The Book of Joel: An Introduction

Acts 20:27 “for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”

2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,”

I was convicted by the Holy Spirit the other day about teaching the whole counsel of God. I think this is a true statement. There are some books in the Bible that we just do not spend much time studying, but the Bible says that all Scripture is inspired by God, and all Scripture is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training.

I do not know if I have ever heard a sermon on the Book of Joel. Have you ever heard a sermon from the Book of Joel?

Well, guess what? You are about to get a series of them as we study this wonderful book. I have come to discover in my journey that some of the Scriptures that we do not study very often contain some warnings and blessings.

We are going to study the Book of Joel together. It is my first personal Bible study through the book. I have read the book but never truly studied it until now. So, let’s see what we can learn.

1. Background.

Joel’s message was an interpretation of a national crisis.

In this short book, Joel refers to three important events, each of which he calls a “day of the Lord.”

Joel’s theme throughout these three important events is that God’s people need to be prepared for the day of the Lord. Specifically, in Joel, God’s people are the Jews, but Christians, especially according to 2 Timothy 3:16, can learn something from the book too.

God always wants His people to be prepared.

1 Thessalonians 5:3–4 “When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief.”

Matthew 25:13 “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

We are all to be on guard, but some are given the specific spiritual gift that allows them to interpret events in light of what is written. More on that shortly.

It is thought that Joel was the first of the writing prophets. He probably ministered to Judah during the reign of King Joash. (2 Kings 11 & 12, 2 Chronicles 22 thru 24).

As I said, Joel describes three events, and he calls each of the events a day of the Lord.

Joel sees a plague of locusts as an immediate day of the Lord.

Joel sees the invasion of Judah by Assyria as an imminent day of the Lord.

Joel sees the final judgment of the world as the ultimate day of the Lord.

From Joel 2:28 throughout the rest of the book, you will see many events described that we associate with the Great Tribulation because that is what Joel is describing. He is describing those as signs to the Jews that Messiah’s return is upon them.

1 Corinthians 1:22 “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:”

The key to understanding the entire prophetic calendar is to understand this one critical point.

The Jews have long sought and are still seeking the Messiah who is going to establish His earthly kingdom in Jerusalem. One of the big reasons the Jews rejected Jesus was because Jesus did not come at that time to throw off the political yoke of Rome. He came to throw off the yoke of sin.

The Jews absolutely hated Christ for saying this.

John 18:36 (NLT)

Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”

When we discuss the ultimate day of the Lord as found in Joel, you are going to see a description of events that happen as signs to the Jewish people so they will be prepared for the Messiah to come at Armageddon.

The name of Joel in the Old Testament means “The Lord is God.”

Joel, as a prophet, was being used by God to draw the people back to the worship of the true God.

In the Old Testament, there are three main offices spoken of: prophet, priest, and king.

The priests and prophets did not have the same responsibilities, and I want you to pay attention to how these roles compare to the Spiritual gifts given to the body of Christ.

The priests were to teach the people the Law.

1 Corinthians 12:28 “Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages.”

Teacher does not necessarily refer to Sunday School teachers or discipleship teachers. The gift of teaching is given by the Holy Spirit enabling the person with that gift to effectively communicate the truths of the Bible to others.

The gift of teaching involves the analysis and proclamation of the Word of God, explaining the meaning, context, and application to the hearer’s life. That is what the Old Testament priests did. They taught the people God’s Word, and its application in their lives.

The prophets in the Old Testament were to call the people back to the Lord whenever they strayed from the Law or from God’s Word.

The prophets were both “forth-tellers” and “foretellers.” They interpreted historical events in the light of the Word of God to help the people understand God’s will in their lives.

Considering what prophets did in the Old Testament, are there prophets today? YES!!!

1 Corinthians 13:2 “If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.”

The gift of prophecy is one of the Spiritual gifts given to certain Christians when they are saved. Those with the gift WILL NOT be given new revelation.

They will, however, have the supernatural ability to use God’s Word to draw people back to God, and they will have the supernatural ability to interpret historical events in the light of God’s Word to help people understand God’s will in their lives.

BTW, all Spiritual gifts are supernatural because they are given to you by the Holy Spirit when you are baptized into the body of Christ.

Joel wanted the people of Judah to understand what God was saying to them in each of the three events he describes.

In our day, the nations of the world are experiencing severe droughts, floods, famines, pandemics, earthquakes, and financial calamities, but instead of asking, “What is God saying to us?”, we remove God from the equation and blame climate, politicians, and who knows what or who else.

The one with the Spiritual gift of prophecy can show and use God’s Word to bring Spiritual illumination to you in these situations.

I do not understand why we are so dismissive today about God trying to get our attention.

Instead of accepting the possibility that God sent the Covid Pandemic, most Christians dismissed the possibility and blamed the Chinese or the Democrats or the Republicans.

Instead of accepting the possibility that God was trying to wake up Christians in America, 9/11 was strictly blamed on terrorists, and the US government stripped away many of your freedoms to combat terrorism. Now, you can be spied upon without a search warrant. It was called the Patriot Act, and it was just recertified by the Republican majority in the H of R.

In Scripture, these problems do not indicate a geopolitical problem. These events highlight the great falling away described in the New Testament, and you do not have to be much of a prophet to see that.

The tragedy of it is that those who belong to God who should know better quickly blame those outside factors for what is happening when we should be focused on God’s Word, and being focused on God’s Word perfectly described Joel during each of the three events we will discuss.

Joel wrote his book so the people would know what God was saying through the critical events they were facing.

Today, we have the completed Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Instead of panicking and wringing our hands, God wants us to trust what is written so we will know what He is saying through those critical events.

John 20:30–31 “The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.”