We've been studying a battle that appears to be the final battle of the ages: the one known as "Armageddon" in the book of Revelation. Joel doesn't refer to it by that name but refers to its location as "the Valley of Jehoshaphat". We've talked about how there does not appear to have ever been an actual place known by that name but that this phrase likely means something like "the valley of the Lord's judgment", for the word "Jehoshaphat" means "the Lord is judge" or "the Lord will judge". The Lord said in Friday's segment of Scripture: "Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat for there I will sit to judge the nations on every side."
The Lord has already announced His intention to judge the nations at this place. These are nations that are opposing His kingdom coming on earth. These are nations that have persecuted the Jewish people. They have also persecuted those who came to believe in the Lord during the time of the great tribulation. Not every single citizen of every nation involved in the end times coalition will hate the Lord but a large majority of the people still left on earth at that time will be those who have opposed Him all their lives and who intend to oppose Him to the bitter end, no matter how much their rebellion costs them.
At the end times the Lord will invite these nations to come out to face Him in battle. They will accept this invitation. Their sins have reached a tipping point, as we discussed on Friday, and there will be no further delays in judgment. The Lord compared this tipping point to a harvest of grain that's ready to be cut down and to ripe grapes in a vat that are ready to be trampled into juice. Similar imagery is used in the book of Isaiah when the Lord speaks of judging the wickedness of those who have been His enemies and the enemies of His children. He is the one who avenges the wrongs done to His children, which is why He speaks of carrying out this work alone. "I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My wrath; their blood spattered My garments, and I stained all My clothing. It was for Me the day of vengeance; the year for Me to redeem had come." (Isaiah 63:2-4)
Just as grape juice splatters the garments of those who tread grapes, we are to picture the blood of those who have persecuted the Lord's people staining His garments. The heinous sins taking place in the end times have reached the tipping point at which there is nothing left to do but judge the evildoers guilty and sentence them for their crimes. Those who come out to fight against the Lord are going to find themselves on the losing side. They have deceived themselves, as the Apostle Paul said they would do in the last days (this passage can be found in the first half of 2 Thessalonians 2), and they have deliberately chosen to believe what they want to believe. They actually dare to fight against the One who created them. Not only that, they've convinced themselves they have a chance to win against the One who spoke the entire universe into existence. Instead of giving their love and allegiance to Someone powerful enough to speak them out of existence with one word from His mouth, they've chosen to throw all their support behind the man the Apostle Paul called "the man of lawlessness" who is the person otherwise known as "the Antichrist". It is this man's kingdom they want to see coming on the earth, not the Lord's kingdom. They are fighting for the lawless one, for the one who has given himself utterly to darkness to the point that he is very likely possessed by Satan himself, for Paul says in 2 Thessalonians that he will be given occult powers with which he is able to perform signs and wonders.
We mustn't be deceived into thinking there is no power in darkness, for although Satan's power is in no way equal to God's power, the angels (even fallen angels) are supernatural entities capable of doing things that human beings cannot do. As David said, God created mankind "a little lower than the angels". (Psalm 8:5) Although I believe God loves mankind more than anything else He created, it's clear that He created the angels with powers that humans do not possess. He created them to be "ministering spirits" (Hebrews 1:14) to aid His children. I am sure that you and I have been supernaturally rescued many times from danger by these ministering spirits. But Satan rebelled against God and according to Revelation 12:4 a third of the angels joined him. So we see that the angels who did not rebel against God are still doing what they were created by Him to do; they are using their powers for the good of those who belong to God. But the fallen angels are using their powers to deceive people---to try to prevent the lost from coming to the Lord for salvation and to try to entice into sin those who are already saved so that they cannot effectively lead others to the Lord for salvation. In the end times it won't be difficult for Satan to get those who hate the Lord to choose his man over the Lord. It won't be difficult to convince wicked people to believe what they already want to believe: that they can be successful in opposing the Lord.
I want to stop here to say that it can be difficult for us to think about the judgment of the Lord, especially when it's presented in graphic imagery such as the trampling of the grapes. But we have to keep in mind that God would not be righteous if He didn't judge wickedness. God would not be a good Father if He did not avenge the wrongs done to His children.
About this final battle and the final judgment, the Lord goes on to say, "Multitudes! Multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." (Joel 3:14) Some scholars interpret the Lord's use of the phrase "the valley of decision" to indicate that the people gathered there to fight against Him can still make the right choice, that at the very last moment they can realize the error of their ways and repent and fall to their knees before their Maker. I certainly don't discount this theory because I don't believe the Lord would reject anyone who actually does experience a change of heart on that day. But I lean more toward the theory of other scholars who say that the Lord uses the expression "the valley of decision" because this is where He intends to render His verdict. In other words, it is the Lord who is announcing a decision here and it's not a case of anyone suddenly changing his or her mind about the level of depravity to which they have willingly sunk. When they come out to wage war against the very God who created them, I don't think it's possible to sink any lower, and if the sight of the Lord in all His power and majesty is not enough to change their minds, there remains nothing that possibly can change their minds. He knows they aren't going to change their minds and that is why He can righteously render His verdict against them.
"The sun and moon will be darkened, and the sun no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble." (Joel 3:15-16a) The day of judgment is a terrible day. It is a dark day, both literally and figuratively. Joel spoke in Chapter 2 about a great and dreadful day of the Lord when the sun would be turned to darkness. The Apostle Peter quoted that passage of Joel in Acts 2 when he preached his sermon on the day of Pentecost. The Apostle John foresaw a terrible time of darkness in the end times, which he wrote about in Revelation 8. I believe this will be a literal darkness caused by the cataclysms that occur in the book of Revelation. But I also believe the darkness symbolizes the terrible spiritual condition of the enemies of God in those days and I believe it symbolizes the dreadfulness of the ultimate date of judgment upon the Lord's enemies.
But for the people of the Lord, there is nothing to dread. There is no condemnation to be feared. The Lord is a light for His people. The Lord is a refuge for His people. And, since the prophet Joel was speaking to the Jewish people, he mainly addresses the way the Lord will preserve and restore Israel after He has finished destroying those who have persecuted the Jews. "But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel." (Joel 3:16a) The Lord is also a mighty defender of the Gentiles who trust in Him, so Gentiles like me who have put our faith in Him can also call ourselves "His people", but Joel wants to reassure his fellow Jews that as a people (as both a nation and as the family of God) they will never be destroyed from the earth. No matter who or what comes against them, Israel will never cease being a nation in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord explicitly states this promise again in Jeremiah 31:36, which we'll be taking a look at when we arrive at that book. Joel's people just finished going through hard times to due the plague of locusts. His people will go through hard times between then and our own era. The book of Revelation foretells hard times for them and for Christians in the last days. But the Lord will not allow them to be destroyed from the earth. Rather, He will destroy their enemies.
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