Wednesday Bible Study- the mighty but

This week is a very simple read, hinging around one great, mighty word...

...BUT.


We move past Hoshea, who has a short 3rd chapter, and hit the Prophet Joel.  Joel is a book that has always echoed with me, and precisely what comes in the first part of this chapter.  I learned my early eschatology from Hal Lindsey and The Late Great Planet Earth, and I still feel he was dead on in many places.  It was here I learned the harrowing prophecies of Armageddon from Joel.


Joel 3:9  Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. 
Joel 3:10  Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, "I am a warrior." 
Joel 3:11  Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD. 
Joel 3:12  Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 
Joel 3:13  Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great. 
Joel 3:14  Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 
Joel 3:15  The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 

So here in a nutshell is the prophesied final battle.  Note in 3:9, let ALL the men of war come near.  Here, I am going to inflict some opinion, take it for what it's worth.  From my Lindseyan perspective, this is the world situation:  If you have read Revelation, most of the judgments have been poured out on the earth; the battle will be the final one.  Lindsay believed that, prior to this point, Russia ("Gog") and her Arab allies have invaded Israel and were miraculously destroyed.  I won't vouch for the timeline, or if it is really a separate attack.  I believe that the United States is already knocked out of the game, in Revelation's prophecy on Babylon in chapter 18 and Ezekiel on Tyre in chapter 27.  Read them on your own, and tell me how the cities described are not a perfect picture of this nation.  However, keep in mind they were once perfect pictures of Tyre and Babylon, so that proves nothing (other than the destruction earned for living that way).

At this point, according to Revelation, the demons three dry up the Euphrates for the 200 million man (seemingly) Chinese Army to pour in.  Everyone left is allied to the Anti-Christ at this point.  So the armies of all the world are in "the Valley of Decision".  Lindsay thought it appropriate to quote Napoleon on this- that upon looking at the Meggido valley, he said all the armies of the earth could maneuver there.

Now you look at 3:12- "...for there I will sit to judge ..."  And who is the Judge?  None other than Jesus.  And I point that out not only to link the chapter to Revelation, but to use on a later point.  If 13-15 don't give you the chills, I don't know what will.  The armies of man are fully gathered, drawn in like a wild beast by God's "hook in his mouth" (see Ezekiel 38 and Isaiah 37), to be destroyed- though they believe they will be extinguishing Israel and overthrowing Christ Himself.  And that brings us to our verse- which once again is the hinge verse of the whole section:

Joel 3:16  The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. 

That point I referenced earlier:  One of the commentators basically said it was unknown whether Jehovah would be roaring " either from His Throne aloft “in the air” above the holy city, or from the heavenly Jerusalem, out of the midst of the tens of thousands of His holy angels, who shall “come with Him.” "  I personally don't think this has anything to do with His Heavenly throne or city; for Jesus promised to return to us as He left, cleaving the Mount Of Olives in two when His feet touch (Zechariah 14:4), and will be judging them physically and personally.

But then, after the supreme destruction of the madmen rebelling against Him, the "but" comes in...

Joel 3:17  "So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it. 

Joel 3:18  "And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Shittim. 

Joel 3:19  "Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. 

Joel 3:20  But Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem to all generations. 

Joel 3:21  I will avenge their blood, blood I have not avenged, for the LORD dwells in Zion." 

This, after all the trials, is where all the promises are fulfilled.  All the pain and persecution Israel has went through for her disbelief is now over- and the Lord DWELLS in Zion, on the physical earth.

This may well be a far-future event; the same people who thought the world would end in Y2K  had forefathers in 1000 AD.  But read the chapters I referenced in Ezekiel and Revelation on your own.  See a perfect picture of the world we are NOW living in.  You may have time- do you want to risk it?