Joel_2a

Joel

Chapter 2 {continued}
{Verses 21-24: Prosperity of Israel}
21~~"Fear not, O land {negatively stated}.
Be glad and rejoice/'possess inner happiness' {positively stated}!
For Jehovah/God will do/manufacture {'asah - from His grace}
{future tense here - last verse 'has done', here 'will do'}
great things."

{Note: The failure of the faith-rest technique always results in fear, worry, and anxiety - and these are sins. So, 'fear not', in other words, means you should be relaxed mentally. 'O land' refers to the land of Palestine in the Millennium.}

22~~"Do not be afraid, you animals of the field.
For the pastures of the wilderness do spring;
for the tree bears her fruit; and,
the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength."

{Note: In other words, when there is a good agricultural prosperity the animals benefit. These animals are blessed because of who and what God is, not who and what the animals are. They received their blessing because of the character of God - as do ALL creatures of God!}

{Best Bible Teaching Ever in the Millennium}
23a~~" 'Be glad'/'have inner happiness' {giyl}
then, you children of Zion,
and rejoice in Jehovah/God your 'Elohiym/Godhead.
For He has given you
{believers in the Millennium}
the 'Teacher of Righteousness'
{mowreh ts@daqah - meaning Jesus Christ
as He will reign personally in the Millennium}.

{Note: In the Hebrew, Mowreh means both teacher and 'early rains'. And, ts@daqah means both righteousness and 'moderately'. RBT says the first use is 'teacher of righteousness' prophesizing the 2nd Advent of Christ and His teaching of righteousness in the Millennium. The second use is literal rain next.}

23b~~"And He will cause to come down for you the rain . . .
the former rain
{mowreh - rain prior to planting},
and the latter rain
{rain during plant growth needed for a good harvest}
in the first month."

{Note: The former rain and the latter rain have to do with economic prosperity but notice what comes first! Teaching and comprehension of doctrine and, then, there is economic prosperity.}

24~~And the floors shall be full of wheat,
and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil
{more signs of prosperity}.

25~~And I {God} will restore to you the years
that the 'swarming locust'/locust {'arbeh} has eaten,
the 'cleanup locust'/cankerworm {yekeq},
and the 'root eating locust'/caterpillar {chaciyl},
and the 'gnawing locust'/ palmerworm {gazam},
My great army which I sent among you."

{Note: And Israel is restored to its national prestige, they are out from under the 5th cycle of discipline. The locust etc. foreshadows the Assyrian invasions of Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon II, Sennacherib and Esarhaddon.}

{Eating Under Future Perfect Environment of the Millennium}
26a~~"And you shall eat, even eat {means in plenty}
{'akal 'akal - very strong - means to eat all you want and is all
beneficial in the Millennium all food will be healthy and satisfying},
and shall be satisfied."

26b~~"And praise the Name of Jehovah/God your 'Elohiym/Godhead
Who has done/manufactured {'asah} wonderful things for you."

{Note: 'And praise the Name of the Lord your God' indicates that this will be the beginning of a civilization. There have been civilizations before: first, the antediluvian civilization, which began with two believers, Adam and Eve. Eventually, with the population explosion, there was a very large number of unbelievers and the infiltration of the Super Race (see Genesis 6), followed by the destruction of everything with the flood. Then there was the post-diluvian civilization - in which we find ourselves today - which began with eight believers (Noah and his family). Again there was a population explosion and a great number of unbelievers. The 2nd advent of Christ will introduce the Millennial civilization. Due to the 'baptism of fire' and removal of all unbelievers, it will begin with believers only. There will be a fantastic population explosion and eventually there will be both believers and unbelievers in this perfect environment. This is necessary to demonstrate the principle that environment is not the solution to man's problems. The solution to man's problems is regeneration, inner change, change wrought by God's plan rather than "man-by-man's efforts" solving man's problems.}

26c~~"And My people shall never be confused/ashamed {buwsh}."

{Note: 'Shall never be confused' . . . Why? Because (Isaiah 11) 'the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters that cover the sea' In the Millennium every believer will have maximum understanding of Bible doctrine. Maximum understanding of Bible doctrine eliminates confusion.}

{How is Confusing Avoided? - Knowledge of Doctrine!}
27~~"And you shall know {'yada}
that I {God} am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am Jehovah/God your 'Elohiym/Godhead
and none else.
And My people shall never be confused/ashamed {buwsh}."

{Verses 28-30: Future Spirituality Prophesized}
28a~~"And it shall come to pass afterward
{Prophecy of the Advent of Christ}
that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh."

{Note: RBT says here we have the characteristics of spirituality in the Millennium. Spirituality ignores human distinctions. There are three human distinctions, which are mentioned in verse 28. The first is sex - 'sons, daughters' (males, females). There are no sex limitations in the Millennium. Secondly is age - 'old men, young men'. There are no age limitations.}

28b~~"And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy {naba'},
your old men shall dream dreams {chalam chalowm},
your young men shall see visions {ra'ah chizzayown}."

{Note: There are three verbs here - and these three verbs in the Hebrew actually indicate ecstatics. 'Prophecy' is a verb which includes ecstatics; 'shall dream dreams', a verb that includes ecstatics; 'shall see visions', a verb that includes ecstatics.}

29~~"And also upon the servants
and upon the handmaids
in those days {Millennium}
will I pour out My Spirit."

{Note: RBT says the third characteristic of the Millennium relates to 'class'. In this verse, 'servants, handmaids' are mentioned. There are no class limitations in the Millennium. This is a description then of perfect environment.}

{SideNote: RBT says 'In those days I will pour out my Spirit' needs explanation. We have the 'problem' of its quotation in Acts Chapter 2 by Peter.

All believers have the filling of the Spirit at the beginning of the Millennial Age, even as all believers in Jerusalem had the filling of the Spirit at the beginning of the Church Age. There is an exact parallelism and RBT says this is why Peter quoted the passage. All believers in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost actually had the filling of the Spirit. At the beginning of the Millennial Age the filling of the Spirit will again occur.

When the Spirit was poured out in Acts Chapter 2 and people began to speak in many languages - and the cynics accused them of being drunk. But Peter communicated that was not true. This is a parallel situation to what is going to occur in the future. This parallels what is found in Joel Chapter 2:28, 29 and this is parallel to that.

In Acts 2:16-21 we actually have the Joel passage quoted. In Acts Chapter 2:13 believers were accused of drunkenness, so Peter denies the drunkenness charge, and to refute it he quotes Joel 2:28, 29. RBT says Peter doesn't say that this is the fulfillment of it, when he said: 'this is that'. He means 'this is like that' - this is a parallel type of situation. So what Peter does imply is that believers filled with the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost can no more be charged with drunkenness than the tremendous spiritual phenomena which will occur in the Millennium.}

{Verses 30-31: Signs of the 2nd Advent of Christ - Terrestrial Disturbances}
30~~"And I will show wonders in the heavens
{in the heavens - seen will be the return of Christ -see Revelation
1:7}
and in the earth - blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke
{On earth:
blood - termination of Armageddon campaign Revelation 14
fire: Rev 9:17-18
and pillars of smoke - destruction of religion -
Rev 18:9,18: 18 and 19:3}."

{Celestial Disturbances - See also Revelation Chapter 6:12}
31~~ The sun will be turned into darkness
{abnormal darkness - NO light - holds up advance of King of the
North same darkness as the world experienced when Christ hung
on the cross},
and the moon into blood
{the same color of blood - if dust is right in desert, you can see
this affect with the battle of the Armageddon campaign will be a
lot of dust and smoke}
before the great and awesome day of Jehovah/God comes.

{Qualification for Passing the Baptism of Fire and Entering the Millennium}
32~~And it will come to pass,
that whosoever calls {qara'}
{idiom meaning who 'has faith in'}
on the name of Jehovah/God will be saved/delivered {malat}
{RBT says this is salvation - sometimes also does refer to physical
deliverance}.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance,
as Jehovah/God has said,
and in the remnant {those who were believers in the Tribulation}
whom Jehovah/God shall call.

{Note: Paul quotes from this in Romans 10:13. Also it is quoted in Acts 2:21 and both times it was referring to salvation instead of just physical deliverance from the Tribulational difficulties.}