Understanding Joel’s Prophetic Sequence

By Russell J. Schmidt

09/25/2025

Many today claim that Joel 2:28–32 is being fulfilled in our time – that dreams and visions are pouring out as evidence of a spiritual awakening and even regarding the rapture of the Church. But a closer look at the full context of Joel reveals something deeper, more sobering, and more precise.
 

Chapter 1: The Devastation Comes First
Joel opens with a catastrophic event – whether literal locusts or symbolic of war, though, I lean toward this meaning literal war, as the land is utterly ravaged. How could it be actual locusts that cause this destruction when verse 19 describes flames burning the trees of the field?  

Crops fail, joy withers, and even the priests mourn. Verse 15 declares, “For the day of the Lord is at hand,” signaling that this devastation is not random – it’s a precursor to divine judgment.
 

Some, like myself, see this as a possible reference to the Ezekiel 38 war – a devastating conflict that may trigger the outpouring of God’s wrath. Verse 20 is evidence of this as God states, “But I will remove far from you the northern army.” Is this northern army the same as the northern army of Ezekiel 38 which comes down to attack Israel?

As I mentioned, verse 19 speaks of fire devouring pastures and trees, imagery that could point to nuclear or advanced weaponry, not locusts.
 

Chapter 2: The Warning Intensifies
Joel chapter 2 continues the theme of destruction, describing a powerful army that leaves desolation in its wake. Another example that this could not be literal locusts. The call to repentance is urgent. Only “after” this devastation and turning of hearts does the promise come:
 

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit…” –  Joel 2:28.  

Notice the word “afterward,” we tend to read past such words in order to give us the meaning we seek. That word “afterward” is critical. It anchors the dreams and visions prophecy to a specific time: “after” the land is destroyed, “after” repentance, and on the cusp of the Day of the Lord. So, how can this prophecy be happening today?
 

Chapter 3: The Final Reckoning
Here, God gathers the nations for judgment. The outpouring of the Spirit has already occurred. The dreams and visions have been poured out on those who will warn of what comes next and to turn to Christ, and then the Day of the Lord unfolds in full.  

God is going to punish those nations who went up against his people. Chapter 3:2 reads, “...they have divided up my land.” Many describe this as what’s to come, as far as dividing the land. And yes, I do agree that there are more divisions coming with a Palestinian state, which will no doubt be a part of the covenant that Antichrist will confirm, but the land has been divided up many times before.  

When you look at the land and how it was dispersed to the twelve Israelite tribes In the Book of Joshua, the land stretched from the Nile to the Euphrates, and up to just below Damascus. That is the land God gave to His people. Israel today is just a sliver of that.

So, in conclusion, when we read the prophets, and in particular the prophet Joel, and how he describes the last days, we need to pay attention to the context around it or we will get the understanding of the prophecy wrong, as many have done with their rapture predictions.

And God knows, we just saw hundreds of self-proclaimed prophets and dreamers get the rapture wrong. The Church needs more discernment and stop allowing Satan and his demonic cohorts from entertaining these thoughts that we so easily determine are from God.

Let’s let the Holy Spirit lead us because when the time is right we will know what we need to know (Daniel 12:4,10).