Chapter 2

In verses 1-9 we have Joel’s view of the battle of Armageddon. It is written more or less from the viewpoint of the Jews living in the Tribulation. There are four or five writers who develop Armageddon. John’s Armageddon is found in Revelation 16:12-16; Daniel’s Armageddon is found in Daniel 11:40-45; Zechariah’s Armageddon is found in chapters 12 and 14; Joel’s Armageddon is found in chapter 2:1-9; Ezekiel’s Armageddon is found in chapters 38-39. They all develop something different but they all deal with the invasion of the king of the north.

Verse 1 — the time of Armageddon. “Blow ye the trumpet,” or literally, “sound the ram’s horn.” The ram’s horn was the warning of an invasion.

“in Zion” — this is the area, and Zion of course refers to the Jerusalem area. Zion is actually the western escarpment of Jerusalem and is often used in connection with the city as a synonym.

“sound an alarm in my holy mountain” — the holy mountain also refers to Jerusalem, Daniel 11:45.

“all of the inhabitants of the land” are commanded to tremble here, but actually it says: “all of the inhabitants of the land shall tremble.” The reason of course is this great invasion. The inhabitants of the land simply refers to the people who live in Palestine, and especially in Judea, southern Palestine, during the Tribulation.

“For the day of the Lord” — this is the time. The “day of the Lord” can be used in many ways. In fact it is used in numerous occasions throughout the Old Testament and every time we find it we find different things. For example, the Church Age is terminated by the Rapture of the Church. This is described as the day of Christ. The Jewish Age which begins before the Church Age actually terminates at the second advent. Technically the day of the Lord is the day the Jewish Age terminates. So technically, many times the day of the Lord simply refers to the second advent. It also refers to events around the second advent, the last half of the Tribulation, and then starting into the Millennial reign of Christ. Here in Joel it is used technically in its absolute sense for the day that the Jewish Age, which began with Abraham, terminates.

“for it is nigh at hand” — in other words, this is toward the end of the Tribulation just before the second advent of Christ.

Verse 2 — the day of the Lord is described, first of all, by an analogy. This analogy is very interesting because it sets up perfectly the day in which Christ returns to the earth. It is “a day of darkness” .This darkness will protect the born again believers who are resisting the invaders in the siege of Jerusalem and it also protects the born again believers of the first half of the Tribulation who are in the hills of Edom, Moab and Ammon.

“a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds.” The word “darkness” itself actually refers to the fact that the second advent will be a time when the earth will be totally covered with darkness, the same kind of darkness which occurred at the cross. The word “gloominess” refers to the fact that the situation is hopeless, humanly speaking. Gloominess means human viewpoint hopeless. The siege of Jerusalem finds thousands of born again Jews facing a hopeless situation.

“day of clouds” refers to the invading armies. In Ezekiel 38:9,10 the same invading armies of the king of the north are described as clouds.

“thick darkness” — this refers to abnormal darkness. There is no light in this darkness and there are numerous passages found throughout the scripture which describes this same day. It is very significant that the day on which Christ died, during three hours when He was bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, that Golgotha was covered with darkness and no one could see Jesus Christ hanging there. When Christ returns He returns to find darkness on the earth — “Behold every eye shall see Him” as the Light of the world His very presence shall light up the world but until His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that particular day will be completely covered in darkness so dark that even the lights that people have will not penetrate this darkness. And this darkness, therefore, will protect the Jews who are in Jerusalem and the born again Jews who are up in the mountains not too far away. The darkness of the second advent is described in Isaiah 13:9.20; Zechariah 14:6,7; Ezekiel 32:7,8; Joel 2:10,11; 3:15; Amos 5:18; Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25-27; Revelation 6:12. This probably explains Revelation 1:7 — “Behold, every eye shall see him.”

“as the morning spreads upon the mountains; a great people and strong.” The word “as” is an analogy for the last half of the sentence and really is a new sentence. The Hebrew has no periods, commas and semicolons, etc. The ancient languages did all of their punctuation by syntax. New sentence: “As the morning spreads upon the mountains” .This isn’t the morning at all. Literally, it is “as the dawn.” As the dawn invades the darkness and cannot be stopped, so the king of the north is going to invade the land and cannot be stopped. However, just as the dawn comes up and the sun hits mountains, and the mountains are broken up into gorges, canyons, etc., there are still pockets where there is still darkness when the sun comes up. So there will be pockets in the land which are still protected and the analogy is very interesting. The invasion is the king of the north, and even though he moves into the land with all of his troops, yet there are places where he does not reach. Believers are protected. Dawn is an analogy to people great and strong. This is the king of the north invading Palestine, as per Joel 2:20; Daniel 11:40,45; Ezekiel chapters 38,39.

Verse 3 — the analogy changes from dawn to fire. “A fire devoureth before them.” Just as a fire burns up everything before it so is the fierceness of the invasion of the king of the north. This word for “devour” means it eats it up. This is what happens when an enemy invasion comes along.

“the land is as the garden of Eden before them” is an analogy. The garden of Eden indicates that in the Tribulation Palestine really has a tremendous economy and a great prosperity but the invasion of all of these armies eliminates it.

“nothing hath escaped them” — not correct. The literal translation is, “Escape shall not be unto him.” Who is “him” [he]? This refers to the dictator of Palestine, to his administration. His administration in Palestine shall be destroyed. But “him” also refers to someone else — the king of the north. He is not going to escape. Daniel 11:45 says, “he shall come to an end.”

In verses 4,5 we have a description of the invaders. In the time in which Joel lived they had cavalry, they had chariots, they had infantry, they had artillery.

Verse 4 — The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses. This follows Daniel 11:40; Ezekiel 38:4; Zechariah 12:4. All of the Armageddon passages have certain things in common and they have a common language. Horses simply refer to mobile forces.

“so shall they run” — the word for “run” here means to assault or to advance. So the king of the north has a very mobile army and it is characterised by very rapid advance.

Verse 5 — “chariots” — comparable to the amoured forces; “they shall leap” — they shall move with great rapidity.

“set in battle array” — organised for battle.

Verse 6 — reaction to the invaders. “Before their face” — literally, before them; “the people shall be much pained” — that is, the Jews living in Palestine. It means to be in great anguish. The word is also used for the pain attached to child birth.

“all faces shall gather blackness.” The Hebrew actually says, “all faces pale with anxiety.”

In verses 7-9 we have the initial success of the invaders.

“They shall run like mighty men” — this means they shall advance to the attack with great courage.

“they shall climb the wall like men of war” — climbing the wall means to ascend, to overrun a fortification. The wall refers to the walls of Jerusalem.

“they shall march every one in his own ways” — incorrect. It says, “they shall march with perfect discipline.” They are a well-coordinated team; it is a well-trained army.

“they shall not break ranks” — that means, under fire. The army of the king of the north will not be defeated in the future except for one thing. The army of Sennacherib was wiped out in a second by Jesus Christ; in the future the army of the king of the north will be wiped out in a second by Jesus Christ — Revelation 19, He slays it with the Word of His mouth. In both cases Jesus Christ intervened to protect born again believers.

Verse 8 — “Neither shall one thrust another.” This actually means to jostle one another but it does have another idea. It means to be standing in line with someone and actually stick them with your spear. Today it would mean to shoot someone in your own outfit. When people get killed by their own it is because of lack of training. But the army of the king of the north doesn’t do it, it is well trained — “they shall walk every one in his own path,” which means they will advance in their own tactical situation. Each soldier does his job on the team because he is well trained.

“and when they fall upon the sword.” It should be translated, “though they fall in the midst of weapons.” In other words, he falls amid the javelins of the enemy but he gets up and comes right on again — “they shall not be wounded” — they get up and move on.

Verse 9 — “They shall run to and fro in the city.” This is after the break through part of Jerusalem. This is what is described in the first part of Zechariah 12 and Zechariah 14:1,2.

“they shall run upon the wall” — they shall make an assault upon the wall; “they shall climb up upon the houses", which means they shall assault the houses.

“they shall enter in the windows suddenly” — “like a thief” means suddenly.

Verse 10 — “The earth shall quake before them.” Actually the Hebrew says: “The earth shall quake [or shake] before him.” “Him” is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the earthquake which occurs at the moment the Lord Jesus Christ touches the earth — Zechariah 14:4; Isaiah 13:13; Jeremiah 10:10; Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25-27. One purpose of this earthquake is to spilt the Mount of Olives so that the born again believers bottled up in Jerusalem have a perfect way of escape.

“the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their light.” This is a darkness similar to that which existed at the cross. The day that Jesus Christ returns is just like the day that Jesus Christ hung upon the cross. When He hung upon the cross there was complete darkness during the last three hours. No one in the world saw Jesus Christ bearing our sins. The Father alone saw Him and the Father poured out our sins upon Him and He was judged. It is significant that this same darkness occurs a second time when Jesus Christ returns to the earth. The darkness covers the city of Jerusalem so that the king of the north cannot move in with his armies and wipe out the remnant of the believers who are valiantly resisting. It is a type of darkness that light cannot penetrate. This darkness is described in Isaiah 13:9,10; Ezekiel 32:7,8; Joel 2:10,11; 3:15; Amos 5:18; Zechariah 14:6; Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25-27; Revelation 6:12. This darkness is mentioned in many places and always is connected with the day of the second advent. Because the earth will be covered with darkness we have the fulfillment of Revelation 1:7: “Behold every eye shall see him.” Jesus Christ is the light of the world and this is the only light that will dispel that darkness on that day.

Verse 11 — And the Lord shall utter his voice.” This is apropos because Sennacherib is one of the invaders predicted by Joel. Secondly, Joel is talking about the king of the north at the end of the Tribulation. The Assyrian invasion of Sennacherib was halted in its tracks by Jesus Christ speaking a word and wiping out 185,000 of the best Assyrian infantry. And when the king of the north is about to destroy the remnant in Jerusalem Jesus Christ will speak a word and they will all drop dead — Revelation 19:15. This is the same voice that hung upon the cross and screamed out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” There is a tremendous study here: darkness at the cross, darkness on the day of the second advent. In both of these the voice of the Lord is prominent. Once the darkness hits the cross and our sins are poured out on Him, He begins to scream: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” That is salvation. He is screaming and He is expressing spiritual death. But at the second advent and in the darkness there He opens His mouth and people die. Here is the contrast in the voice of the Lord Jesus — the voice of the saviour and the voice of the returning Christ.

“before his army” — He is out in front. This is probably the only time in history when a General officer is out in front and does all the fighting.

“for his camp” — The word “camp” means His military organisation; “is very great; for he is strong [omnipotence] that executeth his word.” This means to do His word, not to execute His word. To do His word simply means to kill by speaking.

“for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it?” — “very terrible” means that the judgements are intense; “who can abide it” means who can stand up under all this divine judgement? The answer: the born again believer, the child of God.

Verse 12 — evangelism in the Tribulation is now discussed. “Therefore also, now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me.” You have to see what Joel is doing here. In his day there was the locust plague which wiped out so much and this became the basis for talking of the Assyrian invasion. Then he bounces out to the Tribulation to talk about the invasion of the king of the north. But whenever a person lives in a time of major catastrophe it should wake him up to the importance of accepting Christ as saviour. And Joel was saying to the people of his day: “Accept Christ as your saviour.” He was saying to the people of future generations accept Jesus Christ as your saviour. The sufferings, the disasters and the heartaches of life are all resolved by the plan of God, and you have to get into the plan of God and there is only one way to get into the plan of God, and that is through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“turn ye to me” — the word to turn here has the same connotation as the Greek in Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me.” And so “turn ye” is actually the Hebrew way of describing receiving Jesus Christ as saviour. In other words, this means to turn to someone for help. You have tried all sorts of solutions. Nothing helps against the locusts, nothing helps against the Assyrians, nothing helps against the king of the north — “Turn to me.”

“with all your heart” — which means nothing more or less than the mentality of the soul. Self-consciousness becomes aware of Christ; mentality gets gospel information; volition sees the issue and that a decision must be made; emotion may or not be involved — appreciation of the gospel, appreciation of what is heard; conscience: the norms and standards by which one has lived and by which one has sought to impress God has to be neutralised. So there is a sense in which positive volition neutralises all these norms and standards of salvation by works. The mentality receives the gospel when the Holy Spirit doubles for the human spirit. This is the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit and when the gospel is heard the Holy Spirit booms that into the mentality of the soul and the gospel becomes reality so that this person is going to accept Christ now. Positive volition expresses itself by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Tribulation which is a part of the Jewish Age, as in the days of the Assyrian invasions, there were ways in which faith was manifest. So we have three things: “with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” These are three manifestations of faith in the Tribulation and possibly the three manifestations of faith in the Sennacherib invasions. Fasting refers to concentrated Bible study at the expense of setting everything else aside. Weeping is generally negative in the scripture and it is usually associated with faithlessness, instability, disorientation to the plan of God, but weeping happens to be a special characteristic of the Jews who accept Christ in the Tribulation — Zechariah 12:7-14. The Jews in the Tribulation are still under the double curse. They are under the fifth cycle of disciple which means they are scattered all over the world and when they are scattered and find Christ it breaks through to them and they weep for joy just like a mother weeps at a wedding because she is happy for her children. Weeping is a manifestation of salvation faith in the Jews of the Tribulation. The third manifestation is mourning. Mourning we would have to attribute to the Gentiles generally. When they accept Christ as saviour realising what they have missed out on in the Church Age, apparently there is a mourning there. This is their inner faith. Gentiles who accept Christ in the Tribulation will realise that they are there when they could have been out of it in a resurrection body, because one of the first things they are going to discover is the doctrine of the Rapture.

The doctrine of evangelism in the Tribulation

Matthew 24:14 tells us that evangelism is a reality in the Tribulation, and there are four waves of evangelism. The greatest period of concentrated evangelism in human history will occur in the Tribulation. After the Rapture of the Church there will be, first of all, the evangelism of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists — Revelation 7. The second great wave of evangelism comes from their converts — Revelation 14:12,13. The third great evangelistic push is Moses and Elijah’s return to Jerusalem — Revelation 11:1-14. Just at the end of the Tribulation there is a fourth wave of evangelism called the “flying angels” in the sense that they move fast and cover a lot of territory. They come along with the “everlasting gospel” — Revelation 14:6,7.

Verse 13 — In Joel’s day he evangelizes the people who are under the locust invasion and he hits the people who will come under the Assyrian invasion. He also hits the people who will be in the Tribulation. And he warns them about one thing that will hinder them from believing in Jesus Christ, he warns them against emotionalism. The greatest period of evangelism the world will ever know is in the Tribulation and it is evangelism without emotionalism. Emotionalism is a gimmick; it is a false criterion, a false pressure. It gets in the way of the Holy Spirit and one of the great problems with evangelism in our day is too much emotion and not enough information, therefore depending on human gimmicks and human power and personality rather than on the power of God the Holy Spirit.

“Rend your heart, and not your garments” — In the time in which this was written one of the signs of having an ecstatic experience was to tear your clothes. It didn’t mean anger, it just meant ecstatics. It says here: “Rend your heart” — mentality of the soul. The gospel is boomed in; the mentality of the soul is where the gospel is placed. Emotion is not involved in believing the gospel. Emotion is implied in the tearing of the garments. Faith in Christ does not include emotion and this is taught in John 20:31.

“and turn unto the Lord” — and again the word “turning” is the same as “Come unto me” in Matthew 11:28. It means to believe in Christ.

“for he is gracious” — this is the whole basis of salvation. Salvation is the work of God. When it says “he is gracious” it refers to the Father who is the author of the plan; it refers to the Son who executed the plan on the cross. The sins of the world were poured out upon the Son and the Father judged the Son. That is the work of God.

“and merciful” — grace is really the character of the members of the Trinity in eternity past; salvation depends upon their character. Mercy, which is mentioned here, is the actual execution of grace in time; it is putting it into action.

“slow to anger” — this is His character described in terms of human character, an anthropopathism.

“of great kindness” — this is the basis of coming to God in prayer and saying: If grace can find a way. And grace can find a way, this is the basis for that phrase in your prayers. And why can grace find a way? Because God doesn’t treat you like He does the rest of the human race for this reason: you are under propitiation. That means that God doesn’t have to go through His righteousness and His justice to deal with you; He by-passes His righteousness and His justice. God only deals with you in love as a believer, but He deals with the unbeliever on the basis of His holiness — righteousness and justice.

“and it repenteth him of the evil” — repent in the Hebrew here means to change one’s mind. What is “the evil”? Evil here is disastrous. But there is no evil here because God has found a way to treat you in love. He by-passes righteousness and justice and, therefore, He has changed His mind about the evil. Remember, grace finds a way. That’s love.

Verse 14 — the repentance of Jesus Christ is now emphasised. Now the principle of God in grace finding a way, and God treating us directly in love, is now applied to the second advent.

“Who knoweth if he will return.” The Hebrew says: “Who knows when he will return.” These are the people in the Tribulation talking. They have a lot of information, so they will know when He will return.

“and repent” — the Jews are scattered all over the world under the 5th cycle of discipline and when Christ returns He will call them and they will all be gathered in the land. And “repent” simply means that He changes His mind about the fifth cycle of discipline. This means, of course, the restoration of Israel which occurs at the second advent.

“and leave a blessing” — the word to “leave” means to drop something not deserved and not earned. It is usually used for a gift. So He leaves the blessing, the gift, which is the perfect environment of the Millennium. He leaves a blessing “behind him.”

Now here is the response to the perfect environment of the Millennium for the Jews. They are no longer under the 5th cycle of discipline, they are back in the land. They have a new temple, the Millennial temple, and there they perform the animal sacrifices just as we observe the communion. They do not use them any more in anticipation of the cross, the cross is historical, but they use them looking back. Once the 5th cycle of discipline comes to its end by the second advent then the Jews are regathered and they now have their temple. And now they use the sacrifices again to look back, not forward, to the cross.

Verse 15 — the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. From the disasters which occurred in Joel’s day we now move to the Millennium and one of the first great factors is the regathering of Israel in verses 15-16. The Jews today are out under the fifth cycle of discipline which will continue until the second advent of Jesus Christ.

For the second time in this chapter we have the blowing of a trumpet — verses 1-15. In verse 1 it was a ram’s horn which was used to warn of hostile or enemy troops in the area. The ram’s horn was a special type of warning system. Now in verse 15 we have a different type of trumpet in the Hebrew. This is no warning of an invasion, rather this is a trumpet which is used for assembling the people for worship, or some solemn or wonderful occasion of some sort. In this case it is to call together a feast of celebration because of the regathering of Israel. “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion” — Jerusalem.

“sanctify a fast” — the word for “fast” here does not mean a fast. It means to set apart a special worship period; time that would ordinarily be devoted for something else is now devoted to worship, to occupation with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“call a solemn assembly” — the solemn assembly is composed of saved Jews who are gathered to worship the Lord after the second advent, after the regathering of Israel. They are called together in order to have a time of rejoicing over the faithfulness of the Lord. So remember that “fasting” is not fasting, “fasting” is celebrating the grace of God, awareness of who and what God is, awareness of His fantastic character, awareness of His perfect plan, awareness of His faithfulness and His love and, therefore, celebrating these things. Fasting is not going without food.

Verse 16 — “Gather the people.” Gathering the people means bringing the Jews back from the various parts of the world. When the Jews are brought back from various parts of the world the first thing we have is the baptism of fire. When they are finally gathered they are separated — the wheat and the tares. The second advent of Jesus Christ and the regathering of the Jews means that all the Jews are back in the land but a lot of them are unsaved. So the unsaved Jews are taken off the earth — baptism of fire. They are the tares that are cast off.

The regathering of Israel is taught in Isaiah chapter 5:26-30; Zechariah 10:6-12. Once they are gathered the believing Jews go into the Millennium and the unbelieving Jews are cast out.

“sanctify the congregation” — set them apart. The word for “sanctify” means to get them all in Jerusalem for one grand and glorious party where Jesus Christ is the Guest of honour. It will be a part of commemorating His fantastic and marvelous and wonderful work. The word “congregation” means the assembling of the Jews.

“assemble the elders” — those who are ruling the country. They have to stop ruling the country temporarily.

“gather the children” — this means the children who are in school, etc.

“those that suck upon the breasts” — the fact that you have little babies at home does not keep you from the party. This also has reference to those who have not reached the age of accountability at the second advent and who will be excluded form the judgement of the baptism of fire. Many of these will go on to become the Millennial saints. All of them will form the basis, along with their parents, of the population explosion of the Millennium. Those who reject Christ later on will be separated at the end of the Millennium.

“let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber and the bride out of her room” — an interrupted honeymoon. Honeymooners will have to come back from their honeymoon. Question: When can you have more happiness than at a honeymoon? Answer: At a party where Jesus Christ is the Guest of honour. Principle: When Jesus Christ is first, through knowledge of doctrine and the filling of the Spirit, then you can enjoy the things of this life. If He is not then there is no combination of things in this life that will ever make you happy.

Verse 17 — “Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar.” This is not partying, this is something that happens before that party of the second advent and the Millennium. This has to do with disaster. You have to remember that every prophet had a message for the people of his day, a temporary message. He also had a message for the people of the future, and this is true in Joel’s case. The Assyrian invasions plus the invasion of the king of the north are tremendous catastrophes to the nation. They call for some sort of action, other than calling the party, which comes later. They call for prayer. Prayer is called for here, and out of this comes a principle which applies to us: believers in fellowship, effective prayer warriors, can actually pray their country right out of disaster. The country does not earn or deserve deliverance but actual prayer on the part of believers in fellowship, believers who understand and use prayer properly, can actually turn the tide and deliver the nation. This is taught in verse 17 — advice to pray in time of crisis. The weeping here means to make a lamentation in time of public calamity or to offer a prayer in time of public calamity. The place was between the porch and the altar, and this was the east porch of Solomon’s temple, a place of prayer.

The nature of the prayer, the agenda of the prayer, is then given, beginning with the word “spare.” The prayer should go like this: “Spare thy people.” The word “spare” means to have pity, to have compassion. In other words, this is a prayer which is oriented to grace and therefore appeals to grace. “Have compassion” means exercise grace. The is a qal imperative, he demands grace.

“and give not thine heritage to reproach” — reproach refers to the fifth cycle of discipline; “thine heritage” refers to the fact that there are four unconditional covenants connected with the Jews. Each one of these covenants has an eternal life clause, and therefore these unconditional covenants are for believing Jews only. Therefore, in this nation of Israel in maximum catastrophe conditions there are those who are under these unconditional and therefore they have a right to demand protection, they have a right to demand continuation as a nation.

Why? Look what the Gentiles will say — “that the Gentiles should rule over them.” “That” is a conditional result clause. In other words, if you put us under the 5th cycle of discipline the heathen are going to rule over us and they are going to say: “Where is the Word of God? Where are the promises of God? Where is the faith-rest technique?

“Wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?” There are two approaches in this prayer for the deliverance of the nation. There are believers in the country for whom the Father has a plan. This plan is connected with the national entity. Neither we as believers nor this nation as a part of the principle of divine institution number four deserve anything at His hand. That clears away one point. There is no illusion about one’s self or about the country collectively. God delivers on the basis of His character, not on the basis of national history or heritage or any other factor of human merit. If we survive, we survive because God intervenes to deliver us.

Here is a prayer that can be answered. It is a demand — “I demand deliverance.” But he doesn’t say deliverance, he says: “I demand compassion.” Compassion is grace in action. How can we do that to God? What right do we have to demand anything? On the basis of His character, on the basis of who and what He is, on the basis of the fact that we as believers have past the point of propitiation and, therefore, God is free to love us without being inconsistent with His own holiness.

Verses 18 and 19: the removal of Israel’s discipline.

Verse 18 — “Then will the Lord be zealous (not jealous) for his land, and he will pity the people.” Pity here means compassion. Compassion is the very character of God, His love expressed in terms of preservation, in terms of blessing. In other words, here is grace finding a way.

Verse 19 — “Ye the Lord will answer and say unto the people.” This answer is for two occasions. We have to remember the locust plague which was an economic disaster in Joel’s day. It foreshadowed the Assyrian invasion but the point here is that the plague knocked the land out economically. Just before the second advent there will be economic disaster again in the land. In both cases the Lord delivers. The locust plague is offset by prosperity and, again, by prosperity with the return of Christ.

“I will send you corn, wine, and oil.” At the time in which this was written these were signs of economic prosperity.

“no more a reproach” — no more 5th cycle of discipline, so the second advent is in view here as well. The corn, wine, and oil express the prosperity which will exist in the Millennium. But that isn’t the whole story — “ye shall be satisfied.” It is one thing to have prosperity, it is another thing to be happy under conditions of prosperity. When God sends the prosperity to the believer, the believer has enough doctrine to have happiness in it; “therewith” — with the conditions of prosperity.

Verse 20 — prior to the second advent there will be a deliverance from the invading force of the king of the north. “But I will remove far off from you the northern army (the king of the north), and will drive him into a land barren and desolate.”

“with his face toward the eastern sea (Dead Sea), and the rear (of his army) toward the utmost sea (Mediterranean)” — this is where the army of the king of the north will be destroyed. The near fulfillment, of course, is Hezekiah’s deliverance from the Assyrian invasion — Isaiah 37. The far fulfillment is the king of the north — Daniel 11:45.

“and his stench” — the annihilation of his troops. There are so many troops that they cannot possibly be buried in time and so there is a tremendous stench that moves across the land. It is described in Ezekiel 39:11 — it is going to take seven months to bury the dead; “ill savour” is simply a synonym for stench. This is a very graphic way of describing deliverance from the invading armies.

“because he (God) hath done great things” — there is the story of grace. He is free to do great things because of propitiation; He does great things because His love is continuous, it is stable, it is unchangeable; His love in no way depends upon what we do.

Verses 21-24: the prosperity of Israel.

Verse 21 — “Fear not, O land. Be glad” — “fear not” is the negative side. Here is what it means — “whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” Romans 14:23. Failure of the faith-rest technique always results in fear, worry, and anxiety; these are sins. So, “fear not.” In other words, you should be relaxed mentally; “O land” — the land of Palestine in the Millennium.

“rejoice” — here is the qal imperative that matches the qal imperative of the agenda of the prayer — “deliver us” .Now here is a command from God — “rejoice.” Rejoice means possess inner happiness. Why? because of the grace of God which is expressed by the phrase: “the Lord will do great things.” It says: “he hath done great things” at the end of verse 19; He “will do” great things in verse 21. That is the story of your life, in the past from the day you were saved God has done great things for you, not because of who and what you are but because of who and what He is. In the future God will continue to do great things for you because of who and what He is.

Verse 22 — Even dumb animals. “Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field.” They haven’t done anything to deserve this — “for the pastures of the desert do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.” In other words, when there is a good agricultural prosperity the animals benefit. These animals are blessed because of who and what God is, not who and what the animal is. They received their blessing because of the character of God.

Verse 23 — the prosperity of people. Now people are different from animals but when it comes to the grace of God the same principle applies.

“Be glad” — have inner happiness — “ye children of Zion.” These are born again believers.

“and rejoice in the Lord your God” — they are believers, they belong to Him.

“for he hath given you the teacher of righteousness (not ‘the former rain moderately’).”

Corrected translation: “he (the Father) hath given you (believers of the Millennium) the teacher (Christ) of righteousness.” What is the basis of inner happiness? Communication of doctrine. Jesus Christ teaches through the Millennium with the result that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters that cover the sea” — Isaiah 11.

Rain gets into the picture but not until the end of the verse — “and he will cause to come down to you the rain.” In other words, this is an agricultural economy; they get doctrine, they get spiritual prosperity.

“the former rain and the latter rain” — the former rain was necessary for planting and for growth, the latter rain was necessary to bring the harvest to the proper peak. A good harvest means agricultural prosperity. So the former rain and the latter rain have to do with economic prosperity but notice the order. First there is knowledge of doctrine and, secondly, there is economic prosperity.

Verse 24 — abundance of food in the Millennium. “And the floors shall be full of wheat and the vats shall overflow with oil and wine” — these are the storage places for food, indicating fantastic prosperity.

Verse 25 — And Israel is restored to its national prestige, they are out from under the 5th cycle of discipline. “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten” .The locust etc. foreshadows the Assyrian invasions of Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon II, Sennacherib and Esarhaddon.

“which I sent among you” — I will withdraw them. As a result of that they are going to eat plenty — verse 25. Chapter 2:26-32

In the last part of this passage we are going to have the emphasis on knowledge of doctrine and then the filling of the Spirit as it will occur in the Millennium. This passage begins with the restoration of Israel’s worship after the second advent.

Verse 26 — “And ye shall eat in plenty.” This is not, of course, human beings who are hungry. One of the first signs of prosperity is to have, not only sufficient food, but to have something you would really enjoy. There is a duplication of the Hebrew verb here. The verb means to eat, and it means to have the sensory part of the body appreciate something you are taking in, in this case it is food, and it is not just ordinary food and food that you do not like, it is something that you would really enjoy and is beneficial. A literal translation would be: “Ye shall eat, even eat.” But it means that you are going to enjoy eating and benefit from it at the same time. All food in the Millennium is going to be beneficial and enjoyable. In the perfect environment of the Millennium there is no necessity for sublimation (by means of eating — or overeating).

“and shall be satisfied” — the satisfaction comes from benefit. There is absolutely no food in the Millennium which is non-beneficial.

“and praise the name of the Lord your God” — this is the beginning of a civilization. There have been civilizations before: the antediluvian civilization which began with two believers, Adam and Eve. Eventually, with the population explosion, there was a very large number of unbelievers and the infiltration of the super race, followed by the destruction of everything with the flood. Then there was the post-diluvian civilization in which we find ourselves today which began with eight believers. Again there is a population explosion and a great number of unbelievers. The second advent of Christ will introduce the Millennial civilization and due to the baptism of fire it will begin with believers only. There will be a fantastic population explosion and eventually there will be both believers and unbelievers in this perfect environment. This is necessary to demonstrate the principle that environment is not the solution to man’s problems. The solution to man’s problems is regeneration, inner change, change wrought by God’s plan rather than man by man’s efforts solving man’s problems.

“the name of the Lord” — is a technical title in the Hebrew for the Lord Jesus Christ.

“who hath dealt wondrously with you” — this is the principle of grace. Grace exists in every dispensation and every civilization. Grace is who and what God is. Grace must be received by man and utilized by man on a non-meritorious basis, so grace robs man of any credit or any use of his ability to reach God or have relationship with God. Literal translation: “he hath done wonderful things for you” .

Therefore, we have a phrase which occurs at the end of this verse and at the end of the next verse: “my people shall never be ashamed.” This phrase, repeated twice, is a sort of a refrain and it does not mean “ashamed” as such, it means confused. “My people” is referring to the born-again believer of the Millennium; “shall never be confused.” Why? Because (Isaiah 11) “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters that cover the sea.” In the Millennium every believer will have maximum understanding of Bible doctrine. Maximum understanding of Bible doctrine eliminates confusion. Remember, God’s provision is complete and it changes man from the inside. The emphasis is inner change, inner stability, the elimination of those things that work at the mentality until there is a psychotic condition, the elimination of mental attitude sins which produce self-induced misery.

Verse 27 — How is confusion avoided? “And ye shall know” — the Hebrew word means that it is already stored up in the human spirit. In other words, you have transferred it from the Bible into the categories in the human spirit and from the human spirit it is piped into the mentality of the soul, resulting in inner stability, inner peace, inner power. In other words, the inner dynamics of phase two.

“that I am in the midst of Israel” — one of the first things you begin to understand when you develop some of the categories of doctrine is who and what the Lord is. This is important as far as your orientation to grace is concerned.

“I am the Lord your God” — this is Jesus Christ speaking. And, then again, having known these things “my people shall never be confused” .Again, this is a reference to the Millennium. Whether you are confused as a believer today or not depends entirely upon your knowledge of Bible doctrine.

These two verses actually cover the first part of our equation as far as the Millennium is concerned: “Knowledge of doctrine plus the filling of the Holy Spirit equals the production of divine good.” This is the dynamic equation of phase two. The power link is the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Review: In the Church Age the filling of the Holy Spirit produces the character of Christ. The whole purpose of the Spirit-filled life is to start on the inside — Galatians 5:22, “the fruit of the Spirit is love"— this is a mental attitude free from mental attitude sins — “joy” — an inner mental happiness — “peace” is a relaxed mental attitude as far as people are concerned. The social problems and the social pressures exist but these do not disturb, you are totally relaxed because of this inner mental stability. So the production of the Holy Spirit today is to produce the very character of Christ inside of the believer. That is because Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, but in the Millennium Christ is on the earth and the filling of the Holy Spirit will have a different characteristic. In the Millennium and only the Millennium the filling of the Holy Spirit will be characterised by ecstatics.

Note: Spirituality today has absolutely nothing to do with emotion or ecstatics. In the Church Age there is no ecstatic experience that is spirituality, the filling of the Spirit does not characterise itself by ecstatics. And there is absolutely no place, Biblically speaking, for the tongues crowd, etc. In the Millennium it will be different. Why? The Millennium is a time when there will be perfect environment — the body will function perfectly; every one will have perfect health. This means that you can have an ecstatic experience and not be in any way disturbed by it because everyone will have a perfect knowledge of doctrine. Today, ecstatics are definitely detrimental because we somehow confuse all of this with spirituality when it is not. The criterion, the norm, the standard, is not how we feel, it is what the Word of God says, and when there is a conflict between how you feel and what the Word of God says the Word of God is correct.

Verse 28 — Notice now we have the believers of the Millennium “not confused.” Since they are not confused they can have an experience associated with the filling of the Spirit.

“And it shall come to pass afterward” — after the second advent — “that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” All flesh means the believers who have passed through the baptism of fire and now form the nucleus for the Millennial civilization. A new civilization is now established. Relationship to the Spirit is the basis of spirituality.

Now we have the characteristics of spirituality in the Millennium. Spirituality ignores human distinctions. There are three human distinctions which are mentioned in verse 28. The first is sex — “sons, daughters” (males, females). There are no sex limitations in the Millennium. Secondly is age — “old men, young men.” There are no age limitations. The third is class, verse 29, “servants, handmaids.” There are no class limitations in the Millennium. This is a description then of perfect environment.

There are three verbs here, and these three verbs in the Hebrew actually indicate ecstatics. “Prophecy” is a verb which includes ecstatics; “shall dream dreams,” a verb that includes ecstatics; “shall see visions,” a verb that includes ecstatics. Note: There is no place for dreams or visions today. This is Millennium we are discussing.

The basis for ecstatics as an expression of the filling of the Spirit. There are three factors involved: 1. The removal of all religion and the imprisonment of Satan. Religion, of course, distorts and abuses an ecstatic experience; 2. The nature of physical health. The body will be able to endure long periods of ecstatics without injuring the health; 3. The personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth. He will rule the earth and His personal presence makes it impossible for anything to get out of hand.

During His absence from the earth the filling of the Spirit produces His character. We are ambassadors for Christ, we represent Him, and when God the Holy Spirit controls our lives His character is produced in us. But in the Millennium He is on the earth, it is not necessary to produce His character, He is here. And therefore it will produce ecstatics instead.

Then we have a repetition: “In those days I will pour out my Spirit.” Now, immediately in connection with this particular section, verses 27-28, we have the problem of its quotation in Acts chapter two. No serious Bible student can ignore that Peter, in Acts chapter two, quotes this passage.

All believers have the filling of the Spirit at the beginning of the Millennial Age, even as all believers in Jerusalem had the filling of the Spirit at the beginning of the Church Age. There is an exact parallelism and this is why Peter quoted the passage. All believers in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost actually had the filling of the Spirit. At the beginning of the Millennial Age the filling of the Spirit will again occur. So it is a parallel situation.

When the Spirit was poured out in Acts chapter two and people began to speak in many languages the cynics accused them of being drunk. But Peter said, That is not what the problem is here. This is a parallel situation to what is going to occur in the future. This parallels what is found in Joel chapter 2:28,29 — this is parallel to that. In Acts 2:16-21 we actually have the Joel passage quoted. In Acts chapter 2:13 believers were accused of drunkenness, so Peter denies the drunkenness charge, and to refute it he quotes Joel 2:28,29. But he doesn’t say that this is the fulfillment of it, he said: “this is that” — this is like that, this is a parallel type of situation. So what Peter does imply is that believers filled with the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost can no more be charged with drunkenness than the tremendous spiritual phenomena which will occur in the Millennium.

Now since this is going to be such a wonderful period — the period described in verses 26-29 of Joel 2 — immediately people say: “Well, how do you know when this comes. Will there be any signs; will there be any indication.” The answer is given in the rest of this passage, Yes there are some signs of the second advent. They are given primarily in verses 30-31.

Verse 30 — “I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth” — these wonders are miracles — “blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke” .Here is the first manifestation that Jesus Christ has returned — “in heaven” has to do with the return of Christ — Revelation 1:7; “in the earth” are the unusual events on the earth the day that Christ returns. Blood characterises the termination of the Armageddon campaign and is so stated in passages like Revelation 14; Ezekiel 38,39; Isaiah 63. The fire refers to Revelation 9:17,18. Fire is used to kill men in a supernatural way at the end of the Tribulation. The pillars of smoke are associated with the destruction of the ecumenical religious system of the Tribulation, documented by Revelation 18:9,18; 19:3. So all of these words actually have significance. Verse 30 describes terrestrial disturbances; verse 31 celestial disturbances.

Verse 31 — “The sun shall be turned into darkness.” This is the darkness that occurs on the day of the second advent, the darkness that holds up the advance of the armies of the king of the north in the siege of Jerusalem, the darkness that protects the believers in Edom, Moab and Ammon. This same darkness is described in Isaiah 13:9,10; Ezekiel 32:7,8; Joel 2:10,11; Amos 5:18; Zechariah 14:6 and a host of other passages.

“and the moon is turned into blood,” and so on. This does not really mean blood as such but the same colour as blood. There will be a lot of smoke and a lot of dust to cause this phenomenon on the day of the second advent.

Verse 32 — Qualifications for entering the Millennium. Who among those living in the Tribulation will actually survive the judgements of the second advent — baptism of fire judgements? Who will be qualified to start this new civilization and be responsible for the population explosion which will exist during the Millennium? The answer is given here.

“And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered” — to “call” (qara in the Hebrew) here is a parallel word for “faith,” and it is similar to the Hebrew word amen in the Hebrew. In fact amen is the usual word for salvation and it is parallel to the Greek word pisteuw. What do these words connote? There are actually three systems of actually assimilating information by which we develop perspicacity. The first is rationalism where reality lies in what the mind thinks regardless of things that are observable. Then there is empiricism which correlates through the sensory system (observation) and comes to its conclusion. Reality lies in gathering the facts and tallying them. This is the scientific method and is a meritorious system of perception, as is empiricism. The third and most common system of perception in your mind is faith. This is the basis by which you learn what you originally learn; this is the basis for starting almost everything. Someone told you that one plus one equals two, and you accepted that by faith. Somewhere there is a premise for knowledge and you accept that premise as true, and generally you accept it by faith. It has been said by educators that most of what we learn in our lifetime is learned through the perceptive system of faith. So faith is a bona fide perceptive system of faith and faith is a non-meritorious system of perception. Faith — the verb to believe, for example, which is equivalent to the Greek word pisteuw and the Hebrew word amen — must have a subject and it must have an object. There is no merit in believing, the merit lies in the object. So it is “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” The subject is “whosoever,” any member of the human race.

Now here is a synonym: “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord.” Calling simply means to express your faith verbally. It isn’t always expressed, sometimes it is a mental expression of decision. But here is the verbal expression of positive volition at the point of gospel hearing.

“for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant (those who were believers in the Tribulation) whom the Lord shall call.” Now actually it would be touch or go as to how this should be interpreted. Is this physical deliverance or is this salvation? The answer is found in the quotation of this particular verse in Acts 2:21 and in Romans 10:13, and in both cases it refers to salvation, not physical deliverance. There is physical deliverance at the second advent but there is also spiritual salvation at the second advent. So the Millennial population will begin with a remnant of those who are believers in Jesus Christ.