Albert Barnes Commentary Joel 3:21

"And I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed: for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion." — Joel 3:21 (ASV)

For I will cleanse her blood that I have not cleansed. The word rendered “cleansed” is not used of natural cleansing, nor is the image taken from the cleansing of the body. The word signifies only to pronounce innocent, or to free from guilt. Nor is “blood” used of sinfulness generally, but only of the actual guilt of shedding blood.

The whole then cannot be an image taken from the cleansing of physical defilement, like the words in the prophet Ezekiel, then I washed you with water; indeed, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you (Ezekiel 16:9). Nor again can it mean the forgiveness of sins generally, but only the pronouncing innocent the blood which had been shed. This, the only meaning of the words, corresponds with the mention of the “innocent blood,” for shedding which Egypt and Edom had been condemned. The words are the same. There it was said, because they have shed innocent blood; dam naki; here, I will pronounce innocent their blood, nikkethi damam. It is not said “How.” But the sentence on Egypt and Edom explains how God would do it: by punishing those who shed it.

For because He punishes the shedding of it, He declared the “blood” innocent, whose shedding He punished. So in Revelation it is said, I saw under the altar the souls of those who were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? (Revelation 6:10–11).

: “Then, at the last judgment, when the truth in all things will be made manifest, He will “declare the blood” of His people, who clung to Him and His truth—which blood their enemies thought they had shed justly and deservedly as the blood of guilty persons—to have indeed been innocent, by absolving them from eternal destruction to which He will then adjudge their enemies for shedding it.”

For (literally “and”) the Lord dwells in Zion. He closes with the promise of God’s abiding dwelling. He speaks, not simply of a future, but of an ever-abiding present. He who is, the unchangeable God, “the Lord, infinite in power and of eternal Being, who gives necessary being to all His purposes and promises,” dwells now in Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 3:12; Revelation 14:1; Revelation 21:2, 21:10), now by grace and the presence of His Holy Spirit, hereafter in glory. Of both the Church militant on earth and the Church triumphant in heaven, it is truly to be said that the Lord dwells in them, and that, perpetually.

Of the Church on earth will be verified what our Savior Christ says, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world (Matthew 28:20); and of its members Paul says, that “they” are of the household of God, an holy temple in the Lord, in whom they are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19, 21-22). Of the Church triumphant, there is no doubt that “He” does and will dwell there, and manifest His glorious presence forever, in whose presence is the fullness of joy, and at His Right Hand there are pleasures for evermore (Psalms 16:11).

It is an eternal dwelling of the Eternal, varied as to the way and degree of His presence by our condition—now imperfect, there perfected in Him—but He Himself dwells on forever. He, the Unchangeable, dwells unchangeably; the Eternal, eternally.

: “Glorious things are spoken of you, you city of God (Psalms 87:3). Jerusalem, our mother, we your children now groan and weep in this valley of tears, hanging between hope and fear, and, amid toil and conflicts, “lifting up our eyes” to you and greeting you from far. Truly glorious things are spoken of you. But whatever can be said, since it is said to people and in the words of people, is too little for the “good things” in you, which neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Great to us seem the things which we suffer; but one of your most illustrious citizens, placed amid those sufferings, who knew something of you, hesitated not to say, Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). We will then “rejoice in hope,” and by the waters of Babylon, even while we sit and weep, we will remember you, O Zion. If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy (Psalms 137:1, 5-6).

O blessed longed-for day, when we will enter into the city of the saints, whose light is the Lamb (Revelation 21:23), where the King is seen in His beauty (Isaiah 33:17), where all tears are wiped away from the eyes of the saints, and there will be no more death neither sorrow nor pain, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4). How amiable are Your tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longeth, yes, fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God (Psalms 84:1–2). When will I come and appear before God? (Psalms 42:2). When will I see that Father, whom I ever long for and never see, to whom out of this exile, I cry out, Our Father, which art in heaven? O true Father, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 15:6, etc.), Father of mercies and God of all comfort! (2 Corinthians 1:3).

When will I see the Word, who was in the beginning with God, and who is God? (John 1:1). When may I kiss His sacred Feet, pierced for me, put my mouth to His sacred Side, sit at His Feet, never to depart from them? O Face, more Glorious than the sun! Blessed is he who beholds You, who has never ceased to say, I shall see Him, but not now; I shall behold Him, but not near (Numbers 24:17). When will the day come when, cleansed from the defilement of my sins, I will, with unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18), and see the sanctifying Spirit, the Author of all good, through whose sanctifying we are cleansed, that we may be like Him, and see Him as He is? (1 John 3:2). Blessed are all those who dwell in Your house, O Lord, they shall ever praise You (Psalms 84:4); forever will they behold You and love You.”