Joel 2:32

The promise continued that whoever would call on the name of Yahweh would be delivered. The day of the Lord described earlier in this chapter involved God judging the enemies of His people, and this eschatological day of the Lord also involves divine judgment. Therefore the deliverance in view must be from divine judgment (cf. Romans 11:26). Specifically, there will be people on Mt. Zion and in Jerusalem who escape, even among the survivors of previous distresses whom Yahweh has chosen for deliverance (cf. Isaiah 51:3; Zechariah 13:8).

The Apostle Paul quoted this verse and applied it to spiritual salvation (Romans 10:13). His usage does not fulfill what God promised here, namely, physical deliverance before the coming day of the Lord. Paul meant that just as God will deliver all who call on Him in that future day of the Lord, so He will deliver all who call on Him for salvation from sin. They will avoid the terrible day when all unbelievers will suffer condemnation by their Judge (Revelation 20:11-15).

The Apostle Peter also quoted this passage (Joel 2:28-32) in his Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:14-36). He said that what the people of Jerusalem were witnessing, which they mistook for drunkenness, was what Joel had spoken of (Acts 2:16-21; cf. Acts 10:45). Many interpreters believe that Peter meant that Joel’s prophecy was completely fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. [Note: E.g., Dillard, p. 295.] This can hardly be what he meant, however, because much of what Joel predicted in this passage did not occur on the day of Pentecost, specifically the celestial phenomena. The day of Pentecost was not the day of the Lord that Joel predicted.

Another interpretation of Peter’s meaning is that part of what Joel predicted was fulfilled on Pentecost, and the rest awaits fulfillment in the future day of the Lord. [Note: E.g., Kaiser, p. 189.] This double or partial fulfillment view makes most sense to me. God poured out His Spirit on the church on the day of Pentecost, but He will also pour out the Spirit on Israel in the eschatological future. The problem with this view is that the promises of the outpouring of the Spirit and the other miracles are so intertwined that separating them by thousands of years seems unnatural. Moreover, Peter quoted the whole passage in Joel, not just the promise of the Spirit’s outpouring. In contrast, Jesus only quoted part of Isaiah 61:1-3 when He said that that prophecy was fulfilled when He read it in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:18-21).

A third possible interpretation is that Peter meant that what happened on Pentecost was similar to what Joel had prophesied God would do in the future day of the Lord. He drew a comparison and pointed out an analogy, but he did not claim fulfillment. Similarly, Jesus said, "This is my body," in the Upper Room. Both expressions are metaphors, according to this view. This view sees the entire fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy in the eschatological future. The outpouring on the day of Pentecost was simply a foreview of what the Lord will do in the future (cf. Galatians 3:28). The day of Pentecost was not the day of the Lord that the prophets spoke of here and elsewhere.

There is not much practical difference between views two and three. View two sees the outpouring on Pentecost as a partial fulfillment, and view three sees it as a foreview of the fulfillment. [Note: For a fuller discussion of the views regarding Peter’s use of this prophecy, see my notes on Acts 2:16-21.]

"Peter quoted this passage in Acts 2 because (a) it related to the outpouring of God’s Spirit (Acts 2:4; Acts 2:15-16), (b) it stressed his theme of repentance (Acts 2:21; Acts 2:37-39), and (c) it fit with his understanding that the Jews were about to enter the Day of the Lord, leading up to the return of Israel’s Messiah, Jesus (Acts 1:6-8; Acts 2:36; Acts 3:19-21)." [Note: Dyer, p. 743. Cf. Wiersbe, p. 338.]

The day of the Lord that Joel predicted here begins with the Tribulation (cf. Daniel 9:24-27; Revelation 6-18), continues through the return of Christ and the Millennium (cf. Revelation 19-20), and culminates in the eternal state (cf. 2 Peter 3:10-13; Revelation 21-22). The signs in view picture what the Book of Revelation describes further as occurring in the Tribulation, and the pouring out of the Spirit will occur at the beginning of the Millennium. Then all believers will possess the Spirit and will have the ability to receive fresh revelations from the Lord. Forgiveness of sins and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are two of four great blessings of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:24-30).

"Joel envisioned the outpouring of the Spirit as being confined to Jews, but in the progress of revelation and history, we discover that Gentiles are included as well, for they too are incorporated into the new covenant community." [Note: Chisholm, Handbook on . . ., p. 374.]