Before I share my thoughts, I must note something (which is a thought, I suppose). As readers, we were told to look for the "beauty" in Joel. Many of the passages that sounded beautiful aloud, were not actually beautiful passages. For example, "Awake, drunkards, and weep." is quite an undesirable image, but I consider it beautiful. Arguably, all things in Scripture are God's revelation, and God's revelation is perfect, and perfection is beautiful, but that isn't a flawless argument. What I would argue is that the ugly can be beautiful in its own way, perhaps by its potential contrasting, or its piece in a beautiful story. You will likely be disappointed if you ask me for more details, because I’ve not yet thought of a more eloquent way to express the point.
Most of what I found to be beautiful was destruction. The wailing and weeping at the grand scale of horrors befalling the victims of wrath of God, an invading nation with teeth and fangs like lions, days of darkness and gloom. It’s difficult to narrow down what paints the most amazingly vivid pictures. Joel relates images, sounds, physical feelings, and more. A moon of blood, the King of Kings uttering truth, a quaking world. The description is almost overwhelming.
But, what is most beautiful of all? Salvation: “. . . the heavens and earth tremble, but the LORD is a refuge for His people.” Ah, there it is. What is a refuge in a world of serenity and peace? Not beautiful. What is a refuge in a world of occasional sorrows and pain? Occasionally beautiful. What is a refuge in a Joel’s world of pure, unadulterated, all-pervasive, all-consuming terror, fear, death, and agony? Perfectly beautiful.
I believe there is a great deal of beauty in the terror Joel paints in this story. However, the truest beauty, the beauty of the saving love, can only be fully admired in what seems to be the ugliest of scenarios. And that makes the hideous beautiful.
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