Overview of "Joel"

Have you ever been “warned” about something? - (if you do that the end result may not be good)

Talk Thru the Bible - “The Minor Prophets from Obadiah to Malachi cover a four-hundred-year span of history moving through the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Empires. Three were prophets to the northern kingdom (Jonah, Amos, Hosea), six were prophets to the southern kingdom (Obadiah, Joel, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk), and three were postexilic prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)”

Proposition - As we come to the book of Joel this evening we are going to see how the “day of the Lord” is explained, and exemplified throughout the book.

How are you living in light of the “day of the Lord?”

Background Info

Author - Joel - “Jehovah is God”

Date - I believe it was written around 825 BC this is right around when the kingdom was divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.

Audience - “Judah”

Judah, to the south, included the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

Theme - “Day of the Lord” - God’s judgments on the nations

The Phrase the “Day of the Lord” is used in the following passages -

Joel 1:15 (NASB95)

Alas for the day!

For the day of the Lord is near,

And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Joel 3:14–16 NASB95

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness. 16 The Lord roars from Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremble. But the Lord is a refuge for His people And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.

Joel 2:1 (NASB95)

Blow a trumpet in Zion,

And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

For the day of the Lord is coming;

Surely it is near,

Joel 2:11 (NASB95)

The Lord utters His voice before His army;

Surely His camp is very great,

For strong is he who carries out His word.

The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome,

And who can endure it?

Joel 2:31 (NASB95)

“The sun will be turned into darkness

And the moon into blood

Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

Joel 3:14 (NASB95)

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!

For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

MacArthur - “The phrase does not have reference to a chronological time period, but to a general period of wrath and judgment uniquely belonging to the Lord. It is exclusively the day which unveils His character—mighty, powerful, and holy, thus terrifying His enemies. The Day of the Lord does not always refer to an eschatological event; on occasion it has a near historical fulfillment, as seen in Ezek. 13:5, where it speaks of the Babylonian conquest and destruction of Jerusalem. As is common in prophecy, the near fulfillment is an historic event upon which to comprehend the more distant, eschatological fulfillment.”

Key Verse - Joel 2:13

Joel 2:13 NASB95

13 And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.

I. The Judgment against Judah and the Day of the Lord (1:1–2:17)

A. Locust invasion: forerunner of the day of the Lord (1:1–20)

B. Army invasion: the arrival of the day of the Lord (2:1–17)

Elders -

Joel 1:2–4 NASB95

2 Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers’ days? 3 Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation. 4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

Drunkards -

Joel 1:5–9 NASB95

5 Awake, drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth. 6 For a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness. 7 It has made my vine a waste And my fig tree splinters. It has stripped them bare and cast them away; Their branches have become white. 8 Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth. 9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, The ministers of the Lord.

Farmers -

Joel 1:10–12 NASB95

10 The field is ruined, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails. 11 Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed. 12 The vine dries up And the fig tree fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dry up. Indeed, rejoicing dries up From the sons of men.

Priests -

Joel 1:13–14 NASB95

13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth And lament, O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth O ministers of my God, For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God. 14 Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord.

II. The Mercy of the Lord and Judgment against the Nations (2:18–3:21)

A. The Lord’s Mercy - (2:18–32)

B. Joel’s Plead -

Joel 1:19–20 NASB95

19 To You, O Lord, I cry; For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. 20 Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

C. The Lord’s Kindness -

Joel 2:12–14 NASB95

12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil. 14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God?

D. Judgment: the Lord’s judgment against the nations and his dwelling with his people (3:1–21)

Joel 3:3 NASB95

3 “They have also cast lots for My people, Traded a boy for a harlot And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.

Joel 3:5–6 NASB95

5 “Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples, 6 and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory,

So what??

Believer - How are you living in light of the “day of the Lord?

Unbeliever - get right with the Lord “today”