The Day of the Lord

This morning, I’d like for us to turn to the book of Joel, and we’re going to do a survey of these three short chapters. I was tempted to read through the three chapters, but that takes about 15 minutes, and if I did that, it would probably be better than anything I said. But I recognize that. But I’m trusting you to to read through this. So maybe the survey that we do today will be a helpful guide as you look into this book in the future.

It’s a fascinating book and it’s a complicated book in some ways, in the sense that well for instance it’s a book of mystery in that we don’t we have no idea when Joel lived or when you know precisely when he lived or when these this situation took place. That’s there’s the date spread for several hundred years in the Old Testament when they think it could have happened by different scholars. That’s because in the book itself, there aren’t many clues that would pinpoint it. And so there’s no mention of a king, for instance, or any of those types of things that you normally have in prophets and passages of scripture. And I I thought it important to turn to this book.

This is usually if you if you look at most people’s Bibles that are fairly well thumbed. These little sections in this little part of the Bible is usually the ones that’s the cleanest and whitest because for some reason we don’t read these so often. And yet these passages contain vital truth and our vital vitally important and we should pay attention to them because of verse one: “The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.”

The word of the Lord—that’s reinforced in the New Testament in Acts by the way in Acts chapter 2 when Peter introduces a section of this and said this is what Joel said and he quotes a little he paraphrases a little part and and he says, “God says, God says this. This is God’s word.” And God inspired and gave this prophecy to Joel. And he gave Joel this picture that reaches into the future into a future that’s beyond the future where we’re living and right now. And so it’s a it’s a powerful and significant word to every generation from Joel this day through now and for our children and children’s children. In fact, the very first thing that comes about in this book is “The word of the Lord came to Joel the son of Pethuel.”

“Hear this, O elders, and listen all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days or in your father’s days? Tell it to your son. Tell your sons about it. Let your sons tell their sons and their sons the next generation.”

There’s important truth here that needs to be passed down from one generation to the next. This is a the what what Joel is leading up to and helping us understand is that God is sovereign over history and God has a future in mind that will bring about perfect righteousness and justice.

1. Recognizing God’s Hand in Calamity (Joel 1:1–2:11)

Now, the book begins with a locust plague. I don’t know if you know much about locust plagues. I you know we since we don’t experience there’s been a few locust plagues in the United States in history, but it’s not something common to our to our experience. You have to go back a while to find one over here. They’re very common in Africa and in the Middle East. They happen far more often. Just a few years ago there was a serious plague in Kenya. And it’s it’s an amazing thing what takes place. You have these ordinary grasshoppers being happy little grasshoppers and then all of us it’s usually things come about that that cause them to change.

You have you have these little grasshoppers and maybe they go through a time of drought and then there’s a tri after that there’s you know the ground flourishes and all of a sudden there’s a chemical change inside the little grasshoppers and they change in form they change their shape they change from being a little grasshopper into what we call a locust. Their brain grows, their body grows incredibly strong and big for a grasshopper. And they change their behavior. You know, before they were kind of isolated. Now they are very social. They want to get together with all the other locust creatures and they band themselves together and swarm. And it’s an amazing and devastating thing when that happens.

A few years ago, National Geographic had a article about the locust and you know some of the things that they mentioned are like a swarm of locusts. They can the swarm itself the cloud locust can can be 460 square miles. That’s a lot of square miles. And how many locust is in that? I have no idea. But in just a half a mile, a half a square mile of locust, take a half a square mile of locust, you’ve got 40 to 80 million locusts in that little section. Can you imagine what that would be like? When they come over, it blots out the sun. You can’t you can’t see the sun. The cloud of locust, you know, swarm the swarm of locusts is absolutely, you know, it would be it’d be an extraordinary thing to to have to endure that.

And each locust in a day eats about as much vegetation as it weighs. And so a swarm like we just talked about would eat 423 million pounds of plants a day. Day. 423 million pounds of plants a day. That’s what happened in Joel’s day. A swarm of locusts came over the the kingdom of Judea and they devastated everything. The descriptions you know is is incredible.

“What the gnawing locust is left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten. What the creeping locust is left, the stripping locust has eaten.”

Three waves of locust is what he’s saying. And they they they devastated all the crops. They they devastated everything. It’s it’s just a an it’s just an extraordinary description of a terrible point in history of this great calamity.

One of the things that Joel makes clear is that this particular calamity and other calamities like it whatever it is comes from the hand of God. God brought this judgment upon Judah. In fact, the very kind of judgment he brought this judgment you remember on Egypt. Now, because of the sinfulness of God’s people, he brings this judgment on them. And so, they came in, the these locusts came in, they stripped everything. And part of the description, you know, “it’s made of my vine waste and my fig tree splinters.” The stripped them bare and cast them away. “The branches have become white.” Can you picture that? Coming through. No vegetation left. Nothing left. Just like a giant fire has swept through and burned everything up on the trees. The trees are white. Why? Because the bark has been stripped off. Hard to imagine devastation like that.

And so it’s that’s what happened in this history. And that’s what Joel is using to prompt the people of Judah, God is using to prompt the people of Judah to repentance, to turn back to the Lord. And so that’s exactly what what Joel is talking about and in the first part of this book or but he moves very quickly into something else and that is the day of the Lord. You know, this is the the the meaning of the day of the Lord is important when you’re talking about Joel because Joel seems to introduce the idea. And if you are wondering what that means, the day of the Lord, then the definitive statement for that comes from Joel. And it’s used that way elsewhere throughout scripture. And the day of the Lord means a time of the judgment of God. It means an event in human history where God moves in and brings judgment. That’s the basic root meaning. But it looks forward to what is what the prophet Malachi called “the great and terrible day of the Lord.”

And so part of what Joel is saying is it’s bad now, folks. He calls for them to come together and repent. But he’s also saying something else. He’s saying, “You haven’t seen anything yet. There’s a terrible day of judgment that God is going to bring called the day of the Lord. And he’s going to bring judgment on the nations.” And that’s the future. And and and the point of it is to move people from out of their out of their stupor into into recognizing the value of God and worship him as he as he needs to be seen and worshiped. That’s why verse 5 says:

“Awake drunkards and weep and wail all you wine drinkers on account of the sweet wine.”

They don’t have any. That’s the point. All the wine, the vines, everything has been eaten up and that should be sobering for them and and he wants them to get out of their stupor and start thinking rightly about the Lord. And worse than that, the priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord because they can’t even make an offering to God because there’s nothing to offer. You know, if this happened when this happens like it did in Kenya a few years ago, you know every every aspect of agriculture is devastated. If you were a farmer and you raised cattle, you know, these farms are wiped out and these people lose their business because if you have you have a bunch of cattle and you can’t feed them anything, what they do is they sell them off usually for pennies of of what they would have gotten. And it’s devastating.

2. The Call to Genuine Repentance over Empty Ritual (Joel 2:12-17)

This is the kind of devastation that Joel begins this book and he’s talking about this terrible calamity that has come upon come upon Judea and he is pointing out to them that God has brought this and they need and he’s calling them to repentance. Verse 14:

“Consecrate a fast and proclaim a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the assembly of the land to the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord alas for the day for the day of the Lord is near and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.”

So the idea is to call for repentance, call for repentance, but it’s a call for genuine repentance.

One of the pictures that you see in this in in the book is a picture of like this locust plague and and later an army that is that that’s formed probably an future army but the but the but the description is just like the locust plague. So you could be talking about locust there too. And He says before this before this great horde it’s just like the just like Eden everything is so lush and perfect and afterward it’s just devastation and judgment leaves nothing. It’s what sin does. It’s what happens to us when we when when we experience the consequences of sin.

First of all, it creates a brokenness within us. When Adam and Eve sinned it they they sinned and s and immediately there was a change in their relationship. It was a change in their relationship with God. They started trying to avoid God, hide from him. There was a change in the relationship with each other. You know, before Adam says to Eve, “Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” I mean, there’s nothing close closer to me than you. You’re you’re my very flesh. And afterwards he says “that woman which you gave me,” the relationship is broken. There’s there’s brokenness. Sin causes broken relationships and hurts. And sin unrepented brings great judgment. Great judgment. If you don’t repent, if you don’t turn back to the Lord, from your sin. There’s there’s terrible consequences. God can heal the brokenness if you repent, but the repentance has to be genuine and from the heart.

In Joel 2, let me read just a little of this. Verse 12.

“Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping, and mourning, and rend your heart and not your garments.”

That’s a powerful little statement. “Rend your heart and not your garments.” In Joel’s day, when a person expressed mourning, they had a pattern that was part of the culture. You would rip your clothes. You want to show your grief. You tore your garment. You put dust on your head. You did all these things which showed how grief-stricken you were. Joel says, “Rend your rend your heart.” Let let let let the emotion that the brokenness, you know, be shown on the inside. Let your grief be real and genuine.

You can you can express all kinds of things outwardly and not truly repent inwardly. When parents discipline their children that it’s a very easy thing for the child to obey outwardly and be absolutely rebellious inwardly. We you know that if you’ve raised children, you have to you have to see through get to the intent of the heart. It’s what you’re looking for. It’s like the kid you probably the overused illustration of the kid who whose mother told him to sit and he didn’t want to sit and she insisted that he sit and so she finally he sits down and he says, “But I’m standing up on the inside.” You can outwardly go through things and it mean nothing because truly on the inside you’ve not you’ve not experienced anything.

When when we realize that “the wages of sin is death” and that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and that means me. Then Jesus calls us to mourn. “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted”—to to grieve over our sin to recognize the seriousness of our sin. And it’s easy for us to do outward things and not be and not experience the the reality internally. It’s easy to walk an aisle to pray a prayer in front of the church to to do all these outward things and not be changed because it’s not you’re not doing this from the inside. God hasn’t impacted you by his spirit to bring about true conviction for your sin and you don’t see it.

When people are having a hard time, sometimes God gives great blessing to us in the way of the locust plagues of this world. The the the terrible things that come about which reminds us of our sinfulness. The locust plague strips the land barren, but their hearts are barren before God. They’re they’re they have nothing to to give to God. They are rebellious and idolatrous and they need to repent. So God says God says for them to to “return to me with all your heart and with fasting and weeping and mourning and rend your heart not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God.

And what’s the motivation? The motivation is that he is a gracious and compassionate God. This is right out of that incident in the Old Testament when when Israel sinned with the two the golden calf and the judgment that followed and then Moses seeing God, experiencing God and seeing his glory as much as he could. And God declares himself to be “gracious and compassionate, that’s slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and relenting of evil.”

God is that kind of a God. He’s slow to anger and he’s merciful. But when people continue in sin and they do not repent of their sin, God brings judgment. He does that to individuals. He does it to nations. God brings judgment. I mean, the flood in Genesis when God says he is “my spirit will not always strive with man.” That’s a terrible statement because you continue in your sinfulness without repentance and you’re going to experience the judgment in full. So he calls them to repentance. The repentance is for everyone. They’re the to the whole congregation is to to come out that even the children and the nursing infants and a a bridegroom and bride, they’re they’re not exempt. They just got married. I want everybody out there, you know, no no exceptions. Everybody is showing really their their heartfelt conviction of their sinfulness and crying out to God.

And that’s what happens. Judah repents and so there’s restoration. And if if they rend their hearts, then God will stop rending their land. So the purpose, you know, it is, you know, the purpose is so that we will recognize that God is God. He is the Lord. So you have this you have these things taking place historically, but the application is the future. This day is before us. This day is all is coming.

4. The Ultimate Restoration and Final Verdict (Joel 2:28–3:21)

God’s spirits poured out on all flesh. That’s the beginning of the the fulfillment. When did that be when did that fulfillment begin to take place? It took place at Pentecost in the New Testament. God God takes the time in his word to record Peter’s words which quotes this portion of scripture Joel 2:28-32. And I’m going to read that because it is important. 28-32:

“It will come about after this that I will pour out my spirit on all mankind and your sons and daughters will prophecy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions even on the male and female servants. I will pour out my spirit in those days.”

When the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, something unique happened in our experience of salvation, those indwelling of the Holy Spirit before, but here you have a special pouring out of the spirit of God, a a baptism of the Holy Spirit of God where the people of God when they come to faith in God are empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. That means that they are changed internally on they they’re changed on the inside. They they see God God and his beauty in a way only only in the way that a redeemed person, a transformed person, someone with new life in God can see him. And so they worship him and recognize him and live their life for him. It’s a change that takes place when a person comes to faith in Christ. They’re indwelt by the spirit of God. And it’s natural for people who are indwelt by the spirit of God to to know the Bible well enough to be able to speak the words of the Bible to communicate truth from the Bible. It should be their heart and mind. And so it should fill their conversations. It should change their speech. It should empower them to serve God. All those things take place by the power of the spirit of God.

And so that’s the beginning of this passage, a fulfillment. But that’s not the fulfillment of the passage. It’s not a completion of the fulfillment. That’s just the beginning of what Peter calls the last days. You know, he he he paraphrases that one line from this section and he calls it the last days. The beginning of the last days. We’re in the last days right now. And it began certainly at least by at Pentecost. So, we’re in the last days and there’s something else that’s coming because in that section what comes next is:

“I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth and blood fire fire and columns of smoke and the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.”

So the Lord is coming back and when he comes back he’s coming back to bring judgment to the nations of this world.

So you see some really interesting passages in this section. So in 3:2 it says, “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.” Jehoshaphat means the valley of judgment and and there we don’t there’s no particular place that is the valley of Jehoshaphat. So that’s figurative probably. There’s going to be a particular place this might this takes place but that word is the valley of judgment. That’s the idea. “Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of my people and mine inheritance Israel whom they’ve scattered among the nations and they’ve divided up my land.”

In in verse nine, it says, “Proclaim this among the nations.” Now, here’s something that’s interesting.

“Proclaim this among the nations. Prepare a war. Rouse the mighty men. Let all the soldiers draw near and let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears and let the weak say I’m a mighty man.”

It’s not exactly what you would expect, is it? When thinking about the coming of the day of the Lord when we think if you’re thinking about the millennial blessings and Isaiah’s prophecy that when that time comes, we’re going to take our swords and turn them into plowshares. We’re going to turn them into plows and we we’ll take all these weapons of war and we’ll turn all these weapons of war into weapons of blessing. This is the opposite of that. He’s saying you people, you nations, get ready for the battle. You’ve opposed that they’ve opposed God century after century. They’re at war with God. This world is at war with God. And the day is coming when there’s going to be a major conflict and God says, “Take all your all all the resources that you have and turn that and weaponize it and come against me.” And the time is coming when that’s going to happen. The world will come to war with the Lord. When the Lord returns, the world will go to war with him.

It says in verse 14, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.” Now, you’ve probably heard that preached. I’ve heard that preached. You know, multitudes in the valley of decision, like you have a decision to make. That’s not the point here. The point here is they’re coming to the place where God decides. God’s bringing judgment on these people. “For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. And the sun and moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness.” Judgment takes place.

You know, we sing a Christmas carol we did last week. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. I read part of that psalm that that’s based on. Now, Isaac Watts wrote that psalm. He didn’t write it as a Christmas carol. He wrote it as a paraphrase of Psalm 96. And the Psalm 96 is is a very interesting psalm because it’s calling on us to rejoice. And why is he why are we to rejoice? We’re to rejoice because the Lord is coming in the song in the song you know joy to the world the Lord has come. You know that that’s the the point is we’re to receive the king and there should be joy that this whole psalm is a psalm of rejoicing.

“Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord and bless his name. Ascribe to the Lord, oh families of the peoples. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord glory to his name.”

That’s the message of Joel. Joel, by the way, God is sovereign over this world and he’s the Lord of this world and he is to be recognized as the Lord. “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness and tremble before him all the earth.” Why? Why are you to Why are all the trees of the forest to sing for joy before the Lord? “Because he’s coming because he’s coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples and his faithfulness on that day.” It says “all who call on the name of the Lord will be delivered.” They’ll be saved. All who call on the name of the Lord in that time will be delivered. God’s people are delivered are saved. That’s the day of the Lord. Final judgment against the nations of the earth at the return of Christ.

And the point is, “so that you will know I am the Lord your God who dwells in Zion. My holy mountain in Jerusalem shall be holy.” That’s what you’re to learn.

“In that day, the mountains will drip with sweet wine and the hills will flow with milk and all the brooks of Judah will flow with water and a spring will go out from the house of the Lord to water the valley of Shittim.”

It’s beautiful, wonderful, beyond anything that you can comprehend. That’s the beauty of the Eden that’s going to follow the judgment. It’s a beautiful end for those who know the Lord, who’ve turned back to him.

In the middle, the part that I skipped over. When the people repent, he restores their land. He says, “I’ll give back the years that the locust have eaten.” He restores the sorrow. He takes the broken people and he makes them whole. He takes the years of brokenness even that and he brings restoration to the saints of God, to the people of God. People who have trusted Christ as their savior, accepted the wrath that the wrath that Jesus bore for them, they’ve accepted that as payment for their sins. Them and God has changed them their heart giving him their spirit. For those people, there’s great glory. It’s two pictures of two outcomes of two kinds of people. Those who really never repent, never turn to the Lord, and the outcome of those who call on the name of the Lord, who love the Lord. It’s a it’s an extraordinary thing.

It’s a vision that we should keep in mind. I mean, if you think of the calamities that this world faces, of the difficulties that you faced in life, if you think of the tragedies that you read about in the paper from time to time, the earthquakes and the devastation, the the terrible fires in California, all sorts of calamities in this world, God is sovereign over those. And when those things come, they’re a warning. They’re they come to us by grace of God to warn us that something far worse than that awaits us if we don’t turn to him. We need to make sure that we’ve turned to him. Not just outwardly, not with just outward words, but that our hearts are torn. Not not just our garments. Let me pray for us.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank you for this word. The word of Joel, your word, Lord, a warning of judgment to come, but also the promise of restoration. Father, I’m so grateful to you that the years of brokenness, the sinful things, the things that resulted in devastation in my life the lives of all your people can be restored, made whole again. You’re able to give back all the years that the locust had eaten. Thank you, Father, for that promise. Thank you for the reality as we experience it. And Lord, we pray your protective grace on us.

I pray, Father, if there’s anyone here who has not truly turned to you, recognize the sinfulness of their heart, or unworthiness of any grace. The the fact that every one of us deserves the plague deserves eternal judgment. But for the abundant love that you have for us that comes to us in Jesus Christ our Lord and his sacrifice for us, we have a future and a glory that’s beyond our our imagination. And we’re so grateful, Father, that you’ve shown us such love. I pray, Father, that you stir our hearts to love you more, Father, to for us to love you with the kind of love that’s worthy of the salvation you’ve given us. By your spirit, we pray that you you bless us in this way. In the name of Christ, amen.