Joel 3:16-21

III

THE PURPOSE OF REPENTANCE (cont-'d)

GOD'S PRESENCE AMONG HIS PEOPLE

TEXT: Joel 3:16-21

16

And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Jehovah will be a refuge unto his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

17

So shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more,

18

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with waters; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

19

Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20

But Judah shall abide for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation

21

And I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed: for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.

QUERIES

a.

How will God make Jerusalem free of strangers passing through her forevermore?

b.

What is the fountain coming forth from the house of Jehovah?

c.

What blood has Jehovah not cleansed and how will He then cleanse it?

PARAPHRASE

And from the midst of the redeemed people of Zion God will speak with a mighty revelation of His power and He will shake the principalities and powers of the heavens and the earth; but God will dwell among His Covenant people and be a refuge and a stronghold for them. Then your generations will know from experience that I am Jehovah, the God who keeps His covenant for then I will be dwelling in the midst of Zion, the covenant people; furthermore, the covenant people shall then be a holy people and the unholy shall not be permitted to dwell in their midst. It will come to pass that the redeemed will be supplied blessing upon blessing; and a Fountain shall spring forth from presence of Jehovah and shall refresh with the water of life those thirsting after righteousness. On the other hand, I will make all My enemies arid, impotent and barren like the wilderness because they have done violence and hurt to My people and have shed innocent blood. But my precious elect will dwell secure forever and I will declare their innocence finally and fully for I will be dwelling in the midst of My redeemed people.

SUMMARY

God's presence among a people prepared for Him by repentance will mean protection, holiness, blessing and vindication.

COMMENT

Joel 3:16 AND JEHOVAH WILL ROAR FROM ZION. AND THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH SHALL SHAKE: BUT JEHOVAH WILL BE A REFUGE UNTO HIS PEOPLE. This closing hymn is the completion of the first section of chapter three showing that the end result of the future covenant fulfillment is not judgment but redemption and victory and blessing from a new and personal relationship with God. The Lord roaring from Zion will proclaim judgment. In the latter days of the Christian age the Lord will cause the message to go forth, The time of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:30-31). This message will not only come from His covenant people, whom Joel represents as Zion and Jerusalem (where the presence of God abides), but Christ says that the prophets foretold its going forth literally from Zion and Jerusalem first (cf. Luke 24:44-49). When God established His kingdom on earth (the church), He shook down all other kingdoms, both those in the heavenly places and those on earth (cf. Daniel 2:44-45; Ephesians 1:18-23; Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 12:18-29). Paul, in Hebrews chapter twelve, points out that those who had become Christians had then come to Mount Zion, the kingdom that shall never be shaken, but that those who rejected Christ and held on to Judaism belonged to that which was about to be (70 A.D.) shaken.

Jehovah, when He should become Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14) (God with us), would be a refuge to His people. Incidentally, this same idea of being a refuge and protection to the covenant people with the coming of the Messiah is exactly what Isaiah was foretelling. Hebrews 6:18-19 is the fulfillment of this prophecy by Joel.

Joel 3:17 SO SHALL YE KNOW THAT I AM JEHOVAH YOUR GOD, DWELLING IN ZION. THEN SHALL JERUSALEM BE HOLY, AND THERE SHALL NO STRANGERS PASS THROUGH HER ANY MORE, That Zion means the church ought to be evident from Hebrews 12:22. But it is even more evident that Joel is writing of the church when we see Paul referring to the church as the Jerusalem that is above in Galatians 4:26. The word above as Paul uses it here does not mean high up in the heavens, that is, he is not referring to heaven, but above is used in the sense of preeminence, Paul's allegory is between the two covenants, Old and New Testaments, and so the Jerusalem that is above is the New Dispensation. It is on mount Zion that the Lord was going to make a feast of fat things. destroy the covering that is cast over all peoples. and swallow up death forever (Isaiah 25:1-12), And Isaiah is also the one who spoke of the Messianic age as the Holy Way where the unclean would not pass over it. but the redeemed would walk there and the ransomed of the Lord would return and come to Zion with singing. (Isaiah 35:1-10),-' So it seems to us that Joel is looking at the Messianic age. He is looking at the future (exactly when even he does not know) fulfillment of God's covenant promises. It may even be that he is compressing the whole Messianic age (from beginning to end) into a few verses here. But he is not interested in pinpointing a schedule of times and seasons but in graphically proclaiming the certainty of God's fulfillment of His promises to the people if they repent.

Joel 3:18 AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY,. THE MOUNTAINS SHALL DROP DOWN SWEET WINE,. AND A FOUNTAIN SHALL COME FORTH FROM THE HOUSE OF JEHOVAH. As we have mentioned above, the prophets used contemporary terms of agricultural prosperity to depict in a figurative way the blessings of God in the Messianic age (cf. Isaiah 25; Isaiah 55; etc.) Jesus depicted the kingdom like a feast again and again. Paul calls the Christian life a feast (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).

As for the fountain flowing from the presence of God we have a number of indications that this must be the Living Water, the Messiah (cf. Ezekiel 47:1 ff; Zechariah 13:1; John 4:13-15; John 7:37-39; 1 Corinthians 10:1-4). And so God, in fulfilling His covenant promise in sending the Christ, has sent a cleansing, refreshing, life-giving Fountain to satisfy those who thirst after righteousness, lost in the arid deserts of sin. And the consummation will come when the redeemed are gathered at the river of the water of life (Revelation 22:1 ff).

Joel 3:19 EGYPT SHALL BE A DESOLATION. FOR THE VIOLENCE DONE TO THE CHILDREN OF JUDAH. When God shall make Christ the yea of all His promises (2 Corinthians 1:20) He will render His enemies impotent. He has destroyed him who has the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14); He has destroyed the works of the devil (1 John 3:8); and by His power in us we are able to conquer our enemies (Romans 8:31-39) and protect ourselves (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Joel 3:20-21 BUT JUDAH SHALL ABIDE FOR EVER,. AND I WILL CLEANSE THEIR BLOOD, THAT I HAVE NOT CLEANSED: FOR JEHOVAH DWELLETH IN ZION. So God's elect shall be justifiedthey shall not be condemned. If God justifies, who can condemn? (Romans 8:31-39). The phrase ... I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed probably means that when God ushers in the consummation of the Messianic age He will vindicate completely His precious saints. Justice, which in some cases on this earth is left undone, will be carried out by the Just Judge ofall the earth. It might, on the other hand, refer to the fact that when the blood of Christ is shed all those sins of the Old Testament saints which were purged only potentially (Hebrews 10:1-4) will be once for all cleansed (Hebrews 10:5-18; Romans 3:21-26; Hebrews 9:15-17).

Joel's prophecy ends on the same glorious note of triumph and complete victory as Obadiah'S. Ezekiel prophesied that the New dwelling place of God, the church, the habitation of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22), the name of the city henceforth shall be, The Lord is there (Ezekiel 48:35). Yes, Christians form God's holy temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

Joel's closing chapter has a certain eschatological element to it but this is primarily because Joel is looking forward with eager anticipation to that day when God will consummate His covenant. The prophets all predict the future; but they do so primarily because God has directed them to foretell of the eventual fulfillment of His covenant promises. The prophets are not interested in giving us a literal picture of some future millennial war or a national restoration of carnal Israel because, as the New Testament so specifically points out, the covenant blessings were never intended to be fulfilled in their final sense in any carnal nationality (Galatians 3:16-17; Galatians 3:29; Ephesians 2:11; Ephesians 2:13; Ephesians 2:19).

We quote here from Prophecy Interpreted by John P. Milton, ... because God is active in redemptive history this history is moving towards a divinely appointed goal. The prophets picture that goal in terms of the covenant fulfilled. In speaking of this fulfillment they employ much of the times-coloring of their own age, with the emphasis in the actual fulfillment seen to be upon the fundamentals rather than upon the times-coloring. In the conviction of the prophets the goal of the covenant becomes the goal of history. Simeon's prophecy in Luke 1:68-75 is a good example to show how the prophets spoke in a language contemporary with their times and yet intended it to refer to what the Messiah would accomplishHe would save Israel from her enemies. and perform the mercy promised to their fathers. and remember his holy covenant., etc.

If we take these frequent references like the one here in Joel which imply a final redemptive act of God and divest them of the local times-coloring then we have in essence the prophetic message of hope which the N.T. confirms: a hope fulfilled in Christ, yet moving forward to the day of the great Restoration of which Christ is God's own guarantee for the faith of His people.
Indeed, as the prophets often see history, the past and the present blend into the future (or as Milton has said their perspective is shortened). The prophets are never concerned with the past for its own sake, but rather with its relation to the present and to the future; for in their concept of history the present moment is unintelligible apart from the past, and meaningless apart from the future covenant fulfillment of God in all the various stages of that fulfillment,

QUIZ

1.

How has God roared from Zion?

2.

What Zion is Joel speaking of?

3.

Show how the New Testament is the fulfillment of Joel here.

4.

How does Joel's use of figurative language compare to that of Isaiah respecting the Messianic age?

5.

What other scriptures speak of the fountain from Jehovah?

6.

What two possible interpretations may there be for Joel 3:21?

7.

How do the prophets consider and write of the far distant future?