Chapter 1

Introduction

Joel is the earliest of all the prophets. The book was written somewhere around 830-800 BC. Joel is a contemporary of Homer, although they lived in different parts of the world. He is a person who dealt with a catastrophe in his day. He lived in the southern kingdom of Judah and in his day there was a terrible catastrophe, a locust invasion which almost destroyed the economy of the country. Joel teaches us the lesson that is hard to find at times in other prophets but it is there with all of them. The prophets were preachers and they were discussing problems of their day and one of the most important things is to be able to recapture the life of their day and the problems of their day because all of their eschatology was based upon something pertinent to their time. In other words, future events are used by Joel to meet the problems of his day. In his day it was a locust invasion which had a very detrimental effect upon the economy of the country. But fifty years after Joel, and for about two hundred years, it is going to be the Assyrian invasions under the principle of the 4th cycle of discipline. So every prophet is dealing with the problems of his day and he didn’t give a lot of abstruse, obscure information about the Tribulation. The Tribulation just paralleled the events of his day and therefore the message of the Tribulation is often something that parallels something that happens at that time. So Joel becomes a marvelous illustration of how to interpret the prophets.

Chapter 1, verse 1 is actually the title of the book. The phrase “the word of the Lord” refers to divine revelation.

Some points on Joel

1. Joel means Jehovah is God, and it is specifically a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ who has always been the revealed member of the Trinity to mankind. The background, the ability, the education, the honours and the attainments of the prophet are unknown. Isaiah and Amos both quote him and most of the prophets use his vocabulary. In other words, he set the mark for Hebrew eschatology.

2. It is not the man, it is the message. We have very little information about his person but we do have the content of his message preserved by the Holy Spirit.

3. The Lord could get along without Joel but Joel could not get along without the Lord. In other words, if Joel had not written this book the Lord would have found someone else. This means that there is no human being indispensable to the Lord’s work.

4. Joel was the earliest of the prophets; he is the only pre-Assyrian prophet.

5. Joel was a prophet in the southern kingdom and he ministered around Jerusalem in the days of Joash, 837-800 BC. Fifty years after Joel’s ministry is over we have the rise of the great Assyrian empire. It began it’s peak in 745 BC and went all the way to 611 BC.

6. The background for Joel’s prophecy is the national disaster to Israel — the locust plague which caused an economic depression. That national catastrophe is under the 3rd cycle of discipline which promises economic disaster.

7. The locust plague became the basis of Joel’s eschatology and he warns of the invasion of the Assyrians.

8. God warns every nation through national disaster. He never removes a nation from its place in history without adequate warning.

9. In Joel’s day the national catastrophe was economic depression but in the next century it would be Assyrian invasion. And all of this was because the Jews rejected Bible doctrine — Deuteronomy 28:15, 17, 18, 23-26 [the curse for so doing].

10. We have several ways of establishing that Joel was written before any of the other prophets. One of them is quotations. Amos 1:2 quotes Joel 3:16; Amos 9:13 quotes Joel 3:18 — Amos prophesied in the northern kingdom at about 810- 785 BC. Amos obviously studied Joel. Isaiah also quotes Joel — Isaiah 13:6 is quoting Joel 1:15.

11. One other thing to establish the early date of Joel: there is no mention of a king in Judah. There was a king — Joash — but at this time he is a minor, he is under the guardianship of the high priest Jehoiada. It is very interesting to notice that the priests and the elders are mentioned but never the king, he is just a young boy. So Joel prophesied during the infancy of Joash, and before Joash came of age and ascended the throne. The country was ruled y two classes: the elders and the priests.

“the son of Pethuel” — Pethuel means the graciousness of God. This is the name of the father and the name would indicate that someone understood Bible doctrine, someone was oriented to the plan of God and to the grace of God. More than that, apparently Pethuel was well versed in Bible doctrine and his name stands at the end of verse one as a monument to all parents who communicate doctrine to their children.

Verses 2-7: a national disaster warning about the Assyrian empire.

Verse 2 — “Hear,” qal imperative; “this” refers to the message of the locust invasion. Note in verse 4: there were four species of locusts. These are four Assyrian kings which are going to be used to discipline Judah who is out of line doctrinally, she is not staying with the Word of God. Therefore, the Lord is going to send four warnings under the fourth cycle of discipline. That is why we start verse two with the phrase: “Here ye” — Get the message!

“ye old men” — this doesn’t mean old in the sense of age. This is the word “elder.” .It refers to the rulers during the infancy of the king Joash. The elders are responsible for the country. The word elder does not refer to old age but to one who is in a position of authority, someone who is acting as a regent. It was a regency period when Joel ministered his prophecy and he is going to talk about three subjects in this chapter: a. The present catastrophe which is economic — the locust invasion; b. The Assyrians who will administer the fourth cycle of discipline; c. The king of the north. So Joel actually has a dual message eschatological: his own day, and then the Assyrian disaster which is comparable to something that happens in the Tribulation. In the last half of the Tribulation the king of the north is going to invade Palestine, comparable to the Assyrian invasions. So we have what we call a dual fulfillment of prophecy — the near fulfillment and the far fulfillment.

“all of ye inhabitants” — Qal active participle, linear aktionsart, which means the actual citizens. “hath this been in your days?” — an idiom. “Did you ever see anything like this?” Apparently this was the first time in all of the records of Palestine when there had been such a disastrous locust invasion; “in the days of your fathers” — that is the days of written records. No Jew had ever seen such a devastating plague of locusts.

Verse 3 — There must come some teaching from this disaster. “Tell ye your children” — the country is in apostasy and in trouble. Both the elders and the priests will be indicted later on. So now we get down to grass roots. The inhabitants of the land are going to have children. To recover from this type of apostasy takes a generation. And where do you start? You start with the children.

When he says: “Tell ye the children,” this is the piel stem. This is intensive, it means: Teach the children. We need to remember that the only heritage that we can pass on that is permanent and stable is Bible doctrine. When Bible doctrine passes from one generation to another, then you have something that is solid — otherwise you have nothing.

“of it” — literally, “about it.” Not just the unprecedented disaster of the locust invasion which is destroying the crops, but the prophecies and the doctrines with regard to the future of the southern kingdom of Judah. And Joel now sets a pattern for all the prophets, and all of the prophets [with the exception of Daniel] from Isaiah to Malachi have the same pattern. They take disasters which occur in their country and use them as a basis of warning their nation. Joel will warn of the 4th cycle of discipline. Later on people like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosea, will warn of the 5th cycle of discipline. Then we have Zechariah and Malachi who warn of “stay in the Word or these cycles will come again” .So all of these prophets have a message to the people of their own day. Isaiah’s message is the thing that will stave off the Sennacherib invasion, the cankerworm in verse four.

Verse 4 — We have an interpretation which is based on entomology. In other words, what are these bugs? We have eschatology: each one of these locust invasions represents an Assyrian invasion of Judah. Interpretation: literal locust invasions. Fifty years after Joel departs from the scene we have the first of four great Assyrian invasions — Tiglath-Pileser III. We have four types of locusts here and each one of the four represents one of the great Assyrian kings — Tiglath-Pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon.

“palmer worm” — a gazam. Gazam, by itself, simply means to cut of or to eat off. And actually this is a type of locust which in the ancient world they called the devourer. He ate the top right of the crops and left only the stalks. So we will call him “the gnawing locust.” When this one is first hatched it has no wings, it creeps along, and even before it develops anything with which to fly it already starts eating. It is an eater right from the start. And it describes the first of these great invaders — Tiglath-Pileser III. Cf. Isaiah chapters 7-11.

“the locust” — arbeh, refers to a swarming locust. These are the stalk eaters. This refers to Sargon II. When Tiglath-Pileser died Sargon represented the aristocrats. Tiglath-pileser left no legitimate heir. Sargon II, mentioned in Isaiah 20:1, began the Sargonet dynasty. [In between Tiglath-Pileser and Sargon was Shalmanezer the fifth, but he didn’t last very long]. Sargon took the surrender of Samaria in 721 BC and it was he who carried the Jews of the northern kingdom into captivity.

“cankerworm” — yelek, which means to lick up. So this is the cleanup locust invasion. This locust cleans up the little bit of stubble that is left. This is the most famous one in the Bible — Sennacherib — 2 Kings 18; Isaiah 36-39.

“caterpillar” — chasil, which means to devour underground. Now we are getting the roots out, and this is Esarhaddon. Esarhaddon did something that no Assyrian ever did, he conquered Egypt.

The first chapter of Joel is actually a warning but what Joel has to say is going to be completely ignored and rejected by the people of the southern kingdom. And the result is that God will have to move them over into the fourth cycle of discipline which will be administered by the Assyrians. The second chapter gives the answer to the problem: the thing that will stop all of these national disasters is spirituality among those who are born again.

When you have a group of people who have been thoroughly warned about disaster to come, and when they have been warned as believers that if they do not straighten out in their spiritual life that disaster will come to the entire nation, and they reject Bible doctrine — and in this case the warnings —, then what happens to them when the disaster hits?

Verse 5 — a special warning to the escapists. Why was it that in Joel’s day the people were not interested in doctrine? In Joel’s day, just before the locust invasion, they had discovered about five or six ways of producing the most tasty types of alcoholic beverage. So one of the things that had happened in the land was that they almost had a nation of alcoholics. What is the principle behind having a maximum number of alcoholics in a nation? It is escapism from boredom, frustration, or a miserable set of circumstances from which there is no apparent escape. So the people who lived in the time of Joel, right up to the locust plagues, were practicing escapism. Escapism always has at least one crutch and throughout the history of the world one of the greatest forms of escapism is alcoholic beverages.

When Joel started his prophecy about the four locust invasions the people were apostate. Believers were not interested in doctrine and obviously the unbelievers were not interested in the gospel, so life became very dull because their life, their peace, their blessing depended on Bible doctrine. As a result of their life becoming so dull they started drinking, and very shortly they were a nation of alcoholics. The reason for their drinking was escapism.

Principle: Whenever you go negative to Bible doctrine you always create in your frontal lobe a vacuum into which are drawn a number of things such as mental attitude sins producing self-induced misery. But there is a part of this vacuum which is boredom, and when a person becomes bored all he has to do is smell a cork and they are off into alcohol. Alcohol can become an escapism.

“Awake, ye drunkards.” In Joel’s day the drunks are the people who have been practicing escapism. They have rejected Bible doctrine, they have become bored with life, and they are taking up the slack by heavy drinking.

“and weep” — one morning the people who are using alcohol as a crutch instead of as a beverage wake up and there is no more wine, no more barley beer. The locusts have come along and have destroyed the crops and that means that their crutch has been pulled out from under them. They can no longer depend upon alcoholic beverage for their happiness, for their escapism, and to avoid the realities of life. There is no longer a system of sublimation through drinking.

So they are all awakened. Hiphil imperative — “wake up the drunks” is what it says. Remember that this is a time of great prosperity which suddenly comes to a close by the locust invasion. Now they are told to weep. Why? Because no longer can they drink wine, and so on. It is all gone. The person who depends upon alcoholic beverage for escape cannot face reality. This is the principle. And weeping is a sign of disorientation to life.

Since their beer, their wine, and their whiskey is removed, what do they have left? Because his crutch is removed he is disoriented. And how does he express his disorientation? He is commanded next to weep. There is only one other thing he could do and that is to go for doctrine. But Joel ministered to a whole generation of people who would not go for doctrine. God said: “You preach anyway.” The weeping of the drinking person indicates dependence upon the circumstances of life and the source of overt happiness in life is now removed. So when you pull the crutch out from under the escapist he becomes totally miserable and his misery is expressed in weeping. The weeping of the drunkard is the weeping of disorientation. The drunk is frustrated because his crutch is removed, therefore he can no longer practice escapism, he can no longer practice sublimation.

In order that we might understand that the word “weeping” here is not bona fide weeping we have a second command …

“howl, all ye drinkers of wine” — this is a kind of screaming weeping; “because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth” — the wine is cut off and the basis for this people’s sublimation is taken away.

The doctrine of drinking

1. Drunkenness is always condemned — Isaiah 5:11, 22; 28:7,8; Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 5:11; Ephesians 5:18; Proverbs 20:1; 23:20.

2. Drunkenness and wine is forbidden for certain categories of humanity, like kings — Proverbs 3:4,5, and so on. Kings were permitted to drink but they weren’t permitted to get drunk. The same thing is true for pastors and deacons — 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7; 1 Timothy 3:8.

3. Drunkenness is also condemned in certain biblical persons. Noah — Genesis 9:21; Nabal — 1 Samuel 25:36,37; Ephraim (the tribe) — Isaiah 28:1; Lot — Genesis 19:32-36.

4. Drinking is permitted under certain conditions — moderation. There are two biblical passages and both of them indicate at least some medical implications — Proverbs 31:6,7; 1 Timothy 5:23. Apparently, regardless of the controversy that rages today, a little alcohol has some beneficial effects to the human body. The brain and the nervous system can be benefited by a moderate amount of alcohol because it relaxes the nervous condition of high-strung patients, and so on. A small amount apparently acts as a sedative. Alcohol in small amounts increases the appetite through stimulating the gastric juices. In older people there is apparently some benefit in the field of circulation.

5. Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding feast in John chapter 2:1-11. It was alcoholic beverage. This miracle neither condones nor condemns drinking. The wine was definitely fermented but the fact that He turned water into wine doesn’t prove anything one way of the other.

6. Alcohol is not a stimulant, it is a depressive. As such, of course, it lowers inhibitions, dulls reflexes, and it leads to both impulsive and abusive behaviour. Alcoholism is not only a sin but it is a guarantee for national disaster. It is not a sickness, it is a sin and should be dealt with as sins and not illnesses.

The first part of this chapter is a little difficult because in Joel’s day you have a locust plague which ruined the country economically (the third cycle of discipline), but it was to anticipate the Assyrian invasion which would begin 50 years after that time under the fourth cycle of discipline. Under the fourth cycle of discipline a military organisation comes into the land, is successful both strategically and tactically, and therefore the land comes under disaster conditions. The declaration of the Assyrian invasion is given once more in verse 6.

“For a nation is come up upon my land” — that nation is Assyria. Assyria had become a great nation, first of all industrially and secondly from the military standpoint. A vigorous nation is always characterised by these two factors and when a nation starts to go down these factors disappear. Now this is all apart from the spiritual concept of doctrine but as a result of doctrine a nation is vigorous. First of all, whenever a nation is successful it is always successful industrially — from the standpoint of economics — and the government never interferes with business. The second factor is military success. No nation maintains its independence apart from fighting for it and, therefore, it is very important that any national entity that is going to survive has a well-developed military organisation. When a nation starts to decline you have two factors, and this has always been true in history: a. Government interference with business; b. The civilians ruling the military so that the military falls apart.

Verse 6 tells us that the Assyrians are going to crush, devour and destroy. As a result of this great disaster Joel spends time describing some of the horrors of life at that time. In verse 8 we have the misery of the people which is compared to a young bride who has lost her husband. Before she loses her appreciation for him she loses him physically and this is considered to one of the greatest sorrows in the history of the human race. So the command is given in verse 8 — “Lament like a widow [not virgin].” In other words, she has just lost her husband while she still appreciated him. She has just been married and she loses him suddenly and this is a description of the people. This is the type of misery. In other words, the misery is intense, the situation is hopeless.

Verse 9 — there is also an interruption of the dissemination of doctrine. The meat offering refers to the person of Christ with emphasis on propitiation. The meat offering was the way in which they taught the uniqueness of the person of Christ. The drink offering was the libation which was poured out upon the other offerings, the ones which portrayed the work of Christ on the cross. These offerings which were used to communicate Bible doctrine are cut off because of economic disaster. These offerings called for animals, for wine, for flour and oil, and all of these things have been removed because of the invasion of the Assyrians in the future and because of the locust plagues in the time in which Joel lived. All the priests can do is mourn, they cannot communicate, they cannot teach. Their Bible in those days was not complete and therefore they taught through these offerings. The offerings are not there.

Verses 10-12 — economic depression. “The field is wasted” — an agricultural economy. The corn is actually the grain from which flour was made and used in the food offering. ‘The new wine is dried up” — there is the libation or the drink offering. “The oil languisheth” — this is the olive oil which has dried up because of the trees that have gone. The last phrase of verse 12 explains why it all happened — “because joy is withered away from the sons of men.” No Bible doctrine among the remnant, no interest in doctrine, no concern for doctrine, and it leads to a series of things which actually start these cycles of discipline.

Verses 13-14 — divine discipline declared under the fourth cycle.

“Gird yourselves” means put on sackcloth, get ready for some discipline. No communication or interest in Bible doctrine and therefore judgement. In verse 14 rebound is commanded — “Sanctify [set apart] a fast.” There is no merit in going without food spiritually; all the merit in going without food is physical — the loss of excess weight and the improvement of the cardiovascular system, and so on. There is no spiritual benefit in going without food and a fast does not mean to go without food, a fast means to take time designated for normal things in life, such as eating, and using that time for prayer and Bible study. So whenever you see the word “fast” it simply means a period of concentrated prayer and Bible study; it does mean simply the setting aside of food.

“call a solemn assembly” — is for the purpose of worship and for the purpose of offering prayer on behalf of the country. God deals with man in grace and there is no merit attached to fasting or weeping or wailing or wearing sackcloth, these are merely the accoutrements which accompany the spiritual activities. When they are called to sanctify or set aside a fast, and when sackcloth is mentioned, there are two concepts in mind. For the unbeliever in the country it is to consider the claims of Christ and to receive Him as saviour; for the believer it means the use of rebound, and two of the offerings were rebound offerings so they were well taught until the point of disaster. This is commanded upon the elders and these are the leaders in the land. Remember that the king is still in his minority and therefore the group of leaders rule in his place.

“all the inhabitants” refers to the people who are involved in the national disaster as well, and they are commanded to “cry” .But the word “cry” here doesn’t mean operation crybaby, it means to utter a sound which is significant to God, and that sound which is significant as far as the unbeliever is concerned is the moment at which he personally receives Christ as his saviour. As far as the believer is concerned it is that moment of rebound, the confession of sin.

In verses 15-20 we have a distant fulfillment. And in this distant or far fulfillment we go from the terrible disasters of the Assyrian invasion to the invasion of the king of the north in the Tribulation. So we start over with “Alas for the day", and this day is the end of the Tribulation.

“the day of the Lord is at hand” — the day of the Lord includes the Tribulation, second advent and Millennium, and sometimes a certain portion of it. This refers to the last part of the Tribulation — “at hand” mean that it will come in its proper time in history. Along with this is “destruction from the Almighty” — the invasion of the king of the north. “The Almighty” means that God the Father permits this because of apostasy and because of a very bad spiritual condition in the land.

Verse 16 — the abomination of desolation is alluded to. “Meat” here is a reference to food that sustains the people and hence the basic means of sustenance. Not only have they lost the basic things of life but along with that there is no spiritual life as mentioned by “joy and gladness in the house of God,” which is simply the place where they worship. So there is in place of that the abomination of desolation which is up and religion controls the land and everyone is in very bad shape.

Verses 17-18 — As a result of the invasion of the king of the north we have loss of crops in verse 17, we have loss of cattle in verse 18.

Verses 19-20 — We have a prayer from the remnant of believers. “O Jehovah” — God the Father. Even the animals are having a bad time and the fire in verse 20 refers to the invasion of the king of the north.

Basically, behind this chapter is a principle which has to do with failure on the part of believers. Believers are called the salt of the earth and in the context where this is used in the sermon on the mount, salt was used as a preservative. And a nation is preserved as goes the remnant of believers in that nation. There never has been and there never will be a nation which is made up entirely of believers but in any nation today there are a certain number of believers and a nation is preserved by the spiritual life of those who are believers. If the believers reject Bible doctrine the nation suffers, if the believers are positive toward Bible doctrine, then of course the nation is preserved in spite of poor leadership and bad economic activities.

The best explanation for how believers are able to preserve a nation is given in an apostolic prayer beginning in Ephesians 3:14, where we have the apostle’s prayer for the Church. This prayer is recorded in the Word of God because when the Church is right in any generation it follows the principles contained in the prayer. Paul says, “I bow my knees” to indicate that this is a prayer. “Unto the Father” is proj plus the accusative and it means “face to face with.” When we pray we are face to face with the Father. We approach God the Father through Jesus Christ.

Verse 15 — prayer is a family privilege. This is a spiritual family; every person who has received Christ as saviour is a member of this family. The family split up, it is not all in the one place. Part of it is in heaven and part of it is on earth.

Verse 16 — what is the purpose of an apostolic prayer. An apostolic prayer recorded in the Word of God is not to show you how to pray but to show the pattern for the Church Age, and to show us by application from Joel chapter 1 how to preserve a nation — it depends on our spiritual life. “That he would grant you” — giving depends on who and what God is. This is an aorist tense: in a point of time; active voice: God does it; subjunctive mood: it is potential, depending upon whether we are filled with the Spirit or not.

“according to” — the preposition kata which means norm or standard. He gives according to a perfect norm or standard, the norm or standard is “his riches.”

“the riches of his glory” — “glory” refers to the essence box. And so He gives to us because of who and what He is; He gives on the basis of His character.

“to be strengthened with might.” The word “to be strengthened” is an aorist passive infinitive — krataiow. This word actually means to give a ruling power, a power that stabilizes you, that puts you on top of life so that nothing in life can get you down. In other words, to give you a power whereby you are in control of the situation. You have confidence and orientation; you are oriented to the plan of God. It is in the aorist tense and it refers to any point of time in phase two when you are filled with the Spirit. It is the passive voice because the believer receives the filling of the Spirit through rebound. It is also an infinitive because it is God’s purpose for the believer to be filled with the Spirit and therefore to be on top of life.

“with might” — dunamij, referring to inherent power. In this case it is omnipotence and it refers to the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit.

“in the inner man” — so now we know where this power is located. God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer during the Church Age.

“by his Spirit” is literally “by means of his Spirit” — dia plus the genitive. The Holy Spirit is the means of producing this power in us.

So the first thing mentioned in the apostolic prayer is the principle of power through the Spirit — Acts 1:8. This prayer is continued in verse 17 to get to the very heart of the matter, the filling of the Spirit. The indwelling of the Spirit does not mean the filling of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer but the Holy Spirit does not control every believer.

Verse 17 — “That” introduces a second purpose clause. Here is the purpose of the filling of the Spirit or spirituality.

“Christ” — or literally, “the Christ.” It is a reference here to the character of Christ.

“may dwell” — it is true that Jesus Christ indwells every believer but He does not indwell for operational purposes. The indwelling of Christ is fellowship — Revelation 3:20; the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is functional. And we are talking here about the indwelling and the filling of the Spirit. The word for “dwell” here is katoikew, a compound verb. Kata is norm or standard; o)ikew is a verb which means to dwell. So when you put the compound together in its basic form you have the concept of dwelling according to a norm or standard. And this means to make one’s self at home or to be at home. So to correct the translation: “that the Christ may be at home in your hearts.” Christ being at home and Christ indwelling are two entirely different things. The point here is “Christ at home,” and Christ is never at home in your life unless you are filled with the Spirit.

“in your hearts” — the indwelling of Christ is connected with your body but this is talking about the heart. The heart refers to the human soul, the real you. That Christ may be at home in your soul requires two things, and the one that is emphasised in this passage is the filling of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the Holy Spirit puts doctrine into the human spirit. When you have doctrine in the human spirit the filling of the Spirit pipes it into self-consciousness resulting in occupation with Christ; mentality — divine viewpoint; volition — decisions according to the will of God; emotion — appreciation for God; conscience — you have divine norms and standards and the old sin nature is frustrated. The result is that the very character of Christ comes through and your soul is on all systems go.

Christ being at home involves that fact that when Jesus Christ was on earth He was true humanity. During the whole course of His 33 years on the earth Jesus Christ was constantly filled with the Spirit, and this produced some things in His life. It produced love — a mental attitude in the human soul; joy — in the mentality of the soul; peace — all systems go in the soul; long-suffering, and so on. These were produced in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Now, when the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit he produces the character of Christ — Galatians 4:19. When the old sin nature controls the life we imitate the unbeliever.

“that ye” — a result clause; “being rooted and grounded.” The words “rooted and grounded” are both perfect passive participles but they are different words with a similar concept: “rooted” — rizaw, mean to take root, to have the roots go so deep that the tree is perfectly stabilized so that no wind, no storm can hurt the tree; “grounded” — qemeliaw, which means to be stabilized, to lay a foundation so that a building does not fall apart. This is a building term, the other is a nature term. Both of these connote stability but each connotes stability from a different angle. The first one, rizaw, means the filling of the Spirit producing stability in the life. The second one, qemeliaw, means knowledge of doctrine producing stability in the life. Here is how we become the salt of the earth. In phase two knowledge of doctrine plus the filling of the Holy Spirit equals, not only the production of divine good, but in this case the preservation of the nation. When the remnant of born again believers log maximum time in the filling of the Spirit, and are learning doctrine and applying doctrine, you have stability. In Joel’s day he faced apostasy, and what is apostasy? Well, it is carnality plus ignorance of doctrine and the production of human good: religionism, legalism, etc., the things that tear down a nation.

“in love” — i.e. in the sphere of love. This is divine love which is produced by the filling of the Spirit — Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22; 1 Corinthians 13.

In verse 18 we go to the second petition — for knowledge of doctrine. The first word in the Greek is “that,” and it introduces a second result clause.

“may be able” — e)xisxuw, a compound. E)k means from; e)xuw means to be strengthened with an endowed strength. It means to use an endowed strength properly so that you are even stronger. The compound has the concept of being endowed with a strength from a source. The source is the Holy Spirit. E)k simply indicates that God the Holy Spirit is the source of this power, so this means we are endowed with the strength to comprehend. This is an aorist tense — point of time in phase two when we are filled with the Spirit. Active voice: the believer has to be filled with the Spirit. It implies the use of 1 John 1:9. The subjunctive mood indicates that the filling of the Spirit is potential, depending on whether we use rebound or not.

“to comprehend” — katalambanw, to seize, to grasp. It really means here the human spirit reaching out and snatching doctrine when it is taught. It means to be eager for something and to grab it. In other words, positive volition toward doctrine so that you take doctrine in. The human spirit is simply a large empty closet when we are born again and it must be filled with Bible doctrine. When it is filled with that doctrine then it is piped to the human soul. So we have the principle to according to a norm or standard — the filling of the Spirit.

“with all the saints” — the word “all” should be underlined. You have the ability to learn doctrine. The preposition “with” is a preposition of association — in association with the saints.

Now, what is this thing called the human spirit? Here is a verse that describes it. What is it we have that stores the doctrine? Here are the four dimensions of the human spirit: breadth, length, depth, height.

“breadth” — your general storage in your human spirit. All the doctrines go in there except dispensations. The Greek word is platoj, and it means with a basic concept of providing room. And there is plenty of room for every category of doctrine and every detail of doctrine that exists in the Word of God.

“length” — mekoj, is where the dispensations are stored. It connotes measurement of length. This is doctrinal orientation to time.

“depth” — baqoj, which has to do with categories dealing with Satan, angels and the angelic conflict — as in Revelation 2:24; Romans 8:39.

“height” — u(psoj, referring to height in the sense of positional height. So it refers not only to positional truth but actually to the plan of God for the believer, phases 1, 2, and 3. This is the dimension of the human spirit which describes everything connected with the plan of God.

The human spirit is the recipient of all spiritual phenomena and therefore it must be distinguished from the human soul. This is Hebrews 4:12, dividing asunder between soul and spirit. The unbeliever does not have a spirit; the believer acquires the human spirit at the point of salvation as a part of regeneration. And this is one of the few descriptions of the human spirit given in the Word of God.

Verse 19 — if you follow out the filling of the human spirit with doctrine then you come to the point which is mentioned in verse 19. The fill-up of doctrine leads to occupation with Christ.

“And to know” — aorist active infinitive of the verb ginwskw, to know from the experience of study, from the experience of concentration. This is the highest virtue in the Christian life: to perceive, to receive, to know, to understand, to store in the human spirit Bible doctrine.

“the love of Christ” — the love which belongs to Christ — genitive of possession; the love which is from Christ — genitive of source. This is the principle of orientation to grace because you cannot know of the love of Jesus Christ for you apart from Bible doctrine.

“which passeth all knowledge” — the word “passeth” is u(perballw, which means to overshoot. Up(er means beyond, ballw means to throw. It means to throw the ball too far; it actually comes to mean to surpass. The key here is the word “knowledge,” gnwsij in the Greek and it means empirical knowledge, human knowledge, soul knowledge. And soul knowledge is what any unbeliever knows. In other words, you cannot understand God through empirical knowledge or soul knowledge — 1 Corinthians 2:14. It takes a certain kind of knowledge, a kind of knowledge that the unbeliever cannot learn. And that kind of knowledge is going to be described as “the fullness of God” — spiritual phenomena, Bible doctrine.

“that ye may be filled.” “Filled” is plhrow, which means to fill up a deficiency. What is the deficiency? Soul knowledge, gnwsij, will not cut it so we have a deficiency and that deficiency is filled up by giving us at the point of salvation a human spirit; the Holy Spirit teaches that human spirit. And what does He teach? The fullness of God. This is a reference to Bible doctrine and it is in contrast to gnwsij. This is how we become the salt of the earth.