We’ve been working through the Old Testament looking for the New Testament Jesus hundreds, even thousands, of years before He was born. They’re all great stories on their own, but they absolutely paint a picture of who Jesus will be and what he’ll do for those who believe. Jesus claimed that the entire Old Testament pointed to Him (Luke 24:27; John 5:46). Since the Book of Joel is a part of the OT, let’s take a look to see how it points to Jesus.

Like with all prophets, Joel gives the bad news of God’s coming judgement and the good news of God’s promised deliverance. But Joel describes it much differently than others. He doesn’t talk about Israel’s sin, and he describes the coming Judgement as a devastating plague of locusts - coming like a great army to destroy everything. Nothing can escape it. God will judge all unrighteousness and disobedience…all accounts will be settled. His message serves a warning to all people of a coming judgement. Then and now.

But then Joel also gives a message of hope. An eternal and grace filled protection from this judgement for anyone who calls on God. He talks about how merciful God is, and that God wants to bless anyone who trust in him (Joel 2:12-13). Joel also talks about this “great day of the Lord”, and how we’ll be able to receive the Holy Spirit after that (Joel 2:28-29, 32).

What does this mean for us? The Day of the Lord prophesied in Joel is about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus…and it’s already happened. Jesus took upon Himself the plague, not of locusts, but of our sins (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:24) and then promised and provided the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16; Acts 2). For believers, the end time judgement has already been carried out. Jesus defeated sin. DONE. Finished. We are declared not guilty. And now the Holy Spirit Joel talked about is available to each of us (Acts 2:1-21).

May we each call on and believe in Jesus, the one who saves.

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