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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“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.”
“Now what have you against Me, Tyre and Sidon and all you
regions of Philistia? Are you repaying Me for something I have done? If you are
paying Me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you
have done. For you took My silver and My gold and carried off My finest
treasures to your temples. You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the
Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.”
“See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which
you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done. I will
sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to
the Sabeans, a nation far away.” The Lord has spoken.
“Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the
warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. Beat your plowshares
into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, “I am
strong!” Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring
down your warriors, Lord!”
“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. 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!”
“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the
day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will be
darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and
thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble.”
Joel 3:1-16a
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As the final chapter of Joel opens up, we find an ominous message
for those who opposed the Israelites, a pronounced indictment of their enemy
nations. But before we get into that message, it’s important to set the stage
for these verses.
Keep in mind that before the enemy nations faced God’s
judgment, the Israelites had made themselves enemies of God through their
sinful actions. You’ll recall that they willingly and willfully chose to
worship false gods and idols, turning their backs on the God of creation, the
God who had rescued and delivered their ancestors over and over again, the God
who had commanded them to have no other gods before Him. Despite this blatant
disrespect, we know God tried to get His people to turn back to Him, not quick on
the trigger finger of judgment. He sent prophets many times with words of
warning for the Israelites but they decided to continue in their wickedness so
God was left with no choice other than to take action.
And so He sent punishment in the form of powerful armies
from the north, the Assyrians which attacked the northern kingdom of Israel,
and the Babylonians who assaulted the southern kingdom of Judah. When the
onslaught was over, the blessed promised land God had led His people to inhabit
was looted and left in smoldering ruin, desolate and uninhabitable. Of course,
it wasn’t as if the land needed lived in anyhow because the people were hauled
off into exile for seventy years. It was a long time to be displaced and
oppressed in a foreign land but God knew it was the right mechanism to get His
people’s attention and draw them back to Him with the right devotion and
commitment in their hearts.
Now we know God had promised His people that He would
restore them in their homeland once their judgment had ended. And that’s
exactly what he did because He always keeps His promises. God empowered the
Persian Empire to overthrow the Babylonians and one of the first acts that the
new ruling king, Cyrus, performed was to permit the Israelites to return home
to rebuild their nation, their homes, their lives, and their relationship with
Him. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah detail this happening.
So the people of God returned home but note that they would
be far from established for some time as it takes a lot of time and effort to
rebuild a nation and fortify it against any opposition that might rise up. How
would they be protected during this time? How would God ensure that His people
would not be attacked again by an enemy nation?
We now go to the opening verses of Joel, Chapter 3 for the
answers. There we will see that after God had dealt with His people, He turned
His judgment focus on their adversaries. Look again at these words here:
“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.”
“Now what have you
against Me, Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying Me
for something I have done? If you are paying Me back, I will swiftly and
speedily return on your own heads what you have done. For you took My silver
and My gold and carried off My finest treasures to your temples. You sold the
people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from
their homeland.”
“See, I am going to
rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your
own heads what you have done. I will sell your sons and daughters to the people
of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.” The Lord
has spoken.
“Proclaim this among
the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw
near and attack. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into
spears. Let the weakling say, “I am strong!” Come quickly, all you nations from
every side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, Lord!”
“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. 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!”
“Multitudes,
multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the
valley of decision. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer
shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and
the heavens will tremble.” Joel 3:1-16a
You see, the Israelites would have plenty of time to get
things back in order once back home because the other nations would be gathered
together before God after He restored the fortunes back to Judah and Jerusalem.
Those nations would be put on trial for all they did to the Israelites, the
people God referred to as His inheritance.
So what did the nations do exactly?
God spells out His indictment against them, presenting the
following charges:
1. Scattering the Israelites among themselves.
2. Dividing up God’s land, a land they had no entitlement
to.
3. Casting lots for God’s people.
4. Trading boys for prostitutes.
5. Selling girls for wine to drink.
It was a pretty heinous list of atrocities committed,
atrocities God would not tolerate.
So what nations were involved in committing these atrocities?
God doesn’t give us an all inclusive list but He does
specifically call out Tyre, Sidon, and the regions of Philistia, adding the
following accusations against them:
1. “You took My silver and My gold and carried off My finest
treasures to your temples.”
2. “You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the
Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.”
It was quite a list of condemnations levied by God against
Israel’s enemies who God would gather “in the valley of decision” for His day
of judgment where the “sun and moon will be darkened,” “the stars no longer
shine,” and the “earth and the heavens” tremble, the day when the Lord would “roar
from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem.” On that day, the Lord promised to return
onto the heads of the enemies of His people the same things that they had done to
the Israelites which included selling the sons and daughters of the enemy
nations “to the people of Judah” who would in turn “sell them to the Sabeans, a
nation far away.”
And so it was after the Israelites were allowed to return
home. God turned His attention to the enemy nations and they all got to taste
His judgment as He brought them to trial for the sins they had committed
against Israel and Judah. In the end, no one got away with anything; every
nation, including Israel and Judah, answered to God and paid the price for
their transgressions.
Friends, the same principle applies to our world today as
God’s creation and its people have evolved and expanded. There may be many more
inhabited nations than what existed during Joel’s day but God’s expectation
that every country will be faithful and obedient to His will and way,
worshiping Him and Him alone remains the same and it always will.
So how does our world size up when assessed against God’s
standard for righteousness?
I’m afraid that if God chose to again bring His judgment on
the nations, He would have no shortage of indictments to bring and thus there
would be no reason to doubt why His punishment came because the nations would
only have themselves to blame in the end translation. My prayer is that we will
experience a world-wide awakening and an associated spiritual revival where
every tongue would confess their sins, repent, and return to the only Lord who
can forgive them, the only Lord who can save them.
Won’t you please join me in this prayer?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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