Joel 2:18-32
18 Then the LORD will be zealous for His land,
And pity His people.
19 The LORD will answer and say to His people,
"Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil,
And you will be satisfied by them;
I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
20 "But I will remove far from you the northern army,
And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land,
With his face toward the eastern sea
And his back toward the western sea;
His stench will come up,
And his foul odor will rise,
Because he has done monstrous things."
21 Fear not, O land;
Be glad and rejoice,
For the LORD has done marvelous things!
22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field;
For the open pastures are springing up,
And the tree bears its fruit;
The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
23 Be glad then, you children of Zion,
And rejoice in the LORD your God;
For He has given you the former rain faithfully,
And He will cause the rain to come down for you—
The former rain,
And the latter rain in the first month.
24 The threshing floors shall be full of wheat,
And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
25 "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
The crawling locust,
The consuming locust,
And the chewing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And praise the name of the LORD your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
And My people shall never be put to shame.
27 Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel:
I am the LORD your God
And there is no other.
My people shall never be put to shame.
28 "And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
30 "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
32 And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Shall be saved.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance,
As the LORD has said,
Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.
The called of the LORD call out to Him when He calls them to repentance by the gift of faith to open blind eyes and deaf ears, to give them a heart able to love Him and others in fulfilling all the law of God inscribed by Him there. That is the example of wayward Israel addressed by the prophet here and repeated at the day of Pentecost in Acts as the first church was called together by the Lord and formed. The mercy of God’s grace was poured out on the undeserving because He had chosen and called them. He took away their reproach, restoring their standing and good reputation by His righteousness and demonstrated that to them and the onlooking nations by making their crops prosperous once more and by removing the armies of locusts and men from their land. God caused the former and latter rains to fall again and being fruitfulness back to them. Being satisfied with His goodness, they responded with thankful praise (Psalm 113:3) for their restoration by grace in God’s wondrous dealings with His people. He took away the shame of their rejection and sins of idolatry and immortality and made them stand as princes once more (Psalm 113:7-8) in His eyes and in those looking on at their divine restoration. They cast away their lifeless idols md proclaimed loudly that the LORD alone is God, that there is no other and they wanted no manmade replacement anymore. Gods promised to put out His Spirit on them as the called turned back to Him from sin as a pattern and foreshadowing of the day of His church receiving the same outpouring (Acts 2:16-17) after Jesus arose back into heaven from where He descended into the lower parts of the earth as a baby (Ephesians 4:9-10) to show the way of repentance and faith to those He called (John 6:44). Then He died and rose again to prove the promise of eternal life through faith that trusted His word and work there that we might share in the same resurrection of body and soul to come after the final judgment of just men made perfect in Christ who is our righteousness (Hebrews 12:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30). This word of the LORD given through Joel came to pass exactly as told in the promise of God’s permanently indwelling Spirit with accompanying proof of various languages spoken to intelligibly tell of His glory and work of restoration and reconciliation of His called and chosen in Jesus the Christ as planned from the beginning of time. Whoever among these therefore who call on His name are saved as promised to them, as many as He calls as Romans 8:30 and other scriptures tell us. The deliverance, our salvation, of the Lord for the remnant of Israel and the nations has been made manifest in God’s divine Son (John 1:1, 14) coming to die and rise again to make this promise possible, effectual, and unbreakable in eternity. Praise Him for His sacrifice and your salvation, all you saints who He calls! This is the restoration of the called and redeemed. Remember that He is risen indeed as proof of the scriptures describing Him and His work for our certain hope. Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah come to both offer the ultimate sacrifice of Himself for the sins of the people once forever and to be the High Priest making the sacrifice of Himself just once because He is perfect and sinless as the Son of God. Amen.
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