The book of Joel is a small book, having only three chapters, but it covers a lot of things.
In this short book we can find the four things the Bible and all the Minor Prophets cover – God’s chastisement of His chosen people Israel, God’s punishment of the nations, the manifestation of Christ, and the restoration of Israel and of all things.
Actually, what God desires is that His people would love Him and be organically one with Him – but the actual situation of most of God’s people is that they left Him for other things, other sources.
These other things ruined and corrupted God’s people, and so God needs to come in and chastise His people and recover them back to Himself. The result is a restoration of God’s people and a restoration of the entire universe!
God is chastising His people Israel
What the Bible reveals and the history confirms is that even though God called out His people and loved them, took care of them, and gave them His blessing and His word, they left Him so many times to serve other idols.
God kept calling His people back to Himself, and sometimes they returned; but they kept going back to “other lovers”, other idols. Therefore, in His love toward His elect, God is chastising His people Israel because of their great evils.
Joel talks about this in 1:2-2:11, 25, where we see the four waves of locusts coming to consume Israel. God used the nations, even people from far away, to come and chastise His people that they may return to Him.
Today Israel is still under God’s chastisement, being dealt with by God through the nations around it.
It is the same with us today – God loves us, cares for us, draws us with cords of a man and with bands of love, and He arranges all things that we would be saved and enjoy Him to the uttermost.
But so many times we are going after “other lovers”, worshipping idols by spending time NOT with the Lord but in doing many other things, on the internet, loving other things or persons, etc.
Therefore, God has to come in and chastise us, deal with us, and bring us back to Himself. He uses people around us, He uses many locusts, so that we would return to Him and love Him with our first love!
God will judge the Gentile nations
Because God used the Gentile nations and allowed them to overcome and deal with His people Israel, the Gentile nations were excessive and harsh in their consuming of Israel.
Actually even today, God allows the nations to deal with His people, but because they are harsh and excessive toward Israel, acting without regard for justice, God will come in to judge the nations (see Joel 3:1-16a, 19).
God will judge the nations, the ones that He has raised up from nothing and allowed to deal with His people, because they are too much in their dealing with Israel.
If you consider the history you will see that it was really too much, too harsh, and too aggressive that the nations have dealt with God’s people Israel. Therefore, God will judge the nations!
With the church as God’s spiritual people it is the same – throughout history the locusts have consumed it, and especially the Roman Empire has been extremely harsh in dealing with it.
Therefore, God has come in and will come in to judge the people and the nations who deal harshly and excessively with the church and with God’s people.
Yes, God allows other people and even some particular nations to deal with His church and His people, but He will come in soon to judge them because of their excessive dealing and harshness.
Christ will be manifested
God’s chastising of Israel and His judgement of the nations will issue in the manifestation of Christ! God doesn’t “like to judge” and He is not fond of “chastising His people” – He wants to manifest Christ and bring Him forth that all may see and love His Beloved!
In Joel we have the outpouring of the Spirit in Joel 2:28; this Spirit is the processed, consummated, and compound Spirit – the Spirit of God which has been compounded with Christ’s humanity, Christ’s death, and Christ’s resurrection (see Exodus 30:25).
This Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:1-4, 16-21) for the corporate manifestation of Christ. The manifestation of Christ began with Christ’s incarnation and has continued throughout His human living, being strengthened and confirmed by the outpouring of the Spirit!
Through this outpouring of the Holy Spirit the individual Christ became the corporate Christ (see 1 Cor. 12:12-13), the church, God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16).
How can we enjoy the outpouring of the Spirit today? How can we be filled with the Holy Spirit? If you read the context of Joel 2 you will see that it is very simple: by calling on the name of the Lord!
We as God’s people and as Christians, the disciples of Jesus, need to call on the name of the Lord to enjoy the poured out Spirit (see Acts 2:21 and footnote).
The age of restoration – the millennium
On the one hand God loves His people Israel and chastises them, then He judges the nations because the are too much, and all this is for the manifestation of Christ. On the other hand, this manifestation of Christ becomes something full and corporate, collective – in the church, the Body of Christ!
The church as the manifestation of Christ will bring in the glorious day of restoration (see Joel 2:25-27), the age of the millennial kingdom (Joel 3:16-21)! As Peter said in Acts 3:20-21, we need to repent that our sins may be wiped away and that seasons of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord.
Today in the church life we have a sweet foretaste of the coming age of the kingdom, the age of restoration – we enjoy seasons of refreshing! But one day this will happen in full: the church will bring in the age of restoration, and there will be 1000 years of full enjoyment and satisfaction in the restored universe!
Hallelujah! This restoration will eventually consummate in the fullest manifestation of Christ in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth (see Rev. 21:1-2).
All these we see in a form of a prophecy in Joel, a small book in the Minor Prophets. Actually, all these we see when the Lord opens our eyes with the help of the teaching of the apostles, the ministry of the age.
Don’t you just love the Lord so much more when your eyes are open to see the intrinsic meaning of the word of God?
Thank You Lord for the ministry of the age opening up the Bible and unveiling us to see what the revelation in Joel is. Lord, we love You. We want to return to You from anything or anyone else. Keep us calling on Your name to enjoy the Spirit and become Your manifestation. Lord, do hasten Your return and bring in the age of restoration!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from Life-study of Joel (msg. 1) as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of the Minor Prophets, week 3 (entitled, The Central Thought of the Book of Joel with Its Controlling Prophecy of Four Kinds of Locusts).
- Hymns on this topic:
# It is God’s commandment and it is His desire / That His people call, call upon His name.
# As God’s people shall the nations / ’Neath their rule and teaching be, / And a glorious restoration / All creation then shall see.
# Will you be an overcomer? / Christ is calling still! / Will you now be loyal to Him, / His demand fulfill. - Picture source: Joel 2:28 (praise photography).
All things are for this.