Salt & Light Blog

Joel 3 Why will God Judge the Nations?

11/15/2015

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. Revelation 19:11

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:11-16

Joel 3
We are in the end times. The signs are all around us. Since the day Jesus ascended to Heaven and gave us His Holy Spirit, we have begun preparing for His Return, for the Day of The LORD. It is becoming clearer and clearer that the world is getting closer to that Terrific Day. Why will The Lord take His retribution? Why will He judge the nations? Because He is a God of Love and He will not let His people, His children be attacked, hurt, and enslaved forever. He is Love and so He is our Justice and our vengeance. Verses 1-8 describe the crimes against God’s people.
“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.”
People either war against God or are at peace with Him, there is no other choice, there is no middle ground. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as savior, you are at war with God. Romans 5:9-11 says it this way,
“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
In verses 9-12 Joel tells those enemies of the Lord to prepare for the battle on the Day of The LORD.
“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.”

As believers we have something else to look forward to. We’ve been fighting the enemy all along. And after that Day when everyone is judged we will no longer have to fight. Jesus, our Righteousness and Justice is our Peace and war will no longer be necessary. Isaiah 2:4 says,
“He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore.”
The lost have been living it up getting a much pleasure and money in this temporary life, proclaiming YOLO as excuse for hedonism. That Day will come as a surprise to them and they will suddenly be faced with a war bigger than they can fathom. They will take the tools they used to get rich and indulge themselves and try and fight and they will die. But believers have been prepared, we’ve been fighting a war since we were re-born as God’s sons and daughters. We will take those weapons of prayer, the Sword of the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit, and fellowship with God and we will use them to live well with Him in eternity.
The signs are clear. Even for the person who has never read the Bible it is obvious that the world is decaying faster and faster. Yes, we have always had wars and terrible ones, worse than we now fight. Yes, we have had evil throughout the ages. But now the world is one where evil is promulgated faster than even news reporters can tell it. It propagates quickly and it affects the entire world, not only a community, a city, or a nation. These tragedies we see so very often, the Holocaust, 9/11, Boston Marathon, Paris, and the many others that come to mind, though perpetrated by evil men are calling people to repentance and reconciliation with God. The natural disasters the earthquakes, tsunamis, and super storms are crying out to lead people to God. Are people paying attention? Verses 13-16 read,
“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.
16 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.”
Will people seek the refuge of The Lord? It is not just a haven for now, but a peace for eternity. Verses 17-21 read,
“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.
18 “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.
19 “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.
20 But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
    and Jerusalem to all generations.
21 I will avenge their blood,
    blood I have not avenged,
    for the Lord dwells in Zion.”
Why will God release His wrath? Because He loves us. He adores us! He will not let this evil continue forever. One Day soon He will come riding triumphantly leading the angel armies. (Revelation 19:11-16). One Day soon He will come judge the nations and take His children home.

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Joel 2 The Day of the LORD

11/14/2015

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How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Romans 10:14-15

Joel 2
The Day of the LORD is coming. Most believers know it, but the lost don’t really understand. They have a skewed understanding of “The End.” They deserve to know the truth, but how can they know it if no one cares enough to tell them. The Day of The LORD is terrible for the lost. Terrible as in immense, terrifying intense, and causing great alarm. Verses 1-11 describe the army of The LORD on that Day.
“Blow a trumpet in Zion;
    sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
    a great and powerful people;
their like has never been before,
    nor will be again after them
    through the years of all generations.
3 Fire devours before them,
    and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
    but behind them a desolate wilderness,
    and nothing escapes them.
4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
    and like war horses they run.
5 As with the rumbling of chariots,
    they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
    devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
    drawn up for battle.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
    all faces grow pale.
7 Like warriors they charge;
    like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
    they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
    each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
    and are not halted.
9 They leap upon the city,
    they run upon the walls,
they climb up into the houses,
    they enter through the windows like a thief.
10 The earth quakes before them;
    the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 The Lord utters his voice
    before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
    he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome;
    who can endure it?”
The army will be bigger than we can even imagine, so big and powerful that its movement will be enough to destroy. No weapons will be useful against them. They will move to Jesus’ command and nothing can stop them. Even the earth itself will react.
When that trumpet, that shofar sounds it will be a call to repent. But the call has been out there for so long. The people have had so many chances that by the time that trumpet sounds, they won’t, and there will be no more opportunities. But there are chances now. It is not too late. Today is the day to call on God and be saved. The Lord is waiting for you to come to Him, but He will not wait forever. (2 Peter 3:9). He’s calling to the lost and He’s calling to believers to obey His great commission. (Matthew 28:16-20). Verses 12-14 read,
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13     and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
    and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
    for the Lord your God?”
Our obedience to Him, our proper worship of Him, and our praise and thanksgiving to Him are a living sacrifice and a testimony to the lost. (Romans 12:1-2). Philippians 1:27-30 reads,
“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.”
But we also have to tell them! In Mark 5:19 Jesus said, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
We need to take The Day of The LORD seriously. Jesus is coming. That is terrible for the lost and wonderful for us. But we love the lost. We can’t just party like it’s 1999 and not care that they are dying. Let’s earnestly pray, let’s seriously obey and minister to The Lord. Verses 15-17 read,
“Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16     gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
    assemble the elders;
gather the children,
    even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
    and the bride her chamber.
17 Between the vestibule and the altar
    let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
    and make not your heritage a reproach,
    a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?’”
Do you realize how much God loves us? Do you know that He has compassion for us and so He gives us what we need to be in this temporary home, called Earth? He has given us the tools to obey Him. He protects us from the thieving lying enemy. Verses 18-23 say,
“Then the Lord became jealous for his land
    and had pity on his people.
19 The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
    grain, wine, and oil,
    and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
    a reproach among the nations.
20 “I will remove the northerner far from you,
    and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard into the eastern sea,
    and his rear guard into the western sea;
the stench and foul smell of him will rise,
    for he has done great things.
21 “Fear not, O land;
    be glad and rejoice,
    for the Lord has done great things!
22 Fear not, you beasts of the field,
    for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit;
    the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
23 “Be glad, O children of Zion,
    and rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given the early rain for your vindication;
    he has poured down for you abundant rain,
    the early and the latter rain, as before.”
All that was taken by the enemy, will be restored to us. All that we sacrificed and lost for Jesus’ sake will be ours again. New Jerusalem, God’s own city on New Earth will be perfect and we will never want or cry or need. Verses 24-27 read,
“The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
    the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will restore to you the years
    that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
    my great army, which I sent among you.
26 “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
    and praise the name of the Lord your God,
    who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
    and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.”
And now in the meantime, we have still have God with us. Jesus, our Redeemer came. He gave us the Holy Spirit. God is with us! That is a big deal. Consider that magnitude of The LORD God Almighty being with you, in you, and around you. Reflect on the implications of the Creator of the entire universe working through you to accomplish His purposes! Verses 28-32 read,
“And it shall come to pass afterward,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your old men shall dream dreams,
    and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”
God speaks though us. He speaks through His Word. He speaks through signs and wonders. Everyone who calls on Jesus’ name will be saved, but how can they call on Him if they’ve never heard? God uses all of us who let Him.

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Joel 1 How Seriously are you Taking the Desperation, Deprivation and Depravity of the World?

11/13/2015

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Joel 1
Many people don’t seem to care about the state of our world. Live and let live invite all spirituality in. Coexist. We keep taking it and we are not even alarmed by the evil which passes for good in today’s world. This prophecy of an invasion of locusts and the lackadaisical attitude of Judah is very similar to our apathy to the state of the world and the state of our church. Verses 1-3 call us to sit up, pay attention, and tell our children.
“The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
2 Hear this, you elders;
    give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
    or in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children of it,
    and let your children tell their children,
    and their children to another generation.”
Is it really acceptable to see what is going on? Some people receive honor for hating themselves and mutilating their bodies, while others risk and sacrifice so much of who they are in war and come home to homelessness, poverty, and disabilities. We are told it is hateful to tell people about Jesus’ Salvation and loving to let people hate God by their lifestyles. Our fruit is being destroyed as we fall for the lies of the world, and without our fruit, how can there be a harvest? Verse 4 describes the enemy as locusts.
“What the cutting locust left,
    the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
    the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
    the destroying locust has eaten.”
Jesus described the enemy as a thief and compared him to himself in John 10:7-11,
“So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Locusts destroy everything, the leave nothing behind and nothing to salvage. The enemy wants to destroy, and he is destroying. And some of us are sitting back watching it happen. We have to wake up, open our eyes, take our eyes off our Christianese little lives where we freak out because a coffee company didn’t put Santa Claus on a cup, and pay attention to what matters. We are losing our Jesus’ harvest to the enemy. Our testimony is being destroyed by the enemy, and the fruit that is left looks withered and dry to the world. Verses 5-6 read,
“Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
    and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of the sweet wine,
    for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has come up against my land,
    powerful and beyond number;
its teeth are lions' teeth,
    and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vine
    and splintered my fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
    their branches are made white.”
The enemy is not just Satan. He is not a happy little devil doing mischief in the world. He is evil and he hates us and he hates God. He is your adversary, your enemy. (1 Peter 5:8-9). He has demons, followers, and minions. The spirit of darkness is vast and has a vast nation. He is doing all he can to ruin us and make us ineffective. He has laid waste to the vine. Israel is no longer in relationship with God, because they fell for the lies and rejected Christ. The enemy has splintered God’s fig tree, the church who let the enemy come in and divide, water down, and make us a joke to the world. Too many of us are stripped and fruitless. We can’t just be okay with it. God wants us to react, to care, to mourn, weep, and wail.
“Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth
    for the bridegroom of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
    from the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
    the ministers of the Lord.
10 The fields are destroyed,
    the ground mourns,
because the grain is destroyed,
    the wine dries up,
    the oil languishes.”
We should be acting as if it is as serious as it is. The world is losing Jesus! They are going to miss the wedding feast! And we act as if we don’t care. Jesus can save them. The can be His bride. His blood, the wine isn’t helping because they don’t know they need it. We are afraid we’ll offend someone and so we let them keep going to hell. The oil of The Holy Spirit could be healing them, but we let him go unused and don’t even pray for them. We should be ashamed that we don’t have enough faith in God to risk offending someone with Jesus’ love. Verses 11-12 say,
“Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil;
    wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
    because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up;
    the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
    all the trees of the field are dried up,
and gladness dries up
    from the children of man.”
We do not have to let the ministrations of Jesus Christ go undone. They are not useless. That is a lie of the enemy that the world believes and many who call themselves Christian have fallen for. The Holy Spirit is awesome! He is not useless and His works are needed. Have we fallen for the lies? Are we letting the fruit of the Spirit dry up unused? Are we so afraid of not looking like what the world sees as love that we are not loving people? Those lies are from Satan. Those false teachings, prophets, and doctrines are from Satan. It is time to stop, turn around, and be the powerful victors, Jesus called us to be. The enemy may be a countless nation of destroying locusts with fangs like a lion, but we have The LORD! 1 John 4:1-6 says,
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
Let’s repent! Let’s stop relying on our intuition and rely on God. Let’s fight the enemy! Let’s pray! Let’s praise, worship, and thank Almighty God. Verses 13-14 read,
“Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;
    wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,
    O ministers of my God!
Because grain offering and drink offering
    are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Consecrate a fast;
    call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
    and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to the Lord”
Why? Why should we care? Why should we be doing something to save the harvest? Because The Day of the LORD is coming. God loves the lost as much as He loves you. He doesn’t want them to die and I hope we do not either. (2 Peter 3:9). He was not okay with what Adolf Hitler did, or Sadaam Hussein either. But He is not happy that they are going to be thrown into the Lake of Fire. He loved them and wanted them to know Him. Who missed their chance to tell them about Jesus? Who is missing their chance to tell Charles Manson about Him? Verses 15-20 describe the desperateness of our prayers and the situation.
“Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
    and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
    before our eyes,
joy and gladness
    from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods;
    the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
    because the grain has dried up.
18 How the beasts groan!
    The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
    even the flocks of sheep suffer.
19 To you, O Lord, I call.
For fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness,
and flame has burned
    all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field pant for you
    because the water brooks are dried up,
and fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness.”
Believer, are you awake to the struggle around you? Do you see the critical state of affairs around you? Are you doing the ministry of the Father’s business or are you doing the ministry of Christianese businesses? Are you sharing the gospel praying, making disciples, and being a disciple? Or are you being Christian by eating more chicken, watching “positive” movies, and listening to “positive” music? One produces juicy nutritious fruit, the other produces raisins.

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Joel 3 Why will God Judge the Nations?

Joel 2 The Day of the LORD

Joel 1 How Seriously are you Taking the Desperation, Deprivation and Depravity of the World?

Donna Campbell

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