The United States
 in
Joel

by the late
C.   O.   S t a d s k l e v
Written about 1959

Joel 1 - Time Indicators

The book of Joel starts by revealing that this is a prophecy of “The word of the LORD that came to Joel....” To begin with, let us hook at some time indicators, which point out the time when this prophecy was to be fulfilled. Let us also note some characteristics of the people Joel foresaw in his prophetic revelation.

In verse 2 we read: “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?” Joel indicates that what he sees in his vision from God is something different, something that has not been in the days of the fathers nor in his time.

Verse 3: “Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.”

This verse definitely suggests a long-range prophecy, one which would not have an immediate fulfillment but would be fulfilled many generations hence. And here we are today in the generation when Joel’s prophecy is being fulfilled!

In verse 5 of this first chapter, Joel foresees something very interesting: “Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine... Can you imagine a prophet envisioning the United States of America today without noticing the drunkenness in our nation? One of the first things he sees as he beholds this land is the preponderance of drunkards and drinkers of intoxicating liquor. This really needs no further comment.

Verse 6 prophesies: “For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion....” In other words, Joel foresees the threat of World Communism; he sees the subversives swarming over our nation infiltrating every department.

He continues to describe this condition in the following verses (7 through 13) and gives in symbolic language what it has done and what it is doing to our hand.

Verses 14 and 15 bring out another time indicator: “Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD....” Here is a call to a nation of Christendom to pray to their God for intervention, deliverance and help. None other than a nation of Christendom could be addressed in this manner.

“Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” This prophecy is to be fulfilled in the day of the Lord. Every student of Bible prophecy knows we are now in the day of the Lord.

Some people imagine this “destruction from the Almighty” will come upon the good people, but let me reassure you it is to be a destruction of the wicked — the anti-Christ forces.

 Joel 2

The Threat Against The U.S.

As I mentioned earlier, this prophecy deals almost exclusively with our nation, the great Zion nation that was to arise in the last days. The second chapter opens this way:

Verse I: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. . . .“ The trumpet symbolizes trouble and danger, the gathering and the building up of military forces. The prophet Joel calls to the civil leaders of this nation to alert and prepare the people.

The words “holy mountain” or “holy nation” do not mean a nation that is sinless any more than the phrase “holy men of old” signifies that these men were sinless. One would not say that Solomon and David were sinless, yet they were called “holy” because they were set aside, used and blessed of God. This great nation, the United States of America (symbolized here by a mountain), is spoken of as being holy because it, too, has been set aside, blessed, favored and used of God.

"...let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand. . . .” The threat that Joel foresees is one which involves all the people. It is not merely a conflict of one army against another affecting merely the military forces. All the inhabitants of the hand are involved. This verse also gives the time indicator: “the day of the LORD.” This term identifies the particular period in which we live, the closing of the church age and the ushering in of the kingdom age. Some prophets call it the “great and dreadful day of the Lord” while others simply call it “the day of the Lord.”

Verse 2: “A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness... .“ We have here phrases which indicate Joel actually foresaw the tremendous, literal clouds which have been created by atomic and nuclear explosions. He also saw the gloominess and fear of the people.

Verse 3 speaks again of the threat of World Communism: “A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.”

The prophet foresaw the desolation, the terrible destruction, bondage and misery that would follow the spread of World Communism. All one need do is to remember (compare) East and West Germany, the first a wilderness in every sense of the word —literally, spiritually and physically.

Note what is described in verse 4: “The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.” Joel does not say these men mount horses — he says they look hike they are running to mount horses.

In verse 5 he tells us they crawl into chariots which fly or heap on the tops of the mountains. In other words, Joel saw men running to their planes, crawling into the cockpits and then describes these planes as leaping over the mountains.

He even heard the noise. He says the noise is “like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.”

Joel, of course, had never heard the roar of a plane, but in his vision and revelation from God concerning our nation and the threat of World Communism, he actually heard the noise. He calls it the noise of a stubble fire, with which he was familiar.

Verse 6: “Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.”

We are constantly hearing the warning that a nuclear war means total warfare, involving not only the military forces of the nation but all of the people. Joel foresaw this threat of a great air armada coming to attack the entire nation.

In verses 7, 8, 9 and 10 he again tells of the infiltration of the satanic, anti-Christ Communistic forces, but beginning in verse 11 through the balance of the chapter he relates how God will intervene and deliver this great Kingdom nation, the United States of America.*

 Joel 2— Israel’s* Turning
Divine Intervention
Deliverance And Restoration

(*Pastor Stadsklev teaches that America is the Israel of Joel's book,
not Israeli in Palestine.)

Joel 2:11: “And the lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” Although the armies of the Anglo-Saxon or Israel people are spoken of as the armies of the Lord throughout Scripture, God’s armies are not limited to men; God also has angels, a heavenly army. This may be what is referred to in verse 11.

To my mind the most important verse in the entire book of Joel is verse 12 of this chapter. Here we are given the reason from God’s viewpoint for all that threatens and afflicts us from the Communists and the hordes of heathendom and from all the subversive and anti-Christ forces within our land. The Almighty is allowing these tremendous troubles for just one reason. Would to God His people would understand His hand and purpose and see His working.

Verse 12: “Therefore (in other words, because of all that we find in chapter 1 and 2 up to verse 12) also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning... .“ Who is to turn and repent? the good people, the conservatives, the rightists, the fundamentalists and the full-gospel people. God insists these people must turn to the Word of God for this nation in this hour. The only way to turn to God is to turn to His Word, and today we must do more than turn to Christ for personal salvation. We must honor the national message of the Scriptures and turn to God’s will and ways for the nation. God will compel us to do this.

What will happen when we do?”... for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.” Someone may ask why God allows distress to be poured upon our nation and other nations of Christendom if He is gracious and merciful and of great kindness. Why has He allowed World War I, World War II, the great depression, Korea, Vietnam?

The answer (and the cure) is simply this: “Therefore also now. . . turn ye even to me.” God will turn the Communists (our enemies) upside down and inside out forever when we do what He desires and decrees that we shall do. We will turn to Him — that is turn to the gospel of the kingdom, for the kingdom age is moving in upon us.

Still another call is addressed to the Zion nation (the U.S.A.) in verses 15 through 17: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly... .” These are the very same words that opened the second chapter. However, while verse I is addressed to the civil authorities, these three verses are addressed to the religious leaders, to the church. Many of our civil and political headers have done a much better job of alerting, informing and warning the citizens of the threat of World Communism than have the clergymen.

Verses 15-17 very clearly describe this Zion nation as one that has congregations, elders, priests, ministers and altars — in other words, a Christian nation (not a nation of Christians). And the people are told what to pray for in verse 17: “Spare thy people.” Spare the United States of America from what? “Spare thy people, 0 LORD, and give not thine heritage (the Israel people) to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them...”

The whole program and goal of World Communism (whether the work is done through the United Nations or other avenues) is to subjugate, subvert, undermine and rule over the United States of America. The Lord through the prophet Joel calls upon Zion to gather the people in their churches to pray and turn to the Word of God.

Verse 18 is very comforting because it states, “Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.” When we do what? When we do as we are told in verse 12 — turn to the Word of God for the nation. And I repeat, the only way the nation can turn to God is to turn to the national message of the Bible. It is one thing for an individual to turn to the Lord for personal salvation. It is something else for a nation to turn. All that God asks us to do, indeed all we can do, is to turn and receive the Gospel of the Kingdom. As a nation we can do no more about our national sins of the past than individuals can do about personal sins of the past. All God demands of us as individuals is to turn to Him for mercy and forgiveness, and that is all He asks of us as a nation.

Verses 19 and 20 contain one of the most fascinating revelations of all Bible prophecies. They state that God will intervene and destroy the great heathen horde mustered by World Communism to come with their all-out attack against the United States of America. He will destroy them and wipe them off the face of the earth.

Our enemies are busy disarming us now, but according to Bible prophecy they will be led (in the providence of God) to move against us. God’s purpose in it is very similar to His purpose in hardening Pharaoh’s heart and causing him to attack our forefathers at the Red Sea. That event was the greatest demonstration up to that time of God’s power, dominion and faithfulness. God used it as an example throughout history. As we come to the end of this age, we will have an experience similar to that of the Israelites at the Red Sea but on a much larger scale. (Isaiah 10:26 .... after the manner of Egypt”) The Israelites were helpless and hopeless then, but there was Divine intervention.

Note verse 20 of Joel 2: “But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost (or the western) sea....” The prophet Joel in his vision of our day saw a great air armada coming between the east and the western seas (the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans) and down over the barren, desolate, waste lands of the Canadian Rockies and -Alaska. According to the prophecy of Ezekiel 38 and 39 this is the location where they will actually and literally be brought down. God promises to meet them, rout them and defeat them using the elements.

Verse 21: “Fear not, 0 land; be glad and rejoice; for the LORD will do great things.” This is addressed to our land, the United States of America, this great Zion nation. This will be the greatest Divine intervention in all human history, a demonstration of God’s power that will frighten and turn the whole heathen world. It will mark the ushering in of the kingdom age.

Verse 22: “Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, -for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.” This verse seems to be the answer in Bible prophecy to the scare propagandists who insist that nuclear warfare will be the result if we arm and make a stand against World Communism. And if there is nuclear warfare they insist it will mean the destruction of pasture lands and vegetation — that all life will be destroyed. However, this is not true; it is not in the purpose of God.

Verse 23 (still speaking to the people of the United States): “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God:” If we were going to be subjugated, annihilated and enslaved, there would be little to be glad about. But we are not going to be subjugated; we are not going to be overcome and overwhelmed. We will be punished and frightened; we will be made to stand helpless and hopeless; and we will be placed in a position where we as a nation must pray. When we pray and turn to the Word of God then God will undertake.

One cannot rejoice today over what the politicians or the clergy are doing; but one can be glad and rejoice if he knows the Gospel of the Kingdom, if he believes that the United States is Zion and sees God’s promises and purposes for Zion.

"... for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” In other words, Joel addresses himself to a nation that has been greatly blessed, since rain symbolizes the blessing and favor of God. Again, this nation is the only one that fits this prophecy. God’s blessings in the realm of the material and physical, as well as the spiritual, have been ours to a greater degree than any other nation in all history.

And this is just the beginning. God is going to give this the latter rain, the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit that any nation or generation has ever experienced.

The promises continue in verse 24: “And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.” This country already has this abundance in a great measure and it will increase progressively; it will not come in the twinkling of an eye. Christ comes in the twinkling of an eye, but the kingdom comes over a period of time. (Mark 4- 26-29)

Verse 25 contains another very interesting prophecy: “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” If we are to see the meaning and significance of this scripture, we must refer to what we find in the first chapter, verse 4. For while great beasts (such as the lion, the leopard and the bear) symbolize great heathen monarchies and heathen systems of government, locusts, cankerworms, caterpillars and palmerworms symbolize the bureaucrats, the commissars with whom we are afflicted in this nation. We are troubled with appointed people who take over the authority and responsibility of our elected representatives.

They have taxed us and taxed us. Just like worms, they work in the dark behind the scenes, and they undermine and weaken the nation. However, their work comes to a sudden end, and God promises He will make restoration. I believe the restoration will take place when we adopt and institute a scriptural medium of exchange which pays money into circulation at the bottom, interest-free and debt-free. Our citizens will have returned to them that which the bureaucrats have taken away through their debt money system. They have taken our sons, our money, our wealth and our resources; and they have built up Communism and Socialism all over the world. There has been little we could do about it. Not until we turn to the Word of God and accept, preach, teach and conform to the Gospel of the Kingdom will we have the Lord’s deliverance, intervention and restoration.

Verse 26: “And ye shall eat in plenty (this has already begun in a measure), and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.” This is addressed to our great Zion nation; and this glorious, marvelous prophecy will be fulfilled and realized when we do the one thing we have repeatedly referred to in verse 12 —when we turn unto the Word of the Lord for our nation and for our time.

In verse 27 we read: “And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God ...” God is in the midst of the United States of America by His Spirit, His blessing and His inspiration more than in any other nation in all history. But in the great final crisis, we will all know that our deliverance and our protection come from the Almighty. We will all realize then that God’s hand and purpose is in the United States and that this country is literally the beginning of the restitution spoken of by the prophets, the beginning of the new order that will develop into the kingdom of God on earth.

Verse 28: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy...”

Those who insist that all light has been given years ago are mistaken because God’s revelations are progressive. This does not mean we depart from the fundamentals of the Christian faith — it means that more light and truth is revealed as we come closer to the end of the age. This is prophesied in Daniel, and throughout the Scripture.

“...your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:” This prophecy is already being fulfilled. Some limit this promise to spiritual dreams and spiritual visions, but I believe that some of the almost human machines that God in His mercy and His kind providence has allowed men to discover, devise and manufacture come from the quickening of God’s Spirit upon the minds of these men. Our nation is full of new things — they are coming in as a flood upon us in this particular generation. The reason is that we have come to the end of the church age and to the beginning of the kingdom age when the curse of heavy toil is to be lifted, bringing leisure and abundance. Some of the inventors are not born-again, but the Spirit of God uses them in whatever way He sees fit as He has used people all through history.

Verse 30: “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.” Joel undoubtedly foresaw (as we mentioned earlier in connection with verse 2) some of the atomic and nuclear explosions; he saw the clouds; he saw the bloodshed of World War I, World War II and of today.

In verse 31 he again gives the time indicator: “the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”

Verse 32: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD bath said...”

Mount Zion is the United States of America -- but you ask, what about Jerusalem? When we come to the word “Jerusalem” we must always ask ourselves if it is the old Jerusalem or the new Jerusalem that is referred to. The Bible speaks of the new Jerusalem and it also speaks of the daughter of Jerusalem. The daughter and the mother are not the same and neither are the new and the old. Our great nation is the new Jerusalem, the nation that the Apostle John saw coming down from heaven, the same being built upon the Old and the New Scriptures. (When you read the book of the Revelation remember it is written in symbols.)

Who built this United States of America? none other than the descendants of ten-tribed Israel who came from Europe. How did they build it? They built it upon the writings of the prophets and the apostles. The United States, then, is Mount Zion; it is the daughter of Zion, the daughter of Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem. All of these terms refer to our nation.

Will our land be destroyed, taken over, annihilated and subjugated? No, we will be so harassed and find ourselves in so much difficulty and distress that we will be forced to turn to the Word of God. We are the same Israel people today as the days of the Old Scripture, and when things got bad enough the Israel people turned to the national message of God’s Word. They turned to the Gospel of the Kingdom, and when they did, God intervened and delivered them. Peace and prosperity, tranquility and security then came to the nation. 

Two Great Camps

 Let us now turn to Joel 3:9 which states: “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up ....” Immediately one recognizes that this describes what the Communists and anti-Christ forces are doing all over the world: they are stirring up hatred and animosity against one particular nation, the United States of America. Communism is inspired by Satan, and Satan certainly knows by this time the identity and the significance of our nation. Consequently there is a Satanic hatred against us.

Verse 10: “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.” Small, weak heathen nations hate and defy our great nation. There are also many Satanic forces within our nation binding, sabotaging and hindering our effort. However, there is comfort and hope in the following words from the Almighty, as He speaks through the prophet Joel.

In verse 11 we read: “Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down ....” In other words, he prays for Divine intervention.

Verse 12: “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.” The valley of Jehoshaphat is not the name of a geographical location but the description of a world condition. It simply means a valley of judgment and a valley of deliverance, judgment upon the heathen and upon Communism but deliverance for the nations of Israel or Anglo-Saxondom.

Verse 13: “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: (You will remember that Jesus said the harvest is the end of the age.) come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.”

This nation has plenty of wickedness so far as individual sins are concerned, but the wickedness of Communism and heathendom far exceeds the national evil in our nation.

Verse 14: “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.”
Two great multitudes are mentioned here; one multitude on the side of freedom, righteousness and liberty and the other multitude on the side of Communism and heathendom. Both are in the valley of decision. As we go into the day of the Lord, the Almighty will decide who will win this war and who will take over the world — Communism or Christianity. Thank God, Christianity will be victorious.

Verse 15: “The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their singing.”

Verse 16: “The LORD also shall roar out of Zion....” In symbolic language this means that in this great Zion nation the Almighty will demonstrate Himself as King and Lord over all the earth. Indications are, too, that the Lord will actually speak in an audible voice to His kingdom people in this end time.

"and utter his voice from Jerusalem ...” What happens in the old Jerusalem after Christ comes is one thing; what happens here in the United States of America (the new Jerusalem) before the revelation of Christ is something else.

"...and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.”

Please note the contrast here: God's judgment is poured upon the people of Communism and heathendom but His Holy spirit and intervention comes to the people of Christendom, especially this great Zion nation.

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