Chapter 1:
Joel used the description of locusts to describe the devastation of the nation. Perhaps the connection was a literal military invasion by Judah’s enemies and the destruction of the food supply preparing the analogy in chapter 2.
In verse 9 we see that the destruction of this invasion results in their inability to bring Temple offerings to properly sacrifice (ceremonial). We know the split-screen image is the destruction of the Temple when Jerusalem was attacked.
Following the army of locusts is a drought, which we know from books like Judges or Isaiah is a message that the Lord is bringing this judgment. After that fire comes. Everything has experienced God’s judgment: the people, the animals, and the land.
15 Alas for that day!
For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty
Chapter 2:
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
The trumpet all throughout the Old Testament is a warning sign that the Lord is coming! It is called a ‘shofar’, made usually from a ram’s horn. It is a call to assemble! It signifies strength and victory…also used to usher in a King! (now all the cartoons make sense when the king comes they blow horns and say “hear ye hear ye”. We can now start to put together many images we have read throughout the Bible from these past months:
The moving of The Ark of the Covenant:
The walls of Jericho falling:
There are 7 Feasts (4 already fulfilled): the next one to occur for us is called the Feast of Trumpets which will usher in the Second Coming. (Pssst, if you hear it and you are still here…it is going to be a tough 7 years for you!)
10 Before them the earth shakes,
the heavens tremble,
the sun and moon are darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
11 The Lord thunders
at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the Lord is great;
it is dreadful.
Who can endure it?
(Did anyone ever read Revelation?
My favorite part of today’s read is: Rend your heart. ❤
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
We know that an Old Testament symbol of grieving and loss is to tear their garments. We have seen this with Ruben when he realized Joseph was sold into slavery, Jacob tore his robe when he thought Joseph was killed, David tore his clothes when Saul and Jonathon were killed, even Job and Jeremiah shredded some clothes in their lifetime. BUT in a call to true repentance God says: REND your heart!. Repentance is not just an outward change, but one of the heart. When I was seeking the Lord, someone told me it was not just “changing” what I do, it was agreeing with God that it was a sin. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”.
12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave behind a blessing—❤️❤️
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the Lord your God.
How he LOVES us! He never gives up on us!
The other day we talked about “the WHY”. Why does God do what he does? Why does be chase us for repentance? FOR HIS NAMES SAKE! Everything He does will be for His Glory. He shows the world He is a promise keeper!!
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
(How ironic that I said this 19 years ago this week as I watched 9/11 happen. I actually said out loud “Where is their God now”? That was when God said: “Ok, enough of that Patricia…I am moving your butt to the Bible Belt!” And that my friends is how a Jersey girl got to Nashville! For HIS name’s sake…not mine.
Verse 2:18-27 The Lord speaks of his Restoration. He calls the land, the animals, the vegetation, and the people to rejoice in the Lord’s restoration.
I want to quickly go back to the beginning of this book:
2 Hear this, you elders;
listen, all who live in the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?
3 Tell it to your children,
and let your children tell it to their children,
and their children to the next generation.
When I started reading, I thought it was about the Locusts. It wasn’t, it was about the Restoration. Tell your children so they tell their children.
It is not ‘our’ Testimony…it is His Testimony in Us.
Chapter 2:28-32 is clearly 2 future events:
- The ascension of Christ
- and His Return.
Fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus, He will ascend into Heaven, but He will not leave us. He will pour His Holy Spirit on all the people. We call it Pentecost.
Joel: The Day of the Lord
28 “And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the Lord has said,
even among the survivors
whom the Lord calls.
We see both “newscasters” talking at one (I hate when they do that). We see The day of the Lord as Jesus coming AND His second coming in the above scripture.
In Acts Chapter 2 it says:
2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
(Everyone thought they were drunk!)
Peter says:
4 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: (same as above)
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Chapter 3- Do you remember we talked about threshing floors a few times. The Lord made reference to harvesting wheat. His people will be divided: the wheat from the chaff. One of our coolest reads was when we realized The Temple itself was built on an actual Threshing floor. At Harvest, the harvester would use a sickle to chop down the wheat. The chaff WILL be discarded and the WHEAT will be saved. Let the enemies gather and march to fight, there will come a day “The day of the Lord” where final judgement will come to them.
Joel 3:12
“Let the nations be roused;
let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit
to judge all the nations on every side.
13 Swing the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,
for the winepress is full
and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”
14 Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and moon will be darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
16 The Lord will roar from Zion
and thunder from Jerusalem;
the earth and the heavens will tremble.
But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.
Let’t end with Revelation 14 (whaaaatttt?????)
Harvesting the Earth and Trampling the Winepress
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
It’s not about the wrath, it is about the refuge for His people. ❤ I told you Minor Prophets have a Major Message!
Reading the Bible - 2021 