“Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great” (Joel 3:13).

This verse is not to be taken in the positive sense. The ripe harvest, the full winepress and the overflowing vats are not to be seen as prosperity or blessing, but rather, as a description of judgment. Farmers and vintners would be thrilled with such things as a ripe harvest and an abundance of wine. That is not the case here. Jesus spoke of the harvest being plentiful but the laborers few (Matt. 9:37, 38; Luke 10:2). He was referring to the vast helplessness and need of the crowds who were as sheep without a shepherd. Jesus said we should pray that more laborers be raised up and sent. The harvest, Jesus speaks of, is a good thing.

But this is not the case in Joel. In Joel 1 we read of God’s judgment in the form of locusts (Joel 1:4). Locusts are well known for their devouring of everything edible. Joel refers to different kinds of locusts—cutting locust, swarming locust, hopping locust and destroying locust. His point is that if one doesn’t accomplish the job, others will. The result of this locust invasion is utter devastation. This is a picture of God’s wrath and judgment against Judah and Jerusalem. This judgment of God’s is also referred to as “the day of the Lord”(1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14). It occurs 13 times in seven other prophets (Isa. 13:6, 9; Jer. 46:10; Ezek. 13:5; 30:3; Amos 5:18–20; Obad. 15; Zeph. 1:7, 14; Mal. 4:5). It refers to God’s final judgment, the judgment that Judah and Israel were to experience from their enemies, and also what their enemies were to experience from God. [Read more…]