A Dark Time of Judgment

Continuing with our look at the book of Joel--Verse 10 goes on to include a description of some of the physical phenomena of nature that will accompany this struggle. Again, Revelation passages have corresponding descriptions of the same.

Joel 2:10 “The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:”

Revelation 9:2 “And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.”

Isaiah’s prophecy also includes similar descriptions concerning this time of judgment.

Isaiah 13:9-13 “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.”

One of the hurdles to jump in helping to understanding prophecy is to avoid the blindness caused by preconceived ideas. The fact that Joel is prophesying to Israel and events in Revelation are impacting the world is not exclusionary to their applying to the same events. God can and will utilize His judgments in that 7-year period to accomplish both his purification of Israel as a refining fire and in exacting His vengeance upon His enemies in the Gentile nations—two entirely different things.

In verse 18 the message turns from one of judgment to one of promise. Though He has had to exact punishment in accordance with His righteousness, God will also show mercy and compassion toward His people when that judgment is over.

Joel 2:18-19 “Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:”

Though almost impossible to imagine at this time, the time is coming when the LORD is going to abundantly bless the nation of Israel—not only with material prosperity, but by establishing them in a place of honor among the Gentile nations.

I did get an interesting idea when I got to verse 20.

Joel 2:20 “But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.”

I’ll quote directly from my journal at this point. In looking at the Hebrew for the word northern, it was interesting to note that the reference was to a root word defined as “hidden, dark, used only of the north as a quarter (gloomy and unknown).” Many of the enemies of Israel are described in scripture as coming from the north. In this verse, however, I wonder if the emphasis is more on the connection to verse 2 (“a day of darkness and gloominess”) and the unfamiliar army described in verses 4-9.

I have to keep reminding myself how the messages of the prophets often seem to be jumbled so to speak. He can be speaking of something current, then jump forward in time, then jump back in time, etc.

Maybe this is a reference to how the Lord destroys the demon locusts of Revelation 9 that are only allowed to operate for a 5-month period. I am reminded of the time Jesus healed the possessed man in the land of the Gadarenes. The expelled demons were given permission to enter the swine, and the demon-possessed swine jumped into the lake and were drowned.

Luke 8:30-33 “And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.”

Note that the “devils” in Luke did not want to go to the deep, the abussos, the place from which the demon locusts of Revelation 9 ascended. The locusts from Revelation 9 will inhabit some type of body. When their reign of terror ends, maybe the Lord is going to drive them into the Dead Sea [the east sea] and the Mediterranean Sea [the utmost sea]. Maybe the stink will be so great because there will be so many and their the stink will be increased due to the utter wickedness of their being.

Oh well, I hadn’t thought of that possible connection before.