Judgment, hope, and God’s merciful surprise.
The day of reckoning and redemption in Joel’s prophecy.

Even though it might be easy to categorize Joel’s prophecy as just another example of the Bible as a “fire and brimstone” book, I want to caution you from jumping to conclusions too hastily. Folks often bristle and get uncomfortable when they read Scriptures like this since it seems to expose God’s irritable side. The age-old caricature of a grumpy deity who is seemingly mad at everyone seems to describe this text a little too well. All that talk about darkness, gloomy clouds, and devouring fire in Chapter 2 of Joel’s oracle doesn’t, at first glance, offer much room for pleasantries or inspiration. Yet even amid such coarse words of prophecy, we find some of the most timely words for our own day.
1. The misunderstood message of Joel.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to know what was going on in the world when Joel was written, especially since there are no overt dates or names that might clue us into the historical context. There remain a lot of educated guesses but no definitive answers when attempting to contextualize Joel’s words. In any event, this prophecy was most likely delivered after the northern kingdom of Samaria fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. but prior to the conquest and exile of the southern kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Within that window of history and turmoil, God gives his prophet Joel a message in which he is shown still in pursuit of his people. Rather than just being a message of “fire and brimstone,” Joel’s prophecy, especially in Chapter 2, gives us a decisive look at the heart of God that invites his people to return to him. This, to be sure, is an invitation that still holds true for us today.
2. Judgment is forecasted through locusts and armies.
The collapse of the northern kingdom gave Joel a daunting backdrop from which to address the people of Judah. Although the line of kings who reigned in Judah was (slightly) more faithful to God than those who invited rampant idolatry and ruin into Samaria, Judah’s decline was marked by the same set of problems — namely, immorality, injustice, paganism, and corrupt leadership. The byproduct of these deplorable ingredients was a kingdom in decay. By the time of Samaria’s destruction, Judah was a far cry from the days of David. They had turned their back on God, which, in turn, had invited all kinds of forboding consequences to come upon them, all of which were meant to get their attention. Case in point, in Chapter 1, Joel refers to a plague of locusts that had devoured everything in sight:
What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten . . .
The fields are destroyed,
the ground mourns,
because the grain is destroyed,
the wine dries up,
the oil languishes.
(Joel 1:4, 10)
Although this is a topic of much scholarly debate, I believe that, in Joel’s immediate context, this was a literal swarm of locusts that had laid waste to the Judean countryside. Locust swarms are, of course, not uncommon in that region of the world. In fact, they pose a very serious threat to everyone’s livelihood. A locust swarm is a fearful phenomenon, the sheer sound and size of which is deafening and ominous. A single swarm can contain upwards of a few billion locusts, leading to massive agricultural and economic devastation in just a few hours. Even still, Joel’s message to the people of Judah was that this recent plague was God’s way of putting them on notice. “Alas, for the day! For the day of the Lord is near,” the prophet declares, “and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?” (Joel 1:15–16).
According to Joel, as devastating as those “swarming locusts” were, this was merely a foretaste of the devastation that awaited them if they continued on their current path. In other words, this was a prelude to more judgment. If the people of Judah didn’t wake up from their rebellious stupor and “return to the Lord,” a much worse plague would soon consume them — namely, an army of darkness and judgment the likes of which “has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations” (Joel 2:2). This army is described in terms that are intentionally evocative of a swarm of locusts, with masses of armed men that “spread upon the mountains” and cover everything in “clouds and thick darkness.” As they block out the sun with their malice, they would leave a trail of desolation behind them. “Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns,” Joel foretells, “The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them” (Joel 2:3). “What was true of the locusts,” writes Duane A. Garrett, “will be true of the coming army, albeit in a manner more terrible” (452–53).
The Judean landscape would soon be decimated by “a powerful army drawn up for battle” (Joel 2:5), one that wreaks havoc and strikes fear into the heart of every son and daughter of Abraham. This horde will descend like a plague of destruction on every citadel and every home, scaling walls, leaping upon cities, and climbing through windows like thieves (Joel 2:6–9). An epidemic of anguish follows this fighting force, for whom no fortress is impenetrable or impervious. This, Joel forewarns, is what is on the horizon. His message concerns a day of impending disaster for the citizens of Judah, one in which everything will be laid to waste and the ground left scorched underneath the feet of these “great and powerful people.” “The earth quakes before them,” the prophet says, “the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining” (Joel 2:10).
But this is when Joel’s prophecy takes a decidedly shocking turn, as he reveals who is at the head of this formidable host. “The Lord utters his voice before his army,” Joel proclaims, “for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful” (Joel 2:11). This “army of darkness” and “swarm of soldiers” will be helmed by none other than the Lord himself, which, of course, fundamentally alters the message Joel conveys. Not only is his prophecy one of imminent disaster, but it is also one of divine judgment from a God who is sovereign. He informs us later that this multitude hails from the north (Joel 2:20), which corresponds with how history unfolds for God’s people. This conquering host will afflict the whole land but only because God allows it — because it is “he who executes his word.”
Accordingly, God’s people were not to plug their ears to God’s rebuke. Joel’s message comes at a time when it would have been more popular to talk about how things could get better; that would certainly be more uplifting. Instead, God’s prophet, filled with God’s words, employs a word of warning for God’s people so that they might see that things could get much worse. In fact, things would get worse if they failed to hear and heed God’s rebuke, which is why Joel sounded the alarm. “Blow a trumpet in Zion,” he shouts, “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” (Joel 2:1). This is a message of “impending danger,” John T. Strong comments, “but one that might yet be averted” (52). Joel’s fearful forecast functions like a tornado siren, stirring the people of God to take action and return to the Lord.
My home state, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, averages approximately sixteen tornadoes per year. Last June saw five storms touch down in the southwestern regions of the state, causing all kinds of havoc. This, of course, is still a far cry from the fifty to one hundred average storms that affect the area of the United States known as “Tornado Alley.” However, even in states where tornadoes are “common,” a factor that makes them exponentially worse is when the warnings are ignored. There are countless stories of those in the path of a tornado who “think” that the sirens are nothing more than “false alarms,” which almost always leads to devastation in the aftermath of unheeded alarms. “This always happens,” you can almost hear those folks say. “It won’t be that bad. After all, all those weather guys just say the same thing anyway.” What this points to is a serious lack of concern for the urgency of the moment, which, in many ways, describes what is happening in our day as well.
Over and over again, God’s Word tells of a day of judgment that is coming. “For the day of the Lord is coming,” Joel protests. “For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?” (Joel 2:1, 11). “The Day of the Lord,” of course, is a motif found throughout the prophetic writings of the Old Testament, often referring “to a time of Yahweh’s unmistakable and powerful intervention,” Joel D. Barker says, a day when the Lord comes “to offer both warning and hope, announcing both disaster and salvation” (132). Even as this proverbial “day” casts a long shadow over much of the later history of God’s people, it still looms over our present. Perhaps that is a truth we would rather not think about or entertain, but there is no escaping the fact that the Lord will return with judgment and mercy in his hands.
In many ways, we are already feeling the tremors of that day right now. The warnings are already all around us. Although we aren’t suffering under a plague of locusts, we are suffering a different kind of plague that is just as devastating. Ours is a plague of immorality and godlessness, which has seen fit to loosen, if not totally detach, society’s moorings on truth, morality, and hope. We are bombarded by swarms of ungodliness, vice, and decadence. The squalor of our day is broadcasted and celebrated, with too many in church having become desensitized to it all. Consequently, the Word of God is here to sound the alarm! All the calamity, controversy, and chaos we see all around us is merely the prelude to God’s ultimate judgment of all things. But, like Joel, this word not only forecasts the coming Day of the Lord, but it also shines a spotlight on where to find relief.
3. God’s invitation to return.
Contrary to the popular portrayal of God the Father as nothing but a grouchy authoritarian, Joel shows us that he is desirous of his people to “return to him.” “Return to the Lord your God,” the prophet says, “for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster” (Joel 2:13). With words that are freighted with mercy, the wayward and rebellious citizens of Judah are alerted to the opportunity to turn back to their God. They had wandered far, but they were not too far out of reach for the God of all grace. In fact, the Lord sends a direct message through Joel, in which he invites them to repent and turn to him. “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments” (Joel 2:12–13).
“Yet even now,” even at that moment, even as they were with all their sins, failures, and shortcomings clinging to them, God was ready to embrace them. This is who he is. He is a God who abounds in steadfast love and exceeds in grace, especially for those who deserve the opposite. But, as Joel suggests, this is who he’s always been. As Joel conveys the reason for their repentance, he does so by invoking God’s own self-description, which echoes throughout the ages (Exod. 34:6; cf. Num. 14:18; 2 Chron. 30:9; Neh. 9:17; Ps. 86:5, 15; 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; 116:5; 145:8). Therefore, even though God’s people had changed for the worse, God’s character and attitude toward them hadn’t. He was still the same God who brought them out of Egypt, who led them across the Red Sea, who stayed with them when they rebelled at the foot of Mount Sinai, and who was patient with them every step of the way in the wilderness. He was still for them.
Despite the drifting devotion of each passing generation, their Deliverer was as ready as ever to receive them. “The prophet,” continues John T. Strong, “confident of God’s intent to show mercy . . . orders the people to declare a public assembly for the purpose of public communal repentance. In short, the prophet urges the people of Israel to turn about in order to experience God’s salvation” (52). Joel sounds the alarm and proclaims God’s word of rebuke in order to stir the people to hear the words of God that welcome them home:
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
(Joel 2:15–17)
God’s heart, even still, longs for his people. He wants them back even when they don’t want him. In particular, he doesn’t want their religious performance; he just wants them. “The Lord is looking for a people who will not only cry out to him,” David Prior comments, “but who will return to him with all their heart” (47). “Rend your hearts and not your garments,” he says (Joel 2:13; cf. Ps. 51:16–17). All of this is to say that God is looking for his people to “return” to him, to turn around and repent. The Lord’s invitation for his people to return him, therefore, is indicative of his posture toward them. “Turn around,” God seems to say, “I’m right here. I’m ready for you. I’ve been waiting for you.” We are inclined to be cautious or even suspicious of this announcement since it seems too good to be true. But the inherent fear of turning around to find God vengeful and seething is negated by Joel’s proclamation: God is still the same covenant-making and covenant-keeping God he’s always been.
The expectation of turning around to be met by an indignant deity is displaced by the revelation that God readily embraces those who rebel against him when they return to him. In what can only be rightly denoted as God’s “merciful surprise,” the one whose superintendence extends even to the grim elements of our days does so in order to gesture to us his gracious sovereignty. “The divine ability,” writes Thomas B. Dozeman, “to avert justified destruction and to prolong life is inextricably related to the gracious character of Yahweh” (221). Those who hear and heed God’s word of judgment turn around to find a word of relief waiting for them. But how is this consistent with God’s justice and holiness? Wouldn’t this extension of mercy divest him of righteousness? Accordingly, we are bound to understand this announcement through the lens of Christ’s crucifixion. God can and does embrace repentant sinners like us precisely because his Son has secured our pardon by dying in our stead as the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).
Our repentance is feasible because of Christ.
We can pray, as Joel suggests, “Spare your people, O Lord,” because the Lord himself wasn’t spared.
Every occasion of returning to God is made possible through Christ’s self-sacrifice on the cross.
While saints and sinners of old had faith that “looked forward” to that day when their repentance would be accomplished, we are instilled with faith that looks backward on the day when our redemption is realized in Jesus. The gospel, therefore, is a report that announces relief and rescue for those who are facing judgment. However imminent the disaster, those who return to the Lord are freely and swiftly delivered. God’s rebuke is accompanied by God’s reprieve.
4. A gospel of mercy and hope.
The church misconstrues and mistakes its message if all it does is sound the alarm of God’s impending judgment. If all we are known for is announcing the coming day of God’s wrath, we are nothing more than alarmists or “merchants of doom.” What is supposed to be good news is proclaimed as a message of “scare tactics,” through which it is hoped that folks can be terrified into believing in Jesus. All this offers, though, is a stunted and incomplete gospel. “The church’s role,” John T. Strong concludes, “is not just as a sentinel calling for change, but also an active participant and support for those who do turn around in their tracks” (54). The day of the Lord’s return is a divine fact meant to motivate the announcement of grace and reprieve. Even now, even at this moment, God assures us that it is not too late. Amid all the immanent disaster and desolation, the Word of God is nearer still, offering us the respite and relief that is found in the person and work of his Son. “Come to me,” he says, “return to me, for I am your God.”
Works cited:
Joel D. Barker, “Day of the Lord,” Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets, edited by Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville, The IVP Bible Dictionary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 132–43.
Thomas B. Dozeman, “Inner-biblical interpretation of Yahweh’s gracious and compassionate character,” Journal of Biblical Literature 108.2 (1989): 207–23.
Duane A. Garrett, “Joel, Book of,” Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets, edited by Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville, The IVP Bible Dictionary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 449–55.
David Prior, The Message of Joel, Micah, & Habakkuk: Listening to the Voice of God, The Bible Speaks Today, edited by J. A. Motyer (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998).
John T. Strong, “Joel 2:1-2, 12-17,” Interpretation 50.1 (1996): 51–54.