John Calvin Commentary Joel 3:16

"And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Jehovah will be a refuge unto his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel." — Joel 3:16 (ASV)

The Prophet explains here more clearly his objective, or the purpose for which he had previously spoken of God’s judgment; for what we have heard served only to spread terror: but now the Prophet shows that his purpose was to console the faithful and to give some relief to their troubles and sorrows.

This is the reason why he introduces God as roaring from Zion and crying from Jerusalem. Roaring is ascribed to God, since he compares himself in another place to a lion, when representing himself as the faithful protector of the salvation of his people: “I will be,” he says, “like the lion, who does not allow the prey to be taken from him, but boldly defends it with all the fierceness he possesses; so also will I do, I will not allow my people to be taken from me.” It is in this sense that the Prophet now says that God will roar from Zion.

God had been despised for a time; for the nations had prevailed against his chosen people and plundered them at their pleasure, and God then did not exercise his power. Since God had been silent for a time, the Prophet now says that he will not always conceal himself but will undertake the defense of his people and be like a lion; for he will rise up in dreadful violence against all his enemies.

And tremble, he says, shall the heaven and the earth. Since almost the whole world was opposed to his elect people, the Prophet carefully dwells on this point, so that nothing might hinder the faithful from looking for the redemption promised to them: “Though the heaven and the earth,” he says, “raise oppositions, God will yet prevail by his wonderful power. Tremble, he says, shall all the elements; what, then, will men do? Though they muster all their forces and try all means, can they close up the way against the Lord, so that he cannot deliver his people?” We now understand the Prophet’s design in speaking of the shaking of heaven and earth.

He at last adds, God will be a hope to his people, and strength to the children of Israel. In this part he gives a sufficient proof of what I have stated—that he denounces extreme vengeance on the nations for the sake of his Church; for the Lord will finally pity his people, though they may seem to have perished before he helps them.

However past hope the people may then be in their own estimation and in that of all others, yet God will again raise up the expectation of all the godly who will remain, and will inspire them with new courage. He speaks in general of the children of Israel; but what he says belongs only to the remnant, of which the Prophet had recently spoken; for not all, we know, who are descended from the fathers according to the flesh, were true Israelites. The Prophet refers here to the true Church; and therefore Israel should be understood as the genuine and legitimate children of Abraham, as Christ, in reference to Nathanael, calls those true Israelites who imitated the faith of their father Abraham.

I will finish this Prophet today; I therefore do not dwell at length on every sentence.