Joel 2:1-11--The Day of the LORD

Joel 2:1-11
English Standard Version

The Day of the LORD
2 Blow a trumpet in Zion;
    sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
    for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
    a great and powerful people;
their like has never been before,
    nor will be again after them
    through the years of all generations.

3 Fire devours before them,
    and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
    but behind them a desolate wilderness,
    and nothing escapes them.

4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
    and like war horses they run.
5 As with the rumbling of chariots,
    they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
    devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
    drawn up for battle.

6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
    all faces grow pale.
7 Like warriors they charge;
    like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
    they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
    each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
    and are not halted.
9 They leap upon the city,
    they run upon the walls,
they climb up into the houses,
    they enter through the windows like a thief.

10 The earth quakes before them;
    the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 The LORD utters his voice
    before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
    he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome;
    who can endure it?

---

We read Joel 2 and wonder if this is talking about the coming judgment of the Exile, but then we realize it cannot be because it says "and never again after them" for the number of people that would be attacking the Holy Land, and we know that one day all the nations of the world will gather together to make war against the Lord and His people.  So, this was only partially fulfilled by the time of Exile, but won't reach it's complete fulfillment until the time of the Great Tribulation.

There will be indeed be plagues of darkness and locusts and there will be wars and all the nations of the world will rise up against Jerusalem and the Holy Land which has been protected from all the plagues (it will look like The Garden of Eden in comparison to the rest of the earth).  The attackers consume everything like locusts and there is nothing but fire and destruction behind them.  This is what they intend to do to The Beautiful Land, but the LORD Himself will stop them.

It is unclear the way these armies are described if they are armies of men or demons or demonized men that Joel is seeing the true power behind them, but they certainly seem to be doing the work of the devil to steal, kill, and destroy.  The people in front of them are in fear.  The earth and the heavens shake with the sounds of their footsteps and chariots and weapons of war.  It would seem as if the LORD is once again going to use the armies of the world to bring judgment (and possibly destruction) to the people of Israel.  There appears to be no hope.  This is indeed their darkest hour (quite literally with no sun or moon giving light).  It will be in this very moment when the things are darkest that the LORD will appear to once and for all save His people.  That is what we will talk about next time.