The Imminent Day of the Lord
The Coming Judgment – A Motive to Repentance
2:1 Blow you the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the
land tremble; for the day of the LORD comes, for it is nigh at hand;
• Here we have God contending with His own professing people for their sins and executing upon them the judgment
written in the law (MH)
• Called that they might prepare to meet their God in the way of His judgments and might endeavor by prayers and
tears, the church’s best artillery, to put by the stroke (MH)
• It was the priests’ business to sound the trumpet, both as an appeal to God in the day of their distress and a
summons to the people to come together to seek His face. (MH)
• It will be a melancholy time, a time of grievous affliction (MH)
• This verse also shows that the temple was still standing. All assemblies of the people were collected by the sound
of the trumpet (AC)
• This ‘day’ is one in which God will destroy everything that has exalted itself against Him (Z)
2:2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning
spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong; there has not been ever the like neither
shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
• While these verses probably do depict the ruthless advance of the Assyrian armies, noted for their cruelty, like
locusts because of their numbers and destructive effects, there is a supernatural element blended into this description,
in which some expositors see a fulfillment of Revelation 9, where demonic spirit locusts swam out of the pit of the abyss
to torment men in the last days (Berean)
• Darkness is used as a figure for misery, distress, and judgment (NCBC)
2:3 A fire devours before them; and behind them a flame burns; the land is as the garden of Eden
before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yes, and nothing shall escape them.
2:4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
2:5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of
fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
2:6 Before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness.
2:7 They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march
every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks;
• The prophet does not say they are such, but they resemble. They are only “like” (AC)
2:8 Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path; and when they fall upon
the sword, they shall not be wounded.
2:9 They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the
houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
2:10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; the sun and the moon shall be
dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining,
• References to the sun, moon, and stars growing dim allude to a future outpouring of divine wrath (NCBC)
2:11 And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong
that executes his word; for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
• We are here directed to look up both Him Who is the Commander-in-Chief of this formidable army, and that is God
Himself. It is His army; it is His camp. He raised it; He gives it commission. (MH)
• Whom God gives commission to He girds with strength for the executing of that commission (MH)
• None can escape the arrests of God’s wrath, can make head against the force of it, or bear up under the weight of
it (MH)
2:12 Therefore also now, says the LORD, turn you even to me with all your heart, and with fasting,
and with weeping, and with mourning,
• An earnest exhortation to repentance (MH)
• God brings us into straits, that He may bring us to repentance and so bring us to Himself (MH)
• We must be truly humbled for our sins, must be sorry we have by sin offended God, and ashamed we have by sin
wronged ourselves, both wronged our judgments and wronged our interests (MH)
• There are three wrong attitudes men can take toward calamities which visit them and the works of their hands –
earthquakes, tornadoes, famine, floods, storms, pestilences, hurricanes: (Berean)
1. Self-pity, with no recognition at all of man’s moral responsibility toward God
2. Cynical hardness, a spirit of rebellion against God, charging Him falsely with vindictiveness and injustice
3. Stony indifference, the attitude of the Greek Stoics, considering these things as mere blind fate, with no recognition
of Divine activity
• God’s judgments are called “His strange act”. They are not punitive and pen, in their final analysis, but always
remedial, in order that man might repent (change his mind) and be restored to right relations with God (Berean)
2:13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God; for he is
gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repents him of the evil.
• There must be outward expressions of sorrow and shame, but they must express the inward impressions to
accompany (MH)
• Rend the heart – when we are greatly grieved in soul for sin, so that it even cuts us to the heart to think how we
have dishonored God and disparaged ourselves by it, when we conceive an aversion to sin, and earnestly desire and
endeavor to get clear of the principles of it and never to return to the practice of it, then we rend our hearts for it (MH)
• Repents Him of evil – not that He changes His mind, but, when the sinner’s mind is changed, God’s way towards
him is changed; the sentence is reversed and the curse of the law is taken off (MH)
2:14 Who knows if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering
and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
• God’s mission statement for end time church. The answer to “Who can endure?” (MB)
• God calls us to stand in the gap in intercession to lessen the judgments (MB)
• The “What if?” of God (MB)
• Who knows – these words suggests that even at the last moment, the Lord would withhold His wrath and display
His grace if the people would truly repent (NCBC)
• The probability of God’s change of plans should encourage us to repent (MH)
2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly;
• How the congregation must be called together : the trumpet was blown (MH)
2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and
those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her
closet.
• A call to personal repentance. Every one must mend one and mourn for one. (MH)
• Appoint a time for solemn preparation beforehand and put the people in mind to prepare themselves (MH)
• Let not the greatest be excused, nor the meanest passed by. Children must be taught to honor the Lord and His
ways. Private joys must always give way to public sorrows. (MH)
• The urgency of the situation is apparent because all ages and classes of the population were summoned (NCBC)
• According to Jewish tradition codified in the Mishnah, a bridegroom and bride could be excused from exciting daily
prayers on their wedding day. But Joel excused no one from prayer at this time of spiritual emergency (NCBC)
2:17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them
say, Spare your people, O LORD, and give not your heritage to reproach, that the heathen should
rule over them; wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
• Who should stand in the gap to turn away the wrath of God but those whose business it was to make intercession
upon ordinary occasions? (MH)
• Between porch and altar – there they used to attend about the sacrifices, and therefore now that they have no
sacrifices to offer, or next to none, there they must offer up spiritual sacrifices. Ministers must themselves be affected
with those things wherewith they desire to affect others (MH)
• To stand between the temple porch and the altar is to stand in front of the Holy of Holies, before the very presence
of God (Z)
• Words here are put into their mouths, which they might in their prayers enlarge upon: their petition must be “spare
your people, O Lord!” (MH)
• The maintaining of the credit of the nation among its neighbors is a blessing to be desired and prayed for by all that
wish well to it (MH)
• The final rhetorical question is not so much a taunt in the face of God as it is a recognition that Israel has been
chosen by God – it is through her that he intends to make himself known to the nations. With such knowledge the real
question is not so much ‘will God abandon us?” as it is “how can we not repent?” (Z)
2:18 Then will the LORD be jealous for His land, and pity His people.
• See how ready God is to succor and relieve His people; as soon as ever they humble themselves under this hand,
and pray, and seek His face, He immediately meets them with His favors (MH)
• This is a turning point in the book. Joel moves from prophesying about an outpouring of God’s judgment to
prophesying about an outpouring of God’s forgiveness and blessing (LB)
• Jealous – as a husband jealous of any dishonor done to the wife whom he loves, as if done to himself (JFB)
2:19 Yes, the LORD will answer and say unto His people, ‘Behold I will send you corn, and wine,
and oil, and you shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the
heathen;
2:20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and
desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink
shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he has done great things.
• The destroying army shall be dispersed and defeated (MH)
• The north was regarded as the direction from which misfortune generally came upon Israel. The eastern sea
refers to the Dead Sea. The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea (NCBC)
2:21 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice; for the LORD will do great things.
• As the enemy has done great things against them, God will do great things for His people (MH)
2:22 Be not afraid, you beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree
bears her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
2:23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God; for he has given you the
former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the
latter rain in the first month.
2:24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar,
and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
2:26 And you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that
has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be ashamed.
2:27 And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none
else; and My people shall never be ashamed.
God’s Spirit Poured Out
The Ultimate Day of the Lord
The Future Day of the Lord
2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see
visions.
• From 2:28 to 3:21 the prophet’s vision is clearly projected into the time of the end, the Tribulation, and the millennial
kingdom to follow (Berean)
• This prophecy was partially fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:16-21), but not exhaustively so. It is even being
fulfilled in our day in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon hungry hearts everywhere, but it awaits a final glorious
fulfillment upon a cleansed and restored nation of Israel. (Berean)
• The Spirit poured out not only upon Jews, but upon Gentiles also; for in Christ there is no distinction between Jew
and Greek (MH)
• The Spirit of God was usually given to certain individuals with special tasks in mind. Now however, in line with the
prophetic wish of Moses that ‘all the LORD’S people were prophets”, Joel reports the promise of God that will be poured
out on all people. It implies that all members will receive regardless of age, sex or social standing (Z)
• Prophesy – they shall receive new discoveries of Divine things, and that not for their own use only, but for the
benefit of the Church (MH)
• Prophesy – exhort, preach, pray, instruct (AC)
• Dream dreams – have the Lord’s will represented to them in this way, as the others by direct inspiration (AC)
• See visions – have true representations of Divine things made upon their imaginations by the power of God; that
they shall have as full an evidence of them as they could have of any thing that came to the mind through the medium
of the senses (AC)
• Afterward – in the last days – under Messiah after the invasion and deliverance of Israel from the northern army
(JFB)
2:29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit.
• There is no record of a slave receiving the gift of prophecy in the OT (Z)
2:30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke,
• How the kingdom of glory shall be introduced by the universal change of nature (MH)
• Both the sun and moon represent God in their constancy. Any radical change in their usual appearance would be
eminently able to arouse feelings of anxious expectations regarding things that are about to happen (Z)
2:31 the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible
day of the LORD come
• The heavenly wonders described here will take place before the great and awesome day of the LORD, an apparent
reference to the end times. Blood and fire correspond with Revelation 8:7,8. Smoke corresponds with Revelation 9:18.
Darkness corresponds with Revelation 8:12. Moon into blood corresponds with Revelation 6:12. (NCBC)
Opportunity for Deliverance
2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered;
for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, and in the remnant
whom the LORD shall call.
• To call upon the name of the LORD is an act of worship and an acknowledgment of dependence on God (Z)
• It is the praying remnant that shall be the saved remnant (MH)