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JOEL CHAPTER TWO
INTRODUCTION:
[Commentary from Cornerstone Commentaries.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx/4119/spirit/proph3.htm:"A Biblical Analysis of the Gift of Prophesy"]:
"The impetus for the book of Joel was a devastating swarm of locusts which came through the land of Judah in the days of Joel. Making full use of this tragedy for the kingdom of God, Joel likens God's coming judgment to the swarming of locusts. (Joel 1) If God's people did not turn back to God then God would send forth His judgment - a judgment that would resemble all the misery and horror of the present pestilence-yet with much greater intensity. (Joel 2) Now in the midst of this warning, God promises a day of restoration and blessing for His people. Joel 2:28 contains a portion of this promised blessing - though judgment may come, God nevertheless will bless His people."
[Joel 2:1-2]:
(v. 1) "Blow a trumpet in Zion, [Israel]
And sound an alarm on My [God's] holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the day of the Lord is coming;
Surely it is near,
(v. 2) a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was of old
nor ever will be in ages to come."
THE DAY OF THE LORD HAS A BROAD AND NARROW MEANING IN SCRIPTURE DEPENDING UPON THE CONTEXT
The day of the Lord in Scripture in a BROAD sense is referred to taking all of the Scripture references into consideration as a sequence of events transpiring over a period of time beginning with judgment, the dark portion, climaxing at our Lord's Second Coming which moment in its crescendo is also called the Day of the Lord - even the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord in a NARROW sense and then history moves into a continuation of the BROAD sense of the term the Day of the Lord after the crescendo of the Second Coming into the blessing portion, the light portion = millennial rule of our Lord on into eternity future.
THE BROAD SENSE
So the Day of the Lord has a broad meaning in Scripture as context provides =
That period of judgment, the dark period of time beginning with the rapture of the church, (1 Thes 4:13-18; 2 Thes 2:1-12; Jn 14:1-4);
then the 7 year tribulation period including and crescendoing into the Great Tribulation, (Isa 2:12, 19; 13:9-11, 13; 26:20-21; 34:1-2, 8; Ezek 30:2-3; Joel 1:15; 2:1-3, 11; 2:30-32; 3:12-16, 18; Amos 5:18, 20; Obad vs. 15-17; Zeph 1:14-15, 17; Zech 12:2,9,10; 14:1-5, 8-9, 20; Mal 4:1-3; 1 Thes 5:2-3; 2 Pet 3:8, 10; Mt 24:1-28; Rev 6:1-19:10)
and then the Crescendo peak: The Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to put down rebellion and bringing in His Millennial Kingdom to rule for 1,000 years, (Rev 19:11-20:4; Mt 24:29-25:46; Joel 2:10-11; Zech 14:all),
and finally the Great White Throne Judgment and eternity future with a new heaven and a new earth, (Rev 20:7-22:21)
THE NARROW SENSE
And the term also has a narrow meaning when the context refers specifically to the moment of our Lord's Second Coming, (Joel 3:14b-16; Zec 14:1-6).
ISRAEL AND NOT THE CHURCH IS IN VIEW IN THIS PASSAGE AND THE PERIOD IN TIME IS THAT PORTION OF THE BROAD DAY OF THE LORD BEGINNING WITH THE END OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD THRU THE SECOND COMING AND THEN THE MILLENNIAL PERIOD
"Blow a trumpet in Zion" [= Israel]
And sound an alarm on My [God's] holy mountain!
[= Jerusalem, (Isa 27:13)]
Let all the inhabitants of the land [Israel] tremble"
[Joel 2:1-2 cont.]:
(v. 1) "Blow a trumpet in Zion, [Israel]
And sound an alarm on My [God's] holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the day of the Lord is coming;
Surely it is near,
(v. 2) a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was of old
nor ever will be in ages to come."
The broad day of the Lord is referred to here in Joel since it covers a portion of time before and leading up to the narrow concept of the Second Coming and later in the passage, into the blessings of His Millennial Rule:
"For the day of the Lord is coming;
Surely it is near,
(v. 2) a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was of old
nor ever will be in ages to come."
[Joel 2:3-27]:
The rest of this passage in Joel up to verse 18 continues to describe the future horrors of the tribulation period before the Lord Jesus Christ appears at His Second Coming. Verses 18-27 then describe our Lord's coming and His setting up of the millennial kingdom.
Notice that NONE of what is described in Joel chapter 2 up to verse 28 has occurred yet.
For example:
In chronological order we have a number of key events that must occur before God pours out His Spirit on all people in verse 28:
A large and mighty army such as never in history past present and future will invade, (vv. 2b-10a)
The sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine... the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood...(v. 10b, cf v. 31a)
The Lord thunders at the head of His army, His forces beyond number, (v. 11, cf. v. 31b)... will arrive in His Second Coming, (v. 11c, cf. v. 31b), and will drive the northern army far from.. [Israel, (v. 23)] into the Dead and Mediterranean Seas, (v. 20)
Then verses 28-29 follow chronologically which are the controversial verses which the Apostle Peter quoted in Acts 2:17 in order to point not to the fulfillment of this prophecy in Joel but to point to the Agent Who is working to fulfull such kinds of events: God the Holy Spirit Who would pour out His Spirit on all mankind who are left after our Lord's triumph over the world rebellion against Him - this same Holy Spirit was also working in the limited number of believers in the time of Peter re: providing in them the gift of speaking in tongues]:
[Joel 2:28]:
"And it will come about after this, that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind, And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions."
["And it" = The Kingdom with the Lord ruling, (vv 18-27).
"And it will come about after this" = And the Millennial Kingdom will come about after the tribulation period and our Lord's Second Coming which were described earlier as noted. The phrase "after this" is located in the text such that it tells us that the Rapture, the 7 year tribulation period and our Lord's Second Coming must occur BEFORE the pouring out of the "Spirit on all mankind"]:
[Joel 2:28-29]:
(v. 28) "And it will come about after this, that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind, And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
(v. 29) And even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
[And referring back in history to the events at the end of the Great Tribulation period just preceding our Lord's Second Coming]:
(v. 30) And I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
(v. 31) The sun will be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and awesome Day of the Lord comes.
(v. 32a) And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Will be delivered..."
So considering the event which is described as, "I will pour out My Spirit on ALL mankind" = God's Spirit has not yet been poured out on ALL people - not at that 'first' Pentecost and not throughout history.
"The sun will be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes." = All of this which is just preceding when our Lord comes in glory in His Second Coming in the clouds of heaven, (Dan 7:13-14; Mt 24:30-31), has not occurred yet.
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