Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the LORD is coming, for it is at hand: 2 A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. 3 A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them. 4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run. 5 With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array. 6 Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color. 7 They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. 8 They do not push one another; every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down. 9 They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief. 10 The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. 11 The LORD gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His Word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it?
“With this chapter we reach the heart of the prophecy of Joel. The description of the literal locust plague is now no longer continued. As we have shown the literal locusts in their different stages were symbolical of nations laying waste the land as the locusts had done. Dispensationally the first chapter stands for the entire times of the Gentiles, which began with Nebuchadnezzar Daniel 2:36-49 , and they continue till the time comes when the God of heaven sets up a kingdom that cannot be destroyed. The second chapter takes us at once to the end of the times of the Gentiles, when the day of the Lord is to be enacted.” (Gaebelein)
“’Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain!’ — Blow the trumpet implies war (Jer. 42:14). The trumpet was sounded in order to call people to arms (Judg. 3:27; Jer. 51:27), to start an attack (Judg. 7:18–22) or to call off an attack (2 Sam. 2:28; 18:16). In a city the trumpet was a sound of alarm, causing people to tremble because it signalled the approach of an enemy. It invited everybody to take refuge behind the city walls and prepare for defence (Ezek. 33:2–5; Amos 3:6; cf. Judg. 9:34–39). The expression is often used in prophetic literature to announce judgment in the form of a military attack (Jer. 4:5; 6:1; Hos. 5:8).” (Tchavdar S. Hadjiev—Joel— Tyndale OT Commentaries) “With it, the whole human hope of Judah was gone. “‘Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble’— We should be troubled when we hear the words of God, rebuking, threatening, avenging, as Jeremiah saith, 'my heart within me is broken, all my bones shake, because of the Lord and because of the words of His holiness' Jeremiah 23:9. — ‘for the day of the LORD is coming’ (1) - the day of antichrist, the day of general or particular judgment, of which James says, ‘The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Behold the Judge standeth before the door', James 5:8-9." (Albert Barnes)
“‘A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.’ (2) The locusts are but the faint shadow of the coming evils, yet as the first harbingers of God’s successive judgments, the imagery, even in tills picture is probably taken from them…” (Albert Barnes)
“‘A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them.’ (3) Eternal destruction is is threatening from the four corners of the land. The Assyrian who came in Joel’s day to take Jerusalem "is the type of the final Assyrian who threatens the land and the people with destruction... This army of [spirtual] Israel’s enemies finds the land like the garden of Eden; it has been restored through political Zionism, irrigated and cultivated. The Jews are at it now, determined to make Palestine the garden-spot of the world, their Eden, as it has been said. Then comes the rude awakening. They thought themselves safe; they dreamed that their plans they had made without trusting in the Lord and without true repentance, had fully succeeded.” (Arno Gaebelein) Then is the time of Jacob's trouble.
“’The appearance of them (the enemy) is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen,’ (4a) John had a similar vision win Revelation 9: Evil spirits takes on flesh with human agents: “The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.” — “A description of the locusts appears to be taken from Joel 2:4.” (Adam Clarke) While Clarke relates this phrase to “the troops of Mohammed”, others relate it to the Roman Empire. But it is applied also to the little horn, that raised itself out of Rome (Dan 7:8). “On their heads were crowns of something like gold,” — not the godly gold crowns belonging to the saints but ones "like" them, these subjects having a form of godliness, but denying the powers thereof. “The wicked ideas are always advocated from premises of virtue and benevolence; false ideas promise all kinds of victories and utopias; but, alas, the crowns are not really gold at all, but tinsel." (Burton Coffman) “And their faces were like the faces of men.” (Rev 9:7)— “that is, though locusts symbolically, they are really men.” (Adam Clarke) "Back of every evil on earth, in the last analysis, there looms the face of an evil man." (Burton Coffman) Thus: “… John describes the power and influence of hell operating in the hearts and lives of wicked men." (William Hendriksen) — “’They had hair like women’s hair” for a covering (cp 1 Cor. 11:15). This “speaking of subjection, reminds us of their total subjection to infernal, satanic authority.” (L. M. Grant)— “‘and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.’ (Rev 9:8)— "Despite the feminine appearance, the true nature of this horde is seen in the teeth, namely, that of utter destructiveness." (Burton Coffman) "And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron" representing Judgment. It seemed as if no force would be able availed against them. But they had not that "breastplate of righteousness in place." (Eph. 6:14)— "and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle." (Rev 9:9) "Their hanging weapons and military trappings, with the clang of their shields and swords when they make their fierce onsets. This simile is borrowed from Joel 2:5-7." (Adam Clarke) These men “had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails.”— "They infected the conquered with their pernicious doctrines." (Adam Clarke) — "And they have the power to hurt the evil men of the earth five months" (Rev 9:10)— a long time, “but incidentally a definite time, fixed by the Lord, beyond which they did not dare to go… (Paul Kretzmann) “And they had a king over them - the angel of the bottomless pit, called in the Hebrew, Abaddon; and in Greek, Apollyon…” (v. 11) whom you may call, ‘the destroyer’: who drives the whole world both Jews and Gentiles into the destruction that belongs to himself." (Geneva Study Bible)
“‘With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array. Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color. They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. They do not push one another; every one marches in his own column.”(5-8a) In that day, as in the days of old, “there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)— “Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down.” They are reserved for the Judgment. “They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief.” “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) “The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. ’ (5-10) as a Mt Sinai— “no one can stand before the fury of the wrath of the Judge (cf. Jer 10:10; Mal 3:1).” (Keil)
Here the enemies of Jehovah are seen to be within the camp- an apostate church, even of old. They are the ones arrayed against the LORD of Host- against Jehovah and His annointed One. This is “a picture of the dreadful consequences of the present and temporary locust plague; but it is also a picture of the future judgment of God upon Israel, being also, even a type of the final judgment of all humanity on the Last Day.” (Coffman Commentary)
The Lord also has an army. “And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:17) “The LORD gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His Word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it?” (10) He gives voice His messengers. “The passage there is a reference to the eternal judgment. As Keil observed: ‘That these words affirm something infinitely greater than the darkening of the lights of heaven by storm-clouds is evident from the predictions of the wrath of the Lord ... at which the whole fabric of the universe trembles and nature clothes itself in mourning.’ [Keil] ‘These words give a theological and eschatological interpretation of the locust invasion.’ [John A. Thompson]...”( Coffman Commentary)
Joel 2:12 “Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him— a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?
My distinct, personal beliefs are herein affirmed, in my mind at least. Firstly, the traditional view of future punishment is herein refuted. He does not want to do us harm. Surely He will not do it throughout eternity. The truth of the text is that He does not want to destroy us with this world, as Judah— the remnant of Israel— was laid waste.
Secondly, heart repentance changes His mind in real time. Thus, open theism is surely the way in which God deals with mankind.
“‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart and not your garment’ Let it not be merely outward-— "a rending of your garments, but let your hearts be truly contrite. Merely external worship and hypocritical pretensions will only increase the evil, and cause God to meet you with heavier judgments.” (Adam Clarke)
“‘Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. ‘ These glorious titles and attributes are those back parts of God. [found first in Exodus 34:6- ]... We need see no more than these that we may live.” (Trapp) “On Sinai, He had shown His terribleness [to executed judgment. The wage of sin is death; they would surely die, according to the first promise of God recorded in the Bible, “In the day you eat thereof, you will surely die.”(Rom 6:23; Gen 2:17)]
NOW, in the act of pardoning His people and taking them once more into favour, He made known His attribute of mercy. The more to impress this feature of His character on Israel, He accumulated epithet on epithet... STILL, to prevent the fatal misapprehension that He is a Being of pure and mero benevolence (Butler, Analogy, p. 41). He added, to complete the description, a reference to His justice. He 'will by no means clear the guilty' (cf. Nahum 1:3), and will 'visit iniquity to the third and fourth generation.’ (cf. Exodus 20:5.)” (C. J. Ellicott)
“Who knows if He will turn and relent,’ —i.e., in the sense that of His own will He would not [require] the death of a sinner. The judgments of God, like His mercies, are conditional. As the ‘Lord repented (i.e., grieved) that He had made Saul king over Israel,’ and revoked the appointment, so now He repenteth Him of the evil which will fall on His people if impenitent. If they will repent, it may be He will do it not.” (C. J. Ellicott)— “and leave a blessing behind Him— a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?“ There will not a restoration of daily sacrifices in Israel, but He will make the once for all sacrifice of Jesus effective again.
“God’s willingness to adjust his plans in light of new circumstances is described as one of God’s attributes of greatness (Joel 2:12–13; Jon. 3:10). It’s hard to understand what these passages mean if God faces an exhaustively settled future. The only one who knows the nature of the future with certainty is God and, as shown, he speaks about it both in terms of what will come to pass and in terms of what may or may not come to pass. Open Theists thus conclude that the future is partly settled and partly open—and God knows it as such.” (Across the Spectrum by Greg A. Boyd and Paul R. Eddy) These attributes “were displayed in their most glorious light in the redemption of the world by the death of Jesus..." (Thomas Coke) Come to Him all you are are tired of striving in the flesh. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and live.
Joel 2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call sacred assembly; 16 gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room. 17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”
“Here is the Lord calling to His people to return unto Him with true repentance (cp. Hosea 5:15; 6:11). And during that great tribulation there will be a truly penitent portion of the people who turn to Him in the manner described in this chapter. It is this remnant which will be saved in that day, while the impenitent part will be cut off in judgment. Ezekiel 20:38 and Zechariah 13:8-9 speak of this. What Moses spoke long ago now takes place Deuteronomy 30:1-20 ). The many prophetic prayers recorded in the Psalms, as pointed out in the annotations of that book, will then be offered up by this godly waiting remnant Psalms 44:13-26 ; 115:2-18; 79:9-13 , etc.). This mourning and prayer for deliverance precedes the visible manifestation of the Lord in the day of His coming. When at last deliverance has come there will be another lamentation. This is found in Zechariah 12:9-14 and in Revelation 1:7.” (Arno Gaebelein)
Let the priests.. weep between the porch and the altar - The porch in this, Solomon’s temple, was in fact a tower, in front of the holy of holies, of the same breadth with the temple, namely, 20 cubits, and its depth half its breadth, namely, 10 cubits 1 Kings 6:3, and its height 120 cubits, the whole ‘overlaid within with pure gold’ 2 Chronicles 3:4 [signifying deity]. The brass altar for burnt-offerings stood in front of it 2 Chronicles 8:12 . The altar was of brass, twenty cubits square; and so, equal in breadth to the temple itself, and ten cubits high 2 Chronicles 4:1 [signifying judgment, where the victim was destroyed by fire]…. The space then between the porch and the altar was enclosed on those two sides 2 Chronicles 7:7; it became an inner part of the court of the priests… Here, in the exercise of his office, Zechariah was standing 2 Chronicles 24:20-21; Matthew 23:35, when the Spirit of God came upon him and he rebuked the people and they stoned him. Here the priests, with their faces toward the holy of holies and the temple which He had filled with His Glory, were to weep.” (Albert Barnes)
“Let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them.’ It is the time of the Gentiles. "All mention of the locusts is dropped. The lesser calamity is swallowed up in the apprehension of the greater.” (C. J. Ellicott) — “Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God? ’We often accept an agnostic faith and don’t seek the LORD. The prophet Isaiah, likewise, declares, "Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." (Isa 59:1-2) There is a message that we must hear before we receive the message of the cross. It was written 700 years before the birth of the Christ and was referenced by the Words of John the Baptist "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord' (Isa 40:3), as the prophet Isaiah said." (John 1:23) —> Here is John’s sermon written by Isaiah— the prophet of old: “The voice said, ‘Cry out!’ And he said, ‘What shall I cry?’— ‘All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever. O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah: 'Behold your God!’” (Isa 40:6-9)
The first lesson of the predecessor to Christ is that everything in this world will wither and die, including you and me…"but the Word of our God stands forever." The second part of the prophet’s message is about Christ — "Behold your God."
Jesus said, "…he who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14:8-9) If Jesus was just a good man, then preaching of the cross is futile. As I have searched the Scriptures, I have found that Jesus is One with the Father (John 10:30)—the Creator of the world (John 1:3)—"the Lord from Heaven"(1 Cor 15:47) and "the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb 12:2). He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 1:3). And the Word He has spoken will judge us!
Reflections on Joel 2:18-27
“Then,” in the day of the stone cut without hands, that Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision and Daniel explained, “the LORD will be zealous for His land, and pity His people.” “Upon repentance, all is changed. Before, God seemed set upon their destruction.” (Albert Barnes) Yea, the LORD will answer… ‘Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil’: fruitful seasons shall come when God sends them, His command to the heavens to pour down their sweet and fruitful influences shall certainly be obeyed; these must hear God, and then the earth shall hear the corn, and wine, and oil, as Hosea 2:21,22.” (Matthew Poole)— ‘and ye shall be satisfied therewith’” ( Joel 2:19) lacking nothng good.
“I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations. But I will remove far from you the northern army, and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, with his face toward the eastern sea and his back toward the western sea; His stench will come up, and his foul odor will rise, because he has done monstrous things.” (Joel 2:19b-20)
“Thus Joel declares the complete destruction of the enemies of Israel, who having completed the purpose of vengeance for which they were summoned, and, like the Assyrians under the walls of Jerusalem, having exalted themselves against the Lord, perish miserably under the stroke of His power.” (C. J. Ellicott) This must be after the Judgment.
“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done marvelous things! Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; for the open pastures are springing up, and the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their strength.” (Joel 2:21-22)
“In the former part of this prophecy the land is elegantly represented as mourning, the beasts groaning, and the herds of cattle as greatly distressed; the rivers of water dried up, and the pastures of the wilderness as all consumed.” (Joseph Benson) That was the curse on the earth and the people. But in the new earth, as Isaiah also taught: “The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:8-9)— “Animate and inanimate, rational and irrational—which had been included in the curse is summoned to rejoice in the blessing vouchsafed by the Lord.” (C. J. Ellicott) Mankind’s lot is based on conditional responses…. but these [land and creature] are surely part of the consummation or restitution of all things. (Romans 8:22)
“Be glad then, YE CHILDREN OF ZION, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.’ (Joel 2:23) The rain speaks to the Spirit coming down from above. “The agricultural year in Palestine consisted of two seasons, a rainy and a dry. ‘Towards the end of October heavy rains begin to fall, at intervals, for a day or several days at a time. These are what the English Bible calls the early or former rain, Heb. yôreh, the pourer. It opens the agricultural year; the soil, hardened and cracked by the long summer, rainless since May, is loosened, and the farmer begins ploughing. Till the end of November the average rainfall is not large, but it increases through December, January and February, begins to abate in March, and is practically over by the end of April. The latter rains, Heb. malḳosh, from a root meaning to be late, are the heavy showers of March and April. Coming as they do when the grain is ripening, and being the last before the long summer drought, they are of far more importance to the country than all the rains of the winter months, and that is why these are so frequently passed over in Scripture, and emphasis is laid only on the early and latter rains1[129]’ (HGHL, pp. 63, 64)…. The growth of the vine and olive depend, like the ripening of the corn, essentially on the latter rain; and the olive requires the rainless summer for the ripening of its berries (op. cit. 300).” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
“‘And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.’ —i.e., the years which would have been necessary in the ordinary course of nature for the land to recover from the ravages of the ‘great army.’”(C. J. Ellicott) “‘Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God and there is no other.’ (Joel 2:25-27) Thus, Jesus speaks, “My true Israel, obedient Israel; I am with them to bless them, defend them, guide them, and provide for them.”(Matthew Poole)
“My people shall never be put to shame.” (Joel 2:27b) Here is the word [rhema] of faith which we preach): “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’(Isaiah 2816) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”(Joel 2:32a) “One of the delightful things about studying the Bible is that just when we think we have mastered one of its great doctrines another complementary doctrine comes along to challenge our still limited understanding and stretch our vision.” [Bible Study Fellowship International] And here we have gone from “He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens” (Rom 9:18) to the identity of those on whom He will have mercy—“whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”(Joel 2:32a; Rom 10:13 )
And that is how people are added to that last, blessed Kingdom that Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision of “a stone cut without hands” which would obliterated all of the the kingdoms of this world. This is an expression "always emphasizing the absence of all human instrumentality and the act of God alone. See Daniel 2:45; Daniel 8:25. Job 34:20. Lamentations 4:6. Compare Acts 7:48; Acts 17:24, Acts 17:25; Acts 19:26. 2 Corinthians 5:1. Ephesians 2:11. Colossians 2:11. Hebrews 9:11, Hebrews 9:21.” (E.W. Bullinger) "The spiritual kingdom of the Lord Jesus, which is to last for ever, and diffuse itself over the whole earth.” (Adam Clarke)
Joel 2:28 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, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 32 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls.
“‘And it shall come to pass afterward.’-after the teacher of righteousness has been sent, and a plentiful rain of the Gospel has been let down in the land of Judea, in the ministry of John the Baptist, Christ and his apostles, and such a comfortable enjoyment of the blessings of grace in it, and the knowledge of God by it; and after the wonderful work of redemption wrought by Christ.” (John Gill)— “‘that I will pour out My Spirit’—under the new covenant: not merely, let fall drops, as under the Old Testament (Joh 7:39).” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) “The prophets mostly poured comfort into the wounds of their hearers. There is no period of jewish history to which this prophecy can be applied, but to the day of Pentecost, and to the Spirit given to gentiles, as well as to the jews. Acts 10:44.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)— “‘upon all flesh.’ — i.e., without distinction of race or person—‘They of the circumcision were astonished because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 10:45).”(C.J. Ellicott) “It does not include every individual in the race, but it includes the whole race, and individuals throughout it, in every nation, sex, condition, ‘Jew or Gentile, Greek or Barbarian,’ i. e., educated or uneducated, rich or poor, bond or free, male or female.” (Albert Barnes) —“’your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.’ (Joel 2:28) "As they had visions and dreams in ancient times, so will they now have clearer revelations.” (Geneva Study Bible)
Particularly- "‘Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy:… By pouring out of the Holy Spirit on your sons and your daughters, they shall have as clear and full knowledge of the deep mysteries of God’s law as prophets beforetime had….— ‘Your old men shall dream dreams’— no difference of age, to old men who had been long blind in the things of God the mysteries of grace shall be revealed, and these shall know as certainly and clearly as if God had extraordinarily revealed himself to them by dreams sent of God upon them. — ‘Your young men shall see visions’; many young men shall be as eminent in knowledge as if the things known were communicated by vision. In a word, all knowledge of God and his will shall abound among all ranks, sexes, and ages in the Messiah’s days, and not only equal, but surpass, all that formerly was by prophecy dreams, or visions.” (Matthew Poole)
“‘And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.’ (Joel 2:29) They will not be bondservants any longer, having to go to prophets to judge by the law. “They shall be the free men and women of Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 7:22 , by as full a measure of God’s free and noble Spirit bestowed upon them as upon their masters and mistresses.” (John Trapp)— “‘And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke’. (Joel 2:30)—These words, recalling some of the portents in the ancient history of the Jews (especially as instanced in some of the plagues of Egypt) are taken up by our Lord Himself, as ushering in the great day of judgment; and they are echoed again by St. John in the vision of the opening of the sixth seal: ‘For the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?’ (Comp. Joel 2:11 of this chapter.) The sun and moon, &c., may include the luminaries in heaven and the potentates on earth.” (C.J. Ellicott)— “‘The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.’ (Joel 2:31) By strange and stupendous eclipses: such as was that of the moon for 12 nights together, a little before the last destruction of Jerusalem.” (John Trapp) It was then that the transference of worship and learning to people of all nation, sex and condition. We got just a taste of this change when a Samaritan woman said to Jesus, “’Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will (worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’” (John 4:19-24)
“’And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls.’ (Joel 2:32) ‘St. Paul quotes from this verse (Romans 10:13), transferring the reference to the Messianic advent, to prove the universality of the deliverance effected by our Lord, who abolished the difference between Jew and Greek.” (C.J. Ellicott)
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