How Do We See the Gospel in Joel?

Joel is a story about a locust invasion. These locusts have utterly destroyed the land of Judah. It would have perhaps been close to the destruction America saw on 9/11. I say close because 9/11 is actually less devastating than the destruction that Joel is seeing. Listen to what he says in Joel 2:3, “The land is like the garden of Eden before them” (so beautiful, rich, plentiful, glorious) “but a desolate wilderness behind them “(meaning that this devastation is so massive that all is laid bare). 

Everything is laid bare. As Joel says in 1:4, “What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; and what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; and what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.” These are the different stages of locust development, or perhaps different types of locusts — Joel’s point is that nothing is left. All are affected by this. From the drunkard to the priests, all are affected. We get a hint of this from Joel 1:16, “Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?” 

In all of this Joel sees it foreshadowing something even greater. Perhaps even greater destruction than the locusts. By the way, the locusts are real; this is a real historical event that happened in the life of the prophet Joel. Joel, however, sees more than his current situation. Joel sees in the midst of these locusts the hand of God. Furthermore, Joel is looking forward to that great and mighty day of the Lord. 

Joel is a book thick on judgment. Can we see the gospel here? 

How Do You Find the Gospel in the Old Testament?

I suppose before understanding how to find the gospel in the OT, it’d be helpful for us to define the gospel. The simplest definition is one given by JI Packer: God saves sinners. If you’d like to put a bit more meat on your gospel presentation, I use two different frameworks with four points each. The first is God—Man—Christ—Response. The second is more of a story: Creation—Fall—Redemption—Glory. 

The first presentation centers upon God’s character and how humanity fails to meet God’s holy standard, as such the judgment of God is upon us. But the good news is that Jesus Christ fixes this by fulfilling what is required through his life, death and resurrection. Our only fitting response, then, is to respond to Him in repentance and faith. When this happens, we are united to Christ and his record becomes our record. 

The second presentation centers upon the overarching story of the Bible. God lovingly created us to love Him and enjoy Him forever. We were made for rest, rule, and relationship. But we made shipwreck of this, and so rather than having the blessings of obedience we are under the curse of disobedience. Rather than having peace (rest), purpose (ruling), and healthy relationship we often experience the opposite. Ultimately, we are alienated from God. But thankfully God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear our curse and to fulfill what God intended for humanity. As such we now experience the blessings of Jesus’ obedience in our place. He restores the rest, rule, and relationship we were created to enjoy. Someday everything will be ultimately restored and we will live in a new heaven and a new earth. 

We could write entire books focusing on these various themes of the gospel. But every gospel story follows this basic skeleton. No matter where you find yourself in the Old Testament (or the New Testament) you can find one of these various threads. Every place in Scripture is either telling you something about God, something about our rebellion, something about His rescue, or something about our future restoration. If you can spot this, then you can fill out the rest of the story. 

How Do You Find the Gospel in Joel?

Joel is all about a locust plague. These little dudes are toxic, laying waste to the land. But in this invasion, Joel sees something far more concerning. If we are leveled by these tiny little creatures together — how could we possible stand before the Almighty? 

Joel is concerned with their present plight, but he is more concerned with the eternity. If they cannot endure an invasion of locusts, how could they possibly have confidence to be able to endure the fierce judgment of God? The question which hangs over this book is perhaps the most important question one could ask: “will you be saved?” 

There is a neat little play on words in Joel 1. Maybe “neat” isn’t the right word. Perhaps awesome or terrible or stupefying would be more appropriate. Joel 1:15 begs this question. “Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.” Understanding the Hebrew in this verse (which I do not pretend to) will help us understand a word play that Joel is using. The word for “destruction” is the Hebrew word shadad. This word means destruction, violence, severity, havoc, ruin, and the like. The Hebrew word for Almighty is Shaddai. It is where we get the name for God El Shaddai. It means Mighty One, All-Powerful One.

The question Joel is begging us to ask, is “what would it be like if the Mighty One is bent on violence, severity, destruction, havoc, desolation, and ruin. How bad can He make it? How destructive can El Shaddai (The All-Powerful One) be?”

The short answer to that is, as destructive as He wants to be. 

Of course, we know that God is full of grace and truth. He is fully holy and fully loving. He is both fierce in wrath and abounding in mercy. Because of this we are able to see another thread running through the message of Joel. God can also have mercy upon whom He has mercy. 

Hope in Christ

What then is the answer to Joel’s question, “For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?” Simply this: no one. But thankfully the gospel does not stop there. Let us not forget the greater story: Jesus Saves. Consider Joel 3:16, “The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and earth quake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.” 

So what hope do you have on that day? We will not endure that day; our only hope is Joel 2:32, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.” 

Joel tells us, rightly, that apart from God’s grace and mercy none of us will stand on the day of the Lord. Our only hope is to be united to Christ through covenant. The gospel holds out our hope for that day. Our only hope is to call on the name of the Lord, and as Scripture testifies, we shall be saved. Not by our merit, not even because we were wise and cried out to God. We will be saved because Jesus is the source of our repentance and restoration. It is because He has paid the debt that we can be forgiven. You cannot pay the debt. 

Joel pleads with sinners like you and I to call upon the name of the Lord and avoid a destruction of far greater than a locust invasion.

Related articles
How Does the Book of Ecclesiastes Point Us to Christ?
How Do We Find the Gospel in Old Testament Book of Hosea?
How Do We Find the Gospel in the Short Book of Obadiah?

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/modi-sketch