NOTES for Joe 3:12-21

Many prophets reminded God’s people of the Judgment, and Joel is no exception here. But each of them spoke of it in his own way, from the point of view from which God allowed him to see this event. For Joel, the Judgment is at the center as an eschatological point, a point at which there is a break in history and the ordinary course of events is interrupted. God, who previously seemed hidden behind its veil, becomes visible and inaugurates the Kingdom of God, which in fact presupposes that He will no longer hide and that His presence will henceforth determine the course of things directly and immediately. For a human being, this moment becomes the moment of Judgment. Not because God no longer wants to wait and calls the person to account, but because an encounter with God face to face is always a Judgment for a human being. Yet this Judgment is special, the final one. Before, while history had not ended, one could still hope that God, as a merciful Judge, would give a person another chance, an opportunity to begin everything anew and make one more attempt. Now no time remains for new attempts. This is not because God no longer wants to wait, but because, evidently, there is no longer anything to wait for: everyone has already made his final choice. The time has come to reap the fruits of that choice.