The Prophet Joel

Joel was a prophet, a spokesman, for God sometime around the time of 835 BC.  It is interesting that the Bible gives us a great deal of human history many hundreds of years before the birth of Christ and is the only book to do so.  The book of Joel in the Bible tells of a terrible plague of locusts that has invaded the land.  Joel goes on to tell how God is upset with His people and will send even worse times upon them because they have failed to serve Him.  Following that calamity, there will be a great restoration to come.

The further calamity referenced here is the capturing of the land by outside nations, presumably Babylon, and the removal of most of the people from the land.  There would be eventually a return, a restoration of the nation, to some degree as recorded in Bible and secular history.  But the great restoration referenced in the book of Joel will be a spiritual one further defined in the book of Acts in the New Testament.

All of the Bible is leading up to the time of the New Testament, to the time of the coming Christ, and to the time of the beginnings of the church.  As we get to the first 4 books of the NT, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we read about Jesus and His teaching.  But He doesn't begin the church, establish churches, or form any organization whatsoever.  He simply gets His apostles ready to do that. 

Next we come to the book of Acts.  It is here that Peter and the rest of the apostles in Acts 2, lead by the Holy Spirit, begin to preach.....and the church begins.  And it is in this first speech by Peter that the prophet Joel is quoted:

"This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams, and on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.  I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath; blood and fire and vapor of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord.  And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "

The Prophet Joel is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible but here in the book of Acts.  But he is quoted here because Joel had said centuries ago that a great day was coming.....and here it is, as recorded in Acts chapter 2.  We don't want to miss the significance of this great occurrence.  This is the beginnings of Christ's church...and the spreading of the Gospel of salvation that would be given to all people of the earth who would follow Jesus. 

The Bible is amazing!   Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!