Joel 2:11, commentary and pictures

The uttering of the Lord's voice before His army is His leading of a very great camp that is strong to execute His word. The day of the Lord is great and very terrible and near at hand, heralded by a trumpet alarm sounded in Zion that causes all the inhabitants of the land to tremble. No one can endure it, and its searching question is who can abide it.

Its terror appears in thick clouds covering the sky with the sun breaking through like an avenging eye, in fierce lightning wrapping the earth in flame, in terrific thunder, and in solemn voices declaring the doom of the wicked. Those voices are distinctly understood by false watchmen. Those who were reckless and boastful and defiant and who exulted in cruelty to God's commandment-keeping people will then be overwhelmed with consternation and shuddering fear, with wailing rising above the sound of the elements. Evil spirits will acknowledge the divinity of Christ and tremble before His power, while people plead for mercy in abject terror.

No impure person can stand when He appears who is of purer eyes than to behold evil and who cannot look upon iniquity. For those who profess to know God while transgressing His covenant and hastening after another god, hiding iniquity in their hearts and loving unrighteousness, that day will be darkness and not light, very dark with no brightness in it. The day is a battle for which people must be awakened to their danger, warned, and roused to prepare to stand, especially for the solemn events connected with the close of probation. That preparation requires a great work first to be done among God's people, separating those who reject present truth from those who will recognize their errors, embrace the truth, and take a clear stand. The verse gives authority to proclaim that the hour of God's judgment has come, and that proclamation comes with the power of the Spirit upon the preachers so that they cannot resist speaking.