The prophecy and poetry of Joel is sparked by a devastating event in Judah’s recent memory – a plague of locusts that utterly destroyed Judah’s agriculture, and therefore Judah’s economy, all at once. “What the cutting locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust has left, the hopping locust has eaten. What the hopping locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.” (Joel 1:4) It was like being invaded by foreign army with the teeth of hungry lions, the prophet goes on to say. (1:6) And Joel is the one to get us to ask a question like, “Is it possible that God is trying to get our attention?”
So, next comes a call for mourning and repentance. Joel doesn’t go into detail about what particular sins need to be repented of, but the prophet calls for it anyway. It is time to mourn and to listen for what God is trying to say to us moving forward. And after the call to repent comes a new announcement of the “day of the Lord.” “The day of the LORD is coming, it is near, a day of darkness and gloom. Like blackness spread across the mountains, a great and powerful army comes… Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, but after them a desolate wilderness… As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains… They burst through the weapons and are not halted. They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls… They enter through the windows like a thief… The day of the LORD is great, terrible indeed – who can endure it?” (2:1-11) While Joel is looking ahead to what God has in store for Judah’s future, doesn’t it sound like he’s still talking about locusts? The prophet imagines that whatever God is planning, Judah has already had a taste of the severity that awaits them.
But none of this is without a final word of grace. “Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning. Rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.” (2:12-13) Repentance will not be for nothing. God will redeem and renew. Immediately after this call to return to God comes the promise of restored agriculture. (2:21-27) But that’s not even the final promise! Instead of only the restoration of agriculture and economy, there is the promise of God’s Spirit for all people. “Afterwards, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves I will pour out my spirit.” (2:28-29)
God will restore the material fortunes of Judah, but even more importantly he will give his people a heart filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit, so much so that all flesh (quite a broad category, wouldn’t you say?), from the oldest to the youngest, from the richest to the poorest, from the most respected to the most despised, will speak a prophetic word from God just as Joel does – a word of judgment, yes, but a word of grace, mercy and renewing love, too.
We submit to the God who calls us to repentance and who announces judgment, because he is the same God who announces his grace, mercy and love toward us, and who abundantly pours the gift of his Holy Spirit upon us.
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