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Joel 3:1-3

Lesson # Joel 3:1-3 Study Material - Joel 3:1-3 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Joel 3:1-3 1 For, behold, in those days [yowm] , and in that time [eth] , when I shall bring again [shuwb] [shuwb] the captivity [shabuwth] of Judah [Yahuwdah] and Jerusalem [Yaruwshalaim] , 2 I will also gather [qabats] all nations [gowy] , and will bring them down [yarad] into the valley [emeq] of Jehoshaphat [Yahowshaphat] , and will plead [shaphat] with them there for my people [am] and for my heritage [nachalah] Israel [Yisra'el] , whom they have scattered [pazar] among the nations [gowy] , and parted [chalaq] my land [erets] . 3 And they have cast [yadad] lots [gowral] for my people [am] ; and have given [nathan] a boy [yeled] for an harlot [zanah] , and sold [makar] a girl [yaldah] for wine [yayin] , that they might drink [shathah] . KJV-Interlinear 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. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land. 3 'They have also cast lots for My people, Traded a boy for a harlot, And sold a girl for wine that they may drink. NASB The days of fortune restoration are identified. This is the end of the dispensation of the Age of Israel, which is the end of the Tribulation, which is future to our current day. This is the year of redemption of the nation of Israel, the year of their recompense from all that has been taken from them throughout the ages, and the year of their final jubilee when all their debts and obligations are finally removed and canceled from history. Throughout history, the world (in its form as enemy of God and Gods people), has treated God and His people with total repulsiveness. Of the genetic Jewish race, they have been treated as scapegoats for thousands of years. For Christians in general, the world treats us all as though we have no right to exist. Rebelling not only against Christians in general, but rebelling totally against God. Such is the course of history, which as we have studied already, must run its course. Recall that God controls history, and He does it in three ways - directly through His essence, indirectly through the laws of establishment, and permissively through the volition of mankind which He permits to function freely. Much of the free will of man activity is permitted by God to a degree and within certain boundaries. For instance God permits bad nations to attack His people for the purpose of punishing them for their negative attitude toward Him. However, this does not make the attacks right. Nations are collections of people. People have spiritual lives or they are lacking spiritual lives. Regardless of the spiritual status of any nation, all peoples have knowledge of God and are held to account for their recognition, or their rejection, of His sovereignty. God alone has the right to judge and to punish. But through history, people run their lives apart from Gods will. Believers or the nation so Israel, can be positive toward God and they receive blessing. When they depart from Gods will, then they expose themselves to the laws of the jungle. There they live without any protection. There rogue nations have their way with believers or the nation of Israel. The Book of Judges is an account of Israel's constant falling away from God, and the consequences of their decisions where invasion after invasion by other nations take place. In 70 A.D. Rome finally invaded a very negative Judea. Throughout the centuries the Jewish peoples have faced trouble upon trouble due to their negative attitude or rejection toward God (Jesus Christ). God permitted these actions by other nations against Israel. But this did not give other nations the right to take action against Israel, the Jewish peoples, or Christians in general. Everyone on earth is held accountable for their actions and for their recognition or lack of it, of Gods sovereignty over all things, Lam. 5:2; Mic. 2:4. Thus the arrogance of the nations (collectively all nations throughout history) will lead them to the final days of the Tribulation wherein they will be gathered in the Middle East for what they believe is their right to conquest, but is in fact Gods calling them together (by permitting them to gather) for their own final judgment. Psa. 68:18 18 Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captive Thy captives; Thou hast received gifts among men, Even among the rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell there. NASB Rev 13:10 10 If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. NASB The nations seek conquest and to subdue those whom they have no right to subdue, therefore God will turn history and their intentions back onto themselves. The hunters will become the hunted, the pursuers will become the pursued. Those who would judge the innocent, will themselves be judged. All the nations have made themselves liable to the judgment of God for wrong done to his people throughout history. Those who have combined together against Gods people, with one consent, Psa. 83:5, may together in the last days, receive their own deserved doom. This will take place in an unidentified place named the Valley of Jehoshaphat which is near Jerusalem. There has never been a valley named with that name in history. Some presume that it will be a new valley which will be opened up with a violent earthquake, others believe it is the valley between Jerusalem and the Mt. of Olives. Others believe it is the Valley of Kidron to the east of Jerusalem. More than eight centuries BC, King Jehoshaphat had gained a victory over the allied army of the neighboring peoples - Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites - who had united their forces against Jerusalem. This was in the valley of Berachah, 2 Chron. 20:26, which means valley of blessing because the victory was a blessing. But the Valley of Jehoshaphat means 'the Lord judges' or the 'valley of decision.' So the location is not really the point of the naming of the valley by Joel, it is the purpose of the gathering of the nations. And that is for their final judgment. The nations will in fact have huge armies and will be spread all throughout the Middle East and the world. All of them will be judged when Christ returns. Throughout history, nations have treated Gods people as though they have no value whatsoever. Thus the selling of children for the lusts of the senses, 'Traded a boy for a harlot, And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.' But that which belongs to God is of higher value than anything in the universe, far greater than gold, far greater than anything of value imaginable. Yet the world treats these treasures (Gods chosen) as less then a drink or a few minutes of corrupt sensual gratification. Both of which last but a few minutes and then are no more. The world then, (those people who are anti-God, or are negative toward God, or compromise their spiritual life away) are fools in that they see their own personal desires, their own personal attitudes, their own personal beliefs as better than the wisdom of God. Therefore God gives them exactly what they deserve a life without Him, and all the chaos of oblivion which goes along with it. In order to protect His people, God finally destroys all of the nations because they are bent on the destruction of the entire world. End of lesson. Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.

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