Lesson #05

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Joel

September 21, 2015

Lesson #01

January 7, 2010

Lesson #02

January 7, 2010

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JOEL 3
Lesson #05
THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON AND CHRIST’S COMING

• Memory Verse: Joe 3:20
• Read Joe 3:1-21
  • Joel continues his discussion of the Day of the Lord. Within that time period of 1007 years, Joel magnifies one major event. That event is the Battle of Armageddon that will occur at the end of the tribulation period of 7 years.
    • How do we know this scripture refers to the Day of the Lord?
      • In verse 1 Joel says, “…in those days, and in that time…” which takes us back to his discussion of the Day of the Lord in chapter 2.

 

• “…when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem.”

 

(1)
• During the last half of the tribulation period, the Antichrist will take the Jews captive to Egypt and come against the city of Jerusalem.
• How do we know this scripture refers to the Battle of Armageddon? (Rev 16:16)
  • Verse 2 mentions the valley of Jehoshaphat.
    • The valley of Jehoshaphat in Israel is the location of the battle of Armageddon.
      • The name, Jehoshaphat, means = Jehovah has judged.
        • Therefore the name, Valley of Jehoshaphat, is primarily symbolic of God’s judgment on the nations of the world.
      • The valley of Jehoshaphat appears to be the ravine between the city of Jerusalem and the garden of Gethsemane that is officially called the Kidron Valley.
    • The Battle of Armageddon begins on the plain of Jezreel near the ruined city of Megiddo and moves south through the Valley of Esdraelon into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, past Jerusalem as far south as Bozrah. (Isa 34:1-10 Isa 63:1-4)
      • The name Armageddon comes from the city of Megiddo and means Mount of Megiddo.
      • This area is a natural battlefield and almost every army that has marched through Israel has fought a battle here.
    • Why will this battlefield be the location of the Battle of Armageddon?
      • The kings descended from the lineage of David were dealt a severe blow when the good king, Josiah, was killed here. (2Kin 23 2Chr 35). Christ will avenge that death and establish His royal link to the lineage of David. Christ’s second coming re-establishes the kingdom of David in the millennium.
  • Verse 2 says that God will gather all nations. No war in the history of man has involved all nations of the world. It is because all nations are involved in the Battle of Armageddon that the Bible calls this point in time, in this specific location, as “the valley of decision”. (14)
• God’s reasons for judging all nations of the world at the Battle of Armageddon: (2)
  • The nations of the world through history have not favored the Jews. Instead they have persecuted God’s chosen people. Therefore, God will judge them. (2)
    • Persecution of the Jews through history has scattered the Jews over the face of the world.
      • Yes, the Jews have deserved punishment for their rejection of God in their unbelief and their worship of idols. However, they remain God’s chosen people. Therefore, nations of the world will answer to blocking God’s promise made to Abraham to bless the Jews.
        • Read Gen 12:3
  • God will judge the nations of the world for fighting over and possessing the Promised Land. (2)
    • God has not only set apart a people, the Jews, He has set apart a geographical location. Both the Jews and the Promised Land are God’s model or an example in the world of God’s dealing with man.
      • If the Jews were just like any other people in the world, we would not have the following knowledge of God:
        • We would not have God’s Word, the Bible, passed down through the generations.
        • We would not have God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who came through the blood line of the Jews.
      • If the Promised Land was just like any other piece of geography in the world, we would not see the nations of the world so perplexed over its ownership.
        • Read Zec 12:3
    • God will judge the nations to determine what nations and people will enter into His millennial kingdom on earth. (Mat 5:3)
      • Read Mat 25:31-46
        • God will judge as to how they treated the Jews.
          • God will judge how they put God’s people in slavery and sold them for sex and profit. (3-8)
            • God’s judgment on Tyre and Sidon, Phoenician trading cities, has already been fulfilled. (4)
            • Therefore, all the nations can look at history and see God’s judgment on Tyre and Sidon for what they did to God’s people and know that they were just an example of God’s coming judgment on nations that mistreat the Jews.
• The world prepares for war (9-10)
  • The tribulation period will be so filled with talk of war that nations will make weapons instead of products that promote a peaceful society.
    • It is interesting the wording in verse 10.

 

• “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears…”

 

• Read Isa 2:4
  • This passage in Isaiah refers to the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth. After the Battle of Armageddon, Christ will establish His kingdom in peace. There will be no war for 1000 years.

 

• “…come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.”

 

(12)
• God will judge all the living non-believers at the time of His second coming to earth. Therefore, at the end of the Battle of Armageddon, all non-believers will be dead. Only living believers will survive the plagues and the persecutions of the tribulation period and the Battle of Armageddon.
  • That is why Jesus said that only believers inherit the kingdom (Mat 5).
• The Reaping of the harvest (13)
  • Periodically through the Bible, there is mention of a symbolic harvest.
    • Remember Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares that grow together until the final harvest. (Mat 13:24-30)
      • The Battle of Armageddon is that harvest.
        • Read Rev 14:14-20
          • The Battle of Armageddon is symbolized by a winepress. However, it is not grapes that go into this winepress; it is the bodies of humans. It is not grape juice that comes out of this winepress; it is blood.
            • The blood will extend for 184 miles from the city of Meggido to the city of Bozrah.

 

• “…the valley of decision…”

 

(14)
• The initial focus of the Battle of Armageddon is nation against nation. This is a world war that threatens the existence of all human life on earth. Because of that, God will intervene by sending Jesus Christ to earth in the middle of this battle. When people see Jesus coming in the clouds, which is when they must make a decision.
  • It is at that point that a large number of people will decide to fight against Christ and his coming. It will not be a passive rejection, but an active rejection to the death. (Zec 14:1-13) (Rev 19:19)
• Of the population of the earth at that time, one third of the population of the earth will die in this battle. (Rev 9:15, 21 Zep 3:9)
  • Many people will die in the battle, many will die from the plagues at the end of the tribulation, and many will die in the earthquake that occurs when Jesus’ foot touches the Mount of Olives at His second coming. (Zep 3:8)
    • This earthquake will go around the world and change the face of the earth. (Zec 14:4-7)
• Humans get to choose their destiny. They can either choose Jesus Christ as their Lord or they can reject Him. However, man’s eternal destiny is at stake. For those who reject Christ, there is physical death at the Battle of Armageddon. For those who accept Christ as their Lord, there is life in the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ for 1000 years.
• Heavenly signs of the Battle of Armageddon and the second coming of Christ (15-16)
  • Read Mat 24: 29-30
• The millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth (17)

 

• “So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.”

 

(17)
• Christ’s rule on earth is the beginning of a new system of world government under Christ. He will rule from Jerusalem.
• The earth will be cleansed and produce abundantly during Christ’s reign.
  • There will be abundant water through the 1000 years.
    • The exceptions:
      • Egypt will be desolate. (19)
        • Why will there be this exception to an abundant life through the entire world?
          • Egypt has always been Israel’s enemy through the Bible.
          • Egypt was the place of slavery and bondage for God’s people until God brought them out of Egypt under Moses.
          • Egypt will be the place of slavery and bondage for God’s people in the tribulation period under the Antichrist.
        • This punishment of desolation on Egypt will last only for forty years at the beginning of the millennial kingdom. (Eze 29:10-12)
      • Edom will be desolate. (19)
        • Edom has always been an enemy of Israel. Edom is called Jordan today.
          • Edom began with Esau and represents the age old conflict between the Jews and the Arabs. They were blood brothers but Edom treated the Israelites as enemies.
          • Edom refused Israel hospitality when they were wandering in the wilderness with Moses. (Num 20:14-18)

 

• “But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.”

 

(20-21)
• Joel ends his book on a positive note of promise, vindication, and restoration physically and spiritually.
• Summary and Application:
  • Our theme to consider in this book is living through the consequences of sin.
    • Israel has had centuries of sin piled up and continues to reap the consequences of sin which has been:
      • World-wide dispersion.
      • Anti-Semitism.
      • Hatred by all people.
      • A lack of God’s full blessing.
      • A loss of their land many times over.
      • No spiritual direction.
    • Whether as nations or as individuals, people living with the consequences of sin have a remedy of which God’s promises to Israel are the answer.
      • Through the book of Joel, God gave the prophecy that had its first partial fulfillment on the day of Pentecost with the giving of the Holy Spirit. (Joel 2)
        • The Holy Spirit is here to help the believer, to guide him, to teach him, and to give him power to live the Christian life. The promise is ultimate blessing and restoration.
      • Therefore, when living with the consequences of sin, you should remember these things:
        • =1= There is forgiveness of sin only in Jesus Christ for those who call upon Him.
        • =2= Ask God to forgive you of your sin.
          • Don’t wait for the “valley of decision”; make that decision today to follow Christ as your Lord and Savior.
        • =3= By faith thank Him for His forgiveness. (1Joh 1:9)
        • =4= Ask God to show you what you can learn from the consequences that you have to bear.
          • Remember that there is a difference between forgiveness and consequences. God will always forgive sin, but He does not always lift the consequences of it. Because the believer sometimes bears the consequences of sin does not mean he is not forgiven, for that is a lie from the devil.
          • Remember that our sovereign God could remove the consequences of sin but that He leaves them so that we might learn from them.
        • =5- Ask God to help you bear the consequences with the power of the Holy Spirit that lives inside of the believer who has received Jesus Christ into his heart and life.
        • =6= Ask God to give you joy and contentment in life even though you have consequences to bear. (The book of Philippians will help you with this.)

The End
May God give you an abundance of grace and mercy as you live for Him!