The Day of Jehovah Displays His Judgment Openly
From this long digression we return to our prophet, and there find ourselves on ground not only of such moral judgment as the Word of God always contains, but of solemn and public dealings. The day of Jehovah is not His secret control by secondary causes or circumstances. It is the display of His judgment of man on the earth. Consequently, the full sense of the day of Jehovah is that grand dealing when God will “judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath raised from the dead,” (Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)) to quote a well-known scripture from the New Testament that bears on it. “Judging the world in righteousness” is altogether a different truth from judging the dead. It is the habitable world. It does not contemplate the resurrection of individuals who once composed its population. The habitable earth as such is the real meaning of Acts 17. So the day of Jehovah falls here. The chief difference is that the day of Jehovah in the Old Testament is put in direct connection with the special place of Israel—their relationship to God, who had so revealed Himself to them. It is the age when man will be no longer allowed to thwart and hinder the purposes of God, and when He Himself will no more work merely in the ways of secret providence, nor even by the mission of the Holy Spirit as now in Christianity, forming and fashioning us by the Word according to Christ, but when God will take the world under His direct government—first, for putting down evil; next, for the maintenance and spread of that which is good. Such is the day of Jehovah. Consequently “that day” embraces the divine judgments which will be executed by Christ as the Jehovah God of Israel, when He appears in glory, as well as the whole millennial period. It is all called the day of Jehovah.
Distinguished From the Coming, or Rapovaia, of the Lord
But connected with this it is of all importance clearly to understand the difference of that day from all before it; but particularly to discriminate between that day and the previous act of His coming to receive those who are waiting for Him—whether saints who have died or those who shall then be found alive on earth up to that moment. The “coming of the Lord” (Jer. 8:77Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord. (Jeremiah 8:7)) is a larger expression than the “day of the Lord” (vs. 1) (or “Jehovah”). “The day” is a particular part of His coming, when at His call the dead saints rise, and the living saints are changed, and both are caught up together out of the earth to meet Him in the air. This great event—the translation of those who are Christ’s to heaven—has nothing in itself to do with the display of Jehovah’s government of the world; and therefore to confound the coming or presence of the Lord with His day is a gross error. After the saints have been taken to heaven, the world will go on seemingly much the same, but really very much worse. In no actual sense is it judged by the Lord’s grace in taking His own to the Father’s house. But the day of the Lord invariably supposes the judgment of the world, though inchoatively including lesser judgments in the Old Testament. Not so His presence or coming, which will manifest fullness of grace to those whom He loved to the end. At the same time, when the day of Jehovah comes, it will still be the coming of the Lord; for in this clearly the two coalesce.
As Embracing Events of Another Character Previous to That Day
Thus, in short, the day of the Lord is the public and governmental side of His coming; but the coming of the Lord embraces events of another character distinct from and previous to that day. This may serve as a plain and compendious way of stating what could easily be proved by many scriptures. Only we must bear in mind that the coming of the Lord to receive the saints to Himself is exclusively a New Testament truth. The Old Testament proclaims the day of Jehovah, the New Testament endorses this truth, maintaining and clearing it yet more. But the New Testament adds another truth distinct from it; namely, that Christ will come to receive us to Himself, and present us in the Father’s house; after which He will bring in the day of Jehovah, when the saints come with Him in glory. Then will be the day of Jehovah, because this is the time when He will destroy all His foes, the beast and the false prophet, or Antichrist, with all their followers; and further, the king of the north, or Assyrian, the very power foreshadowed by the mighty nation who troubled Israel of old, and who comes before us much more fully in the second chapter of our prophecy.
The Use of the Trumpets Prescribed by the Law and Supposed Here
Before saying a little more as to the Assyrian, let me point out the allusion to the trumpets here. It is a clear reference to the use prescribed in the Book of Numbers. The trumpet was to be blown by the priests on two main occasions. One of them was for the journeying of the camps, and the other was for the calling of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle. If they went to war, an alarm was to be blown with the trumpets, and Jehovah remembered and saved them from their enemies. We may perhaps say then that this last was on the people’s part to bring in Jehovah; while the more ordinary sounding was on Jehovah’s part to gather the people in view of their solemn feasts and sacrifices before their God. These were the principal uses of the silver trumpets, and they are both employed by Joel. “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm” (vs. 1). It does not require much skill in interpretation to see the meaning of that trumpet, because the Spirit of God has so plainly defined its character and object. “Sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand” (vs. 1).
Revival or Reappearance of the Old National Foes of Israel
This warned of what was tremendous to Israel. Jehovah’s day was at hand, a day when not only enemies would be there, but Jehovah would remember Israel—not yet to save His people, but to use the foe as a scourge for them. This might well be a note of alarm; Jehovah would not be absent. It was not merely the day of the Assyrian, but of Jehovah. Is it thought that, as the judgment that the Jews were warned against was so remote, they would be liable to say, “It will not come in our day or upon our children”? I answer that it did come in their day. The same Assyrian power, which came then close upon the time of Joel, will reappear in the latter day. This is the true key to all the difficulties men conjure up in the Old Testament. We must remember that those foreign nations are no more done with than the Jews are. Many of them have lost or changed their names, but they abide still. And when the time comes for the restoration of Israel through judgments at the end of the age, they too will reappear and be known as the Assyrian once more. Nations no more die than individual men never rise finally. As surely as a resurrection awaits men, there will be a revival of those Gentile foes of the Jews. It is remarkable too that their final acts will bear the same moral character as their initiatory course. This intimates clearly a divine principle of dealing at the close for the sins at the beginning, because they will repeat their old sins at the end. The same jealousy of Israel, the same determination to exterminate the Jew, the same unbelieving opposition to God’s counsels which characterized them at their earliest epochs will also be found at their latest appearance. The circle of their historical unity is made apparent from a moral point of view—the same character of guilt reproduced with God’s judgment upon them because of it.
It is not then that I have any doubt that the miraculous check of the Assyrian in the day of Sennacherib is the type of the final overthrow in the day of Jehovah; or that the past event was a day of Jehovah, not in the full sense, but a real, though preparatory, application of the day of Jehovah, and an unfailing pledge of the final catastrophe. This, which is nothing but the simple fact, seems to me to invest scripture with the greatest possible interest; and, more than this, it demonstrates its living character. Instead of merely looking back to things long since dead and gone, we read in what has been of what is going to be on a still grander scale, and with far more solemn, though also more cheering issues. Hence, we can understand how that day had even then a practical purpose; but it had nonetheless the further bearing already pointed out.
Fatal Error of Rationalism Here As Elsewhere
It is here that the rationalistic party are so fatally astray, because they treat the Bible alike prophetic and historical as a mere mummy, if not a scanty corrupted compilation of the old records of the Hebrews, with glances at other tribes that once existed but are now passed away and forever.
But that day surely comes, “a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains” (vs. 2). It is impossible to apply this to the Lord’s coming to receive His saints caught up to meet Him. Can one want a clearer instance of the folly of identifying the day of Jehovah, with its terrors for the earth, with Christ’s coming to translate His own on high? Will His presence which gathers us to Him above be in any wise “a day of gloominess and thick clouds?” The confusion is a palpable blunder. But more than this, His presence is never called His “day.” I have no doubt that the reason is that which has been already indicated clearly—the notion of His “day” always supposes manifestation. “That day” may have been of old in a simply providential sense, as for instance when Sennacherib was destroyed; but it is very evident that this was the hand of God displayed terribly on man, and this is what is meant by manifestation to the world; though by and by it will go much farther than anything past.
Christians Shall Appear With Christ When He Appears in Glory
Christians, indeed, are said to be children of the day before the day comes, as contrasted with men generally who are “children of the night” (1 Thess. 5:55Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. (1 Thessalonians 5:5)). We are children of light and the day, because we have now the nature of Christ, and shall come along with Him when that day dawns. But it is a mistake to suppose that we must await the day before we are taken to our place in heaven; whereas it is certain from scripture that, when that day comes, we shall be previously in our own heavenly seats, and shall come with the Lord out of heaven. “When Christ our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:44When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)).
Next, we have a most graphic description of the Assyrian army. “A great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run” (vss. 2-4). No doubt that in this remarkably nervous sketch, where an unparalleled army is supposed to come up against the land, the prophecy goes beyond what then assailed the Jews. That is, we must take in the whole prospect, the binary star (what is past now prominent, the future still graver behind it), in order to meet the full strength of the divine expressions. The Assyrian then was a most formidable array, yet after all their vain-glorious insolence destroyed so completely in a single night, that Sennacherib returned in disgrace, evidently, consciously, confessedly beaten. But the future day will behold a far more appalling host.
Russia and the Assyrian
Let me say here that according to scripture there cannot be the slightest doubt that Russia is reserved to play a most important part in this great future crisis. For the policy of that vast modern empire affects the same objects as the Assyrian of the last day. Russia from its position in the northeast is known to seek the lead as suzerain over the eastern powers, acquiring influence politically, so as to be able to mold and guide those vast hordes of central Asia down to the south. It is my conviction that western influence will ere long be completely annihilated in the east, and that the dominion of our own country in India is destined to be short-lived. But this is merely by the way, which, if true, serves after all to show the importance of having a scriptural judgment on these matters, and how they prepare the mind for what, when it comes, will shake if not paralyze those who have not believed it. Whereas, on the contrary, the development of facts, which prepare the way for the immense changes of the latter day, falls in with the faith of those who believe the Word of God. They are not moved from their steadfastness by these things; they are prepared to expect them, instead of being surprised.
Description of the Assyrian Here and in Isaiah 10
Again, in verse 5, “Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks; neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: and Jehovah shall utter His voice before His army: for His camp is very great: for [He is] strong that executeth His word: for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” (vss. 5-11). In this remarkable way the prophet mingles the name and day of Jehovah with the Assyrians employed then to do His work. The same enemy is called in Isaiah 10 “the rod of mine anger” (Isa. 10:55O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. (Isaiah 10:5)), “the ax” that boasted itself over Him that hewed with it. Surely therefore the Lord Jehovah will turn against that ax and destroy it. He will employ it to accomplish His purposes upon a guilty people; but inasmuch as it destroyed them unmercifully and without the slightest fear of God, He will turn upon that which exalted itself, taking advantage of His displeasure to destroy His poor people if it could be.
Consequently, after this we find the practical appeal to repent. “Therefore also now, saith Jehovah, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. Who knoweth if He will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him; even a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto Jehovah your God” (vss. 12-14).
Humiliation of the People Before God
Then comes the second blowing of the trumpets; but this is distinct. “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly” (vs. 15). It is not now, “Sound an alarm” (vs. 1), but, “Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly” (vs. 15). It is the gathering of the people to God, not merely their loud call on God to appear for them in their great alarm before the enemy. “Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar” (vss. 16-17). Thus there is the complete prostration of the people as a whole, even to the very bridegroom and bride and sucking child; including the priests too as well as the people, but not in their own place—for they have to come out, and are with the people in humiliation, not apart in official dignity. It is the most admirable picture of a nation humbling itself before God; so that all classes of society—in political, religious, and family life—give way to the sense of their sin before God. There is no such leveler as sin, or that which is the consequence of sin—death; but it is a blessed thing when the gracious call of God works repentance, which really means the heart taking the place of owning our own evil and accepting what God thereon has to say to us. There is nothing more admirable for a soul, unless it be the grace of God which produces it. But, morally considered, repentance is always wholesome for His people, conscious of having unworthily answered to the grace He had shown them. It cannot but lead to restored communion through self-judgment, and to a practical obedience according to it. So it will be with the Jew by and by. “And let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where [is] their God?” (vs. 17). The marginal alteration for “rule over” is “use a by-word against.” But the text is confirmed by the ancient versions, as indeed the construction of the margin seems contrary to Hebrew idiom, the noun only (not the verb) admitting of the sense of derision.
And His Answer in Power
But God hears. “Then will Jehovah be jealous for His land, and pity His people. Yea, Jehovah will answer” (vs. 18)—not for alarm merely, but because of their genuine repentance before Himself. Instead of insensibility or efforts to improve themselves, they will draw near to Jehovah in the sense of their sins. It is when they shall turn in contrition to His word, when they welcome in their heart Him that comes in the name of Jehovah, that He will appear in answer to their cry. And now comes in the full assurance of comfort. The Assyrian enemy is disposed of. “But I will remove far off from you the northern [army], and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill-savor shall come up, because he hath done great things” (vs. 20). “The northern” confessedly does not mean any locust irruption, for they come from the south. It is the great foe of the latter day, who will not perish in the sea as those insects usually do, but be driven to a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east or Dead Sea, and his hinder part toward the hinder or Mediterranean Sea. Just judgment of pride! because he “magnified himself to do” (vs. 20).
The Millennial Day of Joy, Even for External Creation, Follows
But it is God who will really do great things. “Fear not, O land” (remark this as definitely the hope of the Jewish nation); “be glad and rejoice: for Jehovah will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field” (vs. 21). They are called to undergo renovation, instead of drooping for want even of common sustenance. The millennial day of joy for the earth and all creation is before us here. Hence “the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength” (vs. 22). All is reversed. It is not Christianity with its spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and with scorn and suffering on earth for the faithful, but earthly blessing and reward, as well as divine and saving mercy, as we shall see. “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among you” (vss. 23-25). Thus, God will more than undo the mischief. He will restore what He took not away. He will efface by the fullness of His blessing all their past sorrows and shame. “And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of Jehovah your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and My people shall never be ashamed” (vs. 26).
But could this satisfy? Could it suffice even for the renewed mind? Certainly, it could not satisfy Him who must be God, not in righteous government only, whether of friends or of foes, but in His love for His people.
Therefore, we have an entirely distinct character of blessing introduced after this, where in the Hebrew begins the third chapter. It is matter of regret that, in this respect the Hebrew having a decided advantage over the Gentile arrangement, modern versions have not followed the former.
“And it shall come to pass afterward” (vs. 28). It is here we find the distinct break. Perhaps it is not too much to say that the putting of these two sections together has tended to mar the force of this scripture. Verses 28 and 29 then are quite apart from what went before. It is blessing of a higher order, flowing from the love of God, but this evidently in a spiritual way. “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit” (vss. 28-29). It is the very scripture, as we know, which the Apostle Peter quotes on the day of Pentecost to show that the immense blessing of that day was in accordance with the highest favor promised for the kingdom, not that human excitement or moral folly which mistaken or deluded men were quick to impute to those who surpassed others in spiritual power.
But, observe, the Apostle did not affirm that this scripture was fulfilled. He says, “It is that thing which was spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:1616But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; (Acts 2:16)); and so it is. What was promised was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Without saying that the present fact was the fulfillment of the prophecy (which men have assumed, to the great misunderstanding of scripture and lowering of Christianity), he showed that it was of that nature, and such therefore as to be vindicated by the prophecy before their conscience; but the Apostle’s language is guarded, while commentators are not. They go too far. We do well always to hold fast to scripture.
Pentecost Was That Which Was Spoken of Here, but Not Its Full Accomplishment
As to the promise that the Spirit should be poured upon “all flesh,” we must bear in mind that “all flesh” is in contrast with restriction to the Jew. This is another feature which made the Pentecostal gift so admirably illustrate the scripture. For the patent fact that God caused those who received the Holy Spirit to speak in the different tongues distributed over the Gentile world, not causing all the converts to speak the Jewish language (a poor thing if true, which it is not, but a mere dream of superficial paradox), but causing the Jews gathered from their dispersion among all nations to speak the tongues of the Gentiles was a magnificent witness of the grace that was going out to the Gentiles to meet them where they were. The judgment of God had inflicted these various tongues upon them and completely broken up the ambitious project of joining together to establish a unity of their own through the tower of Babel. But the grace of God went out exactly where His judgment had placed them. If a crushing blow laid their pride in ever so many separate ditches, the grace of God went out to these ditches and blessed them where they lay, raising them out of their fallen estate.
Such then is the first interruption, and really the beginning of a new strain, which is sufficiently plain from the way it is introduced. “It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Sprit” —makes therefore a break with what goes before, and thus again most admirably suits it to the use to which the apostle Peter applies it. But then we must remember that, when the day comes for the Holy Spirit to be poured out afresh, not for the gathering out of a people for heaven, but for the earthly purposes of God's grace (for that is the difference), it will be manifest that the Holy Spirit will be given to men altogether apart from their being Jews. So on the day of Pentecost, when they were exclusively Jews, it was yet shewn by the miracle of Gentile tongues that God did not mean to stop there, but to go out towards all the nations.
God Will Never Again Limit His Blessing to Israel
God will never give up that principle. He does not mean to be limited to the children of Israel again. He will bless the children of Israel once more, and will take up Judah also as such, and will accomplish every word He has promised to their united joy. There is no good that He has annexed to them in His word which He will not bestow; but He will never more restrict Himself to the Jew in the day that is coming. And therefore, when the Holy Spirit is poured out at that time, it will be strictly upon “all flesh,” not meaning that every individual in the millennium will have the Holy Spirit; but that no race left after that great day will be excluded from the gift of the Spirit. No class of persons, no age, no sex will be forgotten in God’s grace.
But it may be desirable to remark here that there is no thought of healing or improving the flesh, as the fathers and the theologians say. The light of the New Testament shows us the fallacy of such a view. The old nature is judged; our old man is crucified, not renovated. To our Adam state we have died, and enter a new position in Christ, and are called to walk accordingly as dead and risen with Christ.
External Signs Before That Day
The external signs here named will precede the day which is still unfulfilled. It is vain to apply verses 30-31 to the first advent. “I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth” (vs. 30) is evidently another character of things. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of Jehovah come” (vss. 30-31). There will be a remarkable outward manifestation of divine power before the judgment is executed. God always sends a testimony before the thing itself. He does not strike before He warns. It is so in His dealings with us every day. What Christian has a chastening upon him before he is admonished of the Spirit of God? There is always a sense of wrong, and a lack of communion sensible to the spirit before the Lord inflicts the blow which tells of His watchful love over our careless ways. He gives the opportunity, if one may say so, of setting ourselves morally right; and if we do not heed the teaching, then comes the sorrow. And so it is here. These wonders cannot but attract the mind and attention of men, but they will not really be heeded. Infatuated and under judicial hardness, they will turn a deaf ear to all, and so the great and terrible day of Jehovah will overtake them like a thief. But God at least will not fail. He had foretold that so it should be, and His people will take heed. There will be a remnant enabled to see, and preeminently, as we know, from among the Jews, though by no means limited to them, as we learn from the second half of Revelation 7 and the end of Matthew 25. There will be still the witness of “all flesh” prepared for the glory of Jehovah about to be revealed.
In Mount Zion and in Jerusalem Shall Be Deliverance
“Whosoever will call upon the name of Jehovah shall be delivered” (v. 32), shows that the blessing is by faith, and hence by grace. “All flesh” does not necessarily mean every individual, but, as we know from other scriptures, blessing here goes forth largely toward all classes—that is, toward all nations and even all divisions among nations. But all this is of great importance, because the Jewish system naturally tended to limit God as well as to make classes within the Jews. Only the family of Aaron could go into the sanctuary; only Levites could touch the holy vessels with impunity; whereas this greatest blessing of God will go out with the most indiscriminate character of grace. “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as Jehovah hath said, and in the remnant whom Jehovah shall call” (vs. 32). Hence it is plain that, although it is blessing for Israel, still our prophet Joel keeps true to his purpose. The city of Jerusalem abides the great and royal center; mount Zion reappears, the sign of grace for the kingdom which Jehovah will establish in that day.