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The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. The LORD gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it? (Joel [[2:10-11|bible.29.2.10-29.2.11]]) [emphasis added]
Now in this second chapter, Joel is going to give a blending of the plague of locusts together with the threat of the Assyrian army and then look down the avenue of time into the future and the Day of the Lord. Of course the liberal theologian would say this refers simply to the locust plague and the local situation. He would like to dismiss a great deal of meaning from the Word of God. The other extreme view is to say this refers only to the Great Tribulation Period. I think we need to see that in Joel there is a marvelous blending. He moves right out of the locust plague to the Day of the Lord which is way out yonder in the future.2
The prophet adopts the vantage point of the ultimate day of the Lord, and from that position he looks back to the present locust plague.3
[Joel describes the] appearance . . . of horses--(Rev. [[9:7|bible.87.9.7]]+). Not literal, but figurative locusts. The fifth trumpet, or first woe, in the parallel passage [to Joel] (Rev. [[9:1-11|bible.87.9.1-87.9.11]]+).4
In the context of Joel, the army of God arrives in concert with The Day of the Lord (Joel [[1:15|bible.29.1.15]]-[[2:11|bible.29.2.11]]) and eventually gives way to the judgment of the nations (Joel [[3:1-17|bible.29.3.1-29.3.17]]). Then the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom (Joel [[3:18-21|bible.29.3.18-29.3.21]]). This matches the order of events in the book of Revelation. The demonic plagues of this chapter are the first of these three stages.It is therefore with diffidence that we suggest, without being dogmatic, that they are, most likely, fallen angels now imprisoned in Tartarus. . . . these infernal locusts issue from 'the well of the Pit,' an expression occurring nowhere else in Scripture, and only the locusts are said to come from there. So also the term Tartarus is found nowhere but in 2Pe. [[2:4|bible.82.2.4]]. It seems likely, then, that the well of the Pit may be only another name for Tartarus (with which only fallen angels are connected), just as the Lake of Fire is only another name for Gehenna. . . . 2Pe. [[2:4|bible.82.2.4]] simply says [fallen angels] are 'reserved unto judgment,' and we believe this means that God is holding them in Tartarus until His time comes for Him to use them as one of His instruments of judgment upon an ungodly world. The time when God will thus use them is stated in Jude [[1:6|bible.86.1.6]] - it will be in 'the judgment of the great day' (compare Rev. [[6:17|bible.87.6.17]]+ for 'the great day'. Confirmatory of this, observe that in Joel [[2:11|bible.29.2.11]] the Lord calls the supernatural locusts 'His army,' then employed to inflict sore punishments on apostate Israel.5
to them was given powerNotes
1 How different is the identification of Joel's "army" when related passages of Scripture are allowed to speak than that which is often promoted by those who hold to dominion theology who frequently identify Joel's army as the Church!
2 J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981), Joel 2:1.
3 Jerry Falwell, Edward D. Hindson, and Michael Woodrow Kroll, eds., KJV Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994), Joel 2:1-2.
4 A. R. Fausset, "The Revelation of St. John the Divine," in Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, 1877), Joel 2:4.
5 Arthur Walkington Pink, The Antichrist (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1999, 1923), s.v. "Antichrist in the Apocalypse."
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