Joel Chapter One
(Verse Six)
“For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without
number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek
teeth of a great lion.”
(Joel 1:6)
A Nation
is Come Up Upon My Land
Joel 1:1-5 In Review:
1
- ¶The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2
- Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.
Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3
- Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children,
and their children another generation.
4
- That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that
which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the
cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
5
- Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine,
because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
Weep and howl for the new wine is cut off from your lips! And how is it cut off? Verse six begins to explain.
Joel 1:6 - “For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.”
We will not elaborate on the many historical fulfillments
involving God’s ancient
The rule of Israelites in the
In 587 BC, Babylonian
Nebuchadnezzar's army captured
There has never been a nation in
existence so long and yet dispersed throughout the earth for over two thousand
years as
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;
that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of
darkness into his marvellous light:” (1
Peter 2:9)
When scripture proclaims that “a nation is come up upon my land” in
Joel 1:6 we must first realize that in all probability this was an earthly
prophesy predicting a literal invasion from the Assyrians. No doubt it is also teaching God’s judgment
upon the Jewish people for their rebellious and sinful ways. God chastises the Jewish people throughout
the Old Testament for their evil ways and likewise today’s global and corporate
church is in no way any different than
Many Bible scholars endeavor to
identify the approximate dates in which Joel penned these passages. They also debate among themselves as to what
foreigners or kingdom was in view in Joel’s prophecy. They seek out these bits of information as if
it is necessary in understanding Joel’s words.
These are worldly and historic events lost in history but not lost in
God’s way of teaching. We are not to
dwell on the historic events of ancient
“For a nation is come up upon my land…” (Joel 1:6). This nation or kingdom was fulfilled in the
literal realm of things by the invasion from the Assyrians. They (as foretold in the previous verses of
Joel) ravished the
A NATION
IS COME UP UPON MY LAND
The invasion from the Assyrians is merely a partial glimpse
of unseen truth that runs as a thread through Holy Scripture. We find many occurrences in the Old Testament
that speak of invaders coming down upon the Jewish people to take a spoil. We must understand that these seemingly
“unimportant” events are not merely historical accounts that are no
longer relevant for us today. God’s Word
is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the Bible tells us. The Old Testament is a large portion of God’s
Word for us today; therefore it is still relevant - no doubt. Ancient
The invasions of
Deuteronomy 28:33 - The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:
Deuteronomy 28:36 - The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
Deuteronomy 28:49 - The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
Deuteronomy 28:50 - A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
Deuteronomy 32:28 - For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
Jeremiah 5:15
- Lo, I will bring a nation
upon you from far, O house of
Amos 6:14 - But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.
The above verses speak to different nations that sought to
destroy ancient
The nation that Joel speaks of, in the final fulfillment of these verses, appears more than likely to represent all of unsaved humanity throughout the Church Age and culminating at the height of their rebellion at the very end of time. This is what Revelation speaks of in the twelfth chapter.
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” Revelation 12:17.
STRONG AND WITHOUT NUMBER
God tells us that a nation is come upon my land, strong and
without number. These are the
descriptions and characteristics of those nations that sought to destroy
Judges 6:4-6 -
4 - And they
encamped against them, and
destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto
<The Midian oppression of ancient
5 - For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.
<Again God
uses the analogy of grasshoppers to
portray the vast numbers of those who battled against
6 - And
_________________
TEETH
“…Whose teeth are the teeth of a lion…”
All those (the nation) that comes against God’s “land” (God’s elect; Christ’s bride) is viewed in scripture allegorically as having teeth, even teeth of a lion.
“There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men,” (Proverbs 30:14).
<The poor and the needy are terms used in sections of scripture to denote Christians. An in-depth study of the New Testament “poor” would be required to present this idea adequately. As for now, a few examples are as follows:
Psalms 40:17 - But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
Psalms 70:5 - But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.
Psalms 72:13 - He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.
Psalms 74:21 - O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
Psalms 82:4 - Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.>
Joel 1:6 speaks of this invading army as having teeth of a lion. Scripture utilizes this symbolical term “teeth” to emphasis the point of devouring. Of course this is in the non-physical sense of devouring. We see this spiritual devouring being accomplished today throughout the organized churches. Basic Christian doctrines are without doubt being devoured right and left within the worldwide corporate churches.
The latter day plagues of Revelation chapter nine have much to say concerning invading locusts (false doctrines; false prophets, ministers, teachers, elders, deacons, laypeople, etc.) These unchristian hordes are given numerous symbolical descriptions, one of which is as follows:
“And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions,” Revelation 9:8.
And what does Joel 1:6 reveal?
“For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion,” Joel 1:6.
We see now that Old Testament terminology is ultimately fulfilled in a spiritual way. These aren’t literal locusts in the latter days, nor were they literal (in all probability) during the historical period that Joel speaks of. No doubt Joel’s vision was ultimately targeted for the latter years of the Church Age. Again, this is not to say that the occurrence did not transpire in Old Testament days; it surely must have, but the final teaching for us today is in the higher spiritual understanding of the Book of Joel.
False Christians or enemies of God are described in various ways throughout scripture. Their sharp teeth is one symbolical characteristic.
Job 4:7-10 -
7 - ¶Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
8 - Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
9 - By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
10 - The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
<This appears to be strong biblical evidence to support the idea that false Christians or non-believers are indeed seen by God as lions with sharp teeth. Their teeth are used allegorically to denote the devouring of Christ’s Gospel. In much the same fashion locusts are used to denote the eating away of God’s Word - His vineyard. But why a lion, we may wonder? The lion is the most ferocious of wild beasts and therefore is singled out in certain sections of scripture as typifying those who would ravish the Gospel of Christ.>
“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof,” Ezekiel 22:25.
“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority,” Revelation 13:2.
TIMOTHY USED AN ALLEGORICAL TERM
In studying the biblical term “lion” as it is used in association with those who oppose the Gospel of Christ, we have a most eye-opening account in the fourth chapter of II Timothy.
II Timothy 4:14-18 -
14 - Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
<Clearly the evil that Alexander the coppersmith did was evil involving the words of the Gospel. We know this for a fact since Timothy states in the following verse that Alexander “greatly withstood [opposed or resisted] our words.”>
15 - Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
<The words that Timothy is concerned with are of course the words of Christ. Alexander greatly withstood those words.>
16 - ¶At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
17 - Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
<Was Timothy literally delivered out of the mouth of a living and breathing lion? No. Once again this “lion’s mouth” is a term that God is using to denote those who preach contrary to the Word of Christ. Timothy stood opposed by many as he ministered. For some reason, of which we do not know the circumstances, Alexander the coppersmith is singled out by Timothy as having done him much harm in the Gospel. Alexander was more than likely an outspoken critic of the Gospel who might have attracted a large crowd to oppose Timothy and his preaching of Christ. The interesting aspect to this incident is that Timothy refers to his overcoming the verbal opposition of the Gospel by Alexander the coppersmith as having been “delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” How remarkable is that? We shouldn’t be surprised that Timothy used Old Testament terminology to symbolize those who oppose Christ. In this case he used the term “lion’s mouth.”>
18 -And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
_________________
One final footnote to this account: In the story of Daniel in the Lion’s den, we must interpret it in accordance to how it is written. We must not dismiss that account as symbolic in nature simply because there was a lion involved. The story of Daniel and the lion’s den was an actual occurrence in the physical realm with much heavenly meaning involved.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” (1 Peter 5:8)
END OF STUDY