The Message of Prophet Joel
“Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly… bring together the elders, gather the children… Let them say, ‘Spare your people, LORD.’ (Joel 2:15-17, also 1:14-15)
You are warmly welcome!
Joel has a chorus for us. When some message is repeated, those accustomed to music are quick to call it a refrain or a chorus, just like ‘Praise the Lord, praise the Lord…’ in the anthem-like hymn ‘To God be the glory’; not many people may know all the verses off-head, but majority will gladly join in the chorus when the few have finished each verse. This chorus normally bears the central message of the hymn, the core that completes each verse, so that if someone knows only the chorus, they know the hymn’s entire message approximately. Songs with a repetitive chorus are easier to learn and remember; even writers of poems and other prose-like pieces find some kind of ‘chorus’ to embed in their writings to facilitate memory for the main point.
Right at the center of the book appears Joel’s chorus: Joel 2:15-17 repeats verses 14-15 of the first chapter. The message is:
Declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.
For the day of the LORD is near!
In Chapter 2 (read), this Day is described as an unstoppable mighty army approaching to conquer and destroy utterly, in the same spirit as the appallingly destructive locusts of Chapter 1. This vivid picture is supposed to frighten all apart from those that will be shielded by the LORD himself – those who call upon Him in spirit and in truth. Hope us unveiled for them in this very Chapter. Unfortunately, many of the others put up an unfounded bravado that makes them deny the veracity of this shaking message; they continue in idolatry, fornication, stealing, or even lukewarm-ness, disregarding the Lord! They hope they will escape somehow by their own might and power, or perhaps the Day will not come at all!
God has assured us of the certainty of this message by bringing surprises in fulfillment of parts of this prophecy. For example, the bewilderment that confounded the cosmopolitan feast at Jerusalem in 27AD demanded explanation beyond the speculations of the spectators. The leader of the fire-spitting tongue-speaking band is Simon Peter, and he will clearly explain; and here is the most important spot where we find Joel standing tall as the Prophet to be quoted in the Pentecost sermon: “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people’” (Acts 2:16-17, Joel 2:28). As surely as the Pentecostal outpouring happened, so shall the dreaded Day of the Lord come. Your only hope is to hide in Jesus Christ the Rock.
And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls. (v.32)
God bless you all.