Military Invasions in God’s End-time Plan
Blow 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 is coming, for it is at hand: a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of
clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and
strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many
successive generations. A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the
Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them.
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like
chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong
people set in battle array. Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color. They run
like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break
ranks. They do not push one another; every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between
the weapons, they are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into
the houses. They enter all the windows like a thief. (Joel 2:1-9)
I. MOSES’ PREDICTIONS OF TROUBLE IN ISRAEL
A. Just before Israel enters the Promised Land, Moses prophesied some horrifying things to them.
B. Moses spoke of a locust plague that would be sent by God to devour the land, the very one that occurred in Joel’s
day (Deuteronomy 28:28-42). Though when it actually came upon them, the children of Israel could not believe this was
from the very hand of God, even though they had the witness of their own prophet Moses who spoke ahead of time that it
would surely come to pass. After prophesying the locust invasion, Moses also foretold of something far greater in severity.
He told the children of Israel about a coming military invasion by a nation from afar (the Babylonians) that the Lord would
bring against Israel (Deuteronomy 28:47-52). They would take ownership of all Israel’s gates and devastate the land; and
Israel would give way to cannibalism in the midst of the sieges (Deuteronomy 28:52-53). Then the Lord would scatter
them across the nations, from one end of the earth to the other (Deuteronomy 28:64).
C. Moses foretold exactly what happened in the Babylonian invasion which occurred a few decades after Joel’s
ministry. The Babylonian siege of Jerusalem took place in 586 BC. The same thing happened again in 70 AD when the
Romans came against Jerusalem. Once more Moses’ words were fulfilled precisely. Yet these words have not yet
reached the end of their fulfillment. The dreadful prophecies spoken by Moses will see their ultimate fulfillment in the
end times. What happened with Babylon in 586 BC and with Rome in 70 AD were only precursors and foreshadows
of what will happen in the generation that the Lord returns. An evil empire at the end of the age will arise and come
against the nation of Israel in a way that will exceedingly surpass all other hours of tribulation.
D. The Lord would have us learn from the witness of history that we might understand with clarity what is in store for the
nation of Israel, and all the nations of the earth (in like kind yet lesser degree).
E. Specifically, in our study of Joel, He would have us understand the divine picture of the Babylonian invasion. In
understanding some basic principles about this event, with the spirit of prayer as our aid, the Holy Spirit will give us
understanding fro the hour ahead.
II. PROPHETIC VOICES DECLARING MILITARY INVASION
A. The idea of Israel and the nations of the earth encountering military crisis is not just an Old Testament idea
prophesied by Joel, Isaiah, and Moses. Jesus was clear about military invasion being a significant part of God’s purpose
in judging nations before the end.
B. Jesus prophesied of a future military invasion of Israel by the Romans in 70 AD.
When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is near” (Luke 21:20)
1. This prophecy serves a double purpose because He was describing two events in one passage. In 30 AD, those
that heard were saying, “Really? Again?” Jesus might have responded, “Oh, yes, it is going to happen two more times”.
Jesus was describing the Roman invasion of Israel that was going to happen in 70 years AD in the generation after His
death and resurrection. Thus, He was describing a near invasion that would happen within one generation.
2. At the same time, He was describing a far-off invasion that would happen at the end of the age, in the generation of
His return (Luke 21:20-24). Matthew records this with great detail (Matthew 24:15-22).
C. Around 90 AD John gave the prophetic testimony of military invasions being used in God’s End Time plan
D. He saw Jesus as the Lamb, opening the seals at the end of the age. With the breaking of the second seal, John
beheld a red horse whose rider was granted the ability to take peace from the earth that people would kill one another.
1. It escalates when the fourth seal is opened in that one fourth of the earth will be killed by sword, hunger, pestilence
and by the beasts of the earth (Revelation 6:8). One fourth of the population of the entire planet will die in the wake of
these military crises!
2. Revelation 6:4-8 refers to the End Time military invasion and their implications. John attributes the releasing of
these things to Jesus, saying that the Lamb of God is the only one who could break the seals, releasing this great, global
destruction to transpire.
E. Paul warns us of End-Time military conflicts: “For when they say, “Peace and safety, then sudden destruction”
(1 Thessalonians 5:3). In other words, when everyone thinks that it is an hour of ease, the peace will suddenly be
disrupted. Military invasions will take peace from the earth. Though a false peace will reign for one brief moment and
everyone at that time will be saying “Things are great!”, the world will abruptly be thrown into military conflict. Paul
prophesies this sudden destruction occurring in the generation that the Lord returns.
F. The Old Testament prophets, Jesus, Paul and John all prophesied of End-Time military conflicts.
III. THE END-TIME MILITARY INVASION
A. The Babylonian invasion, the most terrible military crisis for Israel in the Old Testament, was when Nebuchadnezzar from
Babylon (modern day Iraq) attacked Israel with three massive invasions over a twenty-year period, leaving the nation utterly
decimated.
1. The three waves of invasion were 606, 597, and 586 BC. This timing factor of the three waves of conflict occurring
over a 20 year period helps us to have a right mindset about the future. It may well take twenty years for the military
conflicts to come to pass.
2. Joel was possibly prophesying about ten years before the first wave.
B. It is a principle of biblical prophecy for God to intend two fulfillments in one prophecy – a near fulfillment and an
end-time eschatological fulfillment. We see this in Matthew 24 in which Jesus links the desolation of 70 AD to the global
desolations which precede His coming.
C. The Joel 2:1-9 military invasion against Israel will be repeated in the End-Times as prophesied in Zechariah 12-14.
This hostile empire will shake Israel to the core of its foundation. This conflict will surpass in intensity and magnitude the
devastation that Babylon brought in 586 BC and what Rome did in 70 AD. It will be the most severe shaking in Israel’s
history.
D. God will cause ten nations to unite and give the fullness of their power – their military, political, and economic
power – to this evil leader. They will believe in him and give their money and their armies and all of their influence to him
(Revelation 17:16-17). This empire, under the reign of the man of sin, will impact the entire globe (Revelation 13:7). This
empire will first attack Israel, and then they will turn on the nations of the world. Joel 2:1-9 also becomes a clear picture
of the hostile military conflict that nations will have with the coalition of nations under the antichrist.
E. In Joel 2 we find such a clear description of what is going to happen to Israel and to a lesser degree the nations
of the earth, even the USA.
IV. BLOW THE TRUMPET! LET ALL THE INHABITANTS TREMBLE
Blow 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 is coming, for it is at hand: a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of
clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. (Joel 2:1-2)
A. The Lord introduces the terrifying military invasion with a cry to sound the alarm and blow the trumpet! Joel is
commanding them to blow the trumpet in Mt. Zion. It is a call to wake up the people of God!
B. In the most immediate and literal sense, Zion is the city of Jerusalem. Yet it also represents the people of God.
The trumpet is blown to the people of God.
C. This command to sound the alarm has application today in God’s servants raising their voice, so that all the
inhabitants in the land hear and tremble.
1. Amos declared, “If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is a calamity in the city, will not
the Lord have done it?” (Amos 3:6). The trumpet sound is the alarming noise that that declares the severity of the time at
hand; in His mercy, God always has His messengers to sound this alarm and awaken the hearts.
2. We need the kind of preaching that produces trembling. It has never been very popular, as all the prophets know.
But it is absolutely essential if we are going to preach the Word and not just our opinions.
D. The invitation of God to blow the trumpet is a weighty prophetic call. When the Lord gives divine revelation of what
is coming, such as He gave Joel, there is a strong responsibility to declare it with boldness and courage.
1. If He gives the message to the watchman and the watchman does not blow the trumpet, the blood of the people is
on the hands of the watchmen (Ezekiel 33:6)
2. God’s End-Time trumpet messengers are “forerunners”. They are those who prepare the way for the Lord’s
Second Coming even as John the Baptist prepared the way for the Lord’s first coming.
E. The desired result of this trumpet sound is that the people, all of the inhabitants of the earth, believers and
unbelievers, would tremble. There is a message that is so alarming in nature; when it is understood, the inevitable
result is trembling in the hearts of both the hearers and the proclaimers.
F. What this “trembling” means is that people are driven to decision: they either harden their hearts, or they humble
themselves with fasting and prayer (Joel 2:12-17)
1. Responsive believers are moved recognizing their own weakness and reaching for the strength of God. Responsive
unbelievers call out to God unto the salvation of their souls.
2. Trembling speaks of being in the place of dependency on God, leaning into His strength.
G. The trumpet blast was a mercy to all who would tremble at God’s word. Just as the Lord brought forth Joel’s voice in the
strategic hour before the Babylonian invasion, God will bring forth those that will sound the alarm.
V. A DAY OF DARKNESS
A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness (Joel 2:2)
A. Joel describes this day in very frightening language, using four different words: darkness, gloominess, clouds, and
thick darkness. These convey how ominous and overwhelming the coming judgment is. It is a day of gloom to the people
who resist God. For the wholehearted, it will be a gloomy time of testing, but will result in eternal rewards in His Presence.
B. The darkness is related to a military invasion at the hands of an evil empire. The day of darkness is a very negative
time. As God did this in Joel’s day, He will do it again to a higher degree in the End Times.
C. People say, “I don’t like that doom and gloom”. They want to hear only the positive dimensions, and they feel that
the doom and gloom message contradicts God’s love.
D. “Doom and gloom” is God’s own language for that day. When we mockingly say, “I do not like doom and gloom”,
we are telling the Lord that we do not like the description He chose for His day.
E. It is true that we cannot survive on only doom and gloom. We need to hear and preach of the coming revival,
and unprecedented visitation and power as well. Yet we cannot have only one side without the other, or we will leave
people unaware of what is happening and unprepared to respond rightly.
VI. THE COMING ARMY: LIKE MORNING CLOUDS
Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong (Joel 2:2)
A. Joel compares the looming army to morning clouds over the mountains. Joel, by the Holy Spirit, likens the day of
gloom to a dawning of a sunrise. There are several characteristics of a dawning sunrise. First, its onset is inevitable; no
man can alter its rising. Just as the sun coming up over the mountains, an army of gloom will break upon the nations.
It will come like a sunrise; no eye will miss it, and no man will evade it!
1. In some translations, the phrase like the morning clouds qualifies the first description of Joel 2:2, the day of darkness
and gloominess.
2. In other translations it describes the latter part of Joel 2;2, the militant people growing great and strong like the morning
clouds.
3. This phrase qualifies BOTH the day of gloom and the army. For either way, the overarching principle remains the
same: a day of darkness is going to encompass Israel, and the whole earth, like morning clouds encompass the mountains.
B. Another part of this sunrise analogy is that the morning’s intensity increases gradually. As the hours go by, it
grows until it fills the horizon, ultimately becoming as bright and intense as the noon-day sun. Just as God brings forth
the morning progressively rather than all at once, so the day of gloom will grow stronger and stronger. This progressive
nature was seen In Joel’s day by the three waves of the Babylonian invasion. It broke out suddenly, but then it gradually
increased in intensity for several years. But the point we cannot miss is that it will be all-consuming by the time it comes
into fullness. As the morning clouds spread over the mountains and as the sun arises, the imminent army is irrepressible
and vast.
VII. A PEOPLE GREAT AND STRONG
Like the morning clouds … a people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be
any such after them, even for many successive generations. (Joel 2:2)
A. Joel continues to describe this approaching army as “a people … great and strong, the like of whom has never
been” (Joel 2:2). Their enormity and might is unsurpassed; this army will be completely unprecedented in size and in
fierceness.
1. Later Joel describes them as the northern army, which is Joel’s day was the army of Babylon (Joel 2:20). This
same northern army is described by Jeremiah, a contemporary of Joel.
2. An army from the north will come against Israel in the End-Times (Ezekiel 38-39). The coalition of evil nations,
led by the antichrist, will also come from the north.
B. This military force is a people great and strong. Its greatness is due to numerical strength. David prophesied that
all of the nations together would gather against God and against His Christ (Psalm 2:1-3). That gathering of all of the
nations will unite to resist God’s purposes in Israel. It will be the largest military upsurge in all of human history.
1. But this army is more than great. It is strong. It will be strong in military sophistication, advanced technology, and
the highest levels of biological and chemical warfare. It is mighty; it is not a force to be taken lightly.
2. Even as the Lord Himself allowed Babylon – an evil army – to advance in knowledge and strength, so He will allow the
end-time army to grow fiercely innovative, to be used by satan to the fullest degree.
3. The Lord will give this army every advantage that they could possibly have.
4. The Lord is allowing this army to be raised up to drive His people into wholeheartedness, but He will punish and
destroy them.
C. This army’s strength will also be in economics. Through a controlling means called “the mark of the beast”, this
evil empire will become an unimaginable economic monopoly (Revelation 13:17). Their strength will also be in occult
power. Historians say that Adolph Hitler’s great weapon, causing him to be above everyone else, was that he had a
demonic ability to rally the masses, deceive them, and get them to live in tremendous, abandoned sacrifice for his cause.
The leadership of this evil empire will be far stronger in persuasion and deception: it will be characterized by supernatural
false signs and wonders (Revelation 13:13-14). These signs and wonders will be evil in nature yet very stunning to the
masses. Demonic hosts will be deceiving the nations and bringing them to the ad of this world leader.
D. This will be a people the like of whom the world has never seen (Joel 2:2). This army will be unprecedented in its
fierceness, in its size, and in its strength. Its demonic powers will be beyond anything yet manifest.
VIII. A FIRE DEVOURS BEFORE THEM
A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind
them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them (Joel 2:3)
A. Unprecedented desolations by raging fires will precede and follow this great army. This happened in the Babylonian
invasion, in the Roman invasion and it will happen again at the end of the age. Before they show up, fire precedes them.
The land that was like the Garden of Eden, plush and fruitful, will become as a desolate wilderness. They will make
desolate the cities; this will be the state of the earth when the Lord returns. This is described so often throughout the
Old Testament in relation to Israel just before the Lord returns.
B. In Isaiah, we read how the Lord will rebuild the desolate cities and the desolate places when He returns
(Isaiah 49:61). When Isaiah talks about how the Lord will restore the desolate places, he is talking about the cities of
the earth in the aftermath of this global conflict.
C. Think of the carnage after WWII, which is the most graphic picture we have of what will happen before the Lord’s
return. It will be approximately fifty times worse and more intense than this. The desolate cities of Europe and Asia after
the war was over give us a frame of reference as to how utterly wiped out the earth will be.
D. When Joel prophesies that fires surround the fierce army, it speaks of tremendous bombardment before and after
the invasion. When Hitler left the eastern front in the Ukraine, the Soviet Union and Russia, he had a scorched earth
policy; he burned everything for many, many miles. When the Nazi armies retreated, he scorched the land.
E. This same kind of thing is going to happen again. Joel says that in the areas which the northern army does this,
nothing will escape. The buildings, the animals, the plants, the architecture, the agriculture … nothing will escape their
path.
IX. THEIR APPEARANCE LIKE HORSES
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like
chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong
people set in battle array. Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color. (Joel 2:4-6)
A. The appearance of this army will be like that of horses, like swift steeds. Joel is expressing their terrifying advance
using the language of his own day. He was painting the most petrifying scene imaginable. Some commentators say this
passage is describing the locust plague again, yet Joel is clearly speaking about a literal military invasion. He is
prophesying a coming evil regime of unmatched swiftness and speed.
B. In WWII, this swiftness was called the ‘blitzkrieg’, which means ‘lighting wars’. It was a military advance that
suddenly broke in and within a matter of weeks, whole nations were destroyed and conquered. Hitler conquered Poland
in three weeks. He conquered France in four weeks. He conquered. Hitler conquered Poland in three weeks. He
conquered France in four weeks. He conquered the Netherlands in a matter of ten to fifteen days! Suddenly nations
were conquered! It was staggering! This same swiftness will characterize the antichrist army. In a time when men say,
“Peace! Peace!’ suddenly this destructive evil empire will arise in fierceness (1 Thessalonians 5:3)!
C. This army will be known for its terrifying sounds – like the chariots leaping on mountain tops. Imagine the deafening
noise of ten thousand chariots charging through the land. Then imagine the sound of raging forest fires and bon fires in
the grass. One of the things people report from WWII is the incredible, horrifying sounds they would hear when the Nazi
armies would attack. These sounds of war will be escalated and magnified in the ferocious army to come.
D. Joel then describes the faces of those who behold this coming military force (Joel 2:6). Their faces are drained of
color, becoming ghostly white in fear at the very sight of this warring onslaught. They writhe in pain even before a hand is
laid upon them. Their bodies are gripped with terror.
1. The sheer sight and sound of their enemy sends them into utter dread. In this passage, Joel is primarily describing
Jewish victims in the city of Jerusalem.
2. At the same time, this could be said of the victims throughout all the other cities of the earth as well, of like kind but
of lesser degree. Jesus said that in the midst of all of these things, men’s hearts will fail them for fear (Luke 21:26).
X. MEN OF WAR
They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and
they do not break ranks. They do not push one another; every one marches in his own column. Though
they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city, they run on the
wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief. (Joel 2:7-9)
A. The fierceness of this advancing evil army will be shocking. Again, Joel was speaking of the Babylonian invasion that
happened in his day, yet the Lord meant for it to describe more than what transpired in Joel’s day. This is a brutal and wicked
army that run like mighty men and marches in formation without breaking ranks! They are trained, disciplined, and
seasoned, not chaotic or in any way disordered.
B. When the heat of war is before them, they lunge right in with ferocity! “They run to and fro on the city. They run
on the wall. They climb on houses. They enter at the windows like a thief.” (Joel 2:9). They are a zealous army and
invincible.
C. Zechariah describes the on-coming attack in this way: “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will
be divided in your midst. For I will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled,
and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the
city” (Zechariah 14:1, 2). What a terrifying proclamation! This is the kind of total assault upon the city of Jerusalem that
Joel is speaking of. It is unstoppable.
D. Invasively, they will climb into houses and into windows, leaving no stone unturned in their assault. They will run to
and fro on the walls; no resistance outside of divine intervention will stop them. They can and will be resisted, but only
God will be able to utterly stop them. Even America will not be able to stop this force. This army will be uncontainable
and overpowering, a force raised up by God that only God will be able to stop. And He will, He will save the remnant of
Israel in the wake of this invasion.
E. All will be impacted by this world-wide assault. The antichrist’s coalition of evil nations will assault all other nations out
of the desire to control the globe.
F. God is really the One behind all of this. He is leading with tremendous attentiveness. The drama He has
orchestrated is so brilliant. It will bring the righteous into greater depths of love and the wicked will be fully repaid for
their evil. God is completely in control. He will bring all things to a mighty crescendo with the coming of His Son.
XI. THE SIGNS OF THE EVIL ARMY
The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars
diminish in their brightness (Joel 2;10)
A. Supernatural demonstrations will precede and follow the evil army that is coming. The earth and the heavens will
shake, the sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will fade in brightness. The entire atmosphere will tremble,
including the sky and the solar system! This is not figurative – it is literal and it will come to pass.
B. Why these cosmic signs? Why these astonishing acts of God? With these extraordinary manifestations, God will
declare to those who love Him, “Make no mistake about it! You are living in the end times!” God will speak into this fierce
drama with cosmic signs to show His power and authority, confirming the times to all who will listen (Luke 21:25-28).
C. Cosmic supernatural signs are a tremendous mercy of God in that they assure us of the utter inability to miss the final
hour of natural history; the evidence will be clear to anyone who is watching.
D. Why does god introduce the subject of these dramatic, cosmic signs in the same passage that He speaks of the
evil army in Joel 2:1-9? The message God is giving through these wonders is that He is in full control. He is the One
raising up the evil army to accomplish His purposes. God gives a heavenly power display in the hour that a wicked army is
trampling the globe in order to reveal that the earthly armies are nothing to Him. Effortlessly, He causes the sun to lose its
light!
E. Through the signs and wonders, God demonstrates His total control and full awareness of everything going on.
Every detail has been orchestrated. Seeing that He has authority over the stars in the heavens, we will be reminded that
He has all power over the armies on the earth. Another one of God’s purposes in these displays of power is to give His
Church the assurance that He is demonstrating His power on their behalf. It is good to know that god is in control, but the
Lord wants this information to be personal. He wants His people to have the assurance that the power that He has to
move the stars in the heavens is the very power that He will exercise to keep His own through this strategic hour of history.
F. If God can administrate the heavenly realm with such power and wisdom, we can rest assured that He can also
direct the earthly realm, which is far easier to administrate. How much easier is it to move an army around, or to defeat an
army, than it is to move the stars around and turn the light of the sun and moon on and off?
G. Man, in his own strength, can defeat armies; ungodly men of history have accomplished this feat countless times.
Yet no one but God can manipulate the stars, the moon, and the sun. And God’s giant statement through the shifting of
these solar powers is that He is in control. He knows about the rise of the antichrist and his army. He knows the fierceness and
intensity of the evil worldwide kingdom. Yet it is not disrupting or intimidating His plans at all. God experiences no surprises.
H. In Joel’s day, the Babylonian army came to fulfill the purpose of God in purifying and disciplining the nation of Israel.
Yet we know that ultimately this passage speaks of the end times.
1. In that day, an evil army, described in Joel 2:1-9, will seem to be the most powerful force in all the earth. In that day,
the body of Christ will cry out, “Lord, are You aware of the dilemma that we are in? Are You aware of how much power this
evil force has?”
2. In response, God will say in effect, “Watch this. I can speak and the stars will fall from their place. I have so much
more power than these earthly armies and I am the One orchestrating this whole plan.” He will display His power in the
heavens in order to give assurance of His superior strength and of His full power over the lesser realm, the earthly armies.
3. Even though “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and
against His Anointed … He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision” (Psalm 2;2-4)
4. “All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless” (Isaiah 40:17).
When God displays His surpassing power over the stars, the sun, the moon and the atmosphere, He is declaring that the
armies of the earth and all of their corporate power cannot, in the least, stop the One who directs the heavens!
VII. GOD, THE GREAT ORCHESTRATOR
“The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes
His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can endure it?” (Joel 2:11)
A. By this point in our study, it is no news to us that the Lord Himself brings this vile army into power; He gives divine
direction and prophetic leadership before them. Yet though we hear it one hundred times, we must reckon with this truth
at the heart level. It offends our minds, disrupts our false ideas of comfort, that God is the One in control of a brutal army,
using them as His instrument to fulfill His purposes.
1. Though He is not causing them to be evil or making them do wrong, He employs their free-will choice for evil to
purify His people. They are His army in the sense that even though they are wicked, they are fulfilling His purposes.
2. He is not responsible for all of their wickedness; He is responsible for using them to make an impact upon His
people. Babylon was God’s army. Such evil nations are as a rod in His hand (Isaiah 10:5)!
3. He said this through Moses and through all of the prophets. Israel cannot bear such words, but they are true. Even
the body of Christ around the world has been very troubled about this idea that God raises armies up for His own tool of
chastisement.
B. Joel describes this evil camp as very strong because when the Lord puts his hand upon any vessel, whether
righteous or unrighteous, when He lays hold of them and says, “I have need of thee”, they are unstoppable for that
season! No matter what vessel He is utilizing, His purpose is inescapable – for strong is the One who executes His word.
In other words, mighty is the God who fulfills His plan.
1. The One who gave the prophetic scriptures will reveal His might by fulfilling the word of prophecy. The Lord
declares that His camp is very great and He is the strong God who is executing His Word! He is the One fulfilling His
eternal plan as declared by the prophets! His plan will be fulfilled precisely!
2. Babylon did not disrupt it and the antichrist will not thwart it. God will fulfill His end-time plan to bring the greatest
number of people to Himself at the deepest level of love with the least severe means possible.
3. The great and terrible Day of the Lord is HIS Day, not another’s. He is the One orchestrating this Day and fulfilling
His word.
C. After describing the signs and wonders that surround this evil army and the strong God who is overseeing them,
Joel exclaims, “For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible” (Joel 2:11). In essence, “This drama is intense and
marvelous, but oh, it is really dreadful.”
1. Then Joel asks, “Who can endure it?” He is asking who can bear this day without divine favor. This Day, with all its
tremendous upheaval, will be almost impossible to endure for those who do not know the forgiveness and mercy of God. No
one will be able to bear it without the smile of God on their lives and a supernatural anointing of God.
2. No one will be able to even do life in the natural and undergo the force of this Day without divine, supernatural enabling.
Even the body of Christ will not be able to obey the Lord unto the end without divine intervention.
3. Without Divine power, we would renounce the Lord. Without direct involvement of God, there is no prophetic direction,
supernatural provision, or divine protection. And we cannot live without these factors. For those who desire to live life
without God, it will be an unendurable day. The intensity will increase so severely that they will not be able to stand in that day.
D. The most intense hour ever known in history, characterized by the unparalleled release of the power of God and the
judgment of God, is on the horizon, and the rising question is: who can endure it? The answer is: we can!
1. By wholeheartedly throwing ourselves into the God who has a burning heart for us, we can endure this great and
terrible Day! Joel will go on to tell us that our only solution is to find the favor of God, for apart from Him, there will be no
escape-hatch.
2. God has provided a realm of supernatural endurance that will be found in the midst of drinking deeply of friendship
with Him, and it is our glory to live in that realm!
E. The two sides of the coming Day – the glory and the terror – are as one tapestry, one great mosaic of events in the
heart of God. He will send a military invasions that disrupt the national life of Israel and all peoples. He has “pre-appointed
times and boundaries of (nations) … so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find
Him” (Acts 17:26-27). The desperation of the times will indeed propel His people into ardent fasting and prayer, which will
result in God pouring out His Spirit like never before – revival, salvations, signs, and wonders like we can scarcely imagine.
F. And through it all we will be purified – a bride adorned for her Husband. We will be made ready for Christ’s return.