Joel wrote the book between 825 and 809 B.C. Israel would be taken into captivity by the Babylonians a couple hundred years later (“foreigners would invade her”). The Holy Spirit would be given to believers over 800 years later. God inspired him to write these amazing words.
Joel 3:16, 17
The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. “Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her.
Joel 2:29-32
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved;
We don’t know anything about Joel except he was the son of a man named Pethuel and that he was obedient to the LORD to write these words down for us to meditate on today.
Hebrews 1 says, In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
As I read Joel, I catch a small glimpse of God’s awesome power and ultimate judgment of sin. Today I choose to obey and worship God alone.