When we arrive at the book of Revelation we will learn more details about the regime of the one known as the Antichrist and about how much he will hate the Jewish people and about how much he will hate also the Gentiles who come to believe in the Lord during that era. The nations who give their allegiance to that man will want to see his kingdom come instead of the Lord's kingdom. They will come out to fight against the Lord to try to prevent Him from reigning over the world from "David's throne" as portions of the Bible phrase it (meaning from Jerusalem in Israel). But it is at this battle that the opposing armies will meet their doom.
It seems illogical to us that anyone would think they could fight against Almighty God and win the battle, but the Bible tells us that in the last days there will be people who fall under "a powerful delusion" and that they will believe the lies of the Antichrist because they "refused to love the truth" and "delighted in wickedness". (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)
Because there are people who want nothing to do with the Lord and who prefer to live in the darkness of sin, they are going to willingly give themselves up to false beliefs. Indeed, they will convince themselves those false beliefs are true because they would prefer to follow someone who doesn't call them to godly living. They will give their allegiance to someone or who tells them they're okay just as they are. This will allow them to go on living in sin---and to sink into more depravity and barbarity than they ever previously imagined---without feeling any guilt about it. When they reach the state of not being bothered by their consciences, they won't find it difficult to persecute the people of the Lord. They won't see anything wrong with wanting to rid the earth of believers and they won't see the futility of attempting to fight against the Lord who is a mighty defender of those who belong to Him.
We concluded our last study session with Joel 3:11a: "Come quickly, all you nations on every side, and assemble there." And we begin today's study with Joel 3:11b: "Bring down Your warriors, Lord!" Verse 11b sounds like it might be the prophet Joel's own words, for the Lord had just commanded the nations who are in rebellion to Him to meet him on the battlefield and I think Joel may be responding by saying something like, "Come down with the full force of Your power, Lord! Show these evildoers that You fight on the side of Your children! Don't let these wicked persecutors get away with their hateful acts against Your people!"
The Lord continues with the theme of inviting His enemies to come out to face Him. "Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side." (Joel 3:12) As we discussed earlier in our study of Chapter 3, there is no literal location known by the name of "Valley of Jehoshaphat" but the name "Jehoshaphat" means something like "the Lord is judge" or "the Lord will judge". So the Lord is calling these evildoers into His courtroom to face the charges against them. They will be judged guilty of the charges against them because they are guilty.
He goes on, "Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow---so great is their wickedness!" (Joel 3:13) Several times during our various Bible studies we've talked about how wickedness reaches a tipping point. The idolatry in the northern kingdom of Israel, for example, eventually reached such a tipping point that the Lord no longer delayed the fall of that nation to Assyria. The idolatry in the southern kingdom of Judah reached a tipping point over a hundred years later and the Lord announced that the time was up and He was going to give the nation into the hands of the Babylonians. But these were more temporary judgments, for lack of a better way of phrasing it, because many of the people later returned to the land and eventually the nation of Israel became a sovereign nation in the world again.
The judgment the Lord is passing in Joel 3 is a permanent one, if indeed it is a reference to the last battle of the end times, which appears to be the most likely theory. The sins of the end times have reached their tipping point and the Lord refers to this as a crop of standing grain that is ready to be cut down. He also compares the tipping point to the grape harvest; the grapes have been gathered into the winepress to be trampled.
The remainder of the section titled "The Nations Judged" is quite short but it is so rich with imagery and symbolism and it is so connected to other passages in the Bible regarding judgment and the end of days that it would be best to study the remaining verses in a separate segment. So we will pick back up at verse 14 in our next session.
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