Mining the Minors: Joel (9)

The Christian who reads the last few verses of Joel 3 immediately says to himself, “Aha, that’s about the return of the Lord.” No Judean of Joel’s day would ever have thought such a thing, at least not if he only had Joel’s prophecy to go by; after all, you can hardly speak of a second advent when you have yet to distinguish it from the first, and both are still far in the future.

Nevertheless, that’s what this is all about. The Second Coming. Christ’s victorious return to reign over planet Earth.

Eschatology Then and Now

Any useful overview of the end times requires us to assemble the writings of multiple prophets, comparing scripture with scripture. We cannot pretend to know how all the pieces of the prophetic mosaic fit together until we have examined each in its context. Even then, it is hard to be sure we are always on the right track. That sort of study involves considerable intellectual labor combined with a level of uncertainty sufficiently daunting that few undertake it. Moreover, what you end up with depends greatly on the assumptions you start with. Even those who invest thousands of hours in the study of prophecy may find they have wasted much of their time cobbling together what they thought was a coherent picture of the great tribulation, Armageddon or the millennial reign, when they belatedly discover a foundational assumption was incorrect and never supported the suppositional superstructure they have erected upon it.

If you appreciate the difficulties with accurately interpreting prophetic scripture when you have every last word of it right in front of you, imagine the perplexity of those who only had early bits and pieces!

That is not to denigrate the value of Joel’s prophecy or that of any other prophets to the people of their day — not at all. In some ways, the absence of detail about the first advent, the church age and the hope of resurrection and eternal life may have allowed Jews to focus more clearly on their own national, earthly hope, which remains as solid and sure as the God who revealed it to them.

7. The Millennial Reign

Joel 3:17 — God with Us

“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it.”

Call His Name Immanuel

Isaiah wrote these famous words quoted every Christmas by believers all over the world: “The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Matthew comments that the meaning of “Immanuel” is “God with us.”

It took me almost half my life for that penny to drop. For many Christians it never does. They read “God with us” and think exclusively of the Lord’s first advent; that “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands”, the one who is currently seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. It never dawns on them that both the millennial reign and the eternal state are all about the very same experience, not God taking his people into heaven to be with him, but God coming and dwelling among us for all eternity. Immanuel. Not “us with God” but “God with us.”

“I am the Lord your God who dwells in Zion.” First, the Lord Jesus Christ will dwell in the Zion of the millennium with his Jewish brethren, ruling over a largely reluctant world, which is what Joel has in view. Later, after the thousand years have passed, he will dwell in the Zion of the new heaven and new earth, the New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from God, and into which the Lord Jesus will bring not just his purified Jewish remnant but also his bride, as well as “the glory and the honor of the nations”. (Don’t worry, there’s plenty of room.)

The Lord Dwells in Zion

This is the end game for mankind, not dying and going to heaven to dwell in God’s domain, but the Father’s house transported to the New Earth. What a glorious prospect, and what a gracious God! Religion tells you what you need to do to get to God and ends in monumental failure, when the truth is God both came to us and is coming to us. When something needs to be done for us, only the Lord himself can do it.

So Joel’s prophecy resolves in a world that will know the Lord who dwells in Zion, in a holy Jerusalem that bears no resemblance to its current state.

Strangers Passing Through

The words “strangers shall never again pass through it” do not suggest Gentiles will be unwelcome in the Jerusalem of the millennial reign. Far from it. In fact, Isaiah says concerning this period, “All flesh shall come to worship before me” and concerning the nations, that “they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord … to my holy mountain Jerusalem.” No, the humbled, repentant representatives from the nations will definitely be welcome in Zion. Zechariah says, “Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.” Not only will strangers be welcome in Jerusalem, they will celebrate Israel’s feasts with them.

I think what Joel actually has in mind when he speaks of strangers never again passing through Zion is the sort of thing he’s been describing throughout his prophecy: invasions from the enemies of Israel. Never again will such things occur. Nobody will be able to march their army into Zion, plant a flag and declare it their own. When the Lord God dwells there, Jerusalem will be forever set apart to him.

Joel 3:18 — Joel Meets Ezekiel

“And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.”

Isaiah describes the same period in these words: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.” It will be a time of abundance and glorious provision. Nobody in millennial Israel will lack for anything.

One of the reasons for the blossoming of the desert is likely the irrigative properties of the fountain of which Joel speaks, probably the same thing described in detail by Ezekiel, who devotes eleven verses to it. Water will trickle out from below the threshold of the millennial temple toward the east — literally coming forth from the house of the Lord — where it will first become a stream, then a mighty river that cannot safely be crossed, watering the Arabah and turning the salt sea fresh where it flows into it. Since it will flow east, the sea in question would be the Dead Sea, which lies east of Jerusalem, as also does the Valley of Shittim (the “valley of the acacias”).

Joel 3:19-21 — Answering a Cry

“Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem to all generations. I will avenge their blood, blood I have not avenged, for the Lord dwells in Zion.”

Innocent blood always cries out for judgment, and God invariably answers. Innocent blood cried out in the days of Abel, and God dealt with it in a way that Cain said was more than he could bear. Innocent blood featured in the Law of Moses. Bloodguilt contaminated the community, and needed to be purged in order that it would go well with Israel. The Psalms complain about it and the Prophets inveigh against it. Here we have the Lord’s solemn promise that he will avenge it no matter how much time has passed since its shedding. Egypt and Edom will get theirs.

However, when we compare scripture with scripture, the fate of at least some millennial Egyptians begins to look a little rosier than Joel paints it. Again, Joel has only a few tiles from the prophetic mosaic to work with. Egypt will indeed become a desolation for the violence done to the people of Judah. The blood of God’s people shed by his enemies will be avenged.

Isaiah describes the situation in greater detail. The land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians, and they will be greatly oppressed on account of their treatment of Israel. The Lord will strike Egypt. However, he will also heal them. In the midst of their oppression, they will call out to the Lord, who will send them a savior and deliver them. After this, the Egyptians will know the Lord, worship him with sacrifice and offering, and five Egyptian cities will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts.

Edom will not come out of this quite so well. Again, the details are elsewhere, this time in Obadiah, who writes, “there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken”.

The Lord always fulfils his promises of judgment, but that never stops him from acting in grace toward those who put their trust in him. Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem to all generations.