Joel 2

FBC Baxley

July 13, 2025

Joel 2

1 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,

2 a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and thick darkness!

Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains

a great and powerful people;

their like has never been before,

nor will be again after them

through the years of all generations.

3 Fire devours before them,

and behind them a flame burns.

The land is like the garden of Eden before them,

but behind them a desolate wilderness,

and nothing escapes them.

4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,

and like war horses they run.

5 As with the rumbling of chariots,

they leap on the tops of the mountains,

like the crackling of a flame of fire

devouring the stubble,

like a powerful army

drawn up for battle.

6 Before them peoples are in anguish;

all faces grow pale.

7 Like warriors they charge;

like soldiers they scale the wall.

They march each on his way;

they do not swerve from their paths.

8 They do not jostle one another;

each marches in his path;

they burst through the weapons

and are not halted.

9 They leap upon the city,

they run upon the walls,

they climb up into the houses,

they enter through the windows like a thief.

10 The earth quakes before them;

the heavens tremble.

The sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars withdraw their shining.

11 The Lord utters his voice

before his army,

for his camp is exceedingly great;

he who executes his word is powerful.

For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome;

who can endure it?

12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

13 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.

14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,

and leave a blessing behind him,

a grain offering and a drink offering

for the Lord your God?

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;

consecrate a fast;

call a solemn assembly;

16 gather the people.

Consecrate the congregation;

assemble the elders;

gather the children,

even nursing infants.

Let the bridegroom leave his room,

and the bride her chamber.

17 Between the vestibule and the altar

let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep

and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,

and make not your heritage a reproach,

a byword among the nations.

Why should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’”

18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land

and had pity on his people.

19 The Lord answered and said to his people,

“Behold, I am sending to you

grain, wine, and oil,

and you will be satisfied;

and I will no more make you

a reproach among the nations.

20 “I will remove the northerner far from you,

and drive him into a parched and desolate land,

his vanguard into the eastern sea,

and his rear guard into the western sea;

the stench and foul smell of him will rise,

for he has done great things.

21 “Fear not, O land;

be glad and rejoice,

for the Lord has done great things!

22 Fear not, you beasts of the field,

for the pastures of the wilderness are green;

the tree bears its fruit;

the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

23 “Be glad, O children of Zion,

and rejoice in the Lord your God,

for he has given the early rain for your vindication;

he has poured down for you abundant rain,

the early and the latter rain, as before.

24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;

the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25 I will restore to you the years

that the swarming locust has eaten,

the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,

my great army, which I sent among you.

26 “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,

and praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has dealt wondrously with you.

And my people shall never again be put to shame.

27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,

and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.

And my people shall never again be put to shame.

28 “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.

29 Even on the male and female servants

in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

-Pray

Title: The Day of the Lord and the Hope of Restoration

Text: Joel 2 Series: God Speaks Through Crisis

Main Idea: God uses crisis to call His people to repentance and promises ultimate restoration through His Spirit and salvation.

Introduction: “The Tornado Warning That Changed Everything”

Several years ago, a small town in the Midwest heard something familiar—the sound of tornado sirens.

They’d been tested so many times that people had stopped paying attention.

It became background noise. But that night, it wasn’t a drill.

An EF4 tornado ripped through the town, flattening homes, schools, even churches.

In the aftermath, people stood speechless, looking at what had been lost.

One man, standing where his church once stood, said, “It took the wind to wake us up.”

Joel 2 is like a divine tornado siren. It’s loud. It’s urgent. But it isn’t just a message of doom.

It’s a call to awaken, to return, and to receive God’s grace. It starts with judgment and ends with restoration and revival.

Joel 2 teaches us that God doesn’t waste a crisis. He uses it.

He uses it to call His people back to Him. He uses it to prepare us for something greater.

And ultimately, He uses it to pour out His Spirit on all who will call on His name.

Let’s walk verse by verse through this powerful chapter and see four movements in the message:

A Warning to Be Heeded

2. A Repentance to Be Practiced

3.A Restoration to Be Celebrated

4. A Spirit to Be Poured Out

I. A Warning to Be Heeded (Joel 2:1–11)

[Read Joel 2:1–2]

“Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain!”

The trumpet, the shofar (שׁוֹפָר), was blown in ancient Israel to signal war or to announce a holy convocation.

But here, it’s not calling people to celebrate—it’s warning them of an oncoming disaster.

Joel calls it “the Day of the Lord”—a major theme in his prophecy.

The “Day of the Lord” is a time of divine judgment, both immediate and eschatological.

It is a day when God acts unmistakably in human history.

This could be the judgment of locusts, a foreign army, or ultimately, the return of Christ.

[Read Joel 2:3–9]

The description of the invading army is terrifying.

It moves like locusts—devouring everything in its path.

But it also sounds like a human army—disciplined, destructive, determined.

Verse 6 says, “Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale.”

The Hebrew literally says, “All faces gather blackness” (פָּנִים כִּלְּקוּ פָארוּר)—a poetic way of describing the color draining from people’s faces in fear.

And in verse 11 comes the shocking twist:

“The Lord utters His voice before His army… For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?”

This is not just any army—it is God’s army.

He’s using this judgment as a tool in His hand. That’s sobering.

God sometimes uses even our enemies or disasters to awaken us to spiritual reality.

Application: God is not absent in crisis. He is often speaking most clearly in crisis. But are we listening?

II. A Repentance to Be Practiced (Joel 2:12–17)

[Read Joel 2:12]

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart…”

Those words are grace. “Yet even now”—even after sin, even after rebellion, even after devastation—God is still saying, “Come back.”

Verse 13 is key:

“Rend your hearts, not your garments.”

In ancient Jewish culture, tearing your clothes was a sign of grief.

But God is saying, “Don’t just make a show. I want your heart torn—not your tunic.”

The Hebrew verb for “rend” (qāraʿ, קָרַע) means to tear something violently.

God isn’t asking for half-hearted remorse. He wants deep, genuine brokenness.

[Read Joel 2:13b–14]

Joel appeals to God’s character: He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (cf. Exodus 34:6).

Repentance is not based on what we’ve done—it’s based on who God is.

Verses 15–17 call for a national solemn assembly. Even newlyweds are to leave their honeymoon suite and join the gathering!

Verse 17 is the heartbeat of true intercession:

“Spare your people, O Lord… Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’”

Joel is reminding them—and us—that revival doesn’t begin with emotion; it begins with repentance.

III. A Restoration to Be Celebrated (Joel 2:18–27)

[Read Joel 2:18]

“Then the Lord became jealous for His land and had pity on His people.”

The tone shifts. God responds to repentance with compassion. He becomes jealous (Hebrew qana, קָנָא)—zealous with love for His covenant people.

Verses 19–20 promise a reversal:

Crops will return.

The enemy will be pushed back into the sea.

Shame will be removed.

[Read Joel 2:25]

“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”

What a promise!

Some of you may feel like you’ve wasted years in sin, addiction, apathy, or grief. But the God of Joel 2:25 is able to redeem lost time.

He can make your last chapter more fruitful than your first.

[Read Joel 2:26–27]

“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God…”

No longer ashamed. No longer empty.

The people are restored. The land is revived. And the worship of God is renewed.

IV. A Spirit to Be Poured Out (Joel 2:28–32)

[Read Joel 2:28–29]

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…”

The Hebrew word for “pour out” (shaphak, שָׁפַךְ) is the same used for water being dumped in abundance.

God’s Spirit is no longer reserved for prophets, kings, and priests—but “all flesh.”

Sons and daughters will prophesy.

Old men will dream dreams.

Young men will see visions.

Even servants—those of lowest social status—will be filled with the Spirit.

Fulfillment? Acts 2:16–21. Peter said, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.”

At Pentecost, the Spirit came. But Joel also looks ahead—to a final day of judgment and salvation.

[Read Joel 2:32]

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Paul quotes this in Romans 10:13, declaring that salvation is available to anyone who calls upon the Lord Jesus.

Conclusion:

Joel 2 is a trumpet blast of grace. It warns us—but also woos us.

It begins with terror but ends with hope. God is calling us to repentance, restoration, and revival.

Just like that tornado warning was meant to awaken the town, God’s Word today is meant to awaken our hearts.

Life Applications:

1. Return with Your Heart

Don’t offer God empty ritual or delayed obedience.

Tear your heart, not your garments. Confess. Come clean. Return now.

James 4:8 – “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

2. Rejoice in God’s Restoring Power

Let this truth sink in: God can restore the years the locusts have eaten.

Lost time, lost joy, lost purpose—He can redeem it all.

Isaiah 61:3 – “He gives beauty for ashes.”

3. Rely on the Spirit’s Power Daily

The Spirit has been poured out!

Are you living Spirit-filled or self-filled?

Surrender today. Ask God to revive your heart through His presence.

Ephesians 5:18 – “Be filled with the Spirit…”

-Pray

-Invitation