Wednesday, April 28, 2021

The Book of Joel

Joel, the son of Pethuel (Joel 1:1), was a prophet in the southern kingdom (Judah). 

There is a prophetic principle called "The law of double reference":
It is the tendency in Scripture prophecy to sometimes refer to two events or persons at the same time—one relevant to the general time of the prophecy and the other related to a distant future. See this principle described in more detail in 
Visions and Dreams by Prophet Daniel.

Through Joel, God tells the people to repent (Joel 1:13–14). The Day of the Lord
is near (Joel 1:15, 2:1). The fact that the locusts have invaded the land is evidence that there need to be an attitude of repentance among the people (Joel 1:4). 

  1. In the near future the Babylonians came and attacked the land of Judah, see Prophet Jeremiah. 
  2. During the end times, an army will move up to the land of Israel (Joel 2:2–9).
    It will take place at The Day of the Lord,     when the sun and moon will be darkened and the stars will withdraw their brightness (Joel 2:10–11). 
    Antichrist will then attack Israel at the end of the Great Tribulation and then Jesus returns, see Prophecies of Jesus' Second Coming. 
These enemies will come as the locusts had come before.

The people therefore needed to return to God with all their hearts, with fasting, weeping, and mourning (Joel 2:12–17). The sacrifice God wants to see is a broken spirit from pride, a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17 (19 in some translations). If they repented, God would have mercy on the people and save them from their enemies (Joel 2:18–27). Unfortunately, the people didn't repent. This resulted in the Babylonians coming and conquering Judah.

Joel then gives another example of a prophesy according to 
"The law of double reference", but with several fulfillments, see time
20:56–25:39 in Acts 2 (Part 1) :1-41 • The Empowering of the Holy Spirit:

  1. God will pour out his Holy Spirit. Our sons and daughters will prophesy, old men will dream dreams, and young men will see visions. (Joel 2:28–29).
    This is mainly about the end of time (Acts 2:17a), but it also happened when the disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:17    –18).
  2. The sun will turn into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome The Day of the Lord comes. (Joel 2:30–31, 3:15–16, Acts 2:19–20). This happens in part when the sixth seal is opened, see The Horses in the Book of Revelation. But it's mainly about the time when Jesus returns.
  3. It will happen that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved 
    (Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21). "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape,
    as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord
    calls.    " (Joel 2:32). This is mainly about the time when Jesus returns, and there are Jews who have survived the Great Tribulation, see The Depth of Riches in The Book of Romans.     This occurs when Antichrist attacks Israel at the end of the Great Tribulation followed by the return of Jesus, see 
    Prophecies of Jesus' Second Coming. But it's also partly about the age
    we live in (Rom 10:13).
When Jesus returns, he will gather all the nations and bring them down to judgement. This is done partly on behalf of how they have treated Israel, if they have scattered the Jews among the nations and have divided the land of Israel.
(Joel 3:1–6, 12–14, 19). Blessed are those who bless Israel, and cursed are those who curse Israel (Gen (1 Mos) 12:1–3, Num (4 Mos) 24:9b), see 
The Sheep and the Goats. God will then bless and protect the people of Israel,
and the country will be restored (Joel 3:16b–18, 20–21), see 
The Millennial Kingdom in The Prophecies of Isaiah. See The Book of Amos.

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