Prophetic Prospective Daily Devotional

You might remember from the last time we read in Joel that this ancient Jewish prophet is describing the "day of the Lord", a phrase that Joel introduced to the "end time scenario" found in God's word. The phrase, "the day of the Lord" is any time in history when the Lord intercedes in the affairs of man on the earth, personally.

This definition is used in a "general" sense referring to the period of time after the Rapture and lasting for one thousand and seven years to the time just before the Great White Throne. The "specific" usage of the word is the day that the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the earth.

In Joel, the prophet describes the "day" as the Jewish day unfolds. The Jews start their new day at sundown and it goes 24 hours until the next sundown. Thus, the day begins with the night and then the day. This usage of the word "day", is the same as used in Genesis 1. "The night and the day", as in the days of Creation, is today used by the Jewish people.

Joel began the prophetic "day of the Lord" in chapter 2 by describing this day with the "night" first, verse 2. As the day proceeds the Lord now tells Joel that He is going to change the land of Israel to be as productive as it has been at any time in history.

We read first of His jealousy that the Lord has for His land, verse 18, which with the Hebrew flavor of the word "jealous" meaning that the Lord will be "aggressively possessive" of His land that He has promised to give to the Jewish people.

He then tells the Jews that He will stop the Northern enemy, verse 20. Verses 21-26 tell how the Lord will bless the Jews in the Land He has given them with the rains. The "former rains", are those rains in the fall and the "latter rains", are those in the spring.

These rains will nourish the land and make it very productive agriculturally. There will be great harvesting of the crops from the land. God will do this because of His promise, a promise that was made in His name, Ezekiel 36:22.

This prophecy is yet to be completely fulfilled. However, today in Israel you can see evidence of how this prophecy can indeed be fulfilled. This will be the time when God's "chosen people" will not be ashamed, but a testimony to the world that the Lord is in the midst of the Jewish people and that He is their Lord, verse 27.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you for allowing us to see, dear Lord, the process of prophecy being fulfilled.