A Refuge Within Judgment
Keith Kneeshaw
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:19:55
0 ratings
· 6 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
--- Title Slide
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Reading (“Please stand…”)
“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
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,
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.
“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.
For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.
You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border.
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.
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.”
Just so you know that we are going to get to some good news...
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.
“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it.
“And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.
---
Pray...
Intro:
Intro:
When you look around at the world,
do you ever wonder why God allows it all?
Genocides (Holocaust, Darfur in the Sudan, Rwanda- Hutu’s/Tutsi’s)
Millions of people lost their lives.
A twisting of sexuality (pornography, sex trafficking, abuse)...
Dishonesty and deceit.
Lying and stealing seem to be accepted form today.
But where is God?
What is he doing?
Why does he not intervene on a mass scale?
These questions are not new.
Actually, God’s people have been asking this type of question for centuries...
“How long, O Lord?”
And actually,
we see this question before the throne of God.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.
They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
But God’s answer is astounding...
Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
What we are instinctively crying out for...
is God to move against the sinfulness of this world.
But that is rooted in a concept that is not very popular in modern thought.
God’s Judgment for Sin
God’s Judgment for Sin
This concept is all over the Minor Prophets.
The evil of people and nations.
And God saying that judgment is coming unless they repent.
Then, God bringing in his righteous judgment.
(v. 2) “gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat”
The word “Jehoshaphat” means “Yahweh judges”
“I will enter into judgment with them”
Why? (v. 2b-3)
“because they have divided up my land,
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.”
Both Obadiah and Nahum speak of casting lots over refugees,
which then lead to the horrors that come with the capture of a city
by a foreign army.
Often times, the soldiers of victorious armies took boys and girls,
and sold them as slaves.
(older people were killed off)
In Joel 3, these children were regarded so cheaply...
selling them as slaves only bought a single night of debauchery
or only a drink of wine.
Amos 2 speaks of the devaluing of people,
“they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— “
The Old Testament several times speaks of “gathering” the nations for judgment.
Similar to Zeph 3:8—“I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them.”
Here is the description of the judgment.
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 language of the destruction of the cosmos...
is often used to figuratively describe the end of a nation.
“Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
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.
The imagery of the harvest...
Joel is the only prophets that uses both harvest and treading the wine press..
and both are describing judgment.
This is the reversal of Joel 2:24 (not on screen)
“The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”
So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.
That ought to have us weep over our sin...
over our friends who are not right with the Lord.
This is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
B/c this was due to them for their rebellion against God.
Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Remember Joel 3:4 speaks of this judgment falling on Tyre and Sidon...
But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
-
The Cross
The biggest proof that God means what he says about judgment on sin...
is the cross.
Why would God send his own Son to die a horrific death,
unless that was the only way to bring salvation?
Jesus incurs the judgment that his people deserve.
The wrath of God was poured out on Jesus,
so we could be brought into his family
God’s Justice for His People
God’s Justice for His People
Often times,
people that have a hard time accepting the judgment of God...
at the same time,
demand that he act against injustice.
But if you think about it,
you can’t have it both ways.
If you correctly protest against something like (v. 3)
“cast lots for my people”, traded a boy for a prostitute”, “sold a girl for wine”
You are correct to call that abhorrent.
However, when you then expect God to move against that behavior...
you are calling for justice.
Yet, God can’t call something “unjust”...
without calling it deserving of judgment.
So think of the inconsistency of the thinking: “Wanting justice, but not judgment.”
Wrongs pushed back. Abuser punished.
Yet, when that same discussion ends up on God judges evil,
then people say “God is a vengeful God.”
B/c the same truth that would move him against injustice...
is the same truth that causes him to judge sin.
What is the nuance in our thinking when we claim justice but not judgment?
We rate degrees of evil.
God needs to move against the really bad stuff (murder, rape, oppression),
but the minor stuff (the sin of suburban life),
that doesn’t really deserve his judgment and wrath.
(v. 1)
joel 3:1 ““For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,”
Ways for referring to God’s People:
Jerusalem/Zion
Judah
The people of Jerusalem andJudah
People of Israel
“I will enter into judgment… on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel” (v. 7)
The enemies in Joel are doing this to God’s people.
(v. 2b) “they have scattered them...”
It is noteworthy that God considers attacks upon Israel to be directed at him.
God repays the nations in proportion to how they treat Israel (see esp. Obad 15). The principle that those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed (Gen 12:3) has been worked out many times in history.
“his people”, “the people of Israel”
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.
“How long, O Lord?”
Psalm 82:1–2 (ESV)
God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
-
App. Vengeance is the Lord’s
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Patiently wait for God...
Knowing that he promises to restore things to how they ought to be.
God’s Restoration for His People
God’s Restoration for His People
(v. 19) Where the nations “shed” (poured out, shapak) blood,
the Lord “poured out” (shapak, same Hebrew word) his Spirit.
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.
“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it.
you shall know that I am the Lord your God.
Judgment and salvation lead to knowledge of the covenant Lord,
his presence, and the removal of the people’s shame (see 2:27).
refuge. Cf. Ps. 73:28; 91:2, 9. stronghold. Cf. Ps. 27:1; 37:39; Isa. 25:4.
“And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.
“Dwells”
In Joel 3:16–18 the appearance of God comes from “Zion” and is in the “holy mountain” and is inextricably linked to “the house of the Lord.”
The emphasis on God’s “tabernacling” presence in the temple at the end of Joel 3 is also expressed through the twice-repeated phrase “Yahweh tabernacles [šōkēn] in Zion” (3:17, 21).
it denotes the promise of God’s intimate residence among his people (cf. Rev. 21:3).
3:20 The Lord’s residence in Zion (vv. 17, 21) coincides with that of his people living in unending security.
“Water” and a “Foundation”
The river in Ezek. 47:8–9, 12 “purifies” (lit., “heals”) much water (cf. the “[pure] river” in Rev. 22:1), gives “life” to the creatures swimming in it and causes trees to grow whose “leaves are for healing.” Ezekiel’s river is the source that renovates the natural world and symbolizes God’s fellowship with his people (cf. Isa. 35:6–9; 41:17–20; 43:18–20; Joel 3:18).
Joel underscores that Israel’s eschatological blessing will include a return to Edenic conditions (cf. 2:3 with 3:18–20).
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
The dialogue about “living water” and quenching spiritual “thirst” in John 4 finds unique correspondence with John 7:37–39, where again “living water” is a symbol for the “Spirit” that quenches “thirst.”
John 7:38 is an allusion to three OT prophecies (Ezek. 47:1–12; Joel 3:18; Zech. 14:8) about the end-time temple that are beginning fulfillment in Jesus and his followers.
Zech. 14:8, predicts that “living water will flow out of Jerusalem” and is connected later with all of the city and all of Judah becoming as “holy” as the temple itself (14:20–21).
In light of the OT background, where waters were to flow out of the end-time temple, Jesus is seen as the beginning of that temple, sending forth his Spirit to give life.
And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
The remainder of v. 6 shows that the two titles provide assurance that God in His absolute sovereignty is able to give blessings to His redeemed people: I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.
---
Pray
Closing Song:
Benediction:
Extra Stuff:
Extra Stuff: