Week 31 Joel
Joel uses the phrase day-of-the-Lord five times.
I check a word book. It looks like Obadiah Zechariah & Malachi use the expression once. Amos Zephaniah & Ezekiel twice. Isaiah three times. So Joel has more to say about it than anyone else.
When I look at Joel’s five references I don’t get any impression that the day-of-the-Lord is something to look forward to:
The day of the Lord is on the way, the day when destruction comes from the Almighty. How terrible that day will be!
Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the Lord is upon us. It is a day of darkness and gloom
The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing. Who can endure it?
The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon will turn bloodred before the great and terrible day of the Lord
The day of the Lord will soon arrive. The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.
Joel says that the day-of-the-Lord will be terrible. Destructive. Fearsome. Unendurable. He also adds physical-observable-astronomical elements – the sun will get dark. The moon will turn blood-red. No starlight.
The day-of-the-Lord hadn’t happened yet. It was future to Joel. And it either isn’t or is future to me now. If I had to guess I’d say it’s yet to come. But there’s likely a big debate about that.
Note: quotes from Joel 1:15 2:1-2 2:11 2:31 3:14 (NLT). Reading report for January-July: 64% completed. So I’m still ahead.