Joel 2:7, commentary and pictures

They advance like trained soldiers, each holding its own course in steady lines with strength and persistence, climbing over walls and pressing forward without breaking order. No barrier turns them back and no human weapon harms them, leaving desolation behind them where they have passed. They are real locusts and devouring insects sent in judgment upon crops and land, with the calamity upon Judah and Jerusalem standing as the plain example. They are also the Lord's strong agents carrying out His word in perfect order on their appointed course in the great day of the Lord. Their work appears just before Christ comes, and calls God's people to move together in the same close, unbroken unity to finish His last work under the power of the latter rain.

Disciplined Advance Described

The verse portrays an army that runs like mighty men, climbs the wall like men of war, and marches every one on his ways without breaking ranks. Each follows its own path in regular lines, advancing with the strength, persistence and order of warriors disciplined for battle. The running, wall-scaling advance keeps its course unbroken, rank upon rank moving in assigned order.

That advance cannot be stopped or turned back. Walls and other barriers cannot obstruct it, and human efforts and devices cannot stop its progress. Human weapons cannot harm it, no hiding place protects from it, and no human defenses can withstand it when it executes judgment. It leaves desolation behind it as it overwhelms attempts to stop it and devastates forests, crops and fruit.

The ranks hold together even when parting briefly to pass around people, closing again to continue forward. The advancing track continues without turning aside for water or houses as it strips the land of its green growth.

Identity of the Army

The army is literal locusts and other devouring pests and destructive insects that ravage crops, forests and fruit, advancing with the strength, persistence and order of soldiers as they run, climb over obstacles and keep their course without breaking ranks, not a figurative human army. That calamity brought upon Judah and Jerusalem is the local illustration, given nearly eight hundred years before Christ and before the time of Hosea, and it is typical of far greater calamities to come upon the world when the great day of the Lord is near, so that the running, wall-climbing host that keeps its ranks is one of the signs of the Lord's coming.

The army is the Lord's heavenly agents and executors of His will and judgment in the great day of the Lord, strong in carrying out His word, moving in perfect order on an assigned and appointed course with the discipline and persistence of warriors who scale walls and keep their ranks unbroken. Their march cannot be obstructed or turned back by walls, locks or other barriers, human weapons cannot harm them, no hiding place protects from them, and no human defenses can withstand them when they execute God's judgment, leaving the wicked powerless and unable to hide. Their work begins in the time just before the day of the Lord, meaning Christ's coming, with contemporary insect ravages as an early beginning of that prophesied work, and it is associated with the destruction coming upon the world under the seventh trumpet.

The army belongs to the same end-time scene as Christ coming in judgment, when His glory brings destruction upon the nations and the armies of heaven follow Him, advancing with disciplined, unwavering strength and keeping ranks fearlessly. In the same figure the army depicts God's people in the great and terrible day of the Lord advancing like soldiers, each keeping to the appointed and assigned way with courage and unity, climbing obstacles and holding the ranks unbroken. Those enlisted in the Lord's army are to keep rank in exact order as a disciplined army for battle, an armored and victorious company in the shaking time moving in order even as some are shaken out and others take their places, with the organized, systematic and coordinated effort needed to accomplish the last message. The people have not yet all received the spiritual armor or learned to keep perfect rank, but afterward come the loud cry, the gifts of the Spirit, and the speedy finishing of the work.

The verse forms part of a vivid picture of warring nations presented as a sign preceding the day of the Lord, with warning addressed to Zion, the church in the last days, urging its priests and ministers to zeal and earnestness in view of the destruction that will overwhelm the world. It belongs to the description of a great people and a strong associated with the day of the Lord, a powerful disciplined force in which each moves along its assigned way, climbs defenses and keeps ranks unbroken, rather than merely describing ordinary locust behavior.

Time and Judgments Foretold

Joel 2:7 belongs to a nine-verse portrayal of the agents engaged in the great work of the day of the Lord and what they do, showing them acting as a disciplined army for battle that runs like mighty men, climbs the wall like men of war, and marches each on his own way without breaking ranks. Their work begins in the time just before the day of the Lord, which is Christ's coming, and takes place before the Lord comes. It is reckoned among the prophecies proving that the last days are present and the Master's coming is near, including foretold persecution of those who obey God as the Sunday-sabbath movement reaches its end. The local illustrations describe calamities preceding the great day of Jehovah and the final time of war and trouble on earth. In that setting the verse belongs with evidence of physical signs attending the earth's approaching change and Christ's coming, namely earthquakes and other disturbances, barrenness, destructive insects, famine, and disease. The contemporary insect pest is an early beginning of that prophesied work.

The prophecy has a double application, with a partial fulfillment at an earlier great crisis and a complete fulfillment in the final crisis of the world, its last-days prophecy reaching even to the very last day. The vision was given about eight hundred years before the first advent of Christ and before the time of Hosea, showing the final visitation of God's wrath at the end of time. The calamity it describes upon Judah and Jerusalem by an army of pests is typical of far greater calamities to come upon the world when the great day of the Lord is near, so that the running, wall-climbing army keeping its ranks is one of the signs of the Lord's coming. Before these destructive agencies the land is as the Garden of Eden, but behind them a desolate wilderness. This belongs to the time when the earth is defiled under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and broken the everlasting covenant, so that the curse devours the earth, and these visitations of the curse as the end approaches are visible evidences that the earth and atmospheric heavens are waxing old as a garment and are soon to be folded up and changed.

The surrounding passage in Joel 2:1-14 foretells signs in the sun, moon, and stars showing that Christ's coming and the end of the world are near, even at the door. The sun was darkened at midday and made black as sackcloth of hair on May 19, 1780, the full moon that following night gave no light and appeared as blood, and the stars fell from heaven on November 30, 1833, coming immediately after the long persecution that began in 538 and ended in 1798. The disciplined army that runs and climbs walls like warriors while each marches on an assigned path without breaking ranks is part of the army of the Lord, strong in carrying out His word, and is associated with the destruction coming upon the world under the seventh trumpet. It means the unrivaled time of trouble and the ruin wrought by the seven last plagues that precede the resurrection of the dead and the beginning of the thousand years, a scene so fearful and withering that Joel begged for it to be torn from his eyes. The earth will be laid waste in the Lord's coming and the consuming of things from the earth, but will not come to its final end. The passage therefore calls for alarm and earnest preparation when the day of the Lord is near, including a call for even the meek to seek meekness and righteousness.

Spirit Outpouring Promised

The prophecy promises the latter rain upon the remnant when the day of the Lord is nigh at hand, sounding the trumpet alarm in Zion and calling for turning to God with all the heart. It promises a baptism of the Holy Ghost as wonderful in power and results as the early rain on the day of Pentecost. Its fulfillment brings the former rain and the latter rain, gladness and rejoicing in God, the knowledge that God is in the midst of Israel and His people shall never be ashamed, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the ripening of the harvest, and the end of the conflict. The blessing comes only upon returning to God and bringing all the tithes into the storehouse, and its power is so great that the unprepared would fall under it to rise no more.

The land is restored to produce precious fruits for people and animals, followed by the outpouring of God's Spirit. These events occur at the commencement of the day of the Lord, before the resurrection of the just, and include the deliverance and gathering of God's living people. Under the gospel commission the gifts of the Spirit are given to women as well as men, as applied at Pentecost to Christ's disciples, supporting women's participation in the work of ministry.

The disciplined advance describes God's last great work to be finished in this generation before the soon coming of Christ. The hindrance to the delayed work is lack of the Holy Spirit in its fullness, and the one supreme need is the presence of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, which alone is sufficiency and fits God's people for service so they finish the service it qualifies them to perform. It calls for rising up with a clear, strong, definite message lifted to its supreme place in the heart with no weakness or tameness, with finishing power attending the message. If every Sabbath-keeper in the United States stood in that privileged position under that heavenly endowment, the message could be given to the nation within twelve months. The people have not yet all received the spiritual armor or learned to keep perfect rank, but afterward come the loud cry, the gifts of the Spirit, and the speedy finishing of the work, as seen when many men and women seek and find truth during the outpouring of the latter rain.

Call to United Action

Those enlisted in the Lord's army are to keep rank in exact order without breaking ranks, each one keeping to the assigned path while the ranks hold together in disciplined advance. The verse pictures God's people advancing with the discipline and order of soldiers, each keeping to the appointed way with the ranks remaining unbroken. The victorious company in the shaking time moves in that exact order. It is an armored company moving in exact order even as some are shaken out and others take their places to fill the ranks.

Discipline and closed ranks are necessary for the work God does among His people. The image is of a disciplined army for battle, each keeping order in the ranks, united in work and keeping the ranks unbroken for the organized, disciplined effort needed to accomplish the last message. The army advances with courage, overcomes barriers and climbs obstacles with courage, and keeps its ranks unbroken, showing God's people moving together in disciplined, coordinated action. When God leads all should move, and when the work is difficult all should help together. The people of God stand like a well-disciplined army with ranks closed and alienation of attitude and feeling removed from their counsels.

After victory in the shaking time God's people move in exact order like a company of soldiers. The victory is deliverance from the bondage that causes blindness, closed mouths, deathlike stillness and dullness. It fills them with gratitude and holy sacred joy. In that united order they give the loud cry of the third angel's message, which is victory in service.