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One-sentence summary: The prophet Joel prophesies about an army of the Lord, the day of the Lord, and the redemption of God's people.
The word of the Lord comes to the prophet Joel. The Lord tells him to tell the elders and people to listen and ask them if anything like this happened in their days or their fathers' days. He tells them to tell it to their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. "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." He tells the drunk men to weep, because the new wine has been taken. A nation "strong without number" have come against the land and have laid it waste. He tells them, "Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth." The whole land mourns because the grain is ruined. The wine is dried up, and the oil fails. "Joy has withered away from the sons of men." He tells all the people to wail and mourn. "Consecrate a fast; call a sacred assembly." He tells the people to gather in the Lord's house and cry out to Him. "For the day of the Lord is at hand. It shall come as destruction from the Almighty." The animals suffer, too. Joel cries out to the Lord, and even the animals cry out to Him because the books are dried up, and fire has devoured the open pastures.
The Lord says, "Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound the 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. A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning cloud spread over the mountains." A people "great and strong such as has never been nor will be" are coming. "A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. Before them is Eden, and behind them is a wilderness." Nothing will escape them. They look and run like horses; they leap over mountains. Their sound is like fire devouring stubble. They are dressed in battle array. The people are fearful and in pain; they run away from them.This army is perfectly ordered. They enter into the windows like a thief. "The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon grow dark, and stars light is diminished." The Lord "gives voice" before His army, "For strong is the one who executes His word.. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible. Who can endure it?" Therefore, the Lord says, "Now therefore, turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with morning." Joel says, "So rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him?" He tells the people to gather and sanctify themselves, to stop everything they are doing and to "let the priests weep between the porch and the altar," asking the Lord to spare his people. Why should the people say, "Where is [their] God," he asks. Then, the Lord will be zealous for His land and pity His people. He will tell the people that He will send them new wine, grain, and oil and remove their reproach and take away the northern army. "Fear not, oh land. Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things!" Joel tells the beasts not to be afraid because the trees are bearing fruit. He tells the people to rejoice in the Lord because He will cause the rain to come down for them, "the former rain and the latter rain." There will be wheat, new wine, and oil. The Lord says "I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locusts, my great army which I sent among you" The people will eat and be satisfied and praise the Lord who has dealt wondrously with them. They will never be put to shame. and then they will know He is in the midst of them. He says, "I am the Lord, and there is no other, and My people will never be put to shame... It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. Also, on my menservants and maidservant, I will pour out My Spirit in those days. and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth. Blood and fire and pillars of smoke The son will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it will come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." There will be deliverance in Mt. Zion and in Jerusalem among the remnant whom the Lord calls.
The Lord says that at that time, when He brings back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, He will gather all nations and bring them to the valley of Jehoshaphat and judge them for scattering Israel among the nations and dividing his land. He says they have sold a boy for a harlot and a girl for wine to drink. They have stolen the Lord's prized possessions from His house, His gold and silver, and they have sold the people. Therefore, He will raise them out and return their retaliation on their own head, selling their sons and daughters to His people who will sell them to a people far off. Joel tells the nations to prepare for war. "Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say I am strong... Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe... the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their weakness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness. The Lord also will roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem. The heavens and earth will shake. but the Lord will be a shelter for His people and the strength of the children of Israel." The Lord says, "So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. Then, Jerusalem will be holy, and no alien will ever pass through her again." The mountains will drip with new wine, the hills will flow with milk, and the brooks will be flooded with water. A fountain will flow from the house of the Lord and water the valleys. Egypt will be desolate and Edom, a desolate wilderness because of their violence against God's people. But Judah will abide forever and Jerusalem from generation to generation. The Lord will acquit them of bloodshed. Joels says, "For the Lord dwells in Zion."
Thoughts/discussion questions:
In the new covenant scriptures, Peter poses this question: Since we know the final day of the Lord is coming, what kind of lives should we live? We are to live godly lives as we anticipate and even hasten the day when God will come and make everything right and judge everyone for what he has done. (2 Peter 3:11)