Joel 2:20
But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
The northern army is a vast swarm of destructive insects, literal locusts and devouring pests that ruin crops and threaten life, whose damage becomes a terror in the last days. They advance in regular lines like soldiers, strip the land of vegetation and darken the air, and human efforts and inventions cannot stop them. God promises to remove them far off and drive them into a barren and desolate land, their forepart toward the east sea which is the Dead Sea and their hinder part toward the utmost sea which is the Mediterranean, where their stench rises because they have done great things. The promise belongs to the prophecy of the day of the Lord, with a partial fulfillment in Judah and Israel in Joel's own time and a complete fulfillment in the world's final crisis just before the Lord comes and the thousand years begin. It stands among God's assurances to His people when they turn to Him with all the heart with fasting, weeping, mourning and prayer, after which He pities them, restores grain, wine and oil, and pours out the Holy Spirit in the latter rain to ripen the harvest and finish His work.
The Army and Its Doom
The northern army is a vast swarm of destructive insects, literal locusts and related devouring pests that ruin crops and threaten life, whose increasing damage becomes a terror sweeping across agricultural lands and ravaging parts of the earth in the last days, rather than a figurative army of men. The prophecy also had fulfillment in Judah and Israel in Joel's own time. The insects advance in regular lines like soldiers, and human efforts and inventions cannot stop them or prevent this scourge. Their swarms strip the land of vegetation and can darken the air.
The names palmer-worm and caterpillar mean feeder and devourer, and the creatures may be locust larvae or other moth or butterfly larvae and related worms. God promises to remove this army far off and drive it into a barren and desolate land, where its destruction will be evident and His people will be delivered from them. Its forepart is driven toward the east or eastern sea and its hinder part toward the utmost or western sea, whose stench and ill savour rise because it has done great things.
The east sea, or eastern sea, is the Dead Sea on the southeast border of the Holy Land, and the utmost sea, or western sea, is the Mediterranean Sea, the two seas that lay on the borders of Israel. The removal of the northern army that caused the desolation into a barren land means the church's oppressive enemies will lose their power.
Time and Fulfillment of Prophecy
The verse belongs to the prophecy of the day of the Lord announced by blowing the trumpet in Zion because the day is nigh. Its local illustrations represent calamities preceding the great day of Jehovah, including war and trouble that close earth's history. It stands after the warning that the day of the Lord is at hand full of trouble because of earth's seed-sowing of sin, and after the calamities and the calls to repentance, and it applies to earth's great harvest time now nearing.
The prophecy has a double application with a partial fulfillment in an earlier great crisis and a complete fulfillment in the world's final great crisis in the last days. That earlier fulfillment was in Judah and Israel in Joel's own time. The reference to the last days includes the very last day.
It is fulfilled at the commencement of the day of the Lord before the thousand years begin, in a work that takes place before the Lord comes. The chapter describes the land being restored and its fruits provided for people and animals, followed by the outpouring of God's Spirit. The gathering, deliverance, and outpouring occur together for the living saints just before the resurrection of the just. It is connected with God's vengeance at the second advent through the seven last plagues, when the flaming fire is the sun scorching people and the earth with great heat. Its second chapter describes the time of Christ's second coming and the earth's desolation, with the Lord removing a northern army and bringing desolation.
The chapter shows that the church's backsliding and union with the world precede last-day events and the near coming of Christ. That union with the world includes the Sunday-sabbath movement, after which will follow the last days and the persecution of those who obey God. The passage's wider promise of a fruitful and restored earth reaches its ultimate fulfillment in the new earth.
Repentance and Latter Rain
Joel 2:20 stands among God's promises to His people when they heed His call to turn to Him with all the heart with fasting and with weeping and with mourning, with repentance and prayer. That call comes amid warning that the day of the Lord is at hand full of trouble because of earth's seed-sowing of sin, and amid calamities and calls to repentance, and it applies to earth's great harvest time now nearing. After that turning the Lord pities His people and provides grain and new wine and oil. Within that promise He drives the northern army far away into a barren land, where its destruction will be evident.
This fulfilled promise means the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the remnant people of God in the latter rain. It belongs to the call to blow the trumpet in Zion because the day of the Lord is nigh and to turn to the Lord with all the heart, with the result that the children of Zion receive the former rain moderately and the former and latter rain together, know that the Lord is in the midst of Israel, and are never ashamed. It is the baptism of the Holy Ghost and refreshing from the presence of the Lord as wonderful in power and results as Pentecost, ripening the harvest and ending the conflict. It is given on condition of returning to the Lord and bringing all the tithes into the storehouse.
The chapter shows what is necessary to the prosecution of God's last great work and the finishing of the delayed work in this generation before the soon coming of Christ. The one supreme consideration and one great requirement of God's people today is the reception of the Holy Spirit in its fulness, the presence in its fulness of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, which alone is their sufficiency. That power alone fits for service, and it finishes the service it qualifies to perform. It must be lifted up and given its supreme place in a clear, strong, definite message with no weakness or tameness, for no finishing power will ever attend the message until then, and with that heavenly endowment every Sabbath-keeper occupying his privileged position could give the message to the people of the United States within twelve months.
The Lord will follow Satan's counterfeit signs by doing great things through the genuine outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the latter days. When the army that caused the desolation is removed and driven into a barren land, the church's oppressive enemies lose their power. Then the Lord's people again receive His gifts and graces.