In verses 18 through 27 we see that God desires to bless His own land. The holy land, a particular area of land, is God’s land.
God desires to bless His own land with the rich produce of the land (vv. 19, 21-22, 25-27).
God desires to bless His land also by the rains: the former rain and the latter rain (v. 23).
Finally, God desires to bless His land by driving away from the peoples the enemies sent by Him as the swarming locusts, the licking locusts, the consuming locusts, and the cutting locusts as His great army (vv. 20, 25).
Verses 28 through 32 reveal that God is willing to save His elect, Israel.
Jehovah is willing to save Israel by pouring out His Spirit (as the former rain) upon them (vv. 28-29). This prophecy was fulfilled as a foretaste on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4, 16-21), and it will be fulfilled as a full taste before the great tribulation for the salvation and regeneration of many of the returned Israelites. This outpouring is different from the outpouring of the Spirit on the last day of the tribulation (Zech. 12:10) for the salvation of the remnant of the Jews under Antichrist’s besieging.
The Spirit poured out on the day of Pentecost was the Spirit of God compounded with Christ’s humanity, death, resurrection, and ascension. This compounded Spirit who has been poured out is the realization of Christ and the consummation of the Triune God. God poured Himself upon those who called on the name of the Lord. This outpouring produced the church. Formerly, there were only the Jews and the Gentiles, but now there is the church as a third entity (1 Cor. 10:32). The church is mysterious, for it is in the church that Christ is manifested.
The outpouring of the consummated Spirit is Christ’s coming. Christ came through incarnation. Eventually, He died and was resurrected, and, in a sense, He went away. But by the outpouring of the Spirit He came back to be manifested. By this outpouring all the disciples and saved ones on the day of Pentecost became parts of the corporate Christ. The individual Christ has thus become the corporate Christ, the enlarged, increased Christ, which is the church as the manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16).
From what we have covered so far in this life-study of Joel, we can see that this book deals with world history. Our text for the study of history is the Bible, in particular the short book of Joel. In this book we see the nations as the locusts and the devastation of Israel by these locusts. Here we also see a great outpouring of the Spirit as the consummated Triune God upon those Jews who call upon the name of Jehovah and who thus are regenerated to become part of the church for the manifestation of Christ.
Joel 2:32 indicates that God’s elect people will be saved through their calling on the name of Jehovah. The equivalent of this in the New Testament is calling on the name of the Lord Jesus.
God’s saving of Israel by pouring out His Spirit upon them will be accompanied by the natural calamities of the sixth seal and the first four trumpets (Rev. 6:12-17; 8:7-12) on the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the earth (Joel 2:30-31a) as a prelude to the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21).
The second outpouring of the Spirit for the saving of the returned Jews will take place before the fifth trumpet, the first of the three woes (Rev. 8:13—9:19; 11:14; 15:5—16:21), which are the major structure of the great tribulation, in the great and terrible day of Jehovah (Joel 2:31b). However, many of the returned Jews will not believe but will continue to be stubborn. Eventually, during the tribulation, Jerusalem will be surrounded by the Gentile armies under Antichrist, whose intention will be to destroy Israel entirely. At that juncture the Lord Jesus Christ will descend with His overcomers. Furthermore, according to Zechariah 12, at that time the consummated Spirit will again be poured out, and the remnant of the children of Israel will be saved.
Thus, there are three outpourings of the Holy Spirit: first, the outpouring on the day of Pentecost; second, the outpouring just before the great tribulation upon the Jews; and third, the outpouring upon the besieged Jews, who will have no way to escape the persecution of Antichrist. These three outpourings work together for the salvation of Israel.