We left off in Joel 2:11, which says, “The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome, and who can endure it?”

Joel 2:12, 13 continues,

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.”

The implication is that this “day of the Lord” is a time of tribulation for Israel and not directed at Israel’s enemies. In fact, we see how this tribulation began when God raised up Assyria to conquer and deport the Israelites—and later when God raised up Babylon to conquer and deport the people of Judah (i.e., “Jews”).

This tribulation might have been avoided altogether if Israel and Judah had repented with their whole heart. But they did not repent, and so this tribulation came upon them, which would last thousands of years to the present day. What we see now is the climax of that tribulation as the modern Assyrians and Babylonians fight to maintain their grip on world dominance, while God overthrows them in favor of His Kingdom.

We live in the final phase of the succession of beast empires described in Daniel 7. The longest phase has been the so-called “little horn,” which is the extension of Rome. The little horn is religious Rome, the Roman Church. Revelation 13 divides the little horn into two parts, the first being the religion itself and the second being the financial banking system that the Rothschilds set up in 1798.

These two final “beasts,” the first from the sea and the second from the earth, have nearly finished their lifespans and are soon to be replaced by God’s Kingdom. This means we are ending the time of tribulation, but it also indicates that we will soon repent and rend our hearts with “fasting, weeping, and mourning.”

That, in turn, suggests that we will soon see the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit, whose job is to convict the world of sin (John 16:8). As always, there will be two different responses to the conviction by the Holy Spirit. There will be some who resist and some who will repent. Those who resist will find themselves under judgment. Those who repent will have a reduced sentence—or even a suspension of judgment.

So the day of the Lord will have both a positive and a negative side to it. The church as a whole has been taught to think in terms of the negative side, but some have seen the positive side, believing that the world will soon see the greatest revival in history. I am of this latter belief, though it is certain that there will also be a negative side (as the Babylonians would perceive it).

Rending Hearts

In Hebrew culture it was common to tear one’s garments when hearing the voice of blasphemy or as a manifestation of grief and repentance. So Joel uses this practice to show the meaning of rending garments. It was an outward show of an inward repentance. Joel 2:13 indicates that God looks at the heart and is more concerned with heart repentance than with the outward show.

The call to repentance is based upon the fact that God “is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger; abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.” In other words, while the law brings judgment for sin, the underlying purpose of the law is to correct sinners and to teach them the ways of righteousness. In other words, the law is there to bring us to a place of repentance.

“Mercy triumphs over judgment,” says James 2:13. The word “triumphs” is from a word that means “to exult over, to rise up over, to have a higher position.” No doubt James was referring to the fact that the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant was positioned over the tablets of the law. The tablets were kept inside the Ark, covered by the mercy seat. So we ought to understand his statement to mean that even though justice is very important, mercy takes precedence over justice.

Yet mercy is mainly given to those who repent.

Joel 2:14 continues,

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?

This seems a bit confusing. The way it is translated, it appears that God will offer us “a grain offering and a drink offering,” when in fact such offerings are what we offer Him. The “blessing” that He leaves “behind Him” is a resumption of harvests, which gives us opportunity to offer Him both grain and wine.

Such offerings, of course, represent attitudes of the heart, especially gratitude. Note also “sacrifice of praise” (Heb. 13:15) and “sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Psalm 50:14).

The Day of Atonement

Joel 2:15 says,

¹⁵ Blow a trumpet [shofar] in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly.

The repentance that is prophesied here is applicable to any time of year on a personal level, but prophetically, it is the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement. This was a day of fasting, introspection, and repentance each year on the 10^th day of the 7^th month. We have yet to see the fulfillment of this on a prophetic, historical level, but it will surely come.

While the silver trumpet was blown on the feast of Trumpets, the shofar was blown on the Day of Atonement. Both are referred to as trumpets, but they had different purposes. The silver trump was blown to summon the people (and to raise the dead) and to mark the start of a new month on their calendar. The shofar was blown to call the people to repent.

Hence, Joel was prophesying a future event, where the people would repent at the end of their time of captivity, effectively ending their time of tribulation. Joel 2:16 says,

¹⁶ Gather the people, sanctify the congregation [kahal, “church”], assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber.

Joel’s use of the word kahal, “congregation,” addresses this command toward the church, because kahal is the Hebrew word that is translated into Greek as ekklesia, “church.” The church is not the institution but the people, the congregation of those called out of Egypt. For us, these are the believers who are called out of the world and its culture to be a holy people.

Joel shows us that the Day of Atonement is a day for the church to repent. Why? The answer is seen in the original story of the 12 spies in Numbers 13 and 14. They gave their report on the 50^th Jubilee from Adam and were supposed to blow the shofar to signal the Jubilee. However, because they believed the evil report of the 10 spies and refused to enter the Kingdom, they had to commemorate this day as a day of mourning, fasting, and repenting. They turned the Jubilee into the Day of Atonement. They turned jubilation into mourning.

Hence, on a prophetic level, this is the day that the church finally repents of its refusal to declare the Jubilee and to enter the Kingdom. The church is seldom taught anything about the Jubilee. If they know anything, their knowledge is quite superficial. “Jesus is our Jubilee,” they say without really understanding the underlying principle that ought to characterize their belief system and their way of life.

One cannot separate the Jubilee from the Restoration of All Things. And the Jubilee as a way of life has to do with being forgivers, as we see in The Lord’s Prayer. Matt. 6:12 says,

¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

All sin is reckoned as a debt, and our ability to forgive others will determine whether or not we receive God’s forgiveness. This is best illustrated in Jesus’ parable in Matt. 18:21-35. The last verse tells us,

³⁵ My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.

The inability to forgive, then, is the equivalent of refusing to believing the good report of Caleb and Joshua so that one might enter the Kingdom. Many church creeds include a belief that God cannot forgive sin after a person has died. They do not understand that the purpose of divine judgment is to correct sinners and to teach them righteousness by means of the “fiery law” (Deut. 33:2 KJV).

The underlying purpose of the Day of Atonement is to teach us the principle of the Jubilee.

Joel 2:16 gives us a sense of urgency and priority when it says that the bridegroom should “come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber” in order to gather before God in repentance on the Day of Atonement. One’s wedding day is very important and normally takes priority over every other event. However, both bride and bridegroom should interrupt their wedding plans if they conflict with this day of repentance.

On another level, of course, this also implies the coming of the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, in the sequence of events that are fulfilled in the Autumn feast days. The feast of Trumpets is the day when the dead overcomers are raised. The Day of Atonement (Jubilee) is the preparation day for the feast of Tabernacles, wherein the living overcomers are brought to full birth as sons of God. The eighth day of Tabernacles is when the sons of God are to be presented to God according to the law in Exodus 22:29, 30.

Joel 2:17 continues,

¹⁷ Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, and so not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’”

Note that this is a command to “the priests, the Lord’s ministers” and not to unbelieving Babylonians. Even though these priests are God’s ministers, it does not mean that they were particularly righteous. In fact, unrighteous ministers have held positions in church government even though they were unworthy. Hence, they too must repent.

In the case of the Old Covenant priests, Jesus condemned them in Matt. 23:34, 23:35,

³⁴ Therefore, behold, I am sending you [Jerusalem] prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ³⁵ so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

The priests must repent in the very place where they murdered Zechariah, the son of Berechiah. Let no one think of them as righteous priests.

Deliverance

Joel 2:18, 19 says,

¹⁸ Then the Lord will be zealous for His land and will have pity on His people. ¹⁹ The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied in full with them; and I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.

Who are “His people”? They are the people of faith, those who have New Covenant faith. These are children of Abraham, the father of the New Covenant, as we see from the writings of the New Testament.

Those who are of the Old Covenant were given the opportunity to be righteous by the power of their own will (Exodus 19:8). But even after 40 years in the wilderness, God found it necessary to make a second covenant that would make them His people. Deut. 29:12, 13 says,

¹² that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into HIS OATH which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³ in order that He may establish you today as His people…

In other words, they had not yet become “His people,” because they were incapable of doing so by the power of the flesh or by their own oath. It would take a second covenant, based on God’s oath, to make them “His people.”

God’s (chosen) people were always a tiny minority among the Israelites. In Elijah’s day there were just 7,000 of them (Rom. 11:4). These are identified in Rom. 11:7 as “those who were chosen.” Hence, race is not the basis of being “chosen.” It is faith. That is why Paul insists that the children of Abraham are those who follow his example of New Covenant faith (Gal. 3:7).

Therefore, when Joel speaks of deliverance, which is another word for salvation, it applies specifically to those who repent and have faith in Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12 says,

¹² And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

Jesus’ Hebrew name is Yeshua, “salvation.” That is the name Peter was referring to.

We understand, of course, that there are different forms of deliverance. The overcomers will be delivered fully from the curse of mortality and the bondage of sin as they are perfected through the feast of Tabernacles. The church at large, along with the multitudes that will come to Christ, will be delivered from the bondage of the Babylonian beast system. Yet they will have to wait for the general resurrection before receiving their reward of “life” (John 5:28, 29).

Removing the Northern Army of Locusts

Joel 2:20 says,

²⁰ But I will remove the northern army far from you, and I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, and its vanguard into the eastern sea [the Dead Sea]. And its stench will arise and its foul smell will come up, for it has done great things [grievous things deserving judgment].

When a huge swarm of locusts die at the same time, having lived out their life span, it can create a huge stench. Joel’s prophecy speaks of the day when repentance ends the long era of tribulation. Metaphorically speaking, God will drive this “locust” army into the Dead Sea, which pictures death itself.

The locusts are God’s army. Originally, God raised up the Assyrians and Babylonians as His army. Later on, in the first century, God raised up the Roman army to destroy Jerusalem (Matt. 22:7). God always takes credit for such events. These nations did not achieve power by the strength of arms or by the power of their own will.

When their purpose (as vessels of dishonor) is fulfilled, then God stops the judgment and removes them. The captivities in the Bible always end when the people repent. We cannot hope to defeat them by educating people as to their usurpation of power or their unjust ways. This is why Daniel himself never fomented a revolution to overthrow the Babylonian government. It is also why Jesus never raised an army to overthrow the Romans.

The “northern army” that God is removing originally was the Assyrian army which marched south into Israel. Assyria has long passed from the scene, so the modern army is an army of bureaucrats, media reporters, college professors, and other proponents of Mystery Babylon and its culture. These have come into America and the world like swarms of locusts to consume anything righteous and prepare the earth for the rule of Satan.

The time of the locusts, however, is now ending, as God pushes them into the Dead Sea.

Good News

Joel 2:21, 22 says,

²¹ Do not fear, O land [adama], rejoice and be glad, for the Lord has done great things. ²² Do not fear, beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness have turned green, for the tree has borne its fruit, the fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.

The NASB (above) translates adama as “land,” as if to imply the old land of Israel. But adama refers to the soil or ground from which the trees are able to grow and bear fruit. The usual word for “land” is eretz. The context shows that adama is connected to trees, crops, and greenery.

Joel 2:23 continues,

²³ So rejoice, O sons of Zion, and be glad in the Lord your God; for He has given you the early rain [moreh, “archer, teacher”] for your vindication [tsedekah, “righteousness”], and He has poured down for you the rain, the early [moreh] and latter rain [malkoshe, “spring or latter rain”] as before.

There were two rainy seasons in Israel. The early rain was in November, which prepared the ground for planting. The latter rain came in the Spring between Passover and Pentecost, which allowed the wheat to ripen in time for Pentecost. James 5:7 comments on this:

⁷ Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.

Both Joel and James use the rain metaphor to refer to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost in Acts 2 saw the latter rain, while the early rain, which we look for, comes in association with the feast of Tabernacles. Both rains play their part in the production of fruit.

Note also that the Hebrew word moreh has a double meaning: early rain and archer/teacher. Joel uses this to set forth both concepts. Jesus Christ was the Teacher of Righteousness (or “Zadok”), the great Archer who never misses the mark in His teaching. It was His first mission on earth that paved the way for the latter rain at Pentecost.

The Sadducees understood Joel 2:23 as well. The founder of their priestly class was named Zadok, and they believed that he fulfilled Joel’s prophecy. As believers in Christ, we disagree, of course. Nonetheless, it shows how Joel 2:23 should be understood, applying it to Christ.

James himself points to the long-term prophecy, telling us that God is like a patient farmer who must await both comings of Christ and both spiritual downpours before we reach the time of harvest and rejoicing.

The two rains, then prophesy of the two comings of Christ, much like the two birds (Lev. 14) and the two goats (Lev. 16). One bird, one goat, and one rain is not sufficient to complete the work of the Farmer. There is a teaching called “the finished work of Christ,” which claims that Christ’s work was finished at the cross. Prophecy shows otherwise, for it takes two works to complete.