The sun shall be changed to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come.
Joel puts two signs in the sky. A darkened sun and a moon like blood come before the day of the LORD. So when do these signs happen? Are they literal? And what is this "great and awesome day"?
Everything hangs on the small word "before." Joel first promises the Spirit poured out, then adds the wonders in the sky. One writer keeps the two apart, and puts both ahead of the day.
Then comes another testimony: wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke, the sun turned to darkness and the moon to blood — all before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. The day of the Lord falls on the northern army; the "day" is the judgment of the Lord. Verses 28 and 29 belong together, but verses 30 and 31 are separate from them, and refer to what happens before.
The signs are not the judgment. They are the warning that comes first — and God works the same way with His own people today.
There will be a striking outward display of divine power before God carries out the judgment. God always sends a testimony before the thing itself. He does not strike before He warns. He deals with us the same way every day. What Christian is disciplined before the Spirit of God has first spoken to him?… These wonders are bound to catch people's attention, but they will not truly heed them. Deluded and hardened under God's judgment, they will turn a deaf ear to it all, and so the great and terrible day of Jehovah will overtake them like a thief.
Peter read this passage aloud on the day the Spirit came (Acts 2). His exact wording matters — and so does the word he never used.
It is strange that all these teachers use the word "fulfillment" about this prophecy… But the Holy Spirit did not use the word "fulfillment" at all. He avoided saying that on purpose. So many places in the New Testament carry the phrase "that it might be fulfilled." Yet when Acts 2 draws on this prophecy, that phrase is missing. Instead Peter says, "this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16). There is a great difference between that and a flat declaration that the passage was fulfilled.
Peter also chose where to stop reading. That stopping point splits Joel's prophecy in two.
Peter stops at the general statement of salvation, which holds true in every age. He deliberately holds back from quoting to the end, because that end applies only to the future, when the Lord returns to reign at Jerusalem.
Commentators differ here. Some take the signs at face value, expecting the heavens themselves to change.
In Joel the sun goes dark, and the moon turns to blood, before the day comes. And I take it that if the sea in its appointed place literally becomes like the blood of a dead man, then the moon literally turns to blood too.
Others read the same imagery as a picture of governments falling.
Of course this is not to be taken literally. Such an upheaval would destroy the universe completely, yet the world goes on long after these events. So it is a description in figures… These figures mean the overthrow of the powers of the earth through great social and political upheavals. The sun, the highest authority, goes dark, and the lesser powers, the moon and stars, are either shaken or completely overthrown.
The day means God's hand shown openly against evil on earth. So it cannot be the same event as Christ coming to gather His people to Himself.
Could there be a clearer example of the folly of treating the day of Jehovah, with its terrors for the earth, as the same thing as Christ's coming to take His own up on high?… The idea of His "day" always assumes a public display of His hand.
The same day that terrifies the nations rescues those who wait for God. Joel says so himself in the very next verse.
It is just as true that His return will bring salvation. The day is to be one of mercy as well as judgment: mercy to the remnant who wait for Him in a spirit of repentance, judgment to the nation… in Joel, there is deliverance for the remnant whom the Lord calls (Joel 2:32).
- Warning — "God always sends a testimony before the thing itself. He does not strike before He warns." The darkened sun is the notice, not the sentence.
- Before — verses 30 and 31 stand apart from the promise of the Spirit. Both come before the day. The signs mark the timing; they are not the day.
- Unfulfilled — Peter said "this is what was uttered," never "that it might be fulfilled." He also stopped mid-verse. The full event is still ahead.
- Debated — do sun and moon go dark for real, or do they picture earthly powers being overthrown? Commentators differ.
- Two-sided — the day is terrible for the world, merciful for those who call on the Lord. The warning comes first so that people will call before it lands.
And it shall be that whosoever shall call upon the name of Jehovah shall be saved for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as Jehovah hath said, and for the residue whom Jehovah shall call.
Joel closes his warning about the day of the Lord with an open door. The Lord saves anyone who calls on His name. The verse holds two things together. The promise is wide enough for "everyone who calls." Yet the deliverance sits in Zion, among a remnant God Himself calls. Much of the New Testament turns on how the two fit.
The word "everyone" is not decoration. It settles two things: how the blessing comes, and how far it reaches. That mattered in a system that had trained people to think in ranks.
"Whoever will call upon the name of Jehovah shall be delivered" shows that the blessing is by faith, and so by grace... all this is of great importance, because the Jewish system tended by its very nature to limit God and to make classes within the Jews. Only the family of Aaron could go into the sanctuary. Only Levites could touch the holy vessels safely. But this greatest blessing of God will go out with grace that makes no distinctions at all.
The verse has two callings in it, and they run in opposite directions. People call on the Lord; the Lord calls the remnant. One writer puts the order plainly.
Here we find that salvation, or deliverance, is in Zion for Israel in the last days. But it is connected with the call of God, and it will be made in a remnant. It will be there for all, for "whoever shall call on the name of the Lord," but the call of God has to come in to make it effective. He calls a remnant, and this remnant gets the benefit of the deliverance that is in Zion.
Joel names two places, and each one carries a meaning. The writers here quote an older translation. It reads "deliverance" and "the remnant" where the ESV has "those who escape" and "the survivors."
The city of Jerusalem remains the great and royal centre. Mount Zion appears again, the sign of grace for the kingdom which Jehovah will set up in that day.
At Pentecost Peter quoted Joel, but he broke off in the middle of this verse. That deliberate stop tells you the two halves belong to different times.
He stopped in the middle of a verse. "Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Joel gives a reason for that, adding, "for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance... and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." Peter stops at the general statement of salvation, which is true in every age. But he holds back on purpose from quoting to the end. That end applies only to the future, when the Lord returns to reign at Jerusalem.
Paul takes the same clause in Romans 10 and builds his case for the nations on it. The wording God chose was already larger than its first setting.
The original immediate application was deliverance in Zion for a remnant; Joel 2:32. But God had supplied the blessing in words that let in the Gentile too when the time came. This way of grace of His was far more important than the Jewish privilege. It took for granted the testimony that made known the Lord on whom they were to call.
The writers hold both applications together. The "whoever" is true now. Joel's Zion clause still waits for the day of Israel's deliverance.
Joel says Jehovah — the name printed as "the LORD" in the verse above. Paul quotes the line and applies it to Jesus. That move is not a slip of the pen.
"Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Notice in passing one of the many incidental proofs of the Deity of Christ. This verse is quoted from Joel 2:32, where the reference is to Jehovah beyond doubt. In Romans 10 it is applied to the Lord Jesus. Then He is Jehovah! If He were not, He would not be qualified to be the Saviour of men.
A promise this wide raises a practical problem: nobody calls on a name they have never heard. That is why the promise puts preachers on the road.
How important then is the gospel, in which He is presented as Lord, so that faith may submit to Him... If men are to be saved they must hear the gospel and God must send it. With Him it all begins. God sends the preacher. The preacher delivers the message. Men hear of Christ and they believe in Him. Then they call upon the Lord and are saved.
- God calls first. The deliverance is real for all who call. But "the call of God has to come in to make it effective." He calls the remnant, and the remnant calls on Him.
- Grace, not rank. Deliverance comes by faith, and so by grace. That sweeps away the classes the old system had built.
- Everyone means everyone. The wording God chose let the nations in when the time came. That way of grace outweighs the earlier privilege.
- Jesus is the name. Joel says Jehovah, Paul applies it to Jesus — only He is qualified to save.
- Two halves, two days. Peter quoted the wide promise and stopped. The Zion clause still waits for the Lord's return to reign at Jerusalem.