Today’s passage: Joel 3:1-21
Helpful thoughts:
- Jehoshaphat is a name that means, “Yahweh judges.”
- The judgement depicted here in Joel 3 is also taught in Revelation 16:16 and 19:11-21 among a few other places in scripture. This is the battle of Armageddon.
- We are reminded again today, in the end, God wins.
- Verse 13 reminds us that this final battle is not simply a war for gain of wealth or land. This is God’s just wrath being poured out for the sin of the world.
- In the day when all our sin is gone and we wouldn’t be tempted or lured away from God by the wealth of this world, “the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk.” (Verse 18)
- And when that day of prosperity comes, we will truly understand how much more valuable Jesus is than any health or wealth we may clamor for in this life.
Questions to consider:
- Why will the battle be won by God in the end? Will His people be too strong for the world to overcome? Will God be thankful for our strength and protection? OR…what does verse 16 teach us?
- If I was a Jewish person in the first century A.D., and if I was more into the prospect of prosperity and vengeance over my earthly enemies, why might I have questioned Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah when He died on the cross? Why is it so important to know and remember that my greatest problem is my sin, and God’s greatest gift is Christ’s sacrifice?
- What do you look forward to the most in eternity? How does one’s answer to that question give evidence to growth and spiritual maturity?