The End of the World, God's Judgment is Coming: Joel 2:1-11 (Sermon)
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WELCOME
It is great to be with you all. Thanks, worship team.
SCRIPTURE
I will read the Scripture, and you don’t need to stand. We will be reading Joel chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. [QUE music - Start at 14 sec. https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music/song/march-of-the-damned/133032 ].
TEXT
Blow a trumpet in Zion;
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,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful people;
their like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
Fire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
but behind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
As with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
Before them peoples are in anguish;
all faces grow pale.
Like warriors they charge;
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
They do not jostle one another;
each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
They leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the windows like a thief.
The earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
The LORD utters his voice
before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome;
who can endure it? (Joel 2:1–11, ESV)
PRAYER
Thanks. The music playing behind my reading may be a bit much for some. It can help convey Joel’s tone. What is that tone? It is dark. Before we go further, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, be with us now as we dive into your Word. We need your help to understand it. Life is hard. We need you. We need your comfort and your grace. In Jesus’s name, we pray, Amen.
CONTEXT
Joel, son of Pethuel, was likely written to Israel after their return from exile. They had rebuilt the temple. Israel had suffered under Babylonian oppression, but their suffering was not finished. The Day of the LORD was approaching. Chapter 1 warned that a plague they would experience was a foretaste of a coming judgment. Often, people think of justice executed on one’s enemies or for an oppressed group of people. Some may think of racism or sexism when they think of injustice. In the book of Obadiah, God judges Edom for its violence toward Israel. Isaiah speaks against Moab, Philistia, Egypt, Damascus, Cush, Assyria, Babylon, Tyre, and Sidon. Jeremiah prophecies to similar countries. He adds Ammon, Kedar, Hazor, and Elam. Ezekiel prophesies to some of the same groups and adds a place called Gog. Jonah was sent to the city of Nineveh to proclaim God’s judgment. However, in Joel, God’s people are the ones reprimanded. Why? What did they do wrong? We don’t see that until next week. But they have been in the wrong. It would have been plain to some. But godly people, like Joel, were caught in the crosshairs and facing God’s judgment. They were collateral damage. He was the messenger negatively affected by his leaders’ and country’s sins. God calls his people to prepare and communicate the coming Day of the Lord. Chapter 1 concluded with Joel crying out to God. I would, too.
STRUCTURE
Chapter 2 begins with introductory commands, a rationale for those, and a summary. In our passage for the day,
Joel calls God’s people to pay attention to God’s coming judgment.
STRUCTURE & MAIN IDEA
This fits the main idea of the book: Return! For the day of the LORD will bring judgment and restoration. In 2025, we can live with a sense that God’s judgment may never come. We can feel like things have always been the way they will be. Since Joel wrote 2500 years ago, that makes sense to me. So, will the end ever arrive? It reminds me of the 1987 song by REM’s It’s the End of the World as We Know It, And I Feel Fine. This line of thought has not always been the prevailing sentiment. People have thought the end was upon them, like:
In the 1300s’, when the Black Plague killed 25 to 200 million people,
Or, the early 1900s’, when the Spanish Flu killed 17 to 100 million people,
Or, the rise of the Third Reich or Communists in the mid-twentieth century,
But as much as we hear rumors of wars, earthquakes, plagues, and cultish leaders claiming to be messiahs, the end for many seems like a myth because these threats rise and fall. Joel calls us to pay attention to God’s coming judgment. History marches to a cataclysmic conclusion, but people can forget that in the next news cycle. Tragedies like the one in LA or with the hurricane down south, what was its name? I have already forgotten it. They come and go. So, it will end if you are in the midst of a tragedy. And if you are not, dark things are on the horizon. God’s judgment will be much worse than anything that has ever been or will be. How is that for a happy thought? (But there is hope. I will end with some hope.)
VERSE 1: ALARM
Before we go there, let’s dig into verse 1. We have three commands.
“Blow a trumpet in Zion;
sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble” (Joel 2:1, ESV).
The trumpets at the time were unlike those I learned to play in 5th grade. It was an animal horn like this:
https://live.staticflickr.com/5656/22817790958_382f1988a4_h.jpg
In Hebrew, the word for this trumpet is “shofar.” That is what people called it. Shofar is used seventy-two times in the Old Testament. God wanted his people to sound the shofar in Joel chapter 2, verse 1. Why? It was an alarm, like the Wednesday tornado drill or the regular fire drill.
You may recall that in the Book of Joshua, Israel walked around the city of Jericho for seven days, blowing their shofars continually. On the seventh day, they marched around seven times. The people shouted, and the walls fell.
In Judges, God sent Gideon with three hundred men at night to surround the camp of Midian, numbering 150,000. The three hundred to 150,000. The Israelites had lights in one hand and shofars in the other. These men broke their jars holding lights at the signal and blew their trumpets. The Midianites, in confusion, slaughtered one another.
In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, seven trumpets sounded by seven angels from chapters 8 through 11 symbolize God’s judgment.
ZION
Chapter 2, verse 1, also mentions Zion and a Holy Mountain. Both stand for Jerusalem. The mountain in Jerusalem was Mount Moriah, the very same mountain where Abraham obeyed God thousands of years before to sacrifice his one and only son, Isaac. If you recall, he believed that God would raise his son. And as he lifted his knife to kill his son Isaac, God stopped him and provided a substitute, a ram. That was the exact spot where King David made it his capital and his son, Solomon, built a temple. It is on the precise spot where the Dome of the Rock stands, and the wailing wall remains. It is in the same place where another one and only son climbed up a hill and gave his life to substitute for his people. This man was the “lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Joel, chapter 2, wants a warning to sound. He wants people to quake. Why? The verse goes on:
“For the day of the LORD is coming; it is near” (Joel 2:1b, ESV).
DAY
Joel said this in the first chapter: “Alas for the Day; for the Day of the LORD is near” (Joel 1:15a, ESV). Why is the Day of the Lord such a big deal? The Bible says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4:8, ESV).” And, “In your [God’s] presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11, ESV). God is good. Why would his nearness cause shaking and knees knocking? That is where verse 2 comes in. Jump to verse 2.
“A day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains” (Joel 2:2, ESV).
This was a dark and stormy night—this ancient trope.
VERSE 2
What happens in the dark? Keep reading. Verse 2:
A great and powerful people;
their like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations. (Joel 2:2, ESV)
Joel introduces a multitude of people. I think of the stadiums filled for an NFL playoff game and the streets of New York. This number will be the largest gathering of might ever.
VERSE 3
How is their strength demonstrated? Go to verses 3:
Fire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
but behind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them. (Joel 3:3, ESV)
This vast force will destroy God’s land at this time. God’s land was supposed to be paradise, Eden, where he dwelt with his people, who lived holy lives of faith in him. But God’s people had exchanged him for other gods and worldly ways. They embraced the values of their neighbors. Consequently, God would send judgment in phases. First, he exiled his people. They got the boot from their homeland. Eventually, they returned, but they still did not wholly follow the Lord. In Ezra and Nehemiah, we read that at least 100 of God’s people intermarried with neighboring nations. What was so bad about that? The men compromised their faith and blended their religious convictions and values with others. We can see this danger in our day. On a practical level, such a melding of faith causes division on a fundamental level. Spouses struggle with:
How to raise and discipline children,
How to spend time and money,
And what to do with church attendance.
God’s commands and nature are perfect, too. When we deviate from him, there is hell to pay. There can be natural consequences, like our kids disobeying us and putting their hands in a fire; they get burned. And there are supernatural consequences, like the locusts and the coming Day of the Lord.
VERSE 4 & 5
Verses 4 and 5 describe this incredible legion of destruction:
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
As with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
drawn up for battle. (Joel 2:4–5, ESV)
We read that these people are like racing stallions and a battalion. They have the sound of chariots. They run, rumble, leap, and devour. In the last book of the Bible, the apostle John had a similar vision of destruction as the world approaches its end. You don’t have to turn there. I will read it for you now. The Scripture references will be in our weekly email. If you don’t get it, email the office for a copy. I am reading Revelation chapter 9.
And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come. (Revelation 9:1–12, ESV)
Woah! That is strange. What was happening? Locusts, which we read about in Joel chapter 1, sting like scorpions. They are part of God’s judgment and wrath. I remember being fascinated by them in High School. I would go to school and share with my friends what I was studying. I am sure I got some eye rolls. Some thought that these locusts were helicopters. Others said they were mythical creatures from the surrounding cultures. Regardless of what each locust is, these hordes are a pain point that rises to a level of historical cataclysm. It peaks on a day called the Day of the LORD in Joel.
WHEN
When will that day be? Jesus’s followers were asking the same sort of questions.
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:4–14, ESV)
Jesus went on in his sermon.
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. (Matthew 24:36–42, ESV)
DAY
So, when will this be? We don’t know. Will it be a twenty-four-hour period? A day doesn’t have to be a literal 24 hours. You may recall what Peter wrote, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8, ESV). God is outside of time. He has always existed and will always exist. We use the word “day” in a similar loose fashion. For example, when talking to my kids about what I used to do, I might say, “In my day, we walked uphill to school both ways with the wind in our faces for two miles.” No matter how we parse out the meaning, the point God wants us to comprehend is that the devastation will be unlike any other.
VERSE 6
Verse 6 depicts the impact of the force approaching God’s people:
“Before them peoples are in anguish;
all faces grow pale” (Joel 2:6, ESV).
The blood drains from their faces. They are ashen. They are like Edward Munch’s 1893 painting called The Scream.
https://www.edvardmunch.org/assets/img/paintings/the-scream.jpg
Why? What were they reacting to?
VERSE 7 - 10
Looking at verses 7 through 9, we get a picture of these invaders.
Like warriors they charge;
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
They do not jostle one another;
each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
They leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the windows like a thief. (Joel 2:7–9, ESV)
They charge, scale, march, burst, leap, run, climb, and enter. The impact of these bugs is incredible. I think of the plagues of Egypt:
The waters turned to blood, things died and stunk,
Frogs were everywhere,
Lice or gnats were everywhere,
Flies were everywhere
A disease was everywhere,
Boils afflicted people,
Hail fell,
Locusts came,
Darkness hung in the air for three days,
Finally, with the tenth plague came the death of the firstborn.
This Day of the LORD was worse than the ten plagues of Egypt. How so?
VERSE 10
Jump to verse 10.
The earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining. (Joel 2:10, ESV)
Recall God wanted his people to tremble, shake, and quake. Now, in verse 10, the sky is trembling. This judgment impacts the cosmos. I can picture billions of locusts darkening the sky. But how did the heavens tremble? Perhaps it will be earth-shaking. Joel’s prophecy has an element of ancient Hebrew poetry, so he uses parallelism, hyperbole, simile, and metaphor. How do we understand the book of Joel? Some of the particulars remain a mystery. But God is okay with us not knowing all the answers. What he wants us to get is the big idea. What is the big idea? A colossal plague of insects foreshadows the coming Day of the LORD. Pay attention. Joel wants us to pay attention.
VERSE 11
Our part of the Bible we are looking at today concludes with verse 11.
The LORD utters his voice
before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome;
who can endure it? (Joel 2:11, ESV)
God is the instigator of disaster. It was:
His “army,”
His “camp,”
his “word,”
And this was his doing.
He will orchestrate traumatic events for his mysterious purpose. He is sovereign.
GREAT & AWESOME
This day will be great, not in the sense of pleasant, but in the extent.
This day will be awesome—not like the pizza I had on Wednesday night from Silver Beach, but full of awe. This word is the same word in Hebrew for fear. Another way to put it is that the Day of the LORD will be fearsome. It will be terrifying and scary. A person will panic, and even the sky will quake. There will be an adrenaline rush, a pulse quickened, a heart racing, and people sweating.
ENDURE
Joel asks, “Who can endure it?” After reading up to this point in Joel, you might respond, “No one. No one can endure it.” We are all goners. God is holy. Get us out of here. HELP!
The Bible says if a person sees God in his glory, he or she will die (Exodus 33:30).
God is so holy that he required Moses to take off his shoes when he spoke to Moses.
God is so holy that Moses had to look at only a tiny portion of him, and his face glowed. The glow was so intense that he had to wear a veil after being in God’s presence to interact with people.
God is so holy that when God met Moses on Mount Sinai, only he could go up and meet with him.
God is so holy that only the Levites could carry the Ark of the Covenant. And when the cattle were moving and stumbled, and a non-Levite went to stabilize it, God took the life of that man for disobeying that simple command.
God is so holy that only male Levites without a deformity could enter into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, where the ark of the Covenant was. They tied a string around that person so that if he died, they could drag him out.
God is so holy that when the prophet Isaiah saw God in a vision, he fell on his face and cried out to God, confessing his sin and the sin of his people.
God is so holy that the angels around his throne cover their eyes because it is hard or impossible to look at him; they cover their feet as another expression of reverence and fly around shouting, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3, ESV).
God is so holy that the only way any person could be near him and stand and live is that Jesus had to hang and die. Who can stand the day of the LORD? Who can endure it? If you want an answer, come back next week. But I won’t leave you entirely in a lurch. I said I would give us some hope. What is that? I have already said it. Jesus came to save us from our sins. He helps us stand. He helps us endure when we have exhausted all avenues. He brings us to the other side of our trials and prepares a place for us in heaven.
END TIMES
What are we to do with Joel chapter 2, verses 1 through 11 as we wrap up? How will we live in light of the coming judgment? One solution is to live off the grid. Some friends of mine nearly do. They don’t have a sewer, plumbing, or electricity. They use compostable toilets, solar panels, and a well for water. They have one year’s food supply, guns, animals, and gardens. During the pandemic, I got worried and started stocking my pantry because of them. I would picture myself running to their house in a pinch to save my family from the marauding gangs driving like Mad Max up from Chicago for my ten pounds of aging potatoes and toilet paper. The name for this type of person is “Prepper.” They are prepped for an apocalypse. But at the end of the day, unless they have Jesus, they are not prepped. God wants his people to be prepared for the Day of his coming. Are you? Where are you with Jesus? 2025 can be the year when your spiritual life is a priority. I was talking to a friend this week about retirement. He was worried about the last couple of weeks. I get it. I tried to encourage him. I gave him the cheery thought that he probably wouldn’t die for another ten to twenty years. (I have the spiritual gift of bluntness.) But what happens when he dies? In the worst-case scenario, he has nothing left. He ends his days in what we would deem America’s first-world squalor, a ward of the state. At that point, the number in the retirement account won’t matter. Both the billionaire and the broke will die. You can’t take the money with you. The question for us is, what are we doing to prepare for what comes afterward? Most of our existence will be after. The stock market, insurance, stuff, and friends don’t help us on that Day. God calls us to pay attention before it is too late. Judgment is coming. Our end is at hand. God may take us to himself before he comes back, this Tribulation, and the year is out. Are we ready? Let’s prepare ourselves to meet him.
PREPARING
What does that look like? Let me encourage you to move toward God in prayer and Bible reading this year. Seek the LORD’s grace and mercy. Cry out to him. At the turn of the year, I asked God for a word to work on this year. He gave me the word “Self-control.” I asked for a verse, and he showed me, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7, ESV). Perhaps the LORD will give you a word and verse. Let’s pay attention before it is too late.
SHARING
Perhaps this passage is a call for you to double down your efforts to care for your loved ones who don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Let me encourage you to remember those in your circles, pray for them daily, care for them weekly, and share with them monthly. I was talking about this with a brother yesterday, and he had a person he was not even thinking was in his circle begin to speak with him about church. The opportunity just landed in front of him. He just had to be ready. Let’s pay attention; the Day is approaching.
PRAYER
Let’s pray.
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