Usually in the Bible when we see the phrase "in those days" or "at that time" used for a future event, it indicates the era known as the end times. As we've stated before, we've technically been in the last days ever since Christ ascended to heaven, for the clock has been counting down ever since. But the last last days involve a time of tribulation on the earth and the final day of judgment. Chapter 3 begins with the phrases that indicate it's the last last days that are in view here.
The Lord says, "In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to My inheritance, My people Israel, because they scattered My people among the nations and divided up My land. They cast lots for My people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine to drink." (Joel 3:-1-3)
We know that whenever we see the term "the nations" in the Bible it's a reference to Gentiles. The Lord is referring to the Israelites as "My people" because they have been called by His name ever since Abraham answered the Lord's calling to leave Ur of the Chaldees to go toward the land the Lord would give to his descendants. But the Gentiles, by and large, did not call themselves by the name of the Lord in ancient times. Some Gentiles did convert to the God of Israel after the Lord established Israel as a nation in the promised land. Even more Gentiles forsook idolatry and gave their hearts to Christ after they heard the gospel message in the New Testament era. Gentiles are still coming to Christ in our own era. I'm of Gentile heritage and I'm sure my ancestors must have wasted a lot of time and effort bowing down to idols and calling upon gods who did not exist, so I'm thankful that the Lord invites Gentiles to know Him too. But our passage from the book of Joel involves Gentiles who did not want to know Him and who even went so far as to persecute His people Israel.
In the book of Zechariah, which we will be studying later on, the Lord promises to avenge His people Israel against the nations that have persecuted them. He tells Zechariah that whoever touches His people Israel is touching the apple of His eye. (Zechariah 2:8) The apple (the pupil) of the eye is something we all instinctively protect. When we see something coming toward our eye we automatically shut our eye or immediately cover it with our hand. The Lord won't ignore the persecution of the Israelites any more than a person can ignore a poke in the eye. If something hits us in the eye, we know it right away, and because our eye is so important to us, we take steps to heal any injury that may have occurred to our eye.
A few years ago I got hit pretty hard in my left eye. I was about to take my dog for a walk on a very rainy morning and as I pulled the raincoat on over my head the bead at the bottom of the string on the left side of the hood got stuck somewhere between my back and the back of the coat. I pulled on the string and it suddenly popped up out of the back of the coat and flew up and hit me right in the middle (in the apple) of my left eye with the bead. It happened so quickly and so unexpectedly that I didn't have time to prevent it. It popped up really hard, so hard that the pain almost made me throw up. I ended up having to get an emergency appointment with my eye doctor that day. It turned out not to be a serious injury, just some bruising to the tissue and a minor scratch to the cornea, and I was prescribed some drops to use for a couple of weeks. My eye and my head throbbed for several days, so much that it was hard to get it off my mind no matter what I was doing. When the Lord says He regards Israel as the apple of His eye, I know He means that anyone who hurts Israel is hurting Him too. He feels their pain. He can't ignore it. He won't ignore it. Just as I couldn't ignore the pain in my eye and had to seek a remedy, He won't ignore the pain that's been caused to His people Israel and He is going to respond with the remedy of vengeance.
During the next few days we will delve further into the subject of nations being judged in the last days. But we will close today by taking note that this prophecy has already begun to come true in smaller ways than the way it will come true at the end of days. For example, when we did our study of the kings we saw the northern kingdom of Israel being conquered by the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians deported all but the poorest of the land and resettled them in other areas and sold some of them into slavery. But, in time, the Lord caused the Assyrian Empire to be conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Also in our study of the kings we saw the southern kingdom of Judah being conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The Babylonians, like the Assyrians, deported all but the poorest of the land and took all the treasures of Judah and the palace and the temple with them. But, as we move on through the Old Testament, we will find the Lord causing the Neo-Babylonian Empire to be conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire. Cyrus the Great of Persia will set the captive people of Judah free to return home and rebuild Jerusalem and rebuild their lives. So we already see the Lord at work in the Old Testament---causing the fall of nations that oppressed His people Israel.
Empires rise and fall on the pages of the Bible and they have continued to rise and fall ever since. Nations that have oppressed the Jewish people have been dealt with and will continue to be dealt with on up to the day of the final judgment at the end of the great tribulation.
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