The book of Joel begins with stark imagery; accounts of judgment and hardship revolving around the great, terrible, wonderful, unavoidable reality that Joel refers to simply as “The Day of the Lord”. It is difficult, in some ways, to nail down exactly what the prophets mean when they speak of the “Day of the Lord", because sometimes they seem to be referring to the past, at other times they are clearly speaking of some cataclysmic, yet-future event. For all the complexity, we can safely say that when Joel and those like him make reference to this “Day of the Lord”, they are ultimately saying that there have been, there are, and there will be times when God steps into the course of human history in a significant, tangible way. There are times when God has shown up - and will show up - not obliquely or quietly, but in power. And when God shows up in power… things change.
Scripture is full of references to Gods’ patience: his forbearance, his longsuffering and self-giving, gracious love. Ever since the fall of man, God has suffered indignity and insult – he has suffered our pride, idolatry, ignorance and insolence – for generation after generation. He has suffered so long and so patiently that our hardened, blinded, broken world can even begin to wonder aloud if He is even really there at all. Or if he is there, if there is any real power in Him to contend with us. For what sovereign God would ever allow himself to be spited for so long without bringing down his fist upon us? Perhaps, we speculate, heaven is empty after all…
It is to this world, and against this manner of thinking, that the prophets speak of the Day of the Lord. God will not contend with evil forever. When his patience and longsuffering have accomplished the fullness of His purposes, He will come again: not meekly or apologetically, but with a breathtaking, glorious, terrible, holy unveiling of His power, before which evil, darkness and doubt will crumble in defeat. Rebellion and rebels and the foolishness of idolatry and human pride will be tossed aside like dry leaves before a blast furnace, and the very depths of our hearts will be laid bare: we will suddenly come to know ourselves as we truly are, and apart from the blood of Christ himself covering us in a beauty not our own, we will be overcome by our own hideousness, smallness and shame. This is what the Day of the Lord will be.
Joel speaks in poetic terms about the Day of the Lord coming as Judgment upon Israel for their generations of unfaithfulness to their calling and covenant. In that day, God moved against them in the form of foreign empires, swarming in and carrying them away from the promised land, their heritage and their crippled temple, into a land not their own. This was known as the exile, and it lasted more than 400 years. Later Joel speaks of repentance and restoration: Gods’ favor returning to Israel. Israel is partially restored from exile, and the temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem. During this time, the Day of the Lord would come as prophesied in the person of Jesus and in the giving of the Holy Spirit as Gods’ Kingdom explodes into a truly global movement of salvation and redemption. Then, the prophet again turns to the language of judgment – a warning to the nations – that the final and ultimate Day of the Lord is yet to come. When God comes again, it will be final, and it will be in power.
Through all of this, the message is the same: Repent, for the Day of the Lord is near. This is a message as much for us as it was for the people of Judah and Jerusalem. God has come, and he is coming, and when He does it will be a time of reckoning. Of glorious grace and perfect love and salvation for His people, yes… but the beauty of that day will be a terrible beauty. The love revealed on that day will be a perfect love. And as those who have not yet been made perfect, it ought to melt our hearts within us to think about. The day of the Lord is NEAR, Joel says, so we ought to regard very carefully the state of our own hearts. We ought to be a people whose love for God is expressed in the readiness of our own repentance in the light of His perfect love. God is going to show up… Repent, for the Day of the Lord is near.
Rev. Chris Bannon
Area Coordinator North, Revive New England