June 4 - Joel 2:1-11

June 4 - Joel 2:1-11

Apocalyptic literature is filled with symbols that try to explain the things that are unexplainable. We have no idea exactly what The Day of the Lord will look like, we just know that it will be unimaginable, even though prophets and seers have tried to describe what it is that they are envisioning.

Joel sounds an alarm in Joel 2:1 and it is one that should resound through our hearts today. The Day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand. Jesus reiterates that we will not know a date or a time, but we need to be ready.

The invaders will be like the locusts from Chapter 1. Everything will be devoured and destroyed. Look at the beauty of the comparison in Joel 2:3. The Garden of Eden was the epitome of beauty, yet the beauty that lies before the invaders will fall to them and become as a desert.

Look at Revelation 9:7. The locusts that John saw looked like horses prepared for battle. We see this same imagery in Joel and then turn to Revelation 9:17-19. As the horses tore through the land fire, smoke and sulfer came from their mouths - all symbols of destruction.

In Joel 2:6-9, we see paralyzing fear fall on the people as the warriors move throughout the land. John gives us a deepening image of the riders on their horses in Revelation 9:17 with breastplates of fiery red, dark blue and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions.

In Revelation 6:15, we see the fear of the people. "Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slavea nd every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks. 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?'"

Joel 2:11. "The Lord thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?"

Who can stand? Who can endure it?

John's vision, Paul's vision, Jesus' revelation, Old Testament prophets. Their warnings are to be heeded. Who will listen?