Throughout his small, three-chapter, book, the prophet Joel often spoke prophetically of the chaotic events leading to the coming Day of the Lord, or the Second coming of Christ (Joel 2:28-31).

As we watch events unfolding around the world, many wonder if we are entering these treacherous times that Joel warned about.

If this is happening, then Christians need to heed the sounds of the trumpet or shofar that Joel mentioned twice in chapter 2.

The first blast is called the sound of an alarm:

Blow a trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the day of the Lord is coming;
Indeed, it is near,
² A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness... (Joel 2:1-2A NASV)

Then a few verses later, Joel urged the shofar to be blown again calling people to fast and pray (Joel 2:15).

The trumpet alarm referred to the watchmen who were positioned on the city walls and high towers to watch for danger. When they saw swords approaching, they were to blow their shofars warning people of an impending attack (Ezekiel 33:3-6).

The trumpet blast was a call to arms and a call to battle.

And if we understand Joel’s prophecy correctly, as the events associated with the end-times begin to unfold, the trumpet alarm needs to be sounded.

Though the watchmen in Israel’s day were largely looking for natural enemies, such as the Babylonians or Assyrians, I don’t believe that we should solely focus on flesh and blood armies.

We need to heed the words of the Apostle Paul who warned of a spiritual enemy:

¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 NASV)

As we enter the last of Days, it will bring with it a heightened time of spiritual battle, and as believers, we need to be prepared to engage the enemy.

The alarm is being sounded and in addition to putting on our spiritual armor in preparation for this conflict which Paul mentions in Ephesians 6:10-16, Paul says we need to pray:

¹⁸ With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18 NASV)

Here is a podcast, I did sometime back on why we need spiritual armor: