Joel was a prophet of the Lord who spoke to Judah of locusts, of the day of the Lord, and of the Spirit poured out on all flesh.
His book is short, and its reach is long.
Peter stood up at Pentecost and said that what the people were seeing was what Joel had spoken.
The same prophet who warned of darkness also promised that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The word of the Lord came to Joel son of Pethuel.
- A locust army had stripped the land.
- The grain offering and the drink offering were cut off from the house of the Lord.
Joel called the priests to wail, the elders to gather, and the whole people to return to the Lord with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
- He announced the day of the Lord as near—a day of darkness and gloom, of blood and fire and columns of smoke.
- He also announced mercy. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
- After judgment would come restoration: the early and the latter rain, vats overflowing, and the years the locust had eaten repaid.
Then the promise that frames the church’s birth:
- God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh;
- sons and daughters would prophesy;
- old men would dream dreams;
- young men would see visions; and
- the sun would be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord.
- In the valley of decision the nations would be judged,
- and the Lord would be a refuge for His people.
Joel is therefore both an alarm and a gospel.
The day is near.
Return.
Call on the name of the Lord.
- Joel interprets a present disaster as a call to return to the Lord.
- The day of the Lord is the center of his message: near, dark, and not to be escaped by ritual without the heart.
- Return is possible because of who God is: gracious, merciful, slow to anger.
- The Spirit poured out on all flesh is Joel’s great promise, fulfilled in the beginning at Pentecost.
- Cosmic signs belong to the approach of that day, not to curiosity.
- Salvation is offered in a sentence: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
- The nations are gathered for judgment; Zion is given a refuge.
- The Prophet – Joel son of Pethuel, sent with the word of the Lord to Judah.
- The Locusts – A devouring army that left the land bare and the temple offerings cut off.
- The Call to Return – Fasting, gathering, rending hearts and not garments.
- The Day of the Lord – Near, great, and awesome; darkness and deliverance in one day.
- The Spirit Poured Out – On all flesh, without the old limits of age, sex, or station.
- The Cosmic Signs – Sun darkened, moon to blood, wonders in heaven and on earth.
- The Valley of Decision – The nations assembled; the Lord roaring from Zion.
- Joel 1:1-4 – “The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?… What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten.”
- Joel 1:13-15 – “Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests… For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.”
- Joel 2:1-2 – “Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!”
- Joel 2:12-13 – “Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”
- Joel 2:25 – “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”
- Joel 2:28-32 – “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
- Joel 3:14-16 – “Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.”
- Joel 3:17-18 – “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain… And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk…”
- Acts 2:16-21 – “But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel…” Peter quotes the promise of the Spirit and the call to be saved.
- Acts 2:33 – “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”
- Romans 10:13 – “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
- Matthew 24:29 – After the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.
- Revelation 6:12 – The sun became black as sackcloth, and the full moon became like blood.
- Exodus 34:6 – The name of the Lord that Joel repeats: merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.
- Isaiah 44:3 – “For I will pour water on the thirsty land… I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring.”
- Ezekiel 39:29 – “And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”
Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
Joel saw a land stripped bare and a day still darker coming.
He also saw the Spirit poured out on all flesh and a door that stays open: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Pentecost was the beginning of that pouring out, not the end of Joel’s book.
Rend your heart and not your garments. Blow the trumpet. Call on the Name.
The Lord roars from Zion, and He is a refuge for His people.
The years the locust has eaten are not beyond His power to restore.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.