Joel 3:17

So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. SO SHALL YE KNOW - experimentally by the proofs of favours which I shall vouchsafe to you. So "know" (, "Thou shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob;" ). THAT I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD DWELLING IN ZION - as peculiarly your God. MY HOLY MOUNTAIN: THEN SHALL JERUSALEM BE HOLY, AND THERE SHALL NO STRANGERS PASS THROUGH HER ANYMORE - to attack or to defile the holy city (, "The unclean shall not pass over it;...

This is a confirmation of the preceding doctrine, _ye shall know, _he says, _that I am your God. _The Prophet intimates that the favor of God had been so hidden during the afflictions of the people, that they could not but think that they were forsaken by God. His word ought indeed to be sufficient for us in the greatest evils; for though God may cast us into the deepest gulfs, yet when he shines upon us by his word, it ought to be a consolation abundantly available to sustain our souls. But yet, unless God really appears, we are confounded, and ask where is his power. For this reason the Prophet now says, that the faithful _shall _at length _know_, that is, really know him as their God. There is a twofold knowledge, — the knowledge of faith, received from his word, — and the knowledge of experience, as we say, derived from actual enjoyment. The faithful ever acknowledge that salvation i...

9-17 Here is a challenge to all the enemies of God's people. There is no escaping God's judgments; hardened sinners, in that day of wrath, shall be cut off from all comfort and joy. Most of the prophets foretell the same final victory of the church of God over all that oppose it. To the wicked it will be a terrible day, but to the righteous it will be a joyful day. What cause have those who possess an interest in Christ, to glory in their Strength and their Redeemer! The acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favour to some, will be a day of remarkable vengeance to others: let every one that is out of Christ awake, and flee from the wrath to come....

Verse 17. _SO SHALL YE KNOW _] By the judgments I execute on your enemies, and the support I give to yourselves, that I am the all-conquering Jehovah; and that I have again taken up my residence in Jerusalem. All this may refer, ultimately, to the restoration of the Jews to their own land; when _holiness to the_ _Lord_ shall be their motto; and no _strange_ god, nor _impure people_, shall be permitted to enter the city, or even _pass through it_; they shall have neither civil nor religious connections with any who do not worship the true God in _spirit_ and in _truth_. This, I think, must refer to Gospel times. It is a promise not yet fulfilled....

God Himself wondrously joins on His own words to those of the prophet, and speaks to His own people; “so (literally, and) ye shall know,” by experience, by sight, face to face, what ye now believe, “that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.” So He saith in the second Psalm, “Then shall he speak unto them” Psalms 2:5 (the enemies of His Christ) “in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure; And I have set My king on My holy hill of Zion;” and, “Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, their God” Revelation 21:3, dwelling with them and in them, by an unvarying, blissful, hallowing presence, never withdrawn, never hidden, never shadowed, but ever shining upon them

EXPOSITION JOEL 3:1 These verses describe the deliverance of God's people and the destruction of his enemies because of their injurious, insulting, and ignominious treatment of his people. JOEL 3:1 The _time _referred to: IN THOSE DAYS, AND IN THAT TIME, is the first point to be determined. The reference is obviously to the period spoken of in the twenty-eighth verse of the second chapter, where we read, "And it shall come to pass _afterward_,_ _that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flush." This seems to fix the date at least of the commencement of the events recorded in these verses. These events must have been subsequent to that Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But a still closer specification of the time

SO SHALL YE KNOW THAT I [AM] THE LORD YOUR GOD DWELLING IN ZION, MY HOLY MOUNTAIN,.... The church of God, which is his dwelling place; and will appear more manifestly to be so at this time, when Christ the Lamb will stand on Mount Zion, with an 144,000, having his Father's name in their foreheads, Revelation 14:1; and which presence of the Lord will be clearly discerned by his people; by the destruction of their enemies, and by his protection of them; by his being their hope and strength, their refuge and their fortress; they will experimentally know his divine inhabitation among them: THEN SHALL JERUSALEM BE HOLY; or "holiness" s; not Jerusalem, literally taken, as Kimchi; though, it being now rebuilt, will be inhabited by holy persons, the converted Jews, and so all manner of holiness practised in it; but rather the whole church of God everywhere, consisting of hol

III. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY OF THE LORD: ISRAEL'S ENEMIES JUDGED AND THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The judgment of the nations (Joel 3:1) _ 2. The preceding warfare of the nations and how it ends (Joel 3:9) 3. Jehovah in the midst of His People (Joel 3:17) Joel 3:1. The first verse specifies the time when Jehovah will do what He announces in the two verses which follow. It will be in those days, in that time, when the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem is brought back. Clearly then up to this time this cannot yet have been, for the captivity of His people is not yet ended. They are still scattered in the great dispersion

A CHALLENGE TO THE NATIONS TO APPEAR IN THE VALLEY OF JUDGMENT TO MEET THEIR DOOM. Returning to the idea of Joel 3:2, Joel represents Yahweh as bidding the heralds make proclamation among the nations, challenging them to perform the religious rites used to initiate a campaign, and to advance against Him. Let them put their utmost strength into the battle, converting the implements of peace into weapons of war (contrast Isaiah 2:4), and playing the hero even to the feeblest man amongst them. Let the warriors haste and present themselves in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where Yahweh will execute judgment upon them. Under two figures the judgment is expressed: the nations are like ripe corn, which the angel reapers are bidden cut, or grapes filling the press, ready for them to tread. Multitudes await their fate in the Valley of

SO SHALL YE KNOW, &c. Compare Joel 2:27. See note on Ezekiel 6:7. GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim_. App-4. MY HOLY MOUNTAIN. Compare Daniel 11:45.Obadiah 1:16; Zechariah 8:3. HOLY. holiness. See note on Exodus 3:5. NO STRANGERS. Compare Isaiah 35:8; Isaiah 52:1.