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Joel 2: 22. Then the animals are told not to be afraid for the land will soon recover.
Joel 2: 23. Then the people of Israel, the children of Zion are told to rejoice in the
Lord their God. They have just been saved from destruction at the hand of the king of the
north and the One Who saved them was the One their forefathers crucified! On that day
they shall "look on Him Whom they pierced" and the realization would understandably
lead to that great period of mourning (Zech. 12: 9-10) but after that the people would turn
their attention to the land and see it desolate. However they are told to rejoice in the Lord
their God! How will He cure this land? How will it recover? How will He cause it to
flourish during His reign on earth? The answer may lie in Lev. 26: 3, 4 where the
people of Israel are told:
"If we walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments and do them: then I will
give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field
shall yield their fruit."
When is this "due season" for the land of Israel? Deut. 11: 13, 14 supplies the answer:
"If you shall hearken diligently unto My commandments . . . . . I will give you the rain
of your land in her due season, the first rain and the latter rain that thou mayest gather in
thy corn and thy wine and thy oil."
Such passages as these, and also Hosea 6: 3 and Jer. 5: 24, may have been in Joel's
mind. This first or early rain falls during October and November and enables the ground
to be prepared for the seeds. The normal rainy season is December to February but the
latter rain is to fall in March and April, bringing on the harvest. Without such latter rain
the harvest is poor. At present it is this restoration of this latter rain that the land of Israel
so desperately needs if it is to be bountiful. The many irrigation schemes now undertaken
in that part of the world will not be necessary when the latter rain is restored by the Lord
after His Second Coming. This kingdom which He is to set up on earth is to last for
1,000 years (Rev. 20: 2), during which time Satan is to be bound and will be prevented
from interfering with mankind. Some think that this will be a time of perfection and
sinlessness but this is not so. Not all of man's sin are due to Satan (Matt. 15: 19) and we
have read that at the start of this kingdom the Lord is to rule with a rod of iron and
Isa.lxv.20 indicates sin is still present! However it is to be the most blessed time on
earth and it is often called the Millennial Kingdom or simply, the Millennium--which is
the Latin word for 1,000.
Before moving on--just one trivial point. In Joel 2: 23 "the former rain moderately"
might suggest that the Lord is not giving as much as He could do. J.N.D. has "the early
rain in due measure". The Lord is to give the due measure, the correct proportion for the
abundant fertility of the seeds; not too much--not too little.
Joel 2: 24. Thus all is set up in the kingdom in which "the wolf and the lamb shall
feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock" (Isa. 65: 25). The reference in
this verse of Isaiah to the serpent eating dust is an allegorical representation of Satan
being bound for the 1,000 year duration of that kingdom (Rev. 20: 2).