Joel 2:1-17

Bringing the sermon home:

“Sound an alarm on my holy mountain!” Why? “The day of the Lord is coming.” Like Paul Revere’s midnight ride, Joel sounds the alarm of a coming “day of darkness and gloom.” This language should have been shocking for Israel, for it is the language used to describe the destruction of their enemies in the Exodus (Exod 10:21) and in the yet-to-come New Exodus (Isaiah 13:6), but here it is being applied to the Lord’s destruction of His own people. They have refused to repent of their sins and turn to Him, and so the Lord is leading an unstoppable army against them.

Even more shocking than the announcement of this coming judgment upon His people in verses 1–11 is the continued offer of salvation in verses 12–17 if they will simply “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”

All of this points to the final judgment to come, leaving us to ask: “Who can stop it, and who can endure it?” (v. 11) There is no stopping it, and yet, for those who will return to the Lord in repentance and faith, we need not fear it, for Jesus has already endured it in our place. During the final three hours that Jesus hung on the cross, “there was darkness over the whole land” (Mark 15:33), for Christ was enduring the dreadful day of the Lord on behalf of His people so that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21). Call on Him, and continue to sound the alarm for all who have not yet been saved.

Outline:

1. The Lord's Army (vv. 1-11)
2. The Lord's Call (vv. 12-17)

(Special thanks to our guest preacher, William Beckham, for faithfully unpacking God's Word for us on Sunday.)