Joel 3:9 - Meaning and Application

What the psalmist had long ago said should be announced among the nations (Psalm 96:10), the prophet says should also be published to all peoples: the Lord reigns, and he comes, and he comes to judge the earth, just as he has long been judging in the earth. This warning about God judging the nations may point to the fall of Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, and especially Antichrist, along with all proud enemies of the Christian church. But some of the best interpreters, ancient and modern, especially the learned Dr. Polock, think these verses describe the last judgment through the picture of God making war on the enemies of his kingdom and gathering in the harvest of the earth, two images also used in Revelation (Revelation 19:11; Revelation 14:18).

Here is, first, a challenge to all the enemies of God’s kingdom to do their worst. To show them that God is already preparing for war, they are told to prepare war against him (Joel 3:9-11). When the hour of God’s judgment comes, strong means will be used to gather all nations for the battle of that great day of God Almighty (Revelation 16:14; Revelation 20:8). The words sound ironic: “Announce this among the nations. Summon all the armies of the world to unite against God and his people.” It is like Isaiah 7:9: “Join together, people, and arm yourselves, but you will be broken to pieces.”

So the call goes out: prepare war, gather your strength, wake up the mighty men, bring them forward, stir them to watchfulness and courage, and let all the men of war come near. Let them come and face Omnipotence if they dare. Let them not complain of lacking weapons, but let them turn their plowshares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears. Let them decide, if they will, never to return to farming again, but either to conquer or die. Let no one excuse himself as unfit for battle, but let the weak say, “I am strong,” and enter the fight.

In this way, the God of all power defies every attack of the powers of darkness. Let the nations rage, and let the kings of the earth plot against the Lord and his Christ. Let them gather together, but the One who sits in heaven will laugh at them, and while he calls them, he holds them in contempt (Psalm 2:1, Psalm 2:4). The nations must be awakened, as if raised from the dead, so they may come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat to receive their sentence (Joel 3:12). They must come out of their graves, so to speak, and even rise into the air to meet the Lord there.

Jehoshaphat means “the judgment of the Lord.” So the name points to the place of God’s judgment, and that is likely the main reason it is used here. It also fits the name of the actual place, which had been noted earlier. There God will sit to judge the nations, before the throne of glory where all peoples will be gathered (Matthew 25:32). Before the judgment seat of Christ, all must appear.

The challenge in Joel 3:9 becomes a summons in Joel 3:12. It is not only, “Come if you dare,” but, “You will come whether you want to or not,” for no one can escape God’s judgments. Then, second, a charge is given to the ministers of God’s justice to come and act against these bold enemies of his kingdom: “Bring your mighty ones down, O Lord!” (Joel 3:11). When the enemies bring their forces into the field, let God bring his. Let the archangel’s trumpet sound the call to gather his mighty ones, that is, his angels. This may be why Christ’s coming from heaven at the last day is said to be with his mighty angels (2 Thessalonians 1:7). They are the hosts of the Lord, who will fight his battles when he brings down all opposing rule, power, and authority and judges among the nations (Psalm 110:6).

Some think the words in Joel 3:9-10, “Prepare war, wake up the mighty men,” are not a challenge to the enemy armies, but a command to God’s own forces. Let them draw near and come up. When God’s cause must be defended, whether in court or in battle, he has those ready who will serve him well. He has witnesses ready to speak for him in judgment, and soldiers ready to fight for him in war. If needed, they will beat plowshares into swords. Yet it is clear that they are given the command in Joel 3:13: “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.” That means the people’s wickedness is great, their guilt is full, and they are ripe for ruin. Our Savior explained this in Matthew 13:39. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. They are told to thrust in their sharp sickle and gather both the harvest and the vintage (Revelation 14:15, Revelation 14:18). The lesson is plain, great wickedness makes people ripe for God’s judgment.

Third, there will be a huge crowd in that great and solemn day (Joel 3:14): “Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision.” This is the same place that was earlier called the valley of Jehoshaphat, or the judgment of the Lord, because the day of the Lord is near in that valley. The judgment day has always been spoken of as near at hand. Enoch said, “The Lord comes,” as if the Judge were already standing at the door, because that day is certain to come at its appointed time. A thousand years with God are like one day. Things are quickly ripening for it, and we should always be ready, because our judgment is near.

The day of judgment will be the day of decision, when every person’s eternal state will be fixed and the long conflict between Christ’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom will end. The Chaldee calls it the valley of the distribution of judgment, when each person receives according to what has been done in the body. The margin calls it the valley of threshing, carrying on the harvest picture from Joel 3:13. There the proud enemies of God’s people will be crushed and broken to pieces, like dust on a summer threshing floor.

Countless multitudes will gather there to receive their final sentence, just as in the destruction of Gog we read of the valley of Hamon-Gog and the city of Hamonah (Ezekiel 39:15, Ezekiel 39:16). Those names mean the multitude of defeated enemies, and that is the word used here, with wonder, as if to say, “Oh, what huge multitudes of sinners divine justice will be glorified in destroying on that day!” One rabbin said it would be a multitude of the living and a multitude of the dead, for Christ will come to judge both the living and the dead.

Fourth, there will then be an astonishing change in the world of nature (Joel 3:15). The sun and moon will be darkened, as was said before in Joel 2:31.

Their glory and brightness will be hidden by the far greater glory of the Judge when he appears. In fact, they themselves will be set aside when all things are dissolved. The lost in hell will not have light of their own, for God himself will be their everlasting light (Isaiah 60:19). Those who fall under God’s wrath on that day will be cut off from all comfort and joy. That is pictured by the darkening not only of the sun and moon, but also of the stars.

The different effects of that day on the people of this world and the people of God will be very different, according to what it is to each of them. To the wicked, it will be a terrible day. The Lord will then speak from Zion and Jerusalem, from the throne of his glory, from heaven, where he shows himself in a special way. In former times, he sometimes did this from the glorious high throne of his sanctuary, but that was only a dim picture of that day’s glory. He will speak from heaven, from the midst of his saints and angels, as some understand it. That holy company may be called Zion and Jerusalem, for when we come to the heavenly Jerusalem, we come to the countless company of angels (Hebrews 12:22, Hebrews 12:25).

His speaking on that day will sound to the wicked like a roar, fierce like the roar of a lion, which is what the word means. He stayed silent for a long time, but now our God will come and will not keep silence (Psalm 50:3, Psalm 50:21). The judgment of the great day will make the ears of those ring who keep on as stubborn enemies of God’s kingdom. God’s voice will then shake both heaven and earth terribly (Isaiah 2:21), once more (Haggai 2:6; Hebrews 12:26). This shows that God’s voice on the great day will strike such fear into the wicked that it would be enough to throw heaven and earth into panic.

When God comes to bring down and destroy his enemies, and make them all his footstool, it will be useless if heaven and earth try to defend them. Even creation itself will tremble before him, and it will be no safe shelter for those who face his anger. Blessings that come out of Zion are the sweetest blessings, enough to make heaven and earth sing. In the same way, terrors that come out of Zion are the sharpest terrors, enough to make heaven and earth shake.

To the righteous, it will be a joyful day. When heaven and earth tremble, and are dissolved and burned up, then the Lord will be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel (Joel 3:16), and then Jerusalem will be holy (Joel 3:17). The saints are the Israel of God. They are his people, and the church is his Jerusalem. They live in covenant and fellowship with him. In that great day, their longings will be satisfied. The Lord will be the hope of his people. He has always been the source and foundation of their hope, and then he will be the crown of it. He will be the harbor of his people, their resting place, refuge, and home.

On that great day, the saints will reach the haven they longed for. They will come to shore after a stormy voyage. They will go to live forever at home with God, in their Father’s house, the house not made with hands. Their happiness will be confirmed, too. God will be the strength of the children of Israel on that day, helping them welcome it and bear the weight of its glory and joy. In this world, when God’s judgments are abroad and sinners are falling under them, God is and will be the hope and strength of his people, the strength of their hearts, and their portion, when other people’s hearts fail them with fear.

Their holiness will also be completed (Joel 3:17). Then Jerusalem will be holy, holy indeed. That is what the heavenly Jerusalem will be like, and what the glorious church will be like, without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. Jerusalem will be holiness, that is, perfectly holy. There will be no trace of sin left in it. The gospel church is already a holy people, even while it is still in the battle of this life, but it will not become holiness itself until it is triumphant. Then no stranger will pass through her anymore. Nothing that defiles or does evil will enter the New Jerusalem. Only those who have a right to be there will be there, only its own citizens. It will be a pure community.

In all this, God will be shown and made great. So you will know that I am the Lord your God. By making the church holy and glorious, God will be known in his holiness and glory, as the God who dwells in his holy mountain and makes it holy by dwelling there. Those who are made holy and glorified are so through knowing him who called them. The knowledge true believers have of God is first, a personal knowledge. They know that he is the Lord their God, though not theirs alone, but theirs together with the whole church. He is their God, yet he dwells in Zion, his holy mountain. Faith claims God’s promises, but it does not take them away from others or turn them into a private possession. Second, it is an experienced knowledge. They will find him to be their hope and strength in the worst times, and so they will know that he is the Lord their God. Those know God’s goodness best who have tasted it and seen it for themselves, and who have found him good to them.