Joel

Joel brings before us the day of the Lord (Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14), a day that takes in both the judgments prior to the millennium and those after it—it is the Lord’s day in contrast to man’s day. A terrible plague of insects used to stir the conscience of the people (Joel 1) is an alarm for a more terrible day—“a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness” (Joel 2:1, 2). A great, strong people (Joel 2:2), the northern army (vs. 20), will overrun the land (vss. 7-10). However, it is His army executing His word (Joel 2:11), the rod of His anger (Isa. 10:5). Like David of 2 Samuel 24:14, faith seizes hold and takes hope.
A second trumpet sounds (Joel 2:15), not now an alarm, but a call to a solemn assembly (Num. 10:7). It is a call to repentance in view of the chastisements hanging over them. The Lord will respond to the contrite spirit and broken heart of the remnant. He will drive away the northern army on account of their pride (Joel 2:20). He will restore that which the locust has eaten (vs. 25). In grace He would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh (vs. 28), and “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call” (Joel 2:32). Peter in Acts 2—the day of Pentecost—makes an application of this in view of the coming destruction of Jerusalem (Titus, 70 A.D.).
Chapter 3 gives the judgment of the nations, gathered together in the valley of Jehoshaphat (vs. 2), where the harvest takes place—the separation of the good from the wicked (vs. 12; Matt. 25:32). There the Lord will execute His vengeance in the pressing of the vintage (vs. 13). Joel closes with a promise of coming blessing for Judah and Jerusalem (vss. 18-21).