Joel Chapter 3 Bible Study: The Judgement of the Nations

Bible Studies in the Book of Joel

Joel Chapter 3 Lesson: The Judgement of the Nations

by I Gordon

Introduction

We all live in a world that is becoming more and more anti-God and it is ripe for judgement. If you haven't noticed you haven't been paying attention! All that holds it back is the goodness of God who desires none to perish but all to come to repentance. However, the day of judgement is coming and this chapter speaks of that day. We've been looking at the prophecies of Joel and have examined the conditions of the 'day of the Lord' that are described in some detail in this book. Joel chapter 2 took us to the very end of this period of wrath. Joel chapter 3 continues and shows us the basis for the coming judgement of the nations. That is what we will continue with in this study so buckle up.

The Day for Judah and Jerusalem's Restoration

Joel 3:1-3 'In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, (2) I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. (3) They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine that they might drink'.

The chapter starts with 'In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem  [1]  '... So what time is that? Good question! Glad you are thinking! This chapter obviously carries on directly from the end of chapter 2 which had just said that 'The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.' (Joel 2:31)  So the events described here follow on from that same time at the return of Jesus Christ at the end of the tribulation. So what is going to happen then? Well, God will bring all the nations to the valley of Jehoshaphat  [2]  for judgement. This is described further on in Joel 3 so we'll move on to the basis of the judgement. On what basis will God judge the nations at this time? What are the criteria upon which they will be judged? Well? Did you see it? You'll see that God is going to judge the nations on the basis of their treatment of God's people Israel and for dividing HIS land. Hmmm... that's not very PC now is it? Not exactly what the world likes to hear!  [3]  But it is true and the nations and all those who like to blame and pressure Israel should take note!

Pay back time is coming...

Joel 3:4-8 Now what have you against me, O 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. (5) For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples. (6) You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland. (7) 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. (8) 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.

The Lord now focuses in on the actions of Tyre, Sidon and Philistia. Through their aggression against Israel, God asks what they have against Him. God is totally identifying Himself with His people Israel here and an attack on them is an attack on Him! He asks if they are trying to repay Him for something He has done and then ominously warns them that it will be swiftly returned on their own heads. This is likely to have a historical fulfilment though it is unknown amongst scholars. But Biblical prophecy experts point to the context of this verse and see the aggression of these regions and God's repayment as playing out in the last days. So in this regard it is interesting to see who Tyre, Sidon and the regions of Philistia are today. Tyre and Sidon are modern day Southern Lebanon. The regions of Philistia would refer to Gaza today  [4]  . Sound familiar? As I write, Hezbollah are in force in South Lebanon and Hamas today rule Gaza. And what do these two organisations live for? Hezbollah and Hamas are both primarily founded for the destruction of Israel!  [5]  So nothing has changed! Tyre, Sidon and Philistia are still living in their irrational ever-lasting hatred of Israel. A hatred that can really only be explained by understanding the spirit behind their belief system. This everlasting hatred is spoken of Israel's enemies in such places as this prophecy against Mount Seir (Edom - modern day southern Jordan):

Ezek 35:2-7 "Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it (3) and say to it, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, And I will stretch out My hand against you And make you a desolation and a waste. (4) "I will lay waste your cities, and you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (5)  "Because you have had everlasting enmity and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of the punishment of the end, (6) therefore as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "I will give you over to bloodshed  , and bloodshed will pursue you; since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you. (7) "I will make Mount Seir a waste and desolation and I will cut off from it the one who passes through and returns. 

A similar verse speaking of this everlasting enmity (or hatred) is also spoken of the Philistines (today's region of modern day Palestinians, predominantly in Gaza  [6]  ):

Ezek 25:14-17 "I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. Therefore, they will act in Edom according to My anger and according to My wrath; thus they will know My vengeance," declares the Lord GOD. (15) 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "  Because the Philistines have acted in revenge and have taken vengeance with scorn of soul to destroy with everlasting enmity," (16) therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, even cut off the Cherethites and destroy the remnant of the seacoast.  (17) "I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they will know that I am the LORD when I lay My vengeance on them." 

Time for turning plowshares into swords

Joel 3:9-12 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. (10) Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, "I am strong!" (11) Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD! (12) 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.

So what did Joel see as the end result of all of this? Will the world leaders wrangle and negotiate a peaceful end in the Middle East?  [7]  Can an everlasting hatred be overturned through a clever middle-man with a cheerful smile and smoothing words? Nope. Here is how it will end: 'proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! - Rouse your warriors and beat your ploughshares into swords  [8]  . Come oh nations! Come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat for judgement is waiting for you there.' This is the scary proposition awaiting the nations. It will seem for the nations that only solution left is to actually adopt Hitler's 'final solution' and exterminate the Jews once and for all. They will be emboldened to come and destroy the Jewish nation. But little do they know that God's judgement, withheld by love for so long, awaits them and to them it shall be fulfilled that 'it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God'. Such will be the end for the nations that come against Israel at the end of the age. Zechariah tells us that this summoning of the nations by God in the last days will involve 'all nations' and look also at the response they will get:

'I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. (3) Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.' Zec. 14:2-3

So what do we know about this 'valley of Jehoshaphat'? The exact location is unknown although it could very well be a valley created in the last days (possibly through an earthquake or the splitting of the Mount of Olives as indicated in Zech 14:2). What we do know is that the name Jehoshaphat means 'Yahweh judges' and this is the key thought in this passage. The long withheld wrath and judgement of God will be openly seen at this time.  [9] 

The dreaded winepress of God

Joel 3:13-17 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!" (14) Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. (15) The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. (16) The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. (17) Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her.

The thought of the judgement of the nations continues in this passage. The imagery of a winepress being trodden down with vats overflowing with the wickedness of those trampled is graphic indeed.  [10]  The valley that the nations come into is called in this passage 'the valley of decision'. Many evangelists have used this passage to speak of the sinner's need to make a 'decision' for Christ, but the actual context speaks of something entirely different. The decision here is not left to man at this point. It is God's. Today is the day of salvation when men should cry out to the Lord. This passage describes the end of the 'day of the Lord' (with its accompanying celestial signs) and it involves the final decree of a righteous Judge as He utters His verdict upon mankind. I believe this has an accompanying passage in Matt 25:31-46 where the Lord Jesus is shown as judging the nations (the sheep and the goats), when He returns. The basis of that judgement, as it is here in Joel, is upon the nation's treatment 'of these brothers of mine'. In other words, with the Church removed during the tribulation period, there will be terrible persecution and treatment of the Jews (addressed in Matt 25:40 as Jesus 'brothers') and this treatment will form part of the basis for the judgement of the nations. Help for the Jews during this time will require tremendous courage (and possible loss of life) and would be an outworking of a person's faith. When the Lord judges the nations, this will be rewarded with entry into the Messianic Kingdom. But hatred and violence against the Jews, Jesus' brothers, will result in the wrath and final judgement of God.

The passage doesn't end with darkness however for it starts to glimpse the dawning of a new day that will follow this time. It is a time when the Lord will dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem, and never again will she be invaded. This theme is continued in the final verses...

A new day of coming...

Joel 3:18-21 In that day the mountains will drip new wine and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD's house and will water the valley of acacias. (19) But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood. (20) Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations. (21) Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, I will pardon." The LORD dwells in Zion!

When the Jews left Egypt and embarked on their journey to the Promised Land, Canaan was described as a land flowing with milk and honey (Exod. 3:8). When they sent spies into the land to see if it was as good as they were told, they needed two men and a pole to carry a single branch with a cluster of grapes! (Num 13:23). Such was the blessing of God upon the land in that day and even greater shall be the blessing upon the land of Israel (and the earth) in the coming Messianic Kingdom! We read here that the mountains will drip with wine and the hills will flow with milk. The language here shows the blessing of God in that day when:

Zec.14:9-11 'The LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one. (10) All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site... People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.'

I long for that day. I really do. Great things are still to come for the one who trusts in the Lord. The difficulties and weariness of the present age will not come to mind in that day. There is, and rightfully should be, an intense inward longing in the heart of the believer for that day. And as we have seen in this study of Joel, the conditions upon this earth bear witness to the fact that it is close. The night of darkness must come first but praise God that it will dawn with the prophetic and blessed new day when the Messiah will return and reclaim this earth to rule and reign.

To sum up, the book of Joel began with a locust plague that would devastate Israel. Through it,  'the field is ruined, the land mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine dries up, fresh oil fails.' (Joel1:10)  Joel's prophetic proclamation continued on to show that this physical locust plague was symbolic of a greater man-made devastation that would come upon the land where successive nations would tread down Jerusalem throughout history leading to a final, all-nation assault in the last days. But praise God that is not the end! The book of Joel ends with how this age will end:

The Lord dwells in Zion!

The book of Joel started with plagues yet ends with prosperity. It started with ruin but ends with restoration. It started with failure yet ends with fulfillment. And, most importantly, it started with lament but shall end with the Lord! His very presence shall dwell in Zion and on this earth!

And may that day come quickly!