Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here today

Sometimes we have done
All that can be done
And the waters still rise
And the flood still comes
And the walls break down
And we doubt ourselves
And question our every action
And blame
And blame
And blame

Have mercy on us Lord
We can’t always do it all
And we can’t always
Rise to the occasion
Mistakes will be made
And we need help
And we become overwhelmed
And we breakdown
And get messy

Have mercy on us Lord
Grant us forgiveness
Help us make amends
Give us a new day
A fresh start
A new beginning.

Have mercy on us Lord
Grant us peace, rest
Remind us of the life
We have shared with You
Of our moments of history
With you
When you stood by us
And stood in for us

Grant us hope
In this world
As we find it
As it is
We ask for You
Your presence
Your loving kindness
Your guidance
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Intro: In our passage, there will be two parts to Joel’s prophecy

He first delivers a brief message regarding his people – a promise
– but then his word turns to a threat on “all the nations”
• specifically those that have ransacked Judah and Jerusalem
• these two parts of the message are connected:
◦ God, helping his people, entails harming their enemies
– do we need to be upset, that to restore his people and their nation, the Lord attacked their enemies?
◦ if there is another way to break the power of oppressors, to rescue and liberate the oppressed – the world hasn’t found it
◦ the agents causing the trouble must be neutralized
• what is revealed in the following verses is a vision of Israel’s destiny
◦ in part one, God clears the way for it
◦ in part two, the people prepare themselves for God

1 For, look, days are coming and that time when I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And I will gather all the nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat
and come to judgment with them there
over My people and Israel, My estate,
whom they scattered among the nations,
and they divided up their land.
3 And over My people they cast lots
and bartered a boy for the price of a whore
and sold a girl for wine which they drank Joel 4:1-3 (Robert Alter’s translation)
The first time I ever read “restore the fortunes” in Jeremiah,

It bothered me – I was a lot younger then and probably took the phrase too literally
– as if it were a promise of a blessed materialism
• but the Hebrew phrase is looser than its English translation
• it can mean to “turn back” or “bring back” Israel’s people from captivity
◦ the basic idea is restoration and a replenishing of what was lost in warfare
(as God had said earlier, “And I will pay you back for the years / that the grasshopper ate” (2:25)
– Israel was responsible for the losses they sustained in war and captivity
• they had made wrong decisions and strayed from their God
• but that was forgiven as soon as they returned to him
◦ “restore the fortunes” is a revelation of the Lord’s generous grace

The prophecy turns now, from Israel to “all the nations”
– it is important for us to understand the backdrop of this scene
• Jehoshaphat was an actual king in Judah
◦ one of the good ones, but he lived and died long before Joel’s prophecy
◦ we don’t have any other record of a “Valley of Jehoshaphat”
• so scholars look at the meaning of the name
◦ God’s name: Yehovah – and sha-phat (judge)
◦ so the Valley of God’s judgment
– we are ushered into a courtroom where the proceeding will take place
• God summons the nations that had ravaged his people
◦ he refers to them and the land as “My estate” – for God, this is personal
• the nations are charged with three general crimes against Israel:
1. they deported them from their homes – “scattered among the nations”
2. they seized Israel’s land and distributed it among themselves
3. they sold the people into slavery
◦ even worse, was the atrocities against the children
◦ they were used to barter for cheap commodities
(a boy was payment to a prostitute;
a girl was the price of jug of wine)

4 And also what are you to Me, Tyre and Sidon
and all the provinces of Philistia?
Are you paying back against Me?
If you are paying back against Me,
swiftly, quick will I pay it back on your head.
5 As My silver and My gold you took,
and My goodly treasures you brought to your palaces,
6 and the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem
you sold to the Greeks
to put them far from their frontiers Joel 4:4-6
God now calls out specific nations

This is not a complete catalogue of Israel’s hostile neighbors
– I’m convinced it’s meant to create a visual impression
• in scripture, Tyre and Sidon were more allies than enemies
◦ but after Israel was defeated by others, these northern city-states went after the plunder
• Philistia was the southern costal land of the Philistines
◦ further on in this chapter, in verse 19, Egypt and Edom also included
– Tyre and Sidon were situated in the north
• Philistia was immediately south and Egypt further south
◦ Edom was east of Judah
◦ and west of Judah was the Mediterranean Sea
• the picture we get is that Israel was surrounded by enemies
◦ these nations were responsible for most of the looting after Israel’s defeat
◦ being surrounded is echoed in Psalm 118:
“All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
They surrounded me like bees;
they went out like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!” (Ps. 118:10-12)

God assumes the role of Judge and Prosecutor, beginning his interrogation of the nations
– “What are you to Me?” is an idiom, as if to ask, “What’s your problem?”
• “Is this payback? Do you think I’ve wronged you?”
• first, notice how God identifies with his people
◦ I hope we never forget this
◦ when anyone who trusts God and walks in his path, is mistreated, he-takes-their-side
▫ even if we lose every earthly possession,
▫ having God now and for eternity is our consolation and triumph
– if the nations argue that Judah deserved to be abused,
• God is going to show them what payback looks like
• two times God will specify that their doom will land “on your head”
◦ not only because the head is the most exposed and vulnerable body part,
◦ but because wounding their head would be a blow to their belligerence and conceit

There are two specific charges against them in verses 5 and 6
– first, how they used the treasures they stole from Israel’s homes and the temple
• and that was, to furnish and decorate their own homes – or palatial mansions
– second, what they did with their defeated victims
• sold them into slavery – “far from their frontiers”
◦ sent away from the land where they belonged
◦ this has happened too often
to populations (the indigenous peoples of the Americas), to families, and to individuals

7 I am about to raise them from the place
where you sold them
and pay you back upon your head.
8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters
into the hands of the Judahites,
and they shall sell their captives to a distant nation.
For the LORD has spoken Joel 4:7-8
God is going to bring his people home again

But it won’t be a quiet or uneventful return in the eyes of their enemies
– it will include a court appointed payback “upon [their] head”
• it will then be their sons and daughters sold into slavery
◦ removed from their homes “to a distant nation”
• I assume knowing this, would cause most people to pause before continuing in their wrong behavior
◦ God warns the nations that they will receive the terrible treatment they inflict

This day in court concludes with a closing statement:
“For the LORD has spoken”

All this happened long ago and far away

What are we going to do with it?
– looking from my own perspective, I am troubled
• I never spend time thinking of how I can cheat someone
◦ so I do not expect or understand why some people do this sort of thing
• I never think about intentionally hurting someone
◦ I can’t imagine hating anyone that much
◦ so it baffles me when others do this
▫ and in many instances it’s family doing it to family
Another prophet said:
Woe to those who devise wickedness
and work evil on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in the power of their hand (Mic. 2:1)
– I do find myself at times hanging onto resentments
– there are also people I find it almost impossible to forgive
(without the Lord’s assistance I don’t think I could do it)
– and some worries I carry too long before finding peace again

Recently, the Lord has had to talk me down every morning
– however, this is a remarkable blessing
– my soul can find peace in him! And consistently
• and that’s what I believe we are supposed to do with this passage in Joel
• take hope in the Lord in whose hand is our future
◦ and our family’s future, and the future of all who we love

Conclusion: We only get one shot at this

And though I want to say “we” in my next statement,
in all honesty I have to say,
“I must do better; I must be better”
Because, more than anything,
I long for that perfect peace
I will enjoy eternally in the presence of my Lord Jesus