©Clay Eldridge
Chapter 3:9-16 (ESV) - 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.
Beat your plowshares into swords,
and your pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
Hasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O LORD.
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.
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.
Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near
in the valley of decision.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
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.
Question to consider: Where else in scripture do we hear the phrase, “the harvest is ripe?”
One of the reasons I believe that Joel wrote at the time of Micah (and an elderly Isaiah) instead of Amos was in his use of the phrase, “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears.” Joel was to warn the nations that the LORD’s sword would be used against them as well. Phrases like this are colloquial and can give clues about the time in which they were given. If he lived in Roman times, he would have warned the nations to “gird up their loins.” Micah and Isaiah turned this phrase around to proclaim the peace of God that would ultimately come through Christ in the everlasting covenant described in Jeremiah 31.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s study, there was a sense in which the nations who opposed Jerusalem during their siege were judged by the same sword the LORD used to topple the holy city, but that ultimately, the LORD poured out His wrath upon Christ on the cross, and the time since then has involved the enemies of Christ either being reconciled to Him in faith or being separated from Him in judgment.
Look at the phrase, “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.” In this oracle, it gives the sense that the ripe harvest is the wickedness of the nations being ripe for judgment. Jesus also used this phrase with the disciples after encountering the woman at the well, “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.” (John 4:35-36)
As Jesus mentioned to Nicodemus in the chapter before the woman at the well, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:17-18)
The multitudes of the nations stand condemned before a perfectly righteous God and are worthy of the winepress of God’s wrath. Christ came and bore this wrath for us on the cross so that we may receive mercy instead of judgment. We are in the valley of decision. Choose today whom you will serve.
We think of “nations” as a piece of land being surrounded by a border. However, Joel would have defined nations by the gods they worshiped. Those who come to the LORD in faith become His people. He is their refuge. Those who harden their hearts against the LORD hear His roar from Zion. As the writer of Hebrews said, “Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:28-31)
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for sending Christ into a world that is facing judgment that we may instead receive His righteousness and mercy. Please forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.