Joel 2:1-11
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand -- 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. 3 Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste -- nothing escapes them. 4 They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. 5 With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. 6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale. 7 They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course. 8 They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. 9 They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows. 10 Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. 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? (NIV)
- The "Day of the Lord" is a name used to identify the
time of testing that is to come upon the whole world, but is it also the
name of a literal day?
- HINT: Revelation 6:12-17 "Great Day of their wrath"
- HINT: Revelation 19:17-21
- HINT: Joel 2:2 "a day"
- Whose army is coming in Joel 2:2?
- HINT: Revelation 16:12-16
- HINT: Revelation 19:17-18
- Is this army riding literal horses?
- HINT: Joel 2:4 "appearance of", "like cavalry"
- NOTE: When the wording in the Bible uses words like "appearance of" and "like" it is telling is that this is figurative not literal.
- Does the Lord have an army here too?
- HINT: Joel 2:11
- HINT: Revelation 19:11-14
- What is the sign that the literal Day of the Lord has arrived?
- HINT: Joel 2:10; Joel 3:15
- HINT: Matthew 24:29-30
- HINT: Isaiah 13:10; 24:23
- HINT: Ezekiel 32:7
Isaiah 13:4-13
Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The LORD Almighty is mustering an army for war. 5 They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens -- the LORD and the weapons of his wrath -- to destroy the whole country. 6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. 7 Because of this, all hands will go limp, every man's heart will melt. 8 Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame. 9 See, the day of the LORD is coming -- a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger -- to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. 10 The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. 11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. 12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger. (NIV)
- Who is it that the Lord is coming to destroy?
- HINT: Isaiah 13:9
- HINT: Revelation 7:15; Revelation 19:17-18
- What part of the world will be affected?
- HINT: Isaiah 13:11, 12, 13
- HINT: Psalm 2:1-12
- HINT: Revelation 16:17-21
- What will be destroyed?
Revelation 16:20
Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. (NIV) - What do the islands represent, and what do the mountains represent?
- HINT: Isaiah 40:15 Nations=Islands
- HINT: Isaiah 41:1
- HINT: Isaiah 49:1
- HINT: Daniel 2:35, 45
- HINT: Isaiah 14:13 Satan thought to rise up above God.
- HINT: Revelation 21:10 God's mountain
- NOTE: A mountain is anything that rises itself up, like a false religion, in ideology that opposes God's truth.
- On the great and dreadful Day of the Lord, everything that opposes God's truth will be thrown to the ground. The world will abandon their political ideologies. All the world's attempts to isolate themselves from depending upon God will be torn down.
