Click Bar to Return to HomePage
Joel & the Day of the Lord
The "Day of the Lord" is one of the most debated topics in Christian eschatology. How we define the "Day of the Lord" has a dramatic effect on the rapture question. In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul wrote that Christians should be watching for the Day of the Lord, implying that we will be here when it comes. He wrote that it will overtake unbelievers "as a thief." But because we are watching, believers will not be surprised when the Day of the Lord comes. Since the Day of the Lord is the day of Christ's coming at the end of the tribulation, the rapture can only be after the tribulation. For an in-depth descussion of 1 Thess. 5, see our article The Day of the Lord in 1 Thess. 5.
Pre-tribbers recognize the problem here, and have developed a view of the Day of the Lord that can accomidate their scenario. Basically, they say the Day of the Lord is the rapture and entire tribulation period, allowing Christians to still be here when the beginning of the tribulation comes. However, all Scripture regarding the Day of the Lord is compatible with a single day scenario. Post-tribbers take the term "day" literally, rather than stretching it into several years, as pre-tribbers do. In our article The Day of the Lord does not include the tribulation we have given nine biblical reasons why the Day of the Lord cannot include the tribulation but must follow it.
Another pre-trib attempt to sidestep the problem is to claim there are multiple "days of the Lord." In this way they can claim that the "Day of the Lord" Paul connects with the rapture in 1 Thess. is not the same "Day of the Lord" which follows the cosmic signs in Acts 2:20 & Joel 2:31. In support of their thesis, they point to the book of Joel, claiming that Joel referred to a past plague of locusts that devoured Israel's crops as a "Day of the Lord."
One point that needs to be stressed is that in each and every case where the Day of the Lord is mentioned in Scripture, it is in the future tense. Not once is the Day of the Lord referred to in the past tense, even in Joel. Furthermore, never is the Day of the Lord referred to in the plural. It is always singular.
When pre-tribbers use Joel to support a past "Day of the Lord," they have completely misunderstood the purpose of the book. Joel did NOT refer to the past plague of locusts as a "Day of the Lord." Rather, he referred to the disaster of the plague of locusts as an illustration of the FUTURE Day of the Lord to come at Christ's coming. Following is Joel chapter one. Pay particular attention to the tenses of the verbs which are color coded for simplicity. In verses 1-14, while describing the plague of locusts that God sent among Israel as a form of judgment, the past tense is used throughout. When speaking of the current results of the plague, the present tense is used. But, when Joel mentiones the Day of the Lord, he always speaks of it in the future tense.
Past tense verbs are red.
Joel 1:1-2:1
Chapter two begins speaking about the future Day of the Lord.
Joel 2:1-2
This chapter continues to describe the future Day of the Lord, where God's angelic army will devour the wicked with fire and destruction. Joel uses language that is nearly identical to the description of the plague of locusts mentioned in chapter one. This is done to drive home to the Jews the totality of the destruction that is coming, while the results of the locust plague was still fresh in their minds. The message is REPENT before the Day of the Lord overtakes them. If they repent, God promised to restore their crops that the locusts had eaten (vss. 25-27).
This is followed by a famous prophecy of the Day of the Lord quoted by Peter on the Day of Pentecost. Here again, the Day of the Lord is referred to in the future tense.
Joel 2:28-32
Again, the Day of the Lord is consistently FUTURE. The last chapter goes into detail, giving the events of the Day of the Lord in graphic detail.
Joel 3:9-17
It is clear, in verses nine and following, that the Day of the Lord begins AFTER the armies have gathered for the battle of Armageddon. We know that the darkening of the sun and moon occurs "immediately after the tribulation," according to Matt. 24:29. Yet, according to Joel, after the armies have gathered and the sun and moon are darkened, the text says the Day of the Lord is "NEAR in the valley of decision." This implies that the Day of the Lord FOLLOWS the cosmic signs (as 2:31 explicetly says) and that the Day of the Lord is intimately connected with the Battle of Armageddon.
There is no biblical reason to supose that the "Day of the Lord" is anything more than a single 24 hour day. It is the day of the second coming after the tribulation.
The fact is, pre-tribbers' attempts to get around the problem of 1 Thess. 5 are all doomed to failure. The Day of the Lord is a single day, immediately following the darkening of the sun and moon (Joel 2:31 & Acts 2:20) which immediately follows the tribulation (Matt. 24:29). Since Paul indicates that we as Christians are watching for the coming of the Day of the Lord, and connects the rapture with this day, the rapture is necessarily post-trib, and occurs the same day Jesus destroys the armies gathered at Armageddon. (See also our article As in the Days of Lot, and We Rest After the Tribulation, for more evidence that the rapture is the same day the wicked are destroyed.)
Present tense verbs are blue.
Future tense verbs are green.
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, you elders, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
4 What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; and what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has come up against My land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
7 He has laid waste My vine, and has stripped it bare and thrown it away; its branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests mourn, who minister to the LORD.
10 The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails.
11 Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree-- all the trees of the field are withered; surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; wail, you who minister before the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God; for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
15 Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods, storehouses are in shambles; Barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.
18 How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless, because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.
19 O LORD, to You I cry out; for fire has devoured the open pastures, and a flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 The beasts of the field also cry out to You, for the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the open pastures.
(NKJV)
1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the LORD
is coming, for it is at hand:
2 A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations.
(NKJV)
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.
(NKJV)
9 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, 'I am strong.'"
11 Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD.
12 "Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow-- for their wickedness is great."
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness.
16 The LORD also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the LORD will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17 "So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, and no aliens shall ever pass through her again."
(NKJV)