07: Minor Prophets – Joel 2:1-24

[Dunkle] Welcome back, everybody. This is Minor Prophets class. We had a little break here in the classroom with the Council of Elders in last week, but we're going to pick up where we left off, which is in the book of Joel.

So we previously covered the first chapter of Joel. One of the things I'll remind you is, you know, he starts off saying, “Here you elders, you inhabitants. Have you ever heard of anything like this before?” And I made the point that it seems to be a rhetorical question. No, you haven't. And then it goes on to describe locusts.

But many scholars believe that the locusts might well be symbolic of an invading army. And so there it could well be much of Joel as dual prophecy. They say could well be. I'm convinced that most of it is. So it seems there probably was a locust plague around the time that the actual man Joel is writing his prophecy. But it seems to be looking ahead to an invasion from the north by the Babylonian army that would come and conquer Judah.

Perhaps it's also looking ahead to the invasion and the conquest by Mystery Babylon the Great at the end time. And we'll see many things in chapter 2 that seem to be looking very clearly to be portraying what we call end time events.

So I'll remind you the clear theme of this book is the Day of the Lord. If I could say it creepy enough, maybe it'd strike a little chill in your spine. The Day of the Lord. Oh, what is that? Well, it's, you know, I've said anytime God intervenes in human affairs can be called a Day of the Lord. But when we say the Day of the Lord, we're talking about when Christ comes. We're talking about the end of this era. And I often use the term cataclysm or catastrophe at the end of man's many years of reign influenced by Satan and turning to when God is going to take control. He's going to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. But there's going to be a time in that transition that will be fairly unpleasant.

And that leads us into chapter two. “Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain” (Joel 2:1).

We spent some time near the end of the last class talking about how Zion did represent a peak within Jerusalem. Not that the peak where most people believe that the temple was built, but where David built his palace. So City of David and Zion can be seen to be synonymous in the Bible.

But I also made a case that more often than not, Zion is a symbol of God's called and chosen people. We would say God's church. And if it says daughter of Zion, it's almost certainly that. I don't want to go back and reread the several scriptures we looked up last time, but you know, I just want to remind us of that. Because if we're seeing it that way, blow the trumpet in Zion to sound an alarm could be seen as a warning to the church. Blowing the trumpet to make sure the church should not be taken by surprise. The church should be watching. One of the things Christ said in more than one of his parables is, watch. Don't be asleep.

So, matter of fact, I wanted to turn to 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 4, which I think is something you might have covered in epistles recently. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 4. Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica saying, “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:4). We're not in darkness. It shouldn't take us unaware.

I'll reference Matthew 24 verse 33. Near the end of the Olivet prophecy, when Christ is describing many events, then he says, “When you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!” (Matthew 24:33).

So you could say, why does he keep telling us to watch? Partly so we'll see those things and we'll know it's near. But I don't want it to just be a little bit down and depressing. There's something that Luke records that Matthew did not. In Luke 21 verse 28.

And it's one of the more inspiring scriptures in the Bible, although it's very short. Luke 21 verse 28, where after a similar description of these things happening at the end of the age, Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

I want to keep that in mind as we go through Joel chapter 2 and we see some of the same things that Christ describes in the Olivet prophecy. But realizing that we shouldn't be fearing and trembling, we should be lifting up our heads when that time comes.

But the one thing I want to add—one more scripture—in Isaiah 58 verse 1, just a reference, because here is a blow the trumpet in Zion. It seems here clearly to be sounding an alarm. There's another reference to a trumpet in Isaiah 58 where it says, “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1).

We have long seen that as a mission that belongs to God's church as well. Now, telling my people their sins isn't necessarily the same as preach the gospel, the good news of the coming Kingdom of God, but prophets often have a dual role.

I've thought it intriguing that he says, Tell my people their sins. It doesn't say, Tell all the world their sins, because all the world didn't have God give his law and reveal his way, but Israel did. So we do preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to all the world, which includes Israel and Israel's descendants. But because Israel should know better, we tell them their sins.

And I just realized I've got a bit off track. We're still in verse one of Joel 2.

But at the end of that verse, it says, “For the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand” (Joel 2:1).

And then in verse 2, he says more about it. “A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Joel 2:2). Like morning clouds spread over the mountains. I'll stop there.

One thing we see, it's darkness and gloominess, not a happy occasion. With that, I feel like I have to reference Amos chapter 5. It's only a few pages away from Joel. Amos 5, starting in verse 18, where he says, “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light” (Amos 5:18).

Amos and Joel are on the same page here. And it goes on to describe some of the difficulties. If you're like me, you might have prayed, you know, I want God's Kingdom to come, but I want the tough times that accompany it to go by quickly. You know, I pray, God, please bring your Kingdom, but let all those trumpets and last plagues and all that go very quickly, because we don't want to focus on that.

Anyways, of course, there in verse 2, it talks about thick darkness. Here, we start seeing some matching of what Joel says with some clear end-time prophecies. In Revelation chapter 16, we see that of the seven last plagues, the fifth is darkness. Of course, it's probably not a coincidence that that also reminds us of the ninth plague that God rained down on the Egyptians just before killing the firstborn, but darkness is something that comes.

Now, that could be tied to the rest of verse 2, which I didn't read. The latter part of verse 2 says, “A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations” (Joel 2:2).

Okay, so the scholars who believe Joel is about a locust plague and nothing else, and there are scholars who will make that case, saying this is an end time prophecy, it's locust. I will give it to them that a cloud of locusts can block out the sun, bring a deep shadow. Luckily, we don't have that happening in Ohio, so that's not something we think about, but it could have that interpretation. But I think that's a little naive to think it's only that.

I think this is talking about when it says a people come, he's talking about literal people, people in an army. By the way, if you look ahead in chapter 2 verse 25, it mentions again the locust, and it says, “My great army which I sent among you” (Joel 2:25). So God can send actual locusts and call that his army, but I think he can also have the locust be a symbol of a human army and what they will do.

One of the things that ties this to the end time, when at the end time we see a mention of actual armies coming in warfare, that phrase here says, “The like of whom has never been, never been, nor ever will be, nor will there ever be any such like them.” There's just a few places in the Bible where such language is used. So I want to call attention to that.

One is nearby in the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 12 and verse 1, place where we're pretty clear, clear to the understanding, it's talking about the end time. Daniel 12:1 says, “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time” (Daniel 12:1).

Okay, that sounds like the worst time ever. The way I like to say it is, how many worst times ever can there be? Typically, I think of one.

Similarly, Jeremiah 30 verse 7. Let me just summarize that one. Jeremiah 30:7, talking about the day of the Lord and the day of Jacob's trouble, says, “Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it” (Jeremiah 30:7). If none is like it, it's unique.

One more scripture I'll add to that. I'll turn to Matthew 24 verse 21.

Clearly seeing the tie between Joel 2 and the Olivet prophecy. Matthew 24:21, Jesus said, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21).

Okay, to me that sounds like the worst time ever. And there's only one of those. If there's only one of those, which I'm convinced, it seems like Joel is talking about these events that Christ talked about, and which he revealed to the Apostle John that we see in the book of Revelation.

So I wanted to take the time to establish that. So hopefully in our mind we see, yeah, there's the connection. We can see this as end time prophecy, not just a locust plague.

Now we're going to see a description of this army going on in verse 3 of chapter 2. “A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them” (Joel 2:3).

Okay, that's pretty bad. And literal locusts can do that. Again, I mentioned my biggest experience with locust plagues comes from reading The Little House on the Prairie. But it was a pretty good description, and I've seen others that say locusts can devastate the land.

But much more so, sometimes human armies go out of their way to do that. They have the term of scorched earth strategy, where they want to leave no resources for the people or for an opposing army. It's been done in modern warfare, but I'm most familiar with the 19th century in the American Civil War, where, you know, General Sherman marched across Georgia and he left a hundred mile swath of complete destruction on purpose.

Something similar that doesn't get as much credit is U.S. Grant sent a cavalry general, Sheridan, through the Shenandoah Valley. The Shenandoah Valley in Virginia is where the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was getting a lot of its supplies. And Grant basically said, if we're going to hurt this army, we got to cut off their supplies.

So he sent Sheridan and said, destroy all the crops. Sheridan said, I'm going to be so thorough that if a crow flies across that valley, it's got to bring a backpack with its own provisions. Actually, he said own provisions. I made up the backpack part. But I like the idea of a crow flying with a backpack.

Funny that we'd introduce humor, but we're talking about devastation, scorched earth. It certainly, like I said, portends to me more than the locust.

He goes on in verse 4, “Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run” (Joel 2:4).

Revelation 9 verses 1 through 11 describes an army. Could be the same army. And some make the connection with the 200 million man army and talk about how much of that is on the horseback.

Verse 5, “With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array” (Joel 2:5).

And let me keep going, although keep in mind, you could make a case for this being locust and the noise of all their wings being this rumble, but also of modern mechanized army with its noise and its devastating advance.

Verse 6, “Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color” (Joel 2:6).

We can make a case for chemical warfare or something like that, but it's also easy to think of mental emotional pain. People who see an advancing army, I could see the color draining from your face and emotions of pain.

Because this invading army, verse 7, says, “They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks” (Joel 2:7).

They don't push one another, each one marches in his own column. “Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down” (Joel 2:8).

By the way, the Hebrew there for cut down means stopped or broken. It doesn't necessarily mean that every individual in the army—it could be, you know, because as an army advances, or as a swarm of insects advances, you can imagine taking a swipe. Say the locust, you can swing and might knock a few out, but you don't stop the swarm. With an army, you could fire artillery in the middle and take out some soldiers and they continue to advance.

So they're not cut down. They're not stopped.

In verse 9, “They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief” (Joel 2:9).

Once again, I'll say, you could make a case for this being locust. Some scholars go to great lengths that, you know, I've read their works showing how locusts do this and, you know, they can get through the smallest cracks and they climb up the walls and all that.

But I also remember reading about mighty men in an army. Where is it? In 2 Samuel chapter 23, there's a description of David's 30 mighty men and it describes some of their great exploits that they do.

Also, I'm going to read from Psalm 18 verse 29 because I want to make the point of similar language clearly describing a human being. Psalm 18:29, “For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29).

You know, and David's talked about, you know, breaking a bow of bronze and, you know, mighty things that he does.

So I'm looking… Okay, yeah, I don't want to go there yet.

So in verse 10, we see something else besides describing what seems to be a great invading army. It says, “The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness” (Joel 2:10).

Okay, earthquake. Heavens tremble. Sun and moon dark.

I'm going to turn to Revelation chapter 6 and read in verse 12. Revelation 6:12. Now, you might remember early on in Revelation there's a scroll with seven seals and no one can open it until Jesus Christ starts opening them. And as the seals are opened, first you see what we call the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Then the fifth seal represents what we call the great tribulation.

And here—Revelation 6:12—“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood” (Revelation 6:12).

This sounds very much like what we just read in Joel.

I'll mention also without turning there, Matthew chapter 24 and verse 29 says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light” (Matthew 24:29).

So we often refer to this sixth seal as heavenly signs. Okay, there's going to be a literal earthquake. There's going to be a literal darkening and changing of color of these heavenly bodies. What causes those things? You know, not so certain about that. But we can be certain that they do happen. They are real things.

And perhaps more than once. I'm still open in Revelation. If you turn to chapter 8, Revelation chapter 8 says, “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1). Seven angels before God were given seven trumpets.

So we'll have the seven trumpet plagues beginning to sound. And if we go down to verse 12, “Then the fourth angel sounded: and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night” (Revelation 8:12).

Can I give you one more? I know I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, but just metaphorically.

Revelation 16 and verse 10, because when we get to the seventh trumpet, it consists of seven last plagues that are described, depending on your translation, as being in vials or bowls that they pour out.

And Revelation 16:10 tells us, “Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his Kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain” (Revelation 16:10).

At the beginning of the chapter in Joel, we talked about a day of darkness and gloominess.

So I'm tying this to clear end-time prophecies to say, Joel is telling us end-time prophecy. And it's not new and different. It's what we know, what we've seen.

We could ask the question, when will the earthquake, when will the sun and moon be darkened? And as you go through Revelation, it seems pretty clear more than one time, and maybe not always to the same degree.

I'm going to leave it at that rather than think I need to explore and know what does it mean by a third of the sun and the moon dark, and how does that happen? I've heard various theories that seem quite plausible, but I'll just say, seems that more than once we'll have that.

And Joel mentions it more than once.

I kept my hand here in Joel chapter 2, so I could go back. But in verse 31 of Joel chapter 2, it says, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31).

That's before the awesome day of the Lord. Did we see…

Yeah, there's various timing in this. So what are we supposed to make of it? Well, one thing I've come to see, and I'm pretty confident of it, is that in the Old Testament prophets, we see these end time events, and it's easy to match them up.

But what we don't see is a clear chronology through most of the Old Testament prophets. Here, Joel seems to be going back and forth. So when we turn to Matthew chapter 24, and when we turn to the book of Revelation, we see a passing. There's this, then this, then this. So we want to take that chronology and fit the Old Testament events, the prophetic events, into that chronology. And this fits our rules of hermeneutics. We use a clear scripture to understand one that's less clear or confusing.

And a lot of people might laugh if we say Revelation is clear, but as far as the chronology, it's pretty clear.

So we've come to this. I want to sort of wrap up the thought in Joel 2:11. We've been describing what seems like an invading army. And we could say maybe there's three iterations of that. Locust, as God's great army, the Babylonian army, where God obviously used King Nebuchadnezzar, and Babylon became that head of gold that's spoken of in the book of Daniel. But if we tie this to what Christ said in Matthew and what was revealed to John, we see an end-time fulfillment that obviously seems to be the most important one to us.

So in verse 11, “The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word.” Worth remembering, whether it's locust, ancient Babylon, modern mystery Babylon the great, this is fulfilling God's word. Strong is the One who executes His word. “For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can endure it?” (Joel 2:11).

Worth remembering, whether it's locust, ancient Babylon, modern mystery Babylon the great, this is fulfilling God's word. Strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible. Who can endure it? God is doing His will.

Now there's something most of you in this room wouldn't remember this, but many years ago when we were part of what was then called the Worldwide Church of God, we had a different hymnal.

I like to call it the old purple hymnal. And I had one on my shelf and I couldn't find it. I think I brought it in here. Yeah, those old ones are around. The reason I'm mentioning it is on page 118 there was a hymn composed by Dwight Armstrong based on Joel chapter 2.

And it was rousing. It was called Blow the Horn, Let Zion Hear. Blow the horn, let Zion hear, for God's day is now at hand. As a kid, I loved it because we're marching and it talks about climbing up walls and leaping through the windows. And I thought, yeah, this is us. We're these great heroes. And then I got older and I learned the meaning of the prophecy.

I said, this isn't us. This is the army that's coming to conquer us. That's a little more depressing. So it changed my view of that song that I loved so much when I was younger. And I wonder, maybe that's the reason that hymn didn't come into our newer hymnal. So you have to have one of the old purple ones to find it. It's still a real rousing song. It's still fun to sing. But it doesn't represent a happy day.

As we read in Amos, “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light” (Amos 5:18).

So I don't want to celebrate that army. I'd love to find that tune and put some other music to it, perhaps. But that's for another time. Understanding that, we move into chapter 2, verse 12, and we see a turning in the subject matter. It's not unrelated. We could say, well, we see the words, Now therefore.

Knowing all that we just covered, knowing about the great and dreadful day of the Lord, now therefore says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning” (Joel 2:12).

In light of what we know—and remember, we're the Zion that shouldn't be taken off guard. We should know what's coming. Turn to the Lord.

And he says some of how to do it: with fasting, weeping, with mourning. Fasting is a powerful way for us to approach God. And it's not the purpose of this class to explore fasting as a spiritual tool, but certainly we want to understand that.

We see examples in Scripture. I'll give you some references if you want to jot them down in your notes without taking the time to turn there.

In 2 Samuel 12:16, it describes David fasting, and it says he besought God. So David wants to get close to God, so he fasts.

Esther is one of those classic examples. In Esther 4:16, she's about to go to the emperor and appeal to him to save her people, and she fasts for three days. And she appeals to all the Jews in Shushan to fast with her before she goes and tries to save her people.

That's the Old Testament.

The one other one I'll add is in Matthew 9 verse 15. Jesus says, “The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matthew 9:15).

People are asking, Why don't your disciples fast? John's disciples fasted. The Pharisees fasted. Why aren't they fasting? Of course, Christ said, Well, when you're with the bridegroom, you don't fast, but the bridegroom will be taken away, and then My disciples will fast. That's us. We're Christ's disciples. We have Him here with us through the Holy Spirit, but it's not like He's sitting around the table with us at lunch, so we do need to fast. I'm not going to say start right now, because then I couldn't finish my coffee. Okay, so because of what we know, turn to God with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, mourning.

Verse 13, he says, “So rend your heart, and not your garments” (Joel 2:13).

Now this is metaphor. But in that culture, when people were very sad or doing a public display, they would rip their clothes. And they didn't have a closet full of clothes the way that we do. But God is saying, I want you to do more than the outward show. Now, rend your heart means—well, we use the analogy of being torn up inside. You know, God never wanted self-mutilation, but He wants us to go beyond the outward appearance and inside be torn up and approach Him.

And I can't help but think it might have been from the oratorio Elijah. There's one of the solos that says, My people, rend your hearts and not your garments. And it goes on to say, If with all your heart you seek Him, you'll find Him. And God is saying that. If you seek Me, you'll find Me.

And there's a great statement here in verse 13. “Return to the Lord your God.” By the way, return, that could have been translated to say repent. Turn. You know, the word for repent literally means turn. So you turn around to go to God. And I lost my place. Yeah, return to the Lord your God, and it's calling Him your God. You know, it's not just a God, it's your God that Israel had a relationship with. And if we talk about this being directed to Zion, us, God's chosen people, He is our God. He's gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.

“For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm” (Joel 2:13).

Gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. Keep that in mind. I want to make a reference to that later, but it goes on to show He relents from doing harm.The word there for relent, the Hebrew is nacham. It's translated in differing ways. It can also mean comfort, but it can also mean to pity or to regret. God is basically saying, okay, I'm going to cut you some slack because you turned to Me with all your heart.

Matter of fact, I forgot I had a reference in Jeremiah 18 verse 8 that I would like to read here.

“If that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it” (Jeremiah 18:8).

So God is willing to change what He had planned. Do we know of a very powerful example where God was going to destroy a people and they repented so He didn't destroy them? Nineveh. That's exactly what I was thinking. In the story of Jonah, Jonah is sent. He has a little incident with a whale that, you know, but he warns the people, 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown. And they repent, from the king down to the animals, in sackcloth and ashes. And God sees that and He changes His mind. He doesn't wipe them out, not then. Jonah gets upset about it.

Matter of fact, this is the reference I wanted to make, because Jonah is not very far from Joel, and it seems Jonah might be quoting from Joel. So in Jonah chapter 4 verse 2, it's a long verse, but the second half of the verse, Jonah says to God:

“For I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm” (Jonah 4:2).

Gracious, merciful God, slow to anger, One who relents from doing harm. That sounds a lot like Joel 2 verse 13. He's gracious and merciful, slow to anger, great kindness, relents from doing harm. I don't know for sure that Joel pulled out a copy of the Bible, but he knew the same God. And this is describing God's character. I've got a rhyme that I like to use for this. If man will repent, God will relent from doing harm.

You already knew that, but you might not have known the rhyme. I'm not sure if it's worthy of Dr. Seuss, but it's worth keeping in your head. If man will repent, God will relent. At the end of verse 13, He relents from doing harm. That's another word it's worth knowing. Harm, let me make sure I'm putting it properly, is ra-ah. And it can mean harm. It's sometimes translated evil, but it can be translated as destruction or as havoc. So God does not do evil, but God can bring destruction or havoc. And He can do harm if that's what's warranted. But it seems God's choice and His preference is to relent from doing harm because man repents.

So we go on from verse 13. He'll do this. And verse 14 says, “Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him” (Joel 2:14).

Okay, perhaps in relenting from doing harm, God will do the opposite of harm. He'll bring a blessing, a barak, to use the Hebrew. And the reason I mention that is in Jewish culture, they would often refer to food as a blessing. And there's a connection. When we eat a meal, we talk about asking a blessing on the meal. Sometimes in their culture, the word was synonymous. And I say that because He talks about food. He'll leave a blessing behind Him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God.

In the first chapter of Joel, there was some description of there being this great famine and even shortage of food for making an offering. Here we see the opposite. God will restore what's needed so that there is enough food for the offerings in the temple. We continue along that line in verse 15, and I want to draw attention to a parallel with verse 1. Actually, if you look at verse 1, what does it say? Blow the trumpet in Zion. Verse 1 says, sound an alarm.

Verse 15 says, “Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly” (Joel 2:15).

I think I made reference in a previous class to Numbers, and I didn't have the verse, but Numbers chapter 10 verses 1 through 4 are where God gives Moses instructions for making two silver trumpets to use to signal to the congregation of Israel. Blown a certain way, it calls an assembly. Blown another way, it says it's time to move. Blown a certain way, it's a cry of alarm. So the trumpet could be blown to sound an alarm. The trumpet could be blown to say it's time for a sacred assembly. Let's come together to worship God. And that's much better, right? Sounding an alarm, that's bad. We just went through half of this chapter, and there's lots of bad stuff.

Now he's saying, consecrate a fast. Sound the trumpet. Call a sacred assembly. Because fasting helps us draw close to God and make repentance. So verse 16, along that line of a sacred assembly:

“Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room” (Joel 2:16).

You know, everyone needs to come. Young men, old men, men, women, even newlyweds. Now I might be dating myself when I think of this, but every time I study this, it makes me think of a Neil Diamond song that was popular. I don't know, any of you guys listen to Neil Diamond? He had an album with this title. The song is called Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show.

And there's one line of the song. It's talking about going to see the show, and it says, pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone go. Now I'm not equating Joel with a Neil Diamond concert. But the idea is similar. Everybody comes. No one stays home. This is urgent. This is serious. When God calls for repentance, when He calls for a sacred assembly, it's not optional. It's not for a select few. It’s not just for the elders. It’s not just for the spiritually mature.

It's for everyone. The bridegroom, who in that culture would normally be excused from public duty for a time. The bride, who would normally stay in her chamber. Even they are called out. This is that serious. When God says turn to Me with all your heart, He means all of you. Individually and collectively. You guys, you can YouTube it later and find the song if you want, but this is kind of like that. Get everybody. It’s a solemn assembly. It’s important. It really matters. So even if you’re on the verge of having your wedding, go appeal to God first.

Verse 17 says, “Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, “Where is their God?” (Joel 2:17).

Where is their God? The answer is, you know, they shouldn’t have to be asking this. Okay, so, and that reminds me, I think there’s a direct answer to this later, but I do have an answer elsewhere in Psalm 34 verse 18 that relates to this.

“The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

So where is the Lord your God? He’s near those of a broken heart. And it doesn’t have to be brokenhearted because, you know, your pickup truck broke down and your dog left you and your girl—I’m thinking of the old country music songs, and I know country music is not like that anymore—but it could be the person where you’re humbling yourself.

You know, in Psalm 51, God says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17).

So it doesn’t have to be brokenhearted because something bad happened to you. It could be the spiritual sacrifice to God of humbling ourselves and going to Him, and then He’s near. An answer to that question, where is your God? He’s near to those of us who are of a broken and a contrite heart.

Notice, backing up, I want to cover in verse 17 where it says, the priests who minister to the Lord—let me say that more slowly—minister to the Lord between the porch and the altar.

Okay, that’s referring to the temple. You know, inside is the holy place where there’s the menorah and the table with showbread. There’s the incense altar. Past the veil, there’s the Holy of Holies. And so there’s a porch on the front of the temple. And then out front, there’s an altar for offering the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice.

So you’re in a place where you’re worshiping God. Not in the holy place, but right there in front of it.

The reason I mention that—between the porch and the altar—is important. And there’s an example of the priests not setting the right example in the book of Ezekiel. And I’ll turn there to show—it’s in Ezekiel 8 and verse 16. Just to sort of put these in contradiction to each other. One example very good, one example very bad. In Ezekiel 8 and verse 16, Ezekiel is having a vision. So Ezekiel is actually near Babylon in captivity, but God in a vision takes him back to show him Jerusalem.

It says, “So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east” (Ezekiel 8:16).

Okay, this is the very bad example. They’ve turned their back on God and are worshiping the sun. And God, in the course of the prophecy here in Ezekiel, shows Himself taking His presence away from the temple, preparing for the destruction by the Babylonians. In contrast, though, the good example is here in Joel 2:17. The priests who minister to the Lord between the porch and the altar. So they’re serving God here in Joel, not worshiping the sun. And they’re making intercessory prayer.

At the end of verse 17, it says, let them say, spare Your people, O Lord, don’t give Your heritage to reproach. This is what the priests and what godly leaders should do. Intercessory prayer for God’s people, saying, spare them from reproach. One of the reasons I mention that is, we’re God’s people. We’re called to be kings and priests in His Kingdom. So we should send up intercessory prayers, certainly for people we know. And we all know people, you know, who need our prayers, who are struggling with mental issues or with physical health or job issues.

But we also live in a land of people that have lost sight of the true God. And it’s perfectly fine to pray for our nation. Pray for our kings and rulers. We don’t have kings in the United States, but the Bible talks about praying for our rulers, partly so the gospel can have free run and we can preach it. So let’s be people, you know, who offer intercessory prayers, as God is describing here. You know, so that people won’t have to say, where is their God? And then we see the results in verse 18:

“Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people” (Joel 2:18).

There’s an answer to that prayer.

“The Lord will answer and say to His people, ‘Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations’” (Joel 2:19).

As I said, if man will repent, God will relent. And He’s saying here He’ll do that. There won’t be a famine. He’ll send the food that’s needed.

And He goes further in verse 20:

“But I will remove far from you the northern army, and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, with his face toward the eastern sea and his back toward the western sea; his stench will come up, and his foul odor will rise, because he has done monstrous things” (Joel 2:20).

Maybe I could zero in here because—well, one thing I’ll say before I flip this—northern army. Again, we see if it’s the Babylonian army, they don’t come straight across through the desert. Armies always followed what’s called the Fertile Crescent, up the Euphrates and then back down near the coast. So the invasions are always coming from the north. That was true of the Assyrians, true of the Babylonians.

If you go to Daniel 11, you hear about the king of the north. And perhaps it’s projected also to the end of the age with mystery Babylon the Great. Of course, in Daniel 11, there’s a king of the north and a king of the south that’s projected to the end. So making that point, northern army certainly could be applying to the ancient Babylonians, but I think also to the end time.

And when we get to that face toward—if we’ve got a western sea and an eastern sea, if Jerusalem is our point of reference, the eastern sea is the Dead Sea, the western sea is the Mediterranean. And I’ve never come across a serious argument against that. It leads us to wonder, because it says his stench will come up, foul odor will rise because he has done monstrous things.

If we back up and talk about a locust plague, think back in Exodus when the locusts came and God blew them away and they all died. Well, if the locusts are blown off and they die and suddenly there’s mounds of dead insects, there would be a stench.

How much more so if there’s an army of dead soldiers? You know, a human army would also bring just—well, I hate to talk about that—but let’s just say it’s going to be terrible and awful. So we can see that the symbolism still holds up and brings this terrible result.

Okay, in verse 21—I was debating—it’s not quite time for a break, and we’ll go a little further.

In verse 21, he says:

“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice!” (Joel 2:21).

Now, when he’s talking to the land, this is a bit of anthropomorphism. Remember, Joel is written in poetry, as almost all of what we read in the Old Testament prophets are. So there’s some symbolism. So, you know, God’s speaking to the land. It’s more for the people on the land. “We should be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things. Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field.” 

Once again, you know, a bit of poetic imagery here. Don’t be afraid, you beasts of the field. But God is saying there’s no need for fear. The open pastures are springing up. The tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their fruit.

The fig tree and the vine are often symbols of peace and prosperity. I’ll make a reference to Micah 4 verse 4. Micah 4, 4 as one of the places where it talks about every man will sit under his vine and under his fig tree. And there in Micah 4 verse 4 it says, “But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid” (Micah 4:4).

Under the vine and fig tree, none will make them afraid. Just as Joel 2, 22 says, do not be afraid. You know, the open pastures are springing up. The tree bears fruit. The fig tree and the vine.

And then verse 23 finally turns to the humans. “Be glad then, you children of Zion. Rejoice in the Lord your God.” Easy to see dualism here. The descendants of Israel could certainly be called children of Zion, but we’ve made a good case, I believe, for saying the members of the church, God’s chosen people today, can be called children of Zion. And he calls on us to be glad, to rejoice.

Going on, it says, “He’s given you the former rain faithfully. He’ll cause the rain to come down for you.” Why? Now, a lot of times we think, well, he’s going to make it rain on me.

Okay, in an agrarian society, this is a positive thing. It’s not raining out a ball game where you wish the rain wouldn’t come. It’s we need the rain. And if you’re in southwestern Ohio for the last couple of weeks, you know, we need rain here.

“So the former rain and the latter rain in the first month.” (Joel 2:23) I believe we covered this near the beginning of the year that what’s called the former rain would come in what’s autumn for us. So near the end of our calendar year, at the time they would plant. So they would plant grain and the former rain would soften the ground and help it to germinate. And like winter wheat, it would grow fairly slowly over the course of the winter.

But it needs the latter rain. Latter rain would be about March and April. For the crops to finish growing and to start ripening, that latter rain is essential. And that’s why it says the latter rain in the first month. So it’s different than we’re used to in North America, certainly. But God is saying, I’m going to provide it. It’s what you need.

And so food will be plentiful. Verse 24, “The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil” (Joel 2:24).

The punishment’s removed. Food is plentiful. Tremendous blessing. We’re not at the end of the chapter yet, but matter of fact, we still got a fair bit. But he’s going to go on to talk about, you know, other blessings that will come.

So let’s hold off there. We’ll pick this up next time because we’re going to see some clear parallels with the millennium. And I think some good millennial prophecies. And as we’re approaching the Feast of Tabernacles, who doesn’t want to hear and enjoy a good millennial prophecy? So let’s go ahead and take a break. We’ll come back and we’ll start up from there.