Joel Teaching

Joel receives the word of the Lord and commands every generation to hear and remember an unprecedented devastation that has stripped the land bare.

Joel commands the careless to wake up and weep because the source of their comfort has been destroyed — the vine is ruined and the fig tree stripped bare.

Joel calls the whole community to honest, comprehensive mourning because the devastation has stripped away grain, wine, oil, and harvest joy — leaving joy itself withered from the people.

Joel commands the priests to put on sackcloth and lead the whole community in fasting, sacred assembly, and prayer before the Lord their God.

Joel interprets the devastation as the nearness of the day of the Lord and responds with personal prayer — crying out to the Lord as the only faithful response when divine judgment draws close.

Joel commands the trumpet to sound in Zion because the day of the Lord is near and coming like no day before it — a day of darkness and gloom and thick cloud that must be feared.

The Lord's army advances with overwhelming power — fire before and behind, nothing escaping, the earth quaking and heavens trembling — and the Lord Himself thunders at the head of His forces in the great and dreadful day.

Even now, says the Lord — return with all Your heart, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and He may relent and leave a blessing behind.

The trumpet sounds again for a sacred fast and solemn assembly; the entire community gathers — from elders to infants — and the priests cry out between the porch and altar: Spare Your people, Lord, and let not Your heritage be put to shame.

The Lord responds to His people's repentance with jealousy for His land and pity for His people — grain, new wine, and olive oil are promised, the northern army driven away, and shame removed.

The Lord commands land, animals, and people to rejoice and not fear, promising to restore the years the locust has eaten and to be known as the Lord their God, who has dealt wondrously with them — never putting them to shame.

The Lord promises to pour out His Spirit on all flesh — sons and daughters, old and young, servants and maidservants — with cosmic signs accompanying the great and dreadful day, and the assurance that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

In those days the Lord will restore the fortunes of Judah and gather all nations to the Valley of Jehoshaphat to enter into judgment with them over what they have done to His people and His land.

Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia are indicted for plundering the Lord's silver, gold, and precious things, and for selling His people to the Greeks — and the Lord announces that the same fate will befall their own children.

The nations are summoned to prepare for war and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat — but the summons is ironic: the weak say they are mighty, and all the nations gather where the Lord Himself sits to judge them.

The harvest of wickedness is ripe and judgment comes with sickle and winepress; the Lord roars from Zion and heaven and earth tremble — but the Lord is refuge and stronghold for the people of Israel.

The Lord will dwell in Zion forever — His people will know Him as their God, Jerusalem will be holy, enemies desolated for violence, and Judah and Jerusalem will endure forever with the Lord pardoning their blood.