Apostle Peter told us to be mindful of the Old Testament prophets also (2 Peter 3:2). God put prophecy in the Old Testament prophets directly related to the end times leading up to our Lord Jesus' future return. If you understand the Book of Joel, then you will have more info on how to rightly interpret what the cloven tongue of Pentecost is especially for, and what the locusts of Revelation 9 represent. You won't get this understanding by jumping around in Joel, it has to be done line upon line, like God showed how to study His Word in Isaiah 28.
Joel 1:1-15
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
God is saying to teach this info forward from generation to generation until they see these things coming to pass.
4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
Those represent four stages of the locust development ("palmerworm" = pupa; "locust"=imago stage; "cankerworm"=the devourer; "caterpiller"=larva stage). What each stage leaves, the next stage picks up and devours. This is to show a 4-stage working against God's people. When this is for, we will discover later here in Joel. God's people are to keep looking for it though until they see it happening in the world.
5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
One of the main symbols for Lord Jesus and His Word is wine. The reason is because with real wine during the fermentation process, the impurities come to the top and are lifted off, leaving a pure fluid. In Matthew 9, Lord Jesus used the idea of the new wine as a symbol for His Word full strength. You don't put it in old bottles He said, because those bottles will break.
6 For a nation is come up upon My land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
Now we know what God is using the locust idea to represent, "a nation is come up upon My land, strong, and without number". Those teeth like lions they have is a symbol which Revelation 9 also uses about these locusts. Thus the locusts represent a certain people that come up against God's people.
7 He hath laid My vine waste, and barked My fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
In Isaiah 5, God said the "house of Israel" represents His vineyard, and Judah His "pleasant plant". The house of Israel is put for the ten northern tribes of Israel. For the time of this prophecy, that house of Israel represents scattered Israelites involving Christ's Church. So think again if you believe this prophecy is meant only for Jews. A prophecy in Joel 2 which Apostle Peter quoted on Pentecost will prove beyond all doubt that this Joel prophecy is definitely for Christ's Church too.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.
10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
All those above Scriptures of lamentation is because of what this 4-stage locust attack does upon God's people. All our wealth and many blessings are being taken over by these locusts, so these are symbols particularly about that working.
15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
KJV
That is the first timeline reference we are given here in the Book of Joel for when this prophecy is to occur. It is to be just prior to the "day of the Lord". That "day of the Lord" event will come upon the earth as a "sudden destruction" upon the wicked and deceived, according to Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5. The deceived will be saying, "Peace and safety" when that "sudden destruction" comes upon them, at an instant. That is the last day of this present world when Jesus returns to gather His Church.
(cont.)
Joel 1:1-15
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
God is saying to teach this info forward from generation to generation until they see these things coming to pass.
4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
Those represent four stages of the locust development ("palmerworm" = pupa; "locust"=imago stage; "cankerworm"=the devourer; "caterpiller"=larva stage). What each stage leaves, the next stage picks up and devours. This is to show a 4-stage working against God's people. When this is for, we will discover later here in Joel. God's people are to keep looking for it though until they see it happening in the world.
5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
One of the main symbols for Lord Jesus and His Word is wine. The reason is because with real wine during the fermentation process, the impurities come to the top and are lifted off, leaving a pure fluid. In Matthew 9, Lord Jesus used the idea of the new wine as a symbol for His Word full strength. You don't put it in old bottles He said, because those bottles will break.
6 For a nation is come up upon My land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
Now we know what God is using the locust idea to represent, "a nation is come up upon My land, strong, and without number". Those teeth like lions they have is a symbol which Revelation 9 also uses about these locusts. Thus the locusts represent a certain people that come up against God's people.
7 He hath laid My vine waste, and barked My fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
In Isaiah 5, God said the "house of Israel" represents His vineyard, and Judah His "pleasant plant". The house of Israel is put for the ten northern tribes of Israel. For the time of this prophecy, that house of Israel represents scattered Israelites involving Christ's Church. So think again if you believe this prophecy is meant only for Jews. A prophecy in Joel 2 which Apostle Peter quoted on Pentecost will prove beyond all doubt that this Joel prophecy is definitely for Christ's Church too.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.
10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
All those above Scriptures of lamentation is because of what this 4-stage locust attack does upon God's people. All our wealth and many blessings are being taken over by these locusts, so these are symbols particularly about that working.
15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
KJV
That is the first timeline reference we are given here in the Book of Joel for when this prophecy is to occur. It is to be just prior to the "day of the Lord". That "day of the Lord" event will come upon the earth as a "sudden destruction" upon the wicked and deceived, according to Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5. The deceived will be saying, "Peace and safety" when that "sudden destruction" comes upon them, at an instant. That is the last day of this present world when Jesus returns to gather His Church.
(cont.)
Last edited: