I am a total nincompoop, of this I am aware. In the spirit of procrastination, this blog sat unwritten on my desktop for eons... days, actually, but to God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years a day- so, eons...
Joel 3 is the final chapter of Joel. Yes, just what I was thinking, why did it take over 1 month to finish a small little gem like Joel (see above)? Alas we find the close of days- when those who have wronged Israel/God's chosen are brought to justice... If you haven't yet, I highly suggest you read Joel 3 now!
Welcome back, congratulation- you are better now than you were before for having read this passage. Because as the Bible says, it's words do not return void... which means that you always get something out of the Bible.... maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, and either way, you are a better person spiritually for having taking the time to read it- bravo! If you haven' t read Joel yet, and are now feeling convicted, I suggest that you read it so that you can be better in a few minutes then you are right now, and so your conscious will be at ease.
So what is this all about? Joel 3? Simply, the wicked are judged for the wickedness and God's chosen live in prosperity.... the end.
I told you it was easy to understand. See, Biblical prophecy is really quite simply summed up in a few words: bad guys loose and God wins.
But, there are you sticklers out there who "want to know what the Bible is really talking about." So for you "realists," "literalists," "desktop scholars (like myself)", and "bored people," I offer the following explanation.
(Hold-on, Mimi woke up from her nap... ok, she is plopped in front of "Praise Baby," that should buy me about 1/2 hr... on a side note- if anyone ever tells you that aloe is soothing on poison oak, brush the dust of your feet as you leave that place after slapping them... b/c they are liars!)
You will notice a few things going on here in Joel 3. (1) Specific issues relating to the "sons of Judah and Jerusalem," and (2) General description of an event that sounds quite like armageddon.
(1) As always, Joel pronounces that God will bring immediate judgement on those who were afflicting Israel. For example, the Phoenicians and Philistines were told they would be judged for selling off the Hebrews into slavery. Alexander III sold a bunch of people, Sidonians, people from Tyre, and Gaza, into slavery, which would have been the descendants of the same people Joel condemns, Phoenicians and Philistines. There is an example of a temporal fulfillment. There are a number of other things mentioned... but you get the picture.
(2) Verses 9-16 seems to point toward a future event. The Lord's armies will assemble and fight against "the nations."How many? Multitudes upon multitudes will pour into the "valley of decision," aka "the Valley of Jehoshaphat." Therefore, alot. The Lord will wipe them out.
Verses 17-21 describes the Millennial Kingdom and complete restoration- Yay!
To sum up Joel is quite simple. God has promised complete restoration. Those who do not choose God (or, better, who are not chosen by God), will fall in with the "multitude of nations," that will come face-to-face with God in the valley of decision. I want to be on God's side in this epic end times event. Why? Because I want to inhabit the place where, "the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with water; and a spring will go out form the house of the Lord to water the Valley of Shittim." Sounds like a nice place, much better than being included in this group, "Egypt will become a waste, and Edom will become a desolate wilderness, b/c of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood. But Judah will be inhabited forever (I want to be here) and Jerusalem for generations (here too). And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged (don't want to be avenged upon).
So then, faith in God? If you say YAY, then relax and wait for that great day. If you say NAY, then pray that God will open your eyes and soften your heart so we can hang out together in the Millennial Kingdom and drink some sweet milk that flows from the hills! Sounds too idealistic? Well, it's better than the alternative..
For practical purposes, lets live today in light of that promised future. For our God is great and worthy to be praise and adored. Let's let our life be a "sweet fragrance" wafting up to the divine nostrils of God! Amen
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