Joel 2:20-27 (New International Version)
20 “I will drive the northern horde far from you,
pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stench will go up;
its smell will rise.”
Surely he has done great things!
21 Do not be afraid, land of Judah;
be glad and rejoice.
Surely the Lord has done great things!
22 Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
23 Be glad, people of Zion,
rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm —
my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the Lord your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.
I. God does great things (vv. 20-21)
• Joel is an
• God will have a praying and worshiping Church either by
• Pagans cannot
• The command to
• NT prophecy will edify (
II. The former and latter rain (vv. 22-24)
• People and the ecosystem are
• God prefers
• Focusing on future possibilities or past disappointments gives the devil the “
• The former and latter rain has
III. Repaying what “locusts” have stolen (vv. 25-27)
• God offers to redeem and repay our past
• The “years of the locust” are the losses from
• If you don’t have enough to
• Feasting is necessary and powerful in sacred assembly to celebrate with food and drink to the level of