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Recently studying Joel in Sunday School and commentaries combined Joel's Day of the Lord with Peter's "Day of the Lord". Joel is refering to the "locusts" army that can enter every crack and cranny? Is there any commentary out there that gives better connection between the two?
Welcome to the "Radically Christian Cafe"! You have asked an excellent question regarding the Day of the Lord! The best commentary on these passages (or any other for that matter) is the Bible, itself! Here in this "cafe" we are "radical" in the sense that "radical" means "root" and thus we like to get "back to the root" of any scriptural subject! (the scriptures, themselves!)
I, personally, believe that the term "the day of the Lord" found anywhere in the Bible refers to ONE DAY! Do you have a Strong's Concordance of the Bible? I'd strongly recommend that any Bible student have one as a constant companion! If you have the Online Bible program, you'll have it!
I've listed below, the references to the day of the Lord in Joel as well as all the N.T. references to it. The Day of the Lord is one Day, the one day towards which all of human history has been moving! It is the day when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God. II Thessalonians 1:6-10 It is the Day of Jacob's trouble, the worst day in the entire history of the nation of Israel! No previous day will compare and no succeeding day will be like it! It will be the day when ALL NATIONS WILL BE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST JERUSALEM TO DESTROY IT! (Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel 12:1)It is the day of the Lord's wrath, when He comes to destroy his enemies and deliver Israel! It is also the day in which the church, the saints, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air as He descends in judgment on the world! ( I Thess.4:13-18)Thus we will be with Him and spared from the hour of trial that comes upon the whole earth! (Rev.3:10)
Zechariah speaks much of this day, but in Zechariah 14:1-5 we have a very graphic description of this day and the manner of the Lord's coming right back to the very spot on the Mount of Olives from which He ascended! (read Acts 1:9-11) for the account of the ascension.
I'd suggest that you check out all the prophesies in scripture relative to this day, because it is the major event of prophecy toward which the world is presently hurtling!
Re. the "locusts"...it is alway important to notice what scripture SAYS for itself, and not to take commentators, marginal notes or headings that are inserted into some Bible versions as part of the inspired record! Joel chapter one refers to a plague of locusts which HAD ALREADY HAPPENED and locusts are not mentioned anymore in the rest of the book! Chapter one was history, and the rest of the book is prophecy! Notice the unique nature of the day of the Lord as it is described in 2:2. The army that is being described is not an "army of locusts" as the headings in some Bible versions suggest! It is "a great PEOPLE, and a strong" (2:2), "a strong people set in battle array" (2:5), In 2:11 we find that it is indeed "the Lord's army"!
Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Joel 2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; Joel 2:11 And the LORD 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 the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. Acts 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 1 Corinthians 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 2 Corinthians 1:14 As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
I don't believe it is any coincidence that the Lord is leading many of His people to study and consider this great day of His! He is intensely interested in it Himself because it will be the day of the REVELATION, THE MANIFESTATION of his Beloved Son to all the world as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!
Keep us posted on what you will no doubt be learning in the days and weeks ahead about this greatest of all days of all of scripture's prophecies!
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