Exposition on Joel -41 - 2:28-3:8

1.      Overview 2:28-3:8

a.       Joel described the New Covenant age using 2 primary elements:

                           i.      Out pouring of the Spirit.

1.      Compressed its beginning (Spirit pouring out) with its end (prophesy, dreams, & visions).

                         ii.      The coming DotL.

1.      Described the restoration/vindication/deliverance of God’s people.

2.      Described the retribution/destruction of their enemies.

2.      2:28-29—The Spirit in the NT

a.       Joel continues in his prophetic perfect verb tense.

                           i.      Indication of timing: “afterward”. After the restoration of the physical remnant to Jerusalem.

b.      Prophesy of the pouring out of the Spirit (Acts 2)

                           i.      Spirit in OC/NC

1.      No lack of controversy over this difference. Not as much difference as some perceive.

a.       Spirit always illuminates and regenerates—OC & NC

2.      Localization of the Spirit – OC

a.       Spirit filled the Community as a whole

3.      Democratization of the Spirit – NC

a.       Spirit fills every individual in the Community now—same Community.

b.      This is the primary function of Joel’s mention of the Spirit—poured out on all flesh.

c.       Didn’t adopt universalism but the expansion of Kingdom to all tribes & tongues.

                         ii.      Evidences of the differences

1.      Great Commission

2.      Democratization within the Kingdom

a.       Signs

                                                                     i.      Prophesy

                                                                   ii.      Dreams

                                                                  iii.      Visions

b.      Scope

                                                                     i.      Spirit’s inhabitation is no longer “officially oriented”. (Priesthood of believer).

                                                                   ii.      Trans-class inhabitation.

3.      2:30-32—Prediction of the NC era—the beginning to the end is compressed.

a.       Signs of the end of the age.

                           i.      Wonders in the heavens & on Earth.

                         ii.      Blood, fire, & columns of smoke.

b.      Salvation is in Zion; salvation is in Jerusalem.

                           i.      Images of the Eternal City—Heaven.

4.      3:1-4—The DotL

a.       Fortune is found in Judah & Jerusalem.

                           i.      Indication of timing: “in those days…” In or associated with the NC era (described in 2:28-32).

                         ii.      When does this restoration take place? Only a few options:

1.      Physical restoration of remnant in 516.

2.      Physical restoration in some future era (Rom. 11:24-25).

3.      Prophetic account of  the final DotL

a.       Final deliverance for believers throughout all ages.

b.      Final Judgment for unbelievers.

b.      Judgment is found in the nations gathered in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (see 3:12 also).

                           i.      2:20—God judged Babylonian army specifically for invading (historical import).

                         ii.      3:2-3—God judged all the nations for terrorizing His people/Land (eschatological import).

                        iii.      Reasons for the destruction of the nations.

1.      Took nation into exile.

2.      Divided up the Land.

3.      Traded people as slaves and prostitutes.

                       iv.      God forsakes Tyre and Sidon (coastal cities in Lebanon— >100 miles north of Jerusalem).

1.      These two cities represented the enemies of God’s Kingdom.

a.       Calvin notes that the “Greeks” in v. 5 are “people beyond the [Mediterranean] sea”.

b.      Similar prophesy against Tyre in the OT—Is. 23, Jer. 27; 47, Zech. 9

c.       NT—Matt. 21:11, Luke 10:13.

2.      Relationship described in terms of debt and payment.

3.      God reverses the curse He sent on Judah and hands it to the destroying nation.

a.       God would punish the punisher by giving them to the Judeans.

b.      God would exile the very nation He used to judge Israel to a distant land—Sabeans: (Job 1—murdered his children, Is. 45—given to Judah as retribution, Men of Sheba—1 Kings 10:1-13; Jer. 6:20.)