The Book Of Joel. Day 10, The Day Of The Lord, Part Two

Yesterday we began looking at the final segment of Chapter 2 and in it we found a two-fold prophecy regarding the Messianic age. We talked about how the first portion of this prophecy began to be fulfilled in Acts 2 when, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers. On that day the followers of Christ at Jerusalem began proclaiming the gospel message of the risen Jesus---in languages they did not know---so that the pilgrims who had traveled to Jerusalem for the holiday could hear the gospel their own tongues. This was very astonishing to everyone and it was the proof that the gospel message was true. 

At least three thousand people who heard the gospel were saved on that day, and we talked about how it may only have been the male heads of households who were counted in that three thousand, so there could have been many more times that number saved. The basis for this theory is that in the New Testament we found Jesus on two separate occasions multiplying a small amount of food into enough food to feed thousands of men (who were numbered) "besides women and children". 

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit which was prophesied in Joel 2 began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and is still being fulfilled in the life of every believer and will continue to be fulfilled in the life of everyone who comes to the Lord for salvation. This will happen until the time known as "the day of the Lord" or "the great tribulation" has taken place and the Lord sets up His eternal kingdom on earth. But before His kingdom comes, the remainder of Joel's prophecy must be fulfilled.

The Lord says, "I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Joel 2:30-31) 

The Apostle Peter, on the day when so many souls were saved at Pentecost, quoted the entirety of Joel's prophecy from Chapter 2. Peter talked about the pouring out of the Lord's Spirit on mankind, which Joel foretold, and he also talked about the dreadful "day of the Lord"---the day of judgment---that was coming. Many of the people who heard Peter's sermon wanted to be saved from their sins and to escape the day of judgment, so they asked, "What shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) They were to accept the gospel message and place their trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, then the Holy Spirit would come to indwell each of them just as Joel said He would. The Holy Spirit would then help them to understand the Scriptures and to know the Lord's will for their lives and to build a personal relationship with the Lord. 

Joel's prophecy contains a beautiful promise: that every person in the Messianic age would have a personal relationship with the Lord in a way that no one who lived before the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ had ever experienced. The Holy Spirit did indeed speak to and guide the believers of the Old Testament but after Christ's ascension to heaven the Holy Spirit's ministry changed to a far more personal ministry: He came to indwell each believer 100% of the time rather than in the way we found Him relating to Old Testament believers. In the Old Testament we are frequently told that the Holy Spirit "came upon" a person or "filled a person" but this was a more transient filling and not a perpetual one.

In addition to containing a beautiful promise, Joel's prophecy contains a warning about the judgment to come. The people of his day had been undergoing a time of tribulation but it was not "the great tribulation". Nevertheless, their predicament was a result of sin, just as the final judgment day of the Lord will be a result of sin. The people of Joel's time could somewhat imagine the terror of those final days because they had just finished going through a terrible time of their own. They responded correctly to the Lord's discipline and repented. But those who refuse to ever repent and turn to the Lord for salvation cannot look forward to the future with the hope of good times to come. All they will have on the day of the Lord is "a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God". (Hebrews 10:27) 

As long as every person still has breath in their body they can cry out to their Creator in repentance. That is what Joel's message in our current study should lead anyone to do who has not already accepted the Lord as their Savior. That is what the Apostle Peter's message in the book of Acts should compel anyone to do who is not already saved. That is what the Apostle Paul's message in the book of Hebrews should cause anyone to do who has not made Christ the Lord of their life. The remainder of Joel's words in Chapter 2 are words that point us toward the Lord for help---for a way to escape judgment day. "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." (Joel 2:32)

The offer of salvation is made to all people. Joel says "everyone", and although he makes references to Mount Zion and Jerusalem which usually indicates the Jewish people, we also know that both Jews and Gentiles were saved on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and that the Lord had predicted way back in Genesis, before He ever gave Abraham a son, that all nations would come to faith through the descendant (Christ) who would come from Abraham's people. So the Lord always intended to extend His offer of salvation to every person on the face of the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ, in Revelation 22:17, makes His offer of salvation to "whosoever will" come to Him. I am one of those "whosoevers"! You are one of those "whosoevers"! We can all have the forgiveness and the blessings of the children of God and we can all be saved from the day of judgment.