1. Hosea 2:14. When is Israel brought out to “the wilderness”?

With just a little research we can find that this wilderness sojourn of the end times is a recurring theme of the prophets. For example, Ezekiel in 20:35-38 and 43:

“…and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face, as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness… and I will purge from you the rebels… there you will remember your ways… and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things that you have done.”

And Zechariah, in 12:10ff:

“… they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him…”

And of course that classic Revelation 12, of John the apostle: Verses 5 & 6.

“And she [Israel] gave birth to a son… and her child was caught up to God… then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days [3 and ½ years].”

We aren’t given all the details, but it seems that the 144,000 Jewish elect are called by God to a special encounter in the wilderness, where Israel became a nation to begin with, and there they are introduced formally to their Messiah, whom they will accept with all their heart.

2. Hosea 11:8. Who were “Admah and Zeboim”?

Two cities of the plains in Abraham’s time. Situated near Sodom and Gomorrah, they were destroyed along with those two great and greatly evil cities. See Genesis 10:19 and 19:23-25.

3. Hosea 14:4 ff. When shall this prophecy be fulfilled?

Hosea pictures a people with whom God is no longer angry, a nation that is renowned and beautiful, a blessing to the Earth. This can only be a Millennial passage.

JOEL

1. Joel 1:1-14. What is happening in this first section of Joel?

This is a devastation being made by actual locusts. They become a preview of a terror that shall come to Israel in its latter days, told to us by John the Revelator in 9:1-12 of his book.

2. Joel 1:15-2:11. How is this section of Joel different from the first?

• This one talks of “the day of the Lord”
• The imagery here compares to Revelation 9 and the “locusts” there, some incredibly invasive creatures, probably man-made and filled with destructive power.
• This period is to be “unprecedented” as Jesus said in Matthew 24.
• The sun and moon go dark during this time.

In short, this is end times.

3. Joel 2:20. How does Joel’s picture mesh with Ezekiel’s?

• Talk of a “northern army.”
• Talk of a great stench following the judgment of God.

25.

4. Joel 2:28-32. This famous Pentecost passage describes what period of time?

From the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost to the ushering in of the Millennium. All of this time is the “day of the Lord.” In one sense we live in that day now, because the Spirit has come and begun His work. We will see the fullness of that work when Jesus returns. Included in this passage, by the way, must be chapter 3:1-2, the final judgment at Jesus’ return.

5. Joel 3:14. How could Joel say that this judgment was near, when it was at least 2,600 years away?

Joel is seeing history unfold, and is right there when things are happening. See in verse 12 he talks in the future tense, “I will sit to judge…” then suddenly in verse 13, he is catapulted to the event itself, “Put in the sickle… the day of the Lord is near.” He has a ring-side seat of future events, and from his point of view it is very near!

6. Joel 3:19. Is this perhaps where Edom’s final judgment begins?