We Have Found the Messiah

...in Joel 2:23

Be glad, then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given you the former rain faithfully, and he will cause the rain to come down for you -- the former rain and the latter rain in the first month.

As we continue our studies in the Messiah, we come now to look at some of the ways in which the messianic hope was kept alive by the prophets. It may appear at first reading that this verse says nothing about the Messiah; but that is because there is an alternative translation of the Hebrew text at this point. None of the mainstream modern translations adopt it, but most refer to it in a footnote or in the margin.

When the NKJV says of God that he has given you "the former rain faithfully", it is attempting to translate two Hebrew words, the word moreh, and the word zedeq, meaning righteousness. The problem with the common translation is that it has to interpret the word 'righteousness' to make it relate in some way to 'rain'. But, as Walter Kaiser says, "[The] term righteousness cannot be applied as a quality of 'rain', for it is an ethical and moral term" (see his discussion of this passage in The Messiah in the Old Testament, pp139-142). So it is better to retain the translation 'righteousness'.

But what of the word moreh? It is used later in this same verse to mean 'former rain' (and, for example, at Psalm 84:7), but it is normally used this way without the article. The same word, however, can mean a teacher (as in Isaiah 30:20), and comes from the same root which gives us the word torah, meaning 'law'. Joel could therefore be playing on the word; the natural meaning of the first phrase is not "the former rain faithfully", but "teacher of righteousness". The NKJV has this as a marginal alternative. Similarly, the NIV has a footnote giving the same alternative.

Eugene Paterson adopted this in his translation The Message; he translates at this point:

Children of Zion, celebrate!
Be glad in your GOD.
He's giving you a teacher
To train you how to live right --
Teaching, like rain out of heaven showers of words
To refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to.

The Message is not everyone's favourite rendering of the Bible, but it does adopt what seems to me to be the correct translation at this point.

So the reference is to God's provision of a teacher of righteousness. In order to appreciate the meaning of this provision, we need to look at the context of this prophecy.

There are many elements of uncertainty regarding the ministry of Joel, with differences of opinion regarding the dating of his ministry. But it appears likely that he was one of the earliest of the Old Testament prophets, who was called to predict a coming "Day of the Lord", when God's judgement would rain down on the land. In his prophet's vision he was seeing the Babylonian captivity approaching, and called God's people to prepare for it through repentance and a return to God.

Joel's point of departure in his prophecy is a plague of locusts (Joel 1:4), a devastating and destructive experience, which would be recounted in future generations. George Adam Smith used his own observations while travelling in the Holy Land to describe such an experience:

The present writer has seen but one swarm of locusts, in which, though it was small and soon swept away by the wind, he felt not only many of the features that Joel describes, but even some degree of that singular helplessness before a calamity of portent far beyond itself, something of that supernatural edge and accent, which, by the confession of so many observers, characterise the locust-plague and the earthquake above all other physical disasters.

One summer afternoon, upon the plain of Hauran, a long bank of mist grew rapidly from the western horizon. The day was dull, and as the mist rose athwart the sunbeams, struggling through clouds, it gleamed cold and white, like the front of a distant snow-storm. When it came near, it seemed to be more than a mile broad, and was dense enough to turn the atmosphere raw and dirty, with a chill as of a summer sea-fog, only that this was not due to any fall in the temperature.

Nor was there the silence of a mist. We were enveloped by a noise, less like the whirring of wings than the rattle of hail or the crackling of bush on fire. Myriads upon myriads of locusts were about us, covering the ground, and shutting out the view in all directions. Though they drifted before the wind, there was no confusion in their ranks. They sailed in unbroken lines, sometimes straight, sometimes wavy; and when they passed pushing through our caravan, they left almost no stragglers, except from the last battalion, and only the few dead which we had caught in our hands. After several minutes they were again but a lustre on the air, and so melted away into some heavy clouds in the east (The Book of the Minor Prophets, pp398-9).

That's what Joel had seen too. And it was used by him as an illustration of what God would do against the covenant people, because of their faithlessness and sin. The religion of Judah would not save it, because the people had forsaken the God of the covenant. The only remedy for the people of God was to repent: "Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; so rend your hearts and not your garments, return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness ..." (Joel 2:12-13).

Although there was reason for alarm and fear, there was also reason for hope and thanksgiving. God would show himself faithful to his covenant, and would once again refresh the land. Amid the promises given to Judah was this -- that a teacher for righteousness had already been promised. The plan of salvation was already under way, and the provision for the people of God was assured and certain. And, as with each stage of messianic promise and revelation, the hopes of God's people would focus on one unique individual, God's righteous servant (Isaiah 53:11), who would bring in an everlasting righteousness for his own people (Daniel 9:24).

But there is more than difficult translation here. Joel is using this word for a teacher in its twofold aspect. It does also mean 'rain', and is used in that sense in Psalm 84:7, where God's people, wandering in the wilderness would dig wells which God would fill with his rain. And it is possible that Joel is saying three things here connected with the Teacher of Righteousness, which point to the continuity of his purposes of salvation.

First, Joel Is Reminding Us That the Former Rain Had Already Fallen.

God had been speaking about the Messiah from the very beginning. Joel's message was not novel, but the continuation of God's promise plan, intimated to man at the very dawn of history, and faithfully carried through, in spite of all the failings of his people. Whatever the future held, they had already experienced much of God's grace and covenant faithfulness.

And for that very reason we too need to appreciate the rich Christology of the Old Testament. It is possible for us (as we are seeking to do in this series of studies) to refresh ourselves in God's former rain showers. Christ is the sum and substance of the Scriptures, the one who is the Word. And he was the Word before he was the Word become flesh. He speaks in the older covenant, because the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets as they spoke of the salvation in Christ and the glory to follow (1 Peter 1:11).

The church needs the Old Testament. The Teacher of Righteousness is revealed to us in it, and teaches us through it. His law is binding. His ethical standards are absolute. He shows us the holiness of God and the glory of God's sovereign throne. He shows us in the Old Testament what righteousness is, and how we lost our righteousness the moment we sinned against God. Without these elements of teaching we could never learn about the central themes of the Gospel, or even about the necessity of the Gospel at all.

But we can perhaps apply this a bit more personally. What about the 'former rain' that fell in our own lives, and in the life of the churches of which we are a part? It is good to recall, as Joel is doing here, that God did give us times of blessing, showers of refreshing, times when the Teacher of Righteousness spoke to us and gave us knowledge of God and of ourselves which we did not have before. Can we look back with thankfulness that there were such times in our lives?

Secondly, God Would Send the Latter Rain.

There was prospect as well as retrospect in Joel's message. God was not going to abandon his people. The locust-armies of Assyria and Babylon would do their own destructive work, and the land would suffer. In all of this God would remain faithful to his covenant pledge -- after all, the locusts were promised as instruments of covenant curse (Deuteronomy 28:38).

But the message of grace is triumphant: "I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God" (Joel 2:25-26). Restoration would come about with grace.

As we trace the later history of Israel and Judah, we see how God remained absolutely loyal to his word. For their sin, the covenant people were overthrown by the power of Babylon. Armies of destruction swept over them, and ravaged their land. For two generations they suffered deprivation of their homeland, remembering with wistfulness what had once been. But God restored the fortunes of Zion, and rebuilt Jerusalem. He never once reneged on his promise; he always demonstrated himself faithful to his word.

That is still the hope of God's people. Whatever has blighted our lives and marred our commitment can be covered by the Teacher of Righteousness. The righteousness which he obtained for his people is eternal, and the security he provides in his word is forever. Christ is able to build up waste places, and to make the desert blossom under the refreshing falls of latter rain.

But, Thirdly, the Teacher of Righteousness Would Pour a Deluge Down Upon His Church.

That is the theme of Joel 2:28-39, taken up by Peter on the Day of Pentecost. The greatest revelation of God in the Old Testament would not compare with the coming of the Holy Spirit. And the Messiah predicted that with his departure he would send that Holy Spirit to comfort the church, to lead her into truth, to be with her for all ages.

How does the messianic Teacher of Righteousness fulfill his work in the age of the Spirit? First, by giving the church a complete canon of Scripture. The same Spirit who worked in the Old Testament, superintending the committing of God's revelation to writing, would continue to work in the New. Apostles would recall the words of Christ and give them to the church. Paul would unfold the mysteries of the cross through his epistles. Old men like John would dream dreams and young men like Mark would see visions. Christ would continue speaking to the church in the Scriptures.

Second, the Teacher of Righteousness would do his work by applying the Word of Truth to his people by the power of the same Spirit. So interconnected are these two activities that Paul can say "The Lord is [the Spirit], and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17). In this passage, Paul is contrasting the veil which covers the face in the older covenant revelation with the freedom of sight which we have in the New. The Old Testament saints saw Jesus, just as we see Jesus, but not with the clarity of vision which we can have now. As the Holy Spirit opens our minds to the truth, so the messiah does his work.

Third, the Teacher of Righteousness fulfills his task by leading his people. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are his children (Romans 8:14). And, at last, to be a Christian means nothing if it does not mean that where he leads, we will follow. For he always leads along paths of righteousness for his own name's sake (Psalm 23:2). The great issue for us is whether we are walking these paths with him; have we truly discovered the Messiah to be our Teacher, at whose feet we gladly sit, kneel and pray? No other Master is worth following like this one.