JOEL

Chapter 1

1: We really don't know much of anything about Joel.

2: The residents of Judah were truly living in unprecedented times.

3-4: These verses are talking about locusts in their different stages. This can also be compared, I think, to how much money each level of government today takes from its people in taxes and fees.

5: The locusts had eaten the grape crop.

6-7: Nation here is a metaphor for the locusts.

8: Cry like a virgin whose husband died before their wedding night.

9: There was no vegetation to feed the cattle for meat offerings and of course no new wine going to be produced for drink offerings.

10-13: Hebrew certainly has a different literary structure than English.

14: 2 Chronicles 7 14

15: The ancient Hebrews thought the day of the Lord would mean destruction for their enemies, but here it is shown that it also means the same for the unrighteous among God's own people.

16-20: The world could be facing something similar, if not worse, very soon. Parts of it already are. The solution is the same.

Chapter 2

1-11: See Revelation 19 and Matthew 24.

12: The way to avoid what will take place as described in the previous 11 verses is salvation. Acts 2 38

13: "Rend your heart and not your garments" Salvation under the new covenant, but even shown here in the Old Testament, has always been a matter of the heart, having an inner worshipful attitude toward God as opposed to just being about following a bunch of rules and performing a whole lot of rituals.

James 1 19

When it says God repents of evil, it doesn't mean God does evil or commits sins that He needs to repent from. Repent means to change one's mind. God knows all alternate realities, including what will happen to us if we turn to Him and believe and what will happen if we don't.

15-27: The repetition of the call to repentance and what the Lord will do if this solemn assembly takes place. Notice how the Lord's reply is longer than the call for fasting and repentance. 

17: When Christians sin, it makes God look bad. 2 Peter 2 2

28-32: This passage has its fulfillment in Acts 2 and is still being fulfilled today in this age of grace.

"And, if you think my deliverance from your current predicament is wonderful, let me tell you about when I send my Son to Earth to inaugurate the New Covenant."

Chapter 3

4: Ezekiel 26

10: The opposite of Isaiah 2. As it says in Eclesiastes, there is a time for peace and a time for war.

15-21: Armageddon and what comes after, that being the millennium and eternity, wherein there will never be anything like famine or want ever again. God's people, those who have torn their hearts and not their garments, will literally live forever.