Scripture Reading: Joel 1:1, 15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14
The book of Joel is short, but it is excellent, wonderful, and mysterious. In this message we will first give an introductory word and then consider the matter of the day of Jehovah, an important subject in the prophecy of the Bible.
In Hebrew the name Joel means “Jehovah is God.”
The time of Joel’s ministry was about 800 B.C., probably after the prophet Elisha.
The object of Joel’s ministry was the southern kingdom of Judah.
The place of Joel’s ministry was also Judah.
The subject of the book of Joel is the devastation of the human government on Israel in four stages and the destruction of Christ over the devastators and His reign among Israel in the restoration (Rev. 20:4, 6; Matt. 19:28).
The central thought of Joel is that the nations, as the locusts, devastate Israel consecutively in four empires, from Nebuchadnezzar, the first king of Babylon, to Antichrist, the last Caesar of Rome; they will be overcome and terminated by Christ, who will set up the kingdom and reign among the saved Israel in the age of restoration. The four empires that devastate Israel and that will be overcome and terminated by Christ are the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Macedonian-Grecian Empire, and the Roman Empire. These four empires are signified by the great human image in Daniel 2, an image that will be destroyed by Christ as the stone cut out without hands (vv. 34-35). Actually, this stone signifies not merely the individual Christ but also the corporate Christ. The corporate Christ will come as a stone cut out without hands and will smite the human government into pieces.
In the book of Joel Christ is revealed in His coming with His overcomers as the mighty ones to defeat Antichrist and his army (Joel 3:11).
In this book Christ is revealed also in His judgment of the nations (3:2a, 12, 14). This is the judgment of the living (Matt. 25:31-46; Acts 10:42; 17:31). Acts 10:42 tells us that Christ is the One who has been designated by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead, and 17:31 says that God “has set a day in which He is to judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has designated.” Christ will judge the living just before the millennium and He will judge the dead after the millennium.
Finally, in Joel Christ is revealed in His dwelling in the holy mountain of Zion within Jerusalem to reign among Israel to be their God, their shelter, and their stronghold (Joel 3:16-17, 21b).
The book of Joel has five sections: the introduction (1:1), the plague of the locusts (1:2—2:11), the turn of Jehovah to His elect, Israel (2:12-32), the judgment of Christ upon the nations (3:1-15), and the victory of Christ over the nations and His reign among Israel (3:11, 16-21).
The book of Joel speaks of the day of Jehovah (1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14).
The day of Jehovah in the book of Joel is the day of the Lord in the New Testament (2 Pet. 3:10).
In expressions such as “the day of Jehovah” and “the day of the Lord” the word “day” is used mainly in the sense of the Lord’s judgment for His governmental dealing (Ezek. 13:5; 30:3; Zeph. 1:8-9).
Before the Lord comes, it is “man’s day,” in which man judges (1 Cor. 4:3-5). Man will continue to judge until the Lord comes. After the Lord comes, it will be “the day of the Lord,” in which the Lord judges. Man’s day of judgment is the present age. This is in contrast to the Lord’s day, which is the coming age, the kingdom age, in which the judgment will be the Lord’s judgment. Today in the day of man, everyone is a judge. Even children judge their parents, and students judge their teachers. But in the day of the Lord, the Lord will stop all human judging and will give the final word.
The final day of Jehovah (the Lord) will begin at the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12-17), end at the judgment of the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15), and comprise various calamities, plagues, and woes for the Lord’s punishing judgments and governmental dealings upon the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, men, Satan, and the demons to clear up the earth and the entire universe, for the new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1) to come for His eternal kingdom. The time from the sixth seal to the beginning of the thousand-year kingdom will be a little more than three and a half years. That will be the time mainly of the great tribulation. The judgment of the great white throne will take place after the thousand-year kingdom. Thus, the day of the Lord will last for about one thousand three and a half years.
Let us now briefly consider the calamities, plagues, and woes which the day of the Lord will comprise.
First, there will be the natural calamities of the sixth seal upon the sun, the moon, the stars, the heavens, and the earth.
Revelation 8:7-12 speaks of the severer calamities of the first four trumpets upon the earth, the sea, the rivers, and the sun, moon, and stars. Actually, the calamities of the sixth seal and the first four trumpets are a cluster related to the judgment of the universe.
The first woe, the fifth trumpet, will be by the locusts from the abyss under Antichrist as their king, who will also come out from the abyss (Rev. 9:1-11).
The second woe, the sixth trumpet, will be by the four angels released from the Euphrates with the two hundred million horsemen (Rev. 9:12-19).
The third woe, the seventh trumpet, will be composed of the seven bowls (Rev. 11:14-15a; 15:1, 5-8; 16:1).
The evil and malignant sore of the first bowl will be upon the men who have the mark of the beast and worship his image (Rev. 16:2).
In the second bowl the sea will become blood like that of a dead man, and every living soul that is in the sea will die (Rev. 16:3).
In the third bowl the rivers and springs will become blood to be the drink of those who pour out the blood of the saints and the prophets (Rev. 16:4-7).
In the fourth bowl the sun will burn men with fire (Rev. 16:8-9).
In the fifth bowl the kingdom of Antichrist will become darkened, and people will gnaw their tongues for pain and will blaspheme the God of heaven for their pains and sores (Rev. 16:10-11).
In the sixth bowl there will be the war of Armageddon, in which Antichrist and his armies will fight against Christ with His overcomers. Christ will destroy Antichrist and all his evil armies, and Antichrist and the false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 16:12-16; 17:14; 19:19-21). In Revelation 14:17-20 Christ’s defeating Antichrist and all his evil armies is likened to His treading of the great winepress of the fury of God.
In the seventh bowl there will be an unprecedented earthquake. The great city of Jerusalem will be divided into three parts, the cities of the nations will fall, and political Babylon will be destroyed under God’s wrath. Every island will flee, and the mountains will disappear. Furthermore, great hail will come out of heaven upon men (Rev. 16:17-21).
All the calamities, plagues, and woes from the sixth seal to the seventh bowl constitute the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21), the hour of trial to try all the people who dwell on the earth (Rev. 3:10). The great tribulation will last for three and a half years (Rev. 11:2; 12:6, 12:14; 13:5).
Probably at the beginning of the great tribulation, the religious Babylon the Great, the Roman Catholic Church, will be destroyed by Antichrist (Rev. 14:8; 17:16). At the end of the great tribulation, the political Babylon the Great, the revived Roman Empire, will be destroyed by the Lord.
In the great tribulation the two witnesses will spit fire out of their mouth to devour their enemies, will shut up the heavens from raining, will have authority to turn the waters into blood, and will smite the earth with every plague (Rev. 11:3-6).
In the three and a half years of the great tribulation, Antichrist, instigated by Satan and strengthened by the false prophet, will blaspheme God and make war with the saints and overcome them. Satanic authority will be given to him over every tribe and nation (Rev. 13:4-7; 12:13-17; 2 Thes. 2:3b-4; Dan. 11:36-39; Matt. 24:15).
Satan will be bound for a thousand years and cast into the abyss (Rev. 20:1-3). This will take place after Christ deals with Antichrist and his armies.
Christ will rule the nations with an iron rod for one thousand years and will break them in pieces as vessels of pottery are broken in pieces (Rev. 2:27).
At the end of the millennium, the nations, deceived by the devil, will rebel against Christ, but fire will come down out of heaven and devour them. Then the devil will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:7-10).
At the end of the day of the Lord, there will be the judgment of the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15) by Christ over the dead men, the demons, and probably the fallen angels (2 Pet. 2:4).
Finally, the heavens and the earth will be renewed with intense burning heat to be the new heavens and the new earth for the New Jerusalem (2 Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 21:1-2). The day of the Lord ends with this burning heat. The heavens and the earth, the old creation, have been polluted and contaminated by Satan’s rebellion and by man’s fall and therefore need to be renewed.
The day of the Lord with all of its judgments is for the manifestation of Christ. As we study the Bible, we need to realize that revelation in the Bible is centered on Christ, who is the centrality and universality of God’s economy. All the judgments of the day of the Lord, including all the calamities, plagues, and woes, have a goal, and this goal is to bring in the manifestation of Christ.
