8 - Return: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.
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Return: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Joel 3:1-15
1 “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land,
3 and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
4 “What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily.
5 For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.
6 You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border.
7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head.
8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”
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.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
11 Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O Lord.
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.
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.
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 the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
1. Introduction – So we have 2 weeks left in the book of Joel. 2 Sundays and they we are on to Advent.
a. And this week and next week we are going to be exploring the twin themes that were introduced at the end of last weeks’ sermon.
i. The Bible always holds blessing and Judgment in tension with each other.
1. Especially when it comes to the Day of the Lord of the end of time…
a. The Bible always speaks of it either as a day of blessing or a day of judgment.
i. And how you experience the day of the Lord is based on the decision you made about God in this lifetime.
b. Joel is bringing his prophecy to a close and he closes his prophecy by zooming in his main theme – the day of the Lord.
i. Last week the day of the Lord was introduced using a wide angled lens.
1. The picture was painted with broad sweeping strokes…but this week we zoom in.
a. The telescopic lens has been put on and we are looking at the details of the day of the Lord rather than the picture as a whole.
ii. This whole chapter explores what happens on the day of the Lord. What happens to people who reject God?
1. Well, that question is answered in today’s passage…vv.1-15.
a. What happens to those who repent and turn back to God? That question will be answered next week.
c. As we close out this study, I want to emphasize the fact that the day of the Lord is the main theme…the theme…of this book.
i. The book isn’t about locusts or armies…not even repentance.
1. It’s not even primarily about the sending of the Holy Spirit.
a. Do all of these sub-themes enhance the main theme? Absolutely! Each scene is a foretaste….a harbinger of the day of the Lord when God brings history to its God-ordained end.
i. The day of the Lord is great and awesome…who is able to endure it?
1. We’ve seen that those who repent of their sin and turn back to a gracious and merciful and loving God are able to survive…
2. But what happens to those who don’t heed the prophet’s words? What happens to those people who willfully reject God? To those who choose NOT to repent?
a. Well, for them… the day of the Lord will be a terrible day…a day of reckoning…a day of judgment.
i. Hear God’s Word…Joel 3:1-15.
d. So, there’s a lot going on here….a lot of images to sort through…a lot of doomsday talk.
i. What’s going on in this scene? Well, here’s how I want us to think about this passage.
1. Think of it like a courtroom scene. The nations are on trial. Those who persecuted God’s people…those who pillaged God’s land…they are being tried.
a. And I want you to picture it this way. Picture God has the prosecuting attorney…the crown attorney…That’s what’s happening here.
i. God is presenting evidence of guilt…evidence that proves beyond a shadow of the doubt that the nations mistreated God’s people, and ultimately sinned against God himself.
ii. In vv.1-3 this is what’s happening…God, the crown attorney is presenting his case.
1. After making his casing and presenting the evidence…in the next few verses God switches roles.
a. In vv.4-8, God is no longer the crown attorney but now he takes on the role of Judge.
i. And in vv.4-8, God is laying out his verdict and the appropriate judgment for the crimes committed.
iii. So that’s vv.1-8 and in vv.9-15, we have what’s known as a taunt song.
1. We saw a taunt song at the end of the book of Revelation…in chapter 18 when Babylon fell…as the world’s empires came crashing down…the mighty angel sang a taunt song.
a. And here in Joel, as the nations are pronounced guilty for the crimes they committed against God’s people…
i. They are called to take up arms and got to war in battle they can’t possibly win….called to a battle that they will not win because their guilty verdict has already been rendered.
iv. So that’s the passage in broad strokes so we can understand the basic flow of the passage.
1. So now let’s focus on the parts and try to understand what is written and why it is was written.
2. The Evidence – So we’ve all seen enough court room shows to picture who this works.
a. God…on his day…will vindicate his people…and judge all those who opposed them.
i. And what is happening here is God is laying out the evidence of his peoples’ mistreatment.
1. After promising to restore the fortunes of his people…something we’ll look at next week…God begins to build his case against the nations.
ii. God says he will gather the nations….And whenever the day of the Lord is mentioned in the Bible, there’s always this aspect of gathering the nations…a reckoning.
1. God says he will gather the nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat. Now, who’s Jehoshaphat?
a. Well, he was a king of Judah…you can read about him in 1 Kings 22.
i. Why is he mentioned here? Well, Jehoshaphat led a battle in a valley just south of Bethlehem…
1. So God, could be giving a geographical clue about the location of this judgment. God will gather the nations in the same valley Jehoshaphat led a battle….
a. But I don’t believe that’s what’s going on here.
iii. More than likely it is a play on words. God is gathering the nations in order to judge them…and he’s going to gather them in the valley of Jehoshaphat…does anyone know what Jehoshaphat means?
1. Was it high on the list as you were naming your sons??? Jehoshaphat means YHWH judges of the Lord Judges.
a. So God most likely isn’t giving a geographical indicator, but he will gather the nations together and judge them according to the deeds because he is the Lord who judges.
b. And the crimes that are explicitly mentioned are crimes that degraded human life and misused the Promised Land.
i. God charges the nations with enslaving his people and sending them to far off lands.
1. To understand the seriousness of this charge, we have to grasp how important the physical land was to ancient Israel.
a. It was their inheritance from God. It was land that was promised to Abe, Ike, and Jake,
i. And land that they conquered, sorta, under Joshua.
1. It was land that was defended by David…and land that was lost because of covenant unfaithfulness.
a. But in God’s covenant with Israel, there was always a caveat about repenting and returning to their land.
ii. So to have the Promised Land divided up among nations that weren’t God’s people was offensive…
1. And to then sell the inhabitants…God’s people in to slaver for nothing….to move them to far away countries was downright despicable.
a. That’s why the Greeks are mentioned in v.6. Greece was a land far removed from the Promised Land.
iii. That’s the charge God is bringing against the nations…selling God’s people for cheap…not respecting the dignity and sanctity of every human life.
1. Selling the young off for the price of fleeting pleasures.
c. There’s a reminder in there for us to treat everyone with respect.
i. Every person who has ever been born has been made in the image of God.
1. But when we lose that perspective – when we don’t see them as image bearers…we instead start to use and abuse the people around us.
a. Remember to treat people with dignity and respect…whether we think they deserve it or not…because everyone is bearing the image of our God.
3. All Rise – And as we move into vv.4-8, God switches hats. You can almost hear the bailiff say, “All rise…”
a. God has presented his evidence against the nations. He has proven their wrongdoing…and now God stands in the valley of Jehoshaphat as judge.
i. Now, instead of detailing the nations crimes against humanity…he is instead giving his verdict and punishment.
1. And the judgment described in vv.4-8 can be labeled something like this – just desserts…or what goes around comes around.
b. God’s ruling starts almost sarcastically… “Do you have something against me? Are you attempting to get retribution for a wrong I have committed against you?”
i. And God says at the end of v.4, if that’s what you’re doing…I’m going to now repay you!
1. And the punishment doled out on the nations is exactly what the nations did to Israel.
a. Their young will be sold off…and the people will be moved to a faraway land.
c. There are a couple people groups mentioned here…here’s why they are mentioned.
i. First the Greeks are mentioned. The people of Tyre and Sidon traded with the Greeks…sold Israelite slaves to them.
1. The Greeks however, were a sea-faring nation…and the Israelites had a tremendous fear of the sea.
a. The Israelites were sold for fleeting pleasures…to a place they feared the most.
ii. Next, the text mentions the Sabeans or the Arabians.
1. Here’s why they are mentioned. The nations of Tyre and Sidon were port nations…sea faring, like the Greeks.
a. The Sabeans were desert nomads…living in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula…think Yemen.
i. So…since Tyre and Sidon sold the Israelites off for cheap to a faraway land they feared…
1. So too, God was going to do the exact same thing to Tyre and Sidon.
a. He was going to judge them by selling these water loving people off to desert nomads…to a land they feared.
d. What goes around comes around…This is an example of the biblical principle of an eye for an eye.
i. It was in place to make sure the punishment fit the crime….not less and not more.
1. If you stole a sheep…a sheep was taken from you for retribution.
a. If you knocked someone’s tooth out in fight…your tooth was knocked out.
i. If you steal young people and sell them off for cheap to a feared land…you will be sold for cheap and sent to a faraway land you are afraid of.
ii. And what we have to grasp is that this isn’t some form of petty human revenge or retribution.
1. This is divine justice. God enacting his right to judge sins committed against his people and ultimately sins committed against him.
4. Taunt Song – And as we move into vv.9-15, we come to what can only be described a taunt song.
a. After the judgment is land out, the nations are summoned to a war…a war they can’t possibly win.
i. What I want us to take not of in particular in this section is v.10.
1. It’s a familiar statement…found in both Isaiah and Micah…except there it’s the opposite of Joel…or maybe Joel is opposite of them.
a. Isaiah and Micah talk about beating swords into ploughshares.
i. Joel on the other hand talks about turning agricultural tools and turning them in to weapons.
b. Why the difference? Well, the prophecies of Micah and Isaiah speaking about a time of peace…after the coming of God’s kingdom…after the coming of his Messiah…a time of peace AFTER judging the world.
i. Joel, however, is writing about a time prior to that.
1. A time when the nations will take up arms against God in an attempt to thwart his plan and his rule.
ii. Obviously, their plans will not come to fruition – no one or no army can ever thwart God’s rule, plan or judgments.
1. They will be stomped in a winepress…an image we saw in Revelation…trampled on in judgment.
5. For Us Today – And really quickly as we close, I want us to ponder what all this judgment talks has to do with us today.
a. Well, for us today is a reminder that our decisions matter. Decisions have consequences.
i. Very early on in her life we taught Veronica the word ‘consequences…’ There are consequences for inappropriate behaviour. You throw a toy, that toy might break…that’s a natural consequence of your actions.
1. There are consequences for bad decisions…And just because we taught her the word didn’t stop her from making bad decisions…over and over again.
b. And in looking at this passage today…we can see clearly that decisions have consequences…sell people for cheap…you will be sold for cheap.
i. Persecute God’s people…and in the end, God will persecute you.
1. But in reality, that ultimate decision/consequence is this…
a. Choose to reject God in this life…and you will be rejected by God in the next…that’s a natural consequence of the decision that was made.
c. Decisions matter – big decisions matter…little decisions matter.
i. And what you decided about God ultimately matters.
1. Notice in v.14, the name of the valley changes from Jehoshaphat to the valley of decisions.
a. There God will make his decision about our decisions.
6. Conclusion – For the last few weeks, and what we’ll return to next week…we’ve looked at the consequences of deciding for God.
a. If we choose to repent, to return to God…our gracious, loving and merciful God will bless us, restore us and pour out his Spirit on us.
i. But – there’s a flipside that always has to be looked at.
1. Because along with blessing comes judgment…judging those who choose to reject God.
a. It’s a reminder that we must choose God’s ways.
i. That we must be sharing God’s way with our loved and ones and anyone we come in contact with.
b. Next week, we’ll finish this study by looking at more ways God’s blesses his people.
i. We’ll finish on a high note as we look to the future…we look beyond the immediate promised blessings…
1. And we look at the forever kind of blessing God has in store for those who repent, return to him and decided to follow him.