that pertains here.

Okay, coming back to Joel chapter 1, coming in verse 16, and for several verses we get a poetic description of famine. So we come back to famine.

“Is not the food cut off before our eyes, Joy and gladness from the house of our God?” (Joel 1:16).

The seed shrivels under the clods. It’s a very vivid image. You know, you only have clods when it’s kind of dried up and it’s not broken, and the seed is just shriveling. Barns are broken down. Grain is withered.

“How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless because they have no pasture; Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment” (Joel 1:18).

You might wonder, even the sheep? But I’ve read some accounts that say sheep can live on more inferior grass than cattle can. So sometimes the cattle might suffer, but the sheep could get by. But here it’s saying even the sheep. It’s going to get everyone everywhere. So when the animals are going without, they’re suffering destruction, and it’s terrible.

And in verse 19 we see what seems to be Joel himself crying out for his country. And I know I’m kind of moved at these places within the prophecy where it seems the prophet had been conveying God’s message, but he writes down his own thoughts, sometimes to God.

And he says, “O Lord, To You I cry out” (Joel 1:19).

Joel himself—maybe he’s having trouble motivating his countrymen. They’re not consecrating a fast the way they should. They’re not calling to God, but he is.

“For fire has devoured the open pastures, And a flame has burned all the trees of the field” (Joel 1:19).

I will note that sometimes fire and flame symbolize war. So we can see perhaps dual meaning, because there isn’t a record of a wildfire coming through and destroying, although that’s certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. But it could also be referring to war burning all the fields.

Verse 20 says, “The beasts of the field also cry out to You.” That’s a bit of anthropomorphism. The cows and sheep don’t really cry out to God, but they’re thinking, we need something. Whatever their animal thought or their need is, they realize they’re going without. “For the water brooks are dried up, And fire has devoured the open pastures” (Joel 1:20).

By the way, there are other calls throughout the prophets, sometimes of individual prophets calling out. I've got a couple references. Maybe I'll turn there.

Ezekiel 9 verse 8 is one of them. Ezekiel 9:8. And this is in the middle of a very powerful vision that God gives Ezekiel, where he imagines he's in the temple and sees great sin and some angelic beings called in to wreak this punishment.

Ezekiel says, "While they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, 'Ah, Lord God! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?'" (Ezekiel 9:8)

So Ezekiel got a job as a prophet, but he was so overwhelmed with emotion, he just had to cry out to God. And I’m saying we see Joel doing that.

Another example, very close to Joel, is in the book of Amos. Amos chapter 7 and verse 2 says, “O Lord God, forgive, I pray! Oh, that Jacob may stand, For he is small!” (Amos 7:2).

And the important thing there, which I’ll emphasize when we get to Joel, is that it says, “So the Lord relented” (Amos 7:3).

Sometimes when individuals make an earnest appeal to God, He’ll change His mind. He’ll relent. So that should motivate us to call out to God, sometimes with great emotion on behalf of others that don’t know better, perhaps, and ask God to relent, to be merciful. Because we know God is merciful. He wants to be merciful.

Okay, I’m pausing because we’ve finished chapter 1, and we have time to begin chapter 2.

And I want to note that I want to spend some time letting the Bible interpret the Bible for some symbolism in the first verse. And believe it or not, we’re running low on time. I might not be able to get through it.

But verse 2 says, “Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble” (Joel 2:1).

Of course, blowing the trumpet was often an alarm for war. So it’s easy to understand that. Would I say symbolism? I’ll say symbolism because in Revelation chapter 8 verse 2 there are seven trumpets handed out to seven angels, depicting what we call the trumpet plagues, the seven last trumpets.

This isn’t necessarily referring to that. We could go back to Numbers, where God had Moses create two silver trumpets, and you’d sound those trumpets a certain way either to call people to assembly, say it’s time to break camp and move, or sometimes to sound an alarm. There is danger. We’ve got to get everybody’s attention.

In fact, it just popped into my mind. In this part of the country, especially in the spring and early summer, we can have thunderstorms and even tornadoes. And we have a public alarm. It’s like a trumpet. The tornado sirens—you hear those going off. There’s trouble. There’s warning. So this is that kind of thing. Blow the trumpet, but it’s in Zion. That’s why I want to focus on what does it mean by Zion.

I want to make a case. Actually, on this map, we’ve got—it shows older Jerusalem. And then in New Testament times, when it had been built up, they sort of filled in the gap between these two peaks that were part of Jerusalem. The peak up here is where most people believe the temple was—the Temple Mount. Across the Kidron Valley is the Mount of Olives. But there’s a peak down here that later would be called the City of David, but it was also called Zion.

Matter of fact, let’s—I don’t want to just say this—let’s turn and look at some Scriptures. First in 2 Samuel chapter 5. 2 Samuel 5 and verse 7. I’m setting this up to show a physical interpretation that also has a spiritual symbolism.

Second Samuel 5 verse 7: “Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David)” (2 Samuel 5:7).

That’s when the Jebusites controlled what later was called Jerusalem. David had somebody climb up the water channel, and they conquered it. And that peak was Zion, but it becomes called the City of David. We’ll see that again in 1 Kings 8 verse 1.

First Kings 8:1: “Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel… that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion” (1 Kings 8:1).

And of course, they were taking it to put it in the temple. So I’m making the case—there’s this peak, this hill—I’m not sure if I’d call it a mountain—within Jerusalem. And so there’s a physical place that is Zion. But we’ve come to see in numerous places that Zion, or even more so the term daughter of Zion, seems to be a symbol that represents the Church of God, or Christians, the called-out ones. And I want to make a case for that. Let me give you several Scriptures. I may not turn to all of them because I’ll run out of time, but Psalm 9 verse 11.

Psalm 9:11 says, “Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion!” (Psalm 9:11).

Similarly, Psalm 76:2 says, “In Salem also is His tabernacle, And His dwelling place in Zion” (Psalm 76:2).

Okay, where does God dwell today? And by the way, there’s some dispute about whether the temple was where most people think or could have been down there. But the temple hasn’t been there for a long time. Where is God dwelling now?

Well, let me quote Romans 8 verses 9 and 10. Actually, I’m going to turn to that one, lest I misquote, which is not a thing we want to do.

Romans chapter 8 beginning in verse 9: “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you… Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:9–10).

And verse 11 continues: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you… He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

So I’m making the case that we often do: God dwells in His people through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told the disciples that He and the Father would make Their abode with them. Let me add another Scripture that I won’t turn to—2 Corinthians 13 verse 5. Paul says, “Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

So I’ve made a parallel here. The Old Testament said God dwells in Zion. The New Testament says God the Father and Jesus Christ dwell in us through the Spirit.

God says some things about Zion that surely represent more of the Church than a peak.

Like Psalm 125 verse 1: “Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion” (Psalm 125:1).

Okay, so there’s trusting in the Lord being like Mount Zion.

Isaiah 46:13 says, “I will place salvation in Zion” 

I’m not going to turn there, but I do want to turn to Isaiah 51.

So God puts salvation in Zion. Nice symbolism, you know, for that place. But does God put salvation in his Church? That's his intention. And let's add Isaiah 51 verse 16.

Isaiah 51:16 says, “And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, That I may plant the heavens, Lay the foundations of the earth, And say to Zion, ‘You are My people’” (Isaiah 51:16).

God says, “I will say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

God wouldn’t go to a heap of earth and say, “You are My people.”

But if Zion is a symbol of God’s Church, certainly that makes sense—“You are My people.”

Let’s add—I’m going to run out of time—Isaiah 28 verse 16. A famous one. It says, “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation’” (Isaiah 28:16).

I’ll lay in Zion a foundation stone. If Zion represents the Church, what foundation stone is laid in God’s Church? If you were attending our teen summer camps this summer, we talked about that foundation stone, the cornerstone that is Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:20. Ephesians 2, 20, talks about the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ the chief cornerstone.

1 Corinthians 3 verse 11. 1 Corinthians 3, 11, "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11)

Got a couple more scriptures. I'm squeezing them in. We're running out of time.

Isaiah 59 verse 20. My Bible is still in Isaiah because I didn't turn to those other scriptures. Isaiah 59, 20.

"The Redeemer will come to Zion" (Isaiah 59:20) Christ is going to come to Jerusalem, but he's coming to his Church. The Redeemer will come to Zion.

And I'm going to turn ahead to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 6 verse 2.

"I have likened the daughter of Zion To a lovely and delicate woman" (Jeremiah 6:2)

The daughter of Zion is like a lovely and delicate woman.

And then I'll remind you of Revelation 12:1-2, where we see a vision of a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and we see that as representing God's Church.

Okay, let me say one more thing, because back in Joel chapter 2 verse 1, if I'm establishing that Zion can be a symbol of God's Church, and I'm confident of that. I hope I can tell you that.

"Blow 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 is coming, For it is at hand" (Joel 2:1)

If we're to blow the horn in Zion, sound the alarm in Zion, and it's saying, sound the alarm in God's Church, because we're talking about the day of the Lord. I think it's telling us the Church shouldn't be taken by surprise.

We should be looking for and ready for Christ's return, because we're watching the signs of the times. We're watching, we're waiting, we're ready. We're not the five virgins that fell asleep and didn't have their oil replenished. We're the five that are awake. We're the servant who took the five talents and traded and gained five more talents.

We don't have to be taken off guard or surprised. I think that's a powerful lesson we can see in Joel chapter 2 verse 1, and we got a lot more Joel to go. So let's wrap it up for today. I'm going a little over time, but we'll pick up next time with Joel chapter 2 verse 2.