Commentary on Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah and Nahum John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
testimony of our adoption, and that though many evils must be borne by us in this world, we may yet continue to pursue our course, and to fight and to strive with invincible perseverance, until having at length finished all our struggles, we reach that blessed rest, which has been obtained for us by the blood of thy only-begotten
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lecture Forty-sixth
Joel 2:32
32. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
32. Et erit, quisquis invocaverit nomen Jehovae liberabitur: quia in monte Sion et in Jerusalem erit evasio, sicuti promisit Jehova, et in residuis quos Jehova vocaverit.
We said yesterday that the Prophet denounced future calamities, that he might thus stimulate men, distressed by many evils, to seek God: we indeed know how tardy we are by nature, except the Lord goads us continually. The subject, then, on which we discoursed yesterday tended to show, that as so many and so grievous calamities would press on the Jews, all would be miserable who fled not to God, and that this consolation only would remain to them in their extreme evils: but now the Prophet seasonably adds, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. Having then stimulated men to seek God, he now gives them firm assurance of being saved, provided they in sincerity and from the heart fled to God.
This is indeed a remarkable passage, for God declares that the invocation of his name in a despairing condition is a sure port of safety. What the Prophet had said was certainly dreadful, --- that the whole order of nature would be so changed, that no spark of light would appear, and that all places would be filled with darkness. What, therefore, he says now is the same as though he declared, that if men called on the name of God, life would be found in the grave. They who seem to be even in despair, and from whom God seems to have taken away every hope of grace, provided they call on the name of God, will be saved, as the Prophet declares, though they be in so great a despair, and in so deep an abyss. This circumstance ought to be carefully noticed; for if any one takes this sentence of the Prophet by itself, though then it would not be frigid, it would not yet be so striking; but when these two things are joined together, --- that God will be the judge of the world, who will not spare the wickedness of men, but will execute dreadful vengeance, --- and that yet salvation will be given to all who will call on the name of the Lord, we see how efÏcacious the promise is; for God offers life to us in death, and light in the darkest grave.
There is, therefore, great importance in the expression, {}והיהueie, `Then it shall be;' for the copulative is to be regarded as an adverb of time, `Then whosoever shall invoke the name of the Lord,' etc. And he uses the word ``deliver;'' for it was needful to show that the saved differ nothing from the lost. Had the Prophet used the word ``preserve,'' he would have spoken less distinctly; but now when he promises deliverance, he bids us to set up this shield against trials even the heaviest; for God possesses power sufÏciently great to deliver us, provided only we call on him.
We now then understand what the Prophet had in view: He shows that God would