Chapter 23 – JOEL

Swarming insects can be among the most devastating natural forces on Earth. A flying army of locusts can be as thick as a thundercloud—darkening the sky as they descend upon a ripened field—reducing it to mere stubble in a matter of minutes. In ancient times, and even today, the locust plague is the farmer’s most dreaded natural phenomenon.

The prophecy of Joel foretells that this irresistible military force, like locust swarms, will sweep the globe, bringing devastation to the entire earth! That is no ordinary insect infestation!

The horrific, unstoppable, insect-like assault is a precursor to the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah and initiates the beginning of judgment day for the house of God. What, then, does this peculiar insect plague signify?

Even a casual reading should impress upon the reader that the prophecy of Joel presages a visitation of a unique and horrific catastrophe upon the world, and in particular, how that calamity will impact those who are recognized by Jehovah as his people.

Couched in symbolic language, the book of Joel sets forth that the symbolic insect invasion is a disaster for Jehovah’s people. That is why the opening words of the prophecy are addressed to the elders, and Jehovah calls the afflicted land “my land, my vine, my fig tree”—stating at Joel 1:6-7: “For a nation has come up into my land, mighty and without number. Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its jaws are those of a lion. It has devastated my vine and turned my fig tree into a stump, stripping them completely bare and tossing them aside, leaving their twigs white.”

Unquestionably, the object of the devastation is God’s own possession.

At Joel 1:13-14, God addresses himself to the leading older men and priests who are ministering at the altar in the house of Jehovah, saying to them: “Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come in and spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God; for grain offering and drink offering have been withheld from the house of your God. Proclaim a fast; call for a solemn assembly. Gather the elders together, with all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to Jehovah for help.”

Contrary to the Watchtower’s interpretation, the prophecy of Joel does not indicate that the priests and ministers merely claim to be the priests and ministers of Jehovah. Joel prophesies from the standpoint that such men are actually the authentic priests officiating at “the house of Jehovah your God.” That is why the prophet addresses them as “you ministers of my God.”

As mentioned in the Preface, since the Watchtower has finally abandoned its teaching that the locusts represent the ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the refutation of their folly has been omitted in this edition, save to say that the reason they finally gave it up was said to be because God promises to make recompense for the damages caused by the invaders. Joel 2:25 states: “And I will make compensation to you for the years that the swarming locust, the unwinged locust, the voracious locust, and the devouring locust have eaten, my great army that I sent among you.” Since Jehovah intervenes in the crisis and undoes the damage inflicted by the devouring army, it should be obvious that the invading hordes are enemies of God and his people and do not symbolize an army of peaceful ministers.

WAKE UP, YOU DRUNKARDS, WEEP AND HOWL!

The fact that the Watchtower has no insight into Joel and has now utterly disregarded the message—assigning its sole application to antiquity, these words of God are addressed specifically to them at the moment the invasion begins: “Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine drinkers, because the sweet wine has been taken from your mouths.”

Elsewhere in prophecy, Jehovah describes his leading men—the priests and prophets—as drunkards. No, it is not that they over-indulge in wine or liquor—they are spiritually drunk. In what sense?

Knowledge and power can have an intoxicating effect on an individual. The apostle Paul condemned the “cocksureness peculiar to boasting” that afflicted some of the Corinthian Christians, and he also warned that the acquisition of knowledge could cause one to become puffed up with self-importance. Just as an intoxicated person lacks clear reasoning ability and good judgment and often is even unaware of his impairment, frequently with disastrous consequences, apparently that is also the case with the leadership of God’s organization at the time of his inspection.

Due to their unwarranted confidence in the permanence and righteousness of the organization and their positions within it, they lack discernment of God’s judgments.

Like many prophecies in the Bible, Joel’s pronouncement is like a message in a time capsule. It is intended to serve as a rousing wake-up call for Jehovah’s ministers, to be issued at a crucial juncture—during an unanticipated global calamity. It is a final appeal to spiritual sobriety and repentance from a merciful God.

Hence, we read at Joel 2:12-13 these words: “‘Yet even now,’ declares Jehovah, ‘return to me with all your hearts, with fasting and weeping and wailing. Rip apart your hearts, and not your garments, and return to Jehovah your God, for he is compassionate and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in loyal love, and he will reconsider the calamity.’”

Clearly, God is making an impassioned plea to those whom he recognizes as formerly serving him acceptably, but who, for whatever reason, have become estranged from their God. Obviously, that is why God implores his people to “come back to Jehovah your God.”

Also, the prophecy refers to the “ministers of Jehovah” and the nation under siege as Jehovah’s “inheritance”? For instance, Joel 2:17 reads: “Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep and say: ‘Do feel pity, O Jehovah, for your people; do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, letting the nations rule over them. Why should the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’ Then Jehovah will be zealous for his land and show compassion on his people.”

What is the setting during which “Jehovah will be zealous for his land and show compassion on his people”? The circumstances that move God to act on behalf of his people are a result of the sorry state to which God’s people are reduced as a result of the invasion of the great military force, when nations rule over them. According to Paul’s writings, the house of God is the organization composed of anointed Christians. The mourning priests in the prophecy of Joel, called the “ministers of Jehovah,” must, therefore, picture the individual members of those anointed who are called to be priests. Just as the literal priests in the temple offered regular grain and drink offerings, so too the Bible symbolizes the spiritual offerings of anointed Christians as priestly sacrifices in the sanctuary of God.

Joel harmonizes with Daniel’s prophecy, which depicts a fierce-looking king trampling God’s spiritual sanctuary and causing the “constant feature” of sacrifice to cease for a time. In harmony with Isaiah, Daniel, and numerous other prophecies, Joel foretells that the congregation of Christ will be laid low during a time of unprecedented global calamity.

“MINISTERS OF JEHOVAH ARE IN MOURNING”

It is the spiritual offerings within the house of God that are due to be eaten up, as it were, by the insect infestation. Joel 1:9-10 reads: “Grain offering and drink offering have ceased from the house of Jehovah; the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, are in mourning. The field has been devastated, the ground mourns; for the grain has been devastated, the new wine has dried up, the oil has failed.”

Verse 11 continues: “Farmers are dismayed, vinedressers wail, because of the wheat and the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.”

Just whom might these “farmers” and “vinedressers” symbolize? Isaiah 61:5 also refers to the farmers and vinedressers in connection with the restored anointed priests of Jehovah and calls them foreigners in relation to spiritual Israel. So, it must be that in relation to the priests of the altar, the farmers and vinedressers represent the non-anointed “other sheep” who serve as publishers and pioneers in the symbolic field of harvest.

To fully grasp the meaning of the prophecy of Joel, the reader must appreciate the importance of the Watchtower Society in the lives of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is unquestionably accepted among all Witnesses that the Watchtower has provided a reliable prophetic outline of yet-to-occur events. It is simply out of the question that the future could unfold in any significant way other than as envisioned by the organization’s oracles. Among other things, Jehovah’s Witnesses commonly believe that the Watchtower will always serve as an unfailing beacon of spiritual light until the end.

Buttressing that assumption is the fact that the Watchtower Society has weathered many storms in the past. In fact, the Watchtower Magazine has been continuously published since 1879. It has never missed a single issue. That is remarkable, considering all the hardships the Watchtower Society has endured, particularly the difficulties brought about by the First World War, the internal upheaval following the sudden death of the Watchtower’s Founder in 1916, and the false imprisonment of the Watchtower’s leading officers in 1918. The Watchtower was continuously printed even during the scarcities of the Great Depression and through the persecutions and bannings during the Second World War.

All of Jehovah’s Witnesses have come to depend upon Watchtower literature as the backbone of the public ministry, as well as the primary means of providing instruction in the congregations. Obviously, there is no provision in their prophetic outlook for Bethel’s many presses to ever fall silent. If such were to happen unexpectedly, it would, without question, be an unparalleled disaster for the organization.

But speaking in the symbolisms of an agrarian culture, Joel 1:15-17 foretells that calamitous developments are destined to befall Christ’s congregation as a result of God’s denunciation: “Woe because of the day! For the day of Jehovah is near, and it will come like a destruction from the Almighty! Has not food been taken from before our very eyes, and rejoicing and joy from the house of our God? The seeds have shriveled under their shovels. Storehouses are desolate. Granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.”

Just as Joel’s prophecy is not foretelling a literal invasion of locusts, neither is it talking about literal food being “cut off before our very eyes.” It is describing the despoiling of spiritual food! That is apparent because the cutting off of food is directly connected to rejoicing and joyfulness ceasing at “the house of our God.”

No wonder, then, that Joel’s prophecy goes on to say: “Even the livestock groan! The herds of cattle wander in confusion, for they have no pasture! And the flocks of sheep bear the punishment.”

Plainly, Joel is not foretelling that literal cattle and sheep are going to become confused because of the despoiling of the Almighty. In many places in Scripture, God’s congregated people are likened to a flock of sheep or cattle. What causes God’s people to wander in confusion? As Joel 1:16 foretells, it is because food is cut off from the house of God—spiritual food that is.

The Watchtower inadvertently predicts the very thing that Joel long ago prophesied would befall Jehovah’s people. Here is what the June 1, 1965, Watchtower had to say regarding itself being the vital channel of Jehovah’s communication:

“This slave class serves as an earthly channel of communication for God’s people, providing them with an understanding of Jehovah’s purposes and giving them direction in the doing of his will. With such direction they are enlightened, strengthened and are united in their worship of the only true and living God. Without this means of communication they would be scattered and lost.”

Essentially, the prophets foretell the very thing the organization only states as a hypothetical possibility: individuals being “scattered and lost” should they ever be cut off from “this means of communication.”

If the Watchtower is the channel of communication to God’s congregation, then the last verse of the first chapter of Joel does not bode well for Jehovah’s channel: “The beasts of the field also keep longing for you, because the channels of water have dried up, and fire itself has devoured the pasture grounds of the wilderness.”

Although the revised version of the NWT uses the word “streams” instead of “channels,” the meaning is the same. There is no other reasonable conclusion that can be drawn except that the prophecy of Joel portends the utter collapse of the house of God. That means that the Watchtower Society is predestined for desolation!

Specifically, Bethel’s massive printing operation will be shuttered in the near future. Its bank holdings will be confiscated.

The Watchtower Society’s function as the source of streams of waters of truth will be reduced to a trickle.

The spiritual food, once so abundant, will become like succulent figs that have withered and shriveled up!

The many printing facilities presently used by the Watchtower will become like storehouses laid desolate.

The thousands of Kingdom Halls throughout the world will resemble granaries that have been torn down because of disuse!

Jehovah’s Witnesses—like domestic cattle that depend upon their human owner for feedstock—will lose their spiritual pasturage and wander about dazed and confused at the unexpected turn of events!

Christ’s droves of sheep will bear the brunt of punishment for the Society’s lack of insight into the vital prophecies that foretell the very catastrophe that will soon cause the complete desolation of that which is known as Jehovah’s visible organization.

The collapse of the Watchtower institution will signal the end of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ field ministry in its present, familiar form. That is because the worldwide preaching work of Jehovah’s Witnesses is entirely dependent upon the constant direction from and regular publications of the Watchtower Society.

Tragically, those many householders who are at that time dependent upon the study aids and continual visits of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as those untold millions who have not yet been contacted, will then be lost—as the prophecy says: “the harvest of the field has perished.”

SUN AND MOON HAVE BECOME DARK

Throughout the prophetic Scriptures, numerous apocalyptic symbols denote terrifying heavenly and earthly phenomena. Joel is no exception. In three different places in Joel, the prophet foretells awe-inspiring, foreboding heavenly phenomena in connection with the day of the locust attack. Accompanying the devouring army, the prophet foretells that the very heavens will be rocked. Joel 2:10 says: “Before them the land trembles and the heavens rock. Sun and moon have become dark, and the stars have lost their brightness.”

Joel 2:30-31 also reads: “And I will give wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awe-inspiring day of Jehovah.”

Joel 3:15-16 similarly says: “Sun and moon will become dark, and the stars will lose their brightness. And Jehovah will roar out of Zion, out of Jerusalem he will raise his voice. And heaven and earth will rock…”

The fact that the passages from Joel use similar apocalyptic phraseology as employed by Jesus in explaining the sign of the conclusion indicates that the prophecy of Joel will also be fulfilled then, concurrent with unprecedented war; no doubt involving the terrifying use of man-made thermonuclear fire, producing the dreaded “columns of smoke” known as mushroom clouds. There should be no doubt that even the limited use of such horrific weapons would send devastating shock waves reverberating around the globe—shaking civilization to its very foundation, or as it is worded in the prophecy—“heaven and earth certainly will rock.”

The sudden eclipse of the heavenly luminaries symbolizes that the present, presumptively permanent, political governments and related institutions will experience a catastrophic upheaval and collapse; no longer standing as beacons of light, hope, and security for mankind. The crash of the present system will be of such a magnitude that it will provoke a reaction on Earth as if the actual luminaries in the sky have been extinguished. Modern civilization will be brought to the brink of annihilation.

The day of the locust attack apparently has to do with the disintegration and overthrow of the present ordering of nations, causing the existing democratic system to give way to a global, absolutist, totalitarian, military dictatorship. That development accompanies the coronation of Christ and the coming of his Kingdom and serves as the means by which the world will be squarely confronted with the issue of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty.

To establish the true interpretation of what is signified by Jehovah’s insect army, it is helpful to note the parallels in the 13th chapter of Isaiah. By comparison, Joel 2:6 describes the effect of Jehovah’s military force upon the world, saying: “Because of them, peoples will be in anguish. Every face will grow flushed.”

Isaiah 13:7-8 reads similarly: “That is why all hands will go limp, and every man’s heart will melt with fear. The people are panic-stricken. They are seized with convulsions and pain, like a woman in labor. They look at one another in horror, with faces inflamed by anguish.”

Both prophecies use the exact same phrase in describing the event as a destruction from the Almighty. Isaiah 13:3-5 records Jehovah’s declaration of war, saying: “I have issued the command to those whom I have appointed. I have summoned my warriors to express my anger, my proudly exultant ones. Listen! A crowd in the mountains; it sounds like a numerous people! Listen! The uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathered together! Jehovah of armies is mustering the army for war. They are coming from a distant land, from the extremity of the heavens, Jehovah and the weapons of his wrath, to bring ruin to all the earth.”

Interestingly, God’s prophetic word also refers to the armies of both of his ancient imperial agents as locusts. For example, Jeremiah 46:23 says of the Chaldeans: “For they have become more numerous than the locust, and they are without number.”

Likewise, Nahum says of the Assyrians: “Even there fire will consume you. A sword will cut you down. It will devour you as the young locusts do. Make yourself as numerous as the young locusts! Yes, make yourself as numerous as the locusts! You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The young locust strips off its skin and flies away. Your guards are like the locust, and your officers like a locust swarm.”

So, it is apparent that the locusts of Joel represent modern imperial forces that Jehovah has purposed to use to wreck the present nation-state system of things and to bring himself into judgment with his people and the world.

THE NORTHERNER I SHALL PUT FAR AWAY FROM YOU

Another interesting interconnection between the prophecies is the fact that Joel 2:20 refers to Jehovah’s invasion force as “the northerner.” That verse reads: “I will drive the northerner far away from you; I will disperse him to a dry and desolate wasteland, with his vanguard toward the eastern sea and his rear guard toward the western sea. The foul smell from him will ascend, the stench from him will keep ascending; for He will do great things.”

It is noteworthy that Jehovah drives the northerner from his people out of his intense love for them. That is why we read in the 18th verse: “Then Jehovah will be zealous for his land and show compassion on his people.”

Just what is “the northerner”?

Students of prophecy likely recognize that every one of the major prophets of God—namely, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, as well as Daniel—all make mention of an avenging king from out of the symbolic north. A common thread woven through all prophecy is that God’s appointed tyrant for wrecking the world is depicted as coming out of the north. For example, Nebuchadnezzar was repeatedly referred to as coming out of the north. Similarly, the prophetic Gog of Magog is said to come from the remotest parts of the north. And, of course, there is the king of the north.

Just as the ancient nations of Assyria and Babylon were punishing agents in the hands of the Almighty, as they swept down upon Israel and the surrounding nations from out of the literal north, there is a modern-day “northerner” that Jehovah is yet to unleash upon an unwary world.

According to the biblical principle that two or three witnesses establish every legal matter, God’s ancient prophets have all foretold the exact same development that is to occur in the finale, namely, that Jehovah’s organization is going to be devastated by a coalition of nations, spoken of as coming from out of the north. Joel is in harmony with the other prophets in foretelling that an unparalleled attack from the symbolic northerner will devastate God’s holy place.

In case there is any doubt, Joel 3:17 confirms that it is Jehovah’s possession that is victimized by the locust attack, and not the other way around. It reads: “And you will have to know that I am Jehovah your God, residing in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will become a holy place, and strangers will pass through her no more.”

Just as the Lord Jesus prophesied that a “disgusting thing” would trample upon God’s holy place for an appointed time, it is evident that the military forces of the northerner are the “strangers” that violate the sanctity of God’s spiritual temple for an unspecified number of years.

The insect swarm symbolizes the agents of the last empire, the eighth king of Revelation, and it will serve as Jehovah’s means to shatter the nations and discipline his people.

The Israelites were frequently harassed, invaded, and even occupied by surrounding nations when they strayed from pure worship. God allowed the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, and others to afflict Israel in order to bring them back to their senses. It is a common theme that runs through the Hebrew Scriptures.

And the six imperial forerunners of the modern Anglo-American alliance, namely Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, each ruled over Israel and Judah in their turn. The Hebrew prophecies and Revelation indicate that the Christian “Israel of God” is also destined to have the same fate before being brought to glory.

But how might modern nations rule over Jehovah’s “Jerusalem” during the finale?

As is well known, during times of war and unrest, even democratic nations that claim to value freedom have persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses. There is no need to recount the Watchtower Society’s well-documented struggle to legally establish the good news. Suffice it to say that the constitutional guarantees inherent in the legal systems of Western nations have served as a protection for Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Even Paul appealed to Caesar. But the question to ponder is this: What would happen to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, legal redress, and other cherished liberties if the present Anglo-American world order were suddenly overturned—what then?

Let none of Jehovah’s Witnesses scoff at the suggestion that America is destined to be overthrown and replaced by a tyrannical world government. It is destined to occur by the very word of Jehovah. The prophecy of Joel foretells that the relatively peaceful and secure world in which we now live will simply be devoured by Jehovah’s rapacious marauders and its freedoms—enshrined in revered documents like the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States of America—will be set a flame and go up in smoke.

The very institutions that presently serve as the foundations of modern civilization will be destroyed. Forebodingly, Joel 2:3 states: “Ahead of it a fire devours, and behind it a flame consumes. The land ahead of it is like the garden of Eden, but behind it is a desolate wilderness, and nothing can escape.”

What is the significance of the fact that the invading armies are said to rush into the city, scaling over every wall and entering into every dwelling like thieves through open windows? Since the last edition of this publication in 2016, we have gained a better understanding of the capabilities of drones, large and small, as well as police- and military-programmed robots. It has been reported that China has built a massive cargo aircraft that can open and release thousands of drones to swarm an entire city. Container ships may serve the same purpose. Drones can be programmed to attack very specific targets, including individuals. Killer robots are no longer science fiction. These virtually unstoppable drones and robots may be the fulfillment of the locusts going over protective walls and through windows.

“FOR MY PEOPLE THEY CAST LOTS”

Eventually, Jehovah’s Witnesses will awaken from the delusion that Babylon the Great has already fallen, as well as the naive notion that the many prophecies that call for God’s people to be persecuted and taken captive to a greater Babylon were fulfilled when J.F. Rutherford and seven other Bethelites were incarcerated in the Atlanta penitentiary for eight months, which is no longer even taught anyway.

The truth that will inevitably confront Jehovah’s Witnesses is that the organization is destined to go into Babylonian captivity in the near future. That is because the religious system known as Babylon the Great will initially survive the take-down of the present economic and political system. And rather than Christendom being destroyed by the eighth king at the beginning of the tribulation, Jehovah’s Witnesses will find themselves under the boot heel of the tyrannical last king and his whorish religious consort during the initial phase of the day of Jehovah. The following scripture is yet to be fulfilled with respect to God’s people: “For my people they cast lots; they would trade a boy to hire a prostitute and sell a girl for wine to drink.” (Joel 3:3)

If that is not the case, then let the Watchtower’s seers coherently interpret the meaning of Joel 3:1-2, which reads: “For look! in those days and in that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,  I will also gather together all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment with them there in behalf of my people and my inheritance Israel, for they scattered them among the nations, and they divided up my land among themselves.”

The persecution and martyrdom of Christ’s followers will then warrant a response from Jehovah. As was the case with Assyria and Babylon, even though Jehovah had authorized those empires to punish Israel and Judah, they were also eventually called to account for having revelled in the destruction and mistreatment of God’s inheritance. And God’s dealings with the ancient nations establish a pattern for the judgment to come.

While the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses has unquestionably brought reproach upon the name of God and will shortly have to pay the price, the evil entities that bring about the execution of Jehovah’s judgments will also be made to render an account before the Almighty.

At Joel 3:4-6 God speaks to the nations at that time, as if saying to them: “Are you repaying me for something? If you are repaying me, I will swiftly, speedily bring your repayment on your heads. Because you have taken my silver and gold, and you have brought my finest treasures into your temples; And the people of Judah and Jerusalem you have sold to the Greeks, in order to remove them far from their territory; here I am rousing them to come from the place where you sold them, and I will bring your repayment on your heads.”

To confirm that the symbolic insect invasion afflicts God’s possession, God declares that the plunderers will have actually taken what belongs to Him, as if looting his silver and gold and special treasures.

By this, we are reminded of the actual plundering of Solomon’s temple by Nebuchadnezzar. All of the temple treasures —no doubt including the sacred golden ark of the covenant—were hauled off to Babylon. And special note is made of the fact that on the very night when the hand of God spelled out the writing on the palace wall, the king of Babylon was banqueting and drinking from the golden goblets his grandfather had looted from Jehovah’s sanctuary.

As regards the prophecy of Joel, the selling off of the residents of “Judah” and “Jerusalem” signifies the complete subjugation of God’s ministers and subsequently the cessation of the worldwide Christian ministry.

Nevertheless, God’s strange deed and unusual work are accomplished. The period of upheaval and the desolation of Jehovah’s holy place will serve as the means by which Christ’s angels will accomplish the concluding harvest—sifting out the faithless and wicked from among those destined to receive salvation.

But while Jehovah breaks down, he also builds up. Jehovah may break a bone, but he also binds up. Jehovah is the Destroyer, but he is also the Savior.

The devastation of God’s earthly organization will prepare the way for God to pour out his blessing upon a chastened remnant of survivors. Joel 2:32 confirms that “those who escape” will receive salvation: “And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, just as Jehovah has said, the survivors whom Jehovah calls.”

Although Joel’s prophecy ostensibly is directed towards Israel, it was not fulfilled at any time in the past. That is apparent from the fact that during previous judgments, the city of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed. Jerusalem and its Mount Zion were not a haven for the survivors—just the opposite. It is evident, then, that Mount Zion and Jerusalem are in reference to heavenly Mount Zion and New Jerusalem—that is to say, the Kingdom of God.

So, while the earthly organization will without doubt be plundered and trampled upon by the nations during the appointed times, just as surely as was ancient Jerusalem and the temple, the spiritual organization, the members of which are citizens of heavenly Jerusalem, cannot by any means be overthrown.

After the fiery purge, the faithful will experience a dousing by the holy spirit, not experienced since the original outpouring of the spirit on the day of Pentecost. The 2nd chapter of Joel foretells that both the anointed (sons and daughters) and non-anointed (male slaves andfelmale slave) will receive the full measure of God’s holy spirit in order to accomplish the final phase of God’s work in the post-Watchtower period of the tribulation.

Joel 2:28-29 foretells: “After that I will pour out my spirit on every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. And even on my male slaves and female slaves I will pour out my spirit in those days.”

However, unlike the day of Pentecost when the holy spirit begot the first sons of the Kingdom, the outpouring upon the sons and daughters during the day of Jehovah does not anoint them. That is because they will have already been anointed.

The ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy concerns the body of Christ being fully accepted into the Kingdom through the final sealing, so that during the world’s darkest period, the chosen ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their heavenly Father. That event will mark the long-anticipated revealing of the sons of God in connection with the manifestation of Christ himself.

The prophesying inspired by that outpouring of spirit will no doubt involve heralding the authentic parousia and the genuine establishment of the Kingdom. No, not in the manner that Jehovah’s Witnesses presently preach, but with spirit and power. The visions they will see will be the first-ever true understanding of the prophetic visions originally recorded in the Bible. Most especially, the vision of the transfiguration will be fulfilled by the visible presence of Christ among the chosen.

But instead of offering the hope of salvation to the nations, Jehovah’s true witnesses will then blow the horn and “shout a war cry.” Instead of exhorting men of the world to beat their swords into plowshares, God commands his witnesses to declare war upon the nations: “Proclaim this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near, let them advance! Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning shears into spears. Let the weak one say: ‘I am powerful.’ Come and help, all you surrounding nations, assemble together!’ To that place, O Jehovah, bring down your powerful ones. ‘Let the nations be roused and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit in order to judge all the surrounding nations.”

“That place” where the nations are assembled for war against God, referred to in Joel as the “Valley of Jehoshaphat,” is in Revelation symbolized by the more familiar name—Armageddon. And those “powerful ones” whom God will bring down from heaven are the armies of angels and the 144,000 holy ones under the command of earth’s new ruler — Jesus Christ.

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