For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. Joel 3:1 The year of recompense I. IT SHALL BE THE YEAR OF THE REDEEMED. Though the bondage of God's people may be grievous and long, it shall not be everlasting. That in Egypt ended at length in their deliverance into the glorious liberty of the children of God. That in Babylon shall likewise end well. II. IT SHALL BE THE YEAR OF RECOMPENCES FOR THE CONTROVERSY OF ZION. Though God may suffer the enemies of His people to prevail against them very far, and for a long time, yet He will call them to an account for it, and will lead those captive that led His people captive. 1. Who those are that shall be reckoned with. "All nations." This intimates —(1) That all the nations had made themselves liable to the judgment of God for wrong done to His people. But the neighbouring nations should be particularly dealt with.(2) That whatsoever nation injured God's nation, they should not go unpunished. Little persecutors shall be taken account of as well as great ones. 2. The sitting of this court for judgment. 3. The plaintiff called, on whose behalf this prosecution is set on foot. 4. The charge exhibited against them, which is very particular. (1) They had been very abusive to the children of Israel. (2) They had unjustly seized God's silver and gold. 5. The sentence passed upon them. "Return your recompence upon your own head." (1) They shall not gain their end in the mischief they designed. (2) They shall be paid in their own coin. ( Matthew Henry . ) The persecution of good men Homilist. I. THERE HAVE EVER BEEN GOOD MEN ON EARTH. 1. "My people." They are His — (1) They have surrendered themselves to His will. (2) He has pledged them His loving guardianship. 2. "My heritage" ( Exodus 19:5 ). He who owns the universe, esteems holy souls as the most valuable of His possessions. II. These good men on earth have GENERALLY BEEN SUBJECT TO PERSECUTION. "Whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land." There is a persecution that, whilst it does not involve bonds, imprisonments, and physical violences, involves the malice of hell, and inflicts grievous injury. There is social calumny, scorn, degradation, and various disabilities. III. Their persecution WILL BE AVENGED BY HEAVEN. "I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there, for My people and for My heritage Israel." Ah! the time hastens when persecutors of all types and ages will have full retribution dealt out to them in some great valley of Jehoshaphat. ( Homilist. ) Prepare war, wake up the mighty men. Joel 3:9-17 The final battle between good and evil J. S. Exell, M. A. I. IN THIS BATTLE EVIL WILL GATHER ALL ITS AVAILABLE ENERGIES. "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the up." mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come This is sublime irony. The wicked will collect all their agencies for this last struggle. The prophet intimates that all this shall only render their destruction more complete. Great armies are arrayed against God. They are bold in atheism. They are cunning in sin. They are malicious in temper. But "let them come up," and they shall be consumed by the breath of the Lord. Evil has many agencies. It has many "mighty men" on its side. They are united in their purpose. Their dormant energies will be awakened. But they cannot be finally victorious. II. IN THIS BATTLE EVIL WILL TURN MANY USEFUL AGENCIES INTO DESTRUCTIVE INSTRUMENTS. "Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong." When Isaiah and Micah prophesied of the kingdom of Christ, they said, "Beat your swords into pruning-hooks, and your spears into ploughshares" ( Isaiah 2 .; Micah 4 .). This sentence is now inverted by Joel. The words of Isaiah show the condition of the world under the rule of goodness. The words of Joel show the condition of men under the tyranny of evil. Sin converts the instruments of peace into the implements of war. And in the last great battle between good and evil, many useful principles and institutions will be converted into the means of attack upon truth. The peaceful life and words of Christ have been turned into swords; and eminently will this be the case in the last great conflict with evil. III. IN THIS BATTLE EVIL WILL PRESENT ITSELF AS NATURALLY READY FOR DESTRUCTION. "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great." There are here two metaphors, one taken from the harvest, the other from the vintage, — .indicating that sin shall reach its limit. This gives us insight into the method of the Divine government. Sin is not always destroyed in its earliest stage. It remains as a discipline to the world. It tests the patience and moral resistance of the good. The time of its harvest is not yet. IV. IN THIS BATTLE THE NATURAL AND HELPFUL AGENCIES OF THE UNIVERSE SHALL AID THE DEFEAT OF MORAL EVIL. "The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining." When the wicked gather for the great battle they will find the ordinary agencies of the universe against them. V. IN THIS BATTLE THE GOOD SHALL ENJOY THE DIVINE PROTECTION. "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion," etc. Lessons: — 1. That evil often leads the Church of God into captivity. 2. That moral evil is advancing to its perilous destiny. 3. That the good will finally triumph over the combined forces of evil. ( J. S. Exell, M. A. ) Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Joel 3:13 The end of the world represented by the harvest Nat. Meeres, B. D. All things are evidently tending to decay and dissolution. As there was an hour fixed from all eternity for the creation of the world, so there is an hour fixed for its dissolution. Many scriptural figures represent the brevity of human life, the frailty of man's existence. The text contains a prophetic description of the destruction of all God's enemies, who are represented as a field of corn. I. THE RIPENESS FOR THE GREAT HARVEST. There is a ripeness to which every one must attain. Even the wicked fill up the measure of their sin. The righteous are acquiring ripeness; and for this due preparation and daily cultivation are needed. True., thorns and briars spring up among the flowers; but they are only allowed to grow together for good and useful purposes. II. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES ALONE CAN FURNISH THE TRUE TEST OF THE RIPENESS REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT. Compare the condition of a sinner meet for destruction with the happy state of a soul ripe for the blessedness of eternal glory. Such a review must induce every one to pray that the life he lives in the flesh may be a life of faith on the Son of God; of conformity to the will of God; and of preparation for the judgment of God. III. WHEN THE CORN IS FULLY RIPE, THE SICKLE IS TO BE PUT IN. When our measure of sin and holiness is complete, we shall be reaped down: the saints will depart and be immediately with God. Address the undecided. ( Nat. Meeres, B. D. ) Harvest Emilius Bayley, M. A. This emblem of the harvest is used elsewhere in the Bible. The text probably refers to the harvest of the wicked. Two things for consideration. I. THE PROCESS OF RIPENING. In the natural world we think of the later period of growth, after the ear is formed, as the ripening time. Consider the process of ripening as regards the wicked.. ( Genesis 15:16 .) "The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." It was ripening, but not ripe. Sin has dominion over a man. Sin is the spring and root of eternal ruin. The signs that sin is ripening are two. 1. The habit of sinning wilfully, and living wilfully under the dominion of known sin. 2. Growing insensibility to the truths which have a tendency to awaken the mind. The ripening process as regards the righteous is the converse of that which takes place with the wicked. There is a ripening process going on in every child of God. That which is the cause of this ripening in the Christian is holiness. Increasing holiness alienates him more and more from sin, and from the follies and vanities of the world. Signs of the ripening process are — 1. A deepening sense of our own personal unworthiness, and helplessness, and guiltiness in the sight of God. 2. Growing simplicity of trust in the person and work of Christ. It is the work of the Spirit to reveal Christ to the soul. II. THE HARVEST ITSELF. For the individual the time of death. For the world the judgment day. The children of God are ripening for a blessed harvest. The wicked are ripening for a harvest of wrath, of fiery indignation. ( Emilius Bayley, M. A. ) Character Homilist. These words suggest three remarks concerning man's moral character. I. It is a GROWTH. The harvest begins with the germinating seed. Moral character, both good and bad, is a growing thing; thoughts grow, affections grow, principles grow, habits grow. Character is not like a rock, which remains the same from year to year; but rather like the tree, ever growing. Men get worse or better every day. II. It has a MATURITY. Every character ripens, reaches its harvest. Hemlock as well as wheat ripens; character, both evil and good, comes to maturation. III. It has RETRIBUTION. "Put ye in the sickle." 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, he that soweth to the spirit shall reap everlasting life." The time for the sickle hastens to all. ( Homilist. ) Multitudes in the valley of decision. Joel 3:14 The valley of decision A. R. MacEwen, M. A. , B. D. These words were spoken in a time of deep depression. Joel says the sadness and gloom were mainly due to the indecision of the people, who did not know whether to trust foreign alliances or Jehovah. So they would have to be led into a valley of judgment, from which they would not emerge until they had come to a decision. In our day much of the prevailing darkness is due to indecision. We feel that things are wrong, but we are not exactly sure what is required to set them right. I. IN REGARD TO WHAT WE BELIEVE. There is peculiar difficulty in this generation, owing to the methods of modern inquiry and discussion. This is an age of specialism. Each branch of theology has its own special students. Each presses his own conclusions to the furthest limit. It is our duty to look for ourselves at the general lines of revealed truth, and to measure our relation to them. We must come to a decision with regard to Jesus Christ. Certainly — 1. Christ was the revealer of God. 2. He was the remover of barriers. 3. The guidance He gave us for our actual conduct was authentic.These three simple truths can be isolated from all disputed doctrines, and used as a test. The man who sincerely accepts these truths has found his way out of the valley of decision. II. IN REGARD TO WHAT WE DO. We can test ourselves by our conduct in business, in the family, in general society. There are various plain questions which we ask ourselves too rarely, although we all in the long run shall require to answer them. Do we always do our duty, or only when it suits our plans? Has our life any principle, any plan? We know the road in which we ought to wall are we walking in it? Do we always follow conscience? God often thrusts us into the darkest caves of the valley in order that we may learn our need for giving a plain answer to these questions. In the valley of decision you are bound to fix your faith in God and Christ, and to take the path of goodness. ( A. R. MacEwen, M. A. , B. D. ) The valley of decision Canon Diggle. There is something very wonderful, and very awe-inspiring in the thought of the multitudinous, the immeasurable multitudinousness, of created things. Infinite space is thronged with multitudes of worlds, and every world with multitudes of things. When we think Of the race of mankind, how vast and inconceivable are the multitudes of men. Each individual that has ever lived exists somewhere. Once born, they can never die. Yet these vast hosts lie easily enough within the reckoning of God. Known unto Him are the history and the character, the temptations and the opportunities, of every single individual of the vast whole of the human race, both quick arid dead. One by one each will personally appear before the personal God in the valley of decision. Where is this valley? Tradition identifies as the valley of Jehoshaphat. But the wady of the Kedron cannot properly be called a valley. Joel invented the name for "Jehovah's judgment." Christ never localised the seat of judgment, any more than He announced, the time of judgment. But what is judgment? It is not Christ our judge who decides the bliss of the blessed or the curse of the accursed.' The blessed are deciding their own blessedness when they cultivate holiness of character, and the cursed are deciding their own doom when they are forgetting God and living in sin. The valley of decision is the valley which each man treads in the road of life. It is here and now. Divine decision, or final judgment, is no swift, sudden, arbitrary act of God's; but a long, slow process performed by ourselves. In the valley of decision there is no standing still. ( Canon Diggle. ) The valley of decision S. H. Tyng, D. D. A sense of ultimate personal responsibility is inseparable from the mind of man. There is a consciousness within him, which announces the existence of a God who judgeth in the earth, and warns him that the great object of his life must be to prepare to meet Him in a final account. In the text is a striking exhibition of this final judgment of man, the great day of his account with God. The "valley of Jehoshaphat" means the "valley of the judgment of the Lord." The time and manner are His own appointment. In its practical application to man the day of final judgment makes no change in his real character. It simply proclaims that which was before the fact. It declares the sentence which has long been determined. Man's real time of probation is in the present life. Here is the valley of decision. I. WHAT MAY BE UNDERSTOOD AS THE VALLEY OF DECISION FOR MAN. It is the whole life of man upon the earth. There is actually but a single question pro posed from God to man. As a wandering, rebellious creature, he is invited and commanded, to come back in the spirit and act of reconciliation unto God. Will he lay hold of the hope set before him? This is the great question of human life, and it is generally determined by man long before the last hours of his life have come. Many have settled this question for themselves, and so have passed out of the valley of decision. Others have decided, but have chosen death rather than life. These, too, have passed out of the valley of decision. We cannot therefore justly say that all men, now alive, are in the valley of decision. We must narrow down our view to those for whom the great question remains undecided. II. THE GREATER PORTION OF THOSE TO WHOM THE OFFERS OF ETERNAL LIFE ARE MADE ARE UNDECIDED. The great majority who listen to the Gospel are still in the valley of decision. A blessing and a curse are yet before them. III. THE GREAT DECISION MUST SPEEDILY BE MADE. "The day of the Lord is near." By that day we understand the time of final determination of the destiny of the children of men. Soon for every man, this day must certainly come at the period of death. Then this is the accepted time, and this is the day of your salvation. ( S. H. Tyng, D. D. ) Turning-points in life Old Testament Anecdotes. It has been well said that in every life there is a turning-point, as in a fever, a turning point that brings either life or death. Napoleon said, "In every battle there are ten minutes on which hangs the fate of nations." Hundreds of soul battles are fought and won in a few minutes. Unspeakably solemn axe the silence and the quickness with which these spiritual battles are fought. ( Old Testament Anecdotes. ) Decision Canon Newbolt. There is a fascination, even a terror, in the appearance of a great multitude. Where is the valley of decision? First of all, here in this world. The world all unconsciously to its teeming myriads is a valley of decision in which they gather together to certain ends and work out certain definite issues. What is being decided in this valley? 1. Character. That strange stamp which gives to each one of us his own individuality, that personality which spreads itself over our likes and dislikes, that stamp whereby men can label us and catalogue us, and yet feel at the end that we elude classification. Circumstances are the material of life, good or bad. It is we who take up our circumstances, and out of them make habits, and habits decide or form our character in this valley of decision which we call human life. 2. Our own happiness or misery. Life was meant to be happy. But this is placed in our own hands for decision. 3. Eternity. The great decision is not, after all, the sudden thing we suppose it to be, except in very rare cases. Here in this world a decision may be altered, it may not be final. The prophet looks on to a day when the decision will be final; it is the great day of judgment at the end of the world. Is this a belief which is still a living and a practical one to you? Then judge yourselves that you may not be, in that day, judged of the Lord. ( Canon Newbolt. ) Armageddon T. De Witt Talmage. The matters between two armies are going to be finally decided: therefore the valley is called, "the valley of decision." This place is to-night a valley of decision. See some of the things you have to decide. 1. Whether you will adhere to sin or renounce it. Not your pleasures, but your positive sins. You cannot become a child of God and adhere to any one of your transgressions. Will it pay you to keep your sin? Sin never pays. 2. Whether you will have Christ or refuse Him. There is no pardon or heaven without the friendship of Christ. And He is such a precious Jesus. 3. Whether you will have Christian associations or unchristian. Need not apologise for everything that is in the Church. There is some bad and much good in the Church. The fact that there are inconsistent Christians is nothing against Christianity, and nothing against the Church. Come, then, into the ranks of Church members. 4. Whether you will have a Christian deathbed or an unbeliever's departure. There is a triumphant and there is an ignominious way of getting out of this life, and we come here to choose which it shall be. 5. Whether yours shall be a future world of sorrow or a future world of joy. ( T. De Witt Talmage. ) Reason for decision S. J. Hulme, M. A. What is here called "the valley of decision" ( i.e. , of sharp judgment), is called in ver. 12 "the valley of Jehoshaphat" (God judgeth). This was locally the valley of Kedron; the later associations of this valley (Gethsemane was there) figuratively present a great spiritual crisis. The prophets show themselves to be taught of God in the breadth and extent of their visions. While speaking to their own nation only, they announce God's dealings with all the world. They look forward into the distant future — to the end of time. From time to time God specially interferes, either to enlighten and encourage His own when the adversary is too strong for them; or to overthrow those who are opposing His "will." The final interference is what is called "the day of the Lord." In this chapter is a vision, of the final judgment of mankind, and of that which is to precede it. 1. The wickedness of the earth is full. 2. Drawn by a mighty influence, the enemies of God, to a place whither He has summoned them. 3. The powers of nature sink and fade before the presence of the glory of God. 4. But the Lord is the strength and hope of His own people. Note — (1) The great issues of good and evil which are working out in the world. (2) Contemplate the predicted end, the final victory of Christ and His people. (3) Decide on which side we take part in the conflict. ( S. J. Hulme, M. A. ) The valley of decision W. Hay Aitken, M. A. There is a day coming when all the uncertainties of life will be at an end, when every mask will drop off, when every hidden thing will be exposed to view, and the secrets of every life will be told. The prophet is here looking forward to an occasion of judgment, and every occasion of judgment must of necessity be an occasion of decision. But the work of judgment is by no means confined to the future. Wherever the Gospel message goes, wherever the truth of God is revealed to the understanding of man, there the work of judgment necessarily commences. Our Lord taught that it was in virtue of the relation in which men stood to the Son of Man that their position before God was to be decided. So it is still. The presence of Christ in His Spirit among us still must needs cause judgment. The first work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The word "convict" is a judicial term. It may be said of redemption itself, that the Divine mercy is ordained to flow into the human heart through judgment. Unconditioned mercy — mercy that does not come to me through the forms of judgment, and with the sanction of justice — might have a demoralising effect upon me. Ours is a Gospel of merely flowing through judgment. So then, not only does the Holy Ghost judge us when He first brings our sins to remembrance and pronounces us guilty, but in the very act of justifying us He still exhibits, in the most impressive manner, God's righteous judgment against sin; for it is through the Cross that grace flows forth to us, and the Cross is, above everything else, the place of judgment — the most amazing and impressive vindication that God could give of the majesty of law. We may say that every day of visitation from God to the soul of man is in some sense a lesser judgment day. On the last august occasion, the decision will lie simply and solely with the Judge. There will be no appealing from His judgment. Now, the decision lies with ourselves. It is the work of God the Holy Spirit to bring .all with whom He strives, into the valley of decision, the place of judgment. There are two ways out of this valley. Through the gate of life and through the gate of death. ( W. Hay Aitken, M. A. ) The valley of judgment Note the vast appearance that shall be in that great and solemn day. 1. The judgment day, that day of the Lord, has all along been looked upon, and spoken of, as "nigh at hand." We ought to be always ready for it. 2. The day of judgment will be a day of decision, when every man's eternal state will be determined, and the controversy that has been long depending between the kingdom of Christ and that of Satan shall he finally decided, and an end put to the struggle. The Chaldee calls it, "the valley of the distribution of judgment." Marg. has "valley of threshing," carrying on the figure of the harvest. 3. Innumerable multitudes will be gathered together to receive their final doom in that day. O what vast multitudes of sinners will Divine justice be glorified in the ruin of at that day! ( Matthew Henry . ) The valley of decision Mark Guy Pearse. (Sermon to Children): — The text struck me when I was a lad. Children have a strange way of mixing up things, and I came to think of these words as in some way connected with a place near my native town. Away out on those wild cliffs, with the fierce Atlantic rolling in upon them, there is a valley which came to be in my mind a sort of "valley of decision." I. THE VALLEY OF DECISION IS A PLACE FOR SOBER THOUGHT. There is the little stream hurrying on between the banks, always hastening away to the great sea. Is not that just like our life? It is hurrying away to the great sea of eternity. II. A PLACE OF SOLEMN WARNING. Just under this little valley a merry party had come one day for a picnic. One young man slipped away to bathe. Suddenly, as the others sat singing on the rocks, one sprang up and pointed to their friend as he was being borne away by the current. He was drowning before their eyes. What is death but the sweeping in of the waves of eternity, bearing away one and another T Think of these things deeply and seriously. III. THE PLACE SUGGESTED OUR DANGER AND OUR DELIVERANCE. There was a huge, black, rounded cavern, called Ralph's Cupboard, in a steep, precipitous cliff, never accessible from the land, and scarcely ever to be entered from the sea. A smuggler, hard pressed by the coastguards, turned his boat towards this cave, caught the swelling wave, and was swept into what seemed the jaws of destruction, but to him was harbour of safety. We, too, have broken the law. We want a refuge. And the Bible says, "A man shall be as an hiding-place." Our only Safety is in Him, our only hope of escape is there. Yet all this will not make a place the valley of decision. When we have made up our mind, the day of the Lord is near. ( Mark Guy Pearse. ) Multitudes Robert Tuck, B. A. Joel was a prophet in the older sense. He was a seer; he had visions. He had, indeed, a work to do for his own generation; but this was all to be impressed by the solemnity of the visions given to him. One of these visions we follow. In Eastern houses there is often a little upper chamber, available for prayer and meditation, and we may imagine Joel, in such a place, poring over the records of Divine law and Divine leadings, and bending in earnest supplication before his God. As he thinks and prays the daylight fades; gradually he becomes absorbed; other scenes open up before him; he sees more than the bodily eye can see; age after age passes in hurried march; dimly, indistinctly, he traces the progress of events as these ages roll on; and gradually he becomes aware of an extraordinary excitement. As the vision clears it is as though heaven were preparing for some grand event; the angelic warriors are girding on their armour, though evidently rather for a day of glory than a day of battle. The angelic attendants are preparing thrones of judgment, palms of victory, robes of beauty, crowns of glory, songs of triumph; and, strangely enough, also chains of darkness and of woe. Hell is moved. Out of its depths spirit after spirit is appearing to join the procession that is ever forming and passing on. The sea is moved, and casts out the dead that are in her. And even as the prophet watches, he sees the last midnight darkness pass away; gradually the grey of dawn streaks the skies, and at the moment when the sun first looks upon the hills, a mighty angel stands forth and cries — "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." The "day of the Lord" is yet to come. The day of the Lord's glory, when the multitude of the redeemed shall crown Him with many crowns. The day of the Lord's vindication, when He shall break down the rebellion of lost souls with the proofs of His forbearance, and the memory of His repeated calls. The day when the "wrath of the Lamb" must be revealed, and He shall come" in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of His Sort." There must be an end of this dispensation of redemption. There must be a completion of Christ's special administration. There must be the "day of the Lord." As Joel's vision gains distinctness, his attention is arrested by the people assembled on that day. Language fails him in attempting a description. All around, wherever the eye can reach, he sees people, people everywhere; and overwhelmed, he can only cry, — "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!" Few things make stronger impressions on us than the sight of a multitude of people. Many of the greatest wrongs the world has known have been committed under the passionate, unreasoning impulses of multitudes. Many of the most impressive Bible narratives concern multitudes. But if a multitude on earth can exert such power on us, what shall be the effect of multitudes to which our present earth-crowds form no comparison; multitudes in the day of the Lord; multitudes in the valley of decision? Numbers altogether fail for recording that multitude. Language altogether fails for describing it. Even imagination, in its highest flights, utterly fails worthily to conceive it. We may venture to contrast in one or two particulars the ordinary crowds of earth, and the multitudes in the valley of decision. 1. In an earthly crowd the individual is lost in the multitude. In that multitude the number is lost in the individual. Each person will stand out distinct to view, as though he alone were placed before the Judge. And each individual will feel as though he were alone. It will be a time of awful self-consciousness. 2. In an earthly crowd there are almost infinite disguises. The people are not in reality what they seem. The dress of the gentleman too often covers the profligate; the lowly look, and humble clothes, often cover the self-righteous hypocrite. The garb of poverty often hides the noble and generous-hearted. In the valley of decision there are no disguises. All disguise drops off at death. Men's shrouds are pretty much alike; and even they soon rot and perish in the dampness of the grave. Men rise to judgment with no disguises upon them. Stern, unflinching truth shall dispel all mists, all doubts, and set our characters forth clear as in the sunlight. And what are the great distinctions which shall mark these "multitudes"? We notice the utter absence of all merely human distinctions. Riches — nothing. Poverty — nothing. Position — nothing. Fame — nothing. Knowledge — nothing. Character — everything. One test for everybody — righteous or wicked. The Scriptures do not satisfy our questionings concerning the precise terms of the decision at that assize, but they intimate that there will be a more general term, and a more particular one. The general term is thus expressed, — "Condemned already, because they,, believed not on the Son of God." The particular term is thus expressed, — We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." How these are to fit into each other, it is beyond any human power to explain. But we can see the two separate facts very clearly. Our life, in its minutest acts, has eternal issues. Everything we do, beyond its bearing on our present character, has its bearing on our eternal destiny, because on our eternal character. Our every-day conduct is, in sober reality, raising our mansion of eternal bliss, or preparing the dungeons of the eternal death. And the general test that is to decide in that great day is very simple. It is this — in Christ or out of Christ? The answer to that question settles all else. And that test may be put now. We shall come out upon that "day of the Lord" as though from a room where we had rested awhile upon a landing-place, from which steps wind upward into a place of beauty and delights; and from which other steps wind downwards into ever-deepening darkness. If out of Christ when you yield up the ghost, then you must be borne downwards, until it can be said of you, "The darkness took them." If in Christ now, and when the spirit parts with its earthly tabernacle, then, loving angel arms shall entwine you; loving angel songs shall cheer you; loving friends, long lost, shall beckon you; the loving Saviour shall Himself be with you, as you journey up the steps of glory everlasting; the gates of the golden palace shall be flung back for you, and with shouts of triumphant welcome, "the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." ( Robert Tuck, B. A. ) A time of judgment Joseph Parker, D. D. Multitudes in the valley of judgment; multitudes come together that they may be examined, criticised in the light of heaven, judged by the standard eternal and unchangeable. Why not accept that as the basis of an appeal to human intelligence and human conscience? There is to be a time of judgment, when the right and the left shall be specifically distinguished; when the bad and the good shall be known one from the other, and separated for ever. Who undertakes this marvellous classification? Blessed be God, not man; thanks be unto heaven, we are to be judged by the Creator, not by the creature. What man could judge his brother? What does man know about his dearest fr

Benson Commentary Joel 3:1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, Joel 3:1-2 . For, &c. — This particle shows the connection of this chapter with the latter part of the preceding: as if he had said, As an earnest of the accomplishment of these predictions, my people shall be restored to their own land, and then their enemies shall be humbled: see note on Joel 2:28 . In those days, when I shall bring again — Namely, out of Babylon, (to which deliverance this promise seems primarily to refer,) the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem — As the type of the whole remnant which shall be saved. I will also gather all nations — In the type the expression means, all those nations that had oppressed Judah; in the antitype, all the nations that had been enemies to Christ and his church. And will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat — That is, into the place of judgment; for the word Jehoshaphat signifies divine judgment, or, the place where Jehovah will execute judgment. Thus the valley of Jezreel signifies the place where God’s arm, or strength, would exert itself. The expression likewise alludes to the valley of Berachah, or of blessing, as it was afterward called, mentioned 2 Chronicles 20:26 , the place in which Jehoshaphat obtained a remarkable victory; or, where God, by his miraculous interposition, so infatuated the enemies of his people, that they destroyed one another, and few or none of them that came against Judah escaped. Archbishop Newcome considers it as a prediction of an extraordinary battle which was to be won in that valley, probably, he thinks, by Nebuchadnezzar, which would utterly discomfit the ancient enemies of the Jews, and resemble that victory of Jehoshaphat. But it seems more probable that the prediction principally refers to a general discomfiture of the enemies of God’s church in the latter days, probably to that foretold Isaiah 66:16 , or to the battle of Gog and Magog, described Ezekiel 39., and that of Armageddon, spoken of Revelation 16:14 ; Revelation 16:16 . And I will plead with them — I will require of them the reason why they thus used my people. God pleads with men, and vindicates the cause of oppressed truth and righteousness by his judgments. Then the consciences of the guilty fly in their faces, and force them to acknowledge the justice of the punishments they suffer. For my people and for my heritage Israel, &c. — The prophets in the Old Testament often denounced judgments against Edom, Moab, and other hostile neighbours of the Jews, who took advantage of their calamities to vent their spite against them. But since all nations are summoned to answer the impeachment here mentioned, we may suppose the word Israel to comprehend the faithful of all ages; and then we may observe, that the judgments denounced against the church’s enemies, are chiefly for their hatred and cruelty toward God’s servants. Joel 3:2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. Joel 3:3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. Joel 3:3 . They have cast lots for my people — It was customary with conquerors, in those days, to divide the captives, taken in war, among themselves by lot, and so did these enemies of the Jews. And have given a boy for a harlot — By this is meant, that they exchanged, or gave away, Jewish boys, instead of money, for harlots. And sold a girl for wine, that they might drink — For a draught of wine, as it were; that is, at a very vile and low rate. These instances are mentioned, to signify the contempt in which these enemies of the Jews held the worshippers of the true God; they parted with them, when they had taken them captives, upon the vilest terms, as setting little or no value upon them. In Mingrelia, according to Sir John Chardin, they sell captive children for provisions and for wine: see Harmer vol. 2. p. 374. Joel 3:4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; Joel 3:4 . O Tyre, and Zidon, &c. — “When the Babylonians, the appointed instruments of my vengeance, afflict my land, why do you also, and the bordering nations, assist them? Do you take this occasion of avenging the former victories of my people over you? If so, this your act of revenge shall be speedily punished.” — Newcome. The expression which he here uses, What have ye to do with me? signifies the same as that other so common in the sacred books, What have I to do with you? that is, What is the reason of your so frequently invading and plundering my land and people? Joel 3:5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: Joel 3:5 . Because ye have taken my silver and my gold — Have taken out of my temple the silver and golden vessels dedicated to my service; and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things — Hebrew, my desirable goodly things. God’s temple was several times despoiled of its ornaments by the Chaldeans. Once in the reign of Jehoiakim, 2 Chronicles 36:7 . Then in the short reign of Jehoiachin, 2 Kings 24:13 , before the last destruction of it, recorded 2 Kings 25:13 . Some part of the furniture might probably be sold to the merchants of Tyre and Sidon. The profanation of God’s temple, and the sacrilegious robbing it of its vessels and ornaments, were crimes remarkably punished by God in heathen and infidels: see Jeremiah 50:28 ; Jeremiah 51:11 . So it was in Belshazzar, Daniel 5:1 ; in Antiochus Epiphanes, 1Ma 6:12 ; and afterward in Pompey and Crassus. And no wonder, for God had given remarkable proofs of his divine presence being in that place; and the heathen themselves might have discovered, by the light of nature, that there was but one true and living God. Joel 3:6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. Joel 3:6 . The children also of Judah, &c., have ye sold unto the Grecians — The descendants of Javan, Genesis 10:2 ; Genesis 10:5 . They trafficked with Tyre, and traded in slaves, Ezekiel 27:13 . It was customary for the merchants of the neighbouring countries, particularly of Tyre and Sidon, to buy the children of Israel for slaves of their conquerors, in order to sell them again: see 1Ma 3:41 . The histories which record the calamities of the Jews, speak of great numbers of them being made captives, and then sold and dispersed into foreign countries. Thus forty thousand were sold by Antiochus Epiphanes, 2Ma 5:14 ; and about ninety-seven thousand at the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Joel 3:7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: Joel 3:7-8 . Behold, I will raise them, &c. — I will restore them, or their posterity, out of their several captivities whither their enemies have dispersed them. Grotius on this place mentions, that Alexander and his successors set at liberty many Jews, who were slaves in Greece. Many also, on occasion of Cyrus’s decree, might return to their country, from such parts of Asia Minor and the Ionian islands as were subject to that monarch. And will return your recompense upon your own head — Will inflict upon you the punishments mentioned in the following verse. I will sell your sons, &c. — This was fulfilled when Alexander took Gaza, Zidon, and Tyre, and made a great multitude of captives, of whom he is said to have sold thirty thousand for slaves. These captives the Jews, who were in favour with him, had the liberty of buying, and probably afterward sold many of them, by way of traffic, to the Arabians, here meant by the Sabeans. Joel 3:8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it . Joel 3:9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Joel 3:9-10 . Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles — “God having foretold these judgments against Tyre and Sidon, the Philistines, and the neighbouring nations, who had used the Jews with injustice and cruelty, proceeds here to confirm his people in the belief of the certainty of their destruction; which he tells them should be as sure as though they themselves had gathered them together by proclamation for it: for so are these words, Proclaim ye, &c., to be understood. Not as commanding what they were actually to do, but in order to excite their attention, and to let them know that God was as certainly preparing to bring this vengeance on their enemies, as though he had actually sent messengers from the Jews to proclaim it among them:” see Chandler. Prepare war, wake up the mighty men — Rouse and bring forward into the field your strong and valiant men. In these words the prophet, in an ironical manner, encourages them to make their utmost effort to oppose the designs of Providence; but signifies that it should be all in vain. For, should they strengthen themselves by all the means in their power, yet they should be overcome and punished. Beat your plough-shares into swords, &c. — That is, make all the provision and preparation for war, or for your own defence, that you possibly can. For a people to beat their very plough-shares into swords, &c., signifies a general arming of themselves, much beyond what had been usual. Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Joel 3:11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Joel 3:11-12 . Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord — After the prophet has given warning, in the way of irony, to the nations to provide for their defence by all possible means, and to assemble themselves together from all parts, that they might strive with their united force; he, in the conclusion of the verse, calls upon God to cause those to come whom he had appointed to overcome these nations. Some, however, render the clause, the Lord shall cause thy mighty ones to come down, or to be brought low. Let the heathen be awakened — Let their courage be roused up; and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat — To the place of divine judgment. Joel 3:12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Joel 3:13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Joel 3:13 . Put ye in the sickle — Ye executioners of divine vengeance: begin to reap; cut down sinners ripe for judgment; let the king of Assyria and his soldiers cut down Syria and its king, for their violence against my people. Let Cyaxares and his armies cut down Assyria. Let Nebuchadnezzar cut down Moab, Ammon, mount Seir, Egypt, Tyre, Zidon, and the Philistines. After this, let Cyrus destroy the Babylonians, and Alexander the Medes and Persians. And let the divided Grecian captains cut down one another, till the Romans cut them down. And when this is done, God will have mighty ones still to cut down his enemies till the final judgment, wherein they all shall for ever be destroyed. For the harvest is ripe — That is, they are fit for destruction, as the ripened corn for reaping. Come, get you down — Namely, into the appointed valley; as though they were going into a vineyard to gather grapes. Here the prophet uses another metaphor to express the cutting off the church’s enemies; for the press is full; the fats overflow — That is, as it is immediately explained, their wickedness is great — It is come to its full measure. And as the grapes in the press are trodden, so the enemies of God’s people are to be trodden in the wine-press of his displeasure. Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. Joel 3:14-15 . Multitudes, &c. — These are Joel’s words, exclaiming, with prophetic warmth and agitation, Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! — As though he had said, See what astonishing numbers are brought together for their destruction! The sentence, thus abrupt and broken, is very strong and emphatical. The place is called the valley of decision, because in it the cause would be decided between God and his enemies, and there he would execute judgment upon them. Houbigant reads, the valley of excision, that is, of cutting off: and Chandler, the appointed valley, namely, where God had appointed to execute his judgments. The sun and the moon shall be darkened — States and kingdoms shall be overthrown; and the stars shall withdraw their shining — Kings and princes shall be cast down from their state of dignity and pre- eminence, and shall be deprived of their power and glory. Or the meaning is, This particular judgment shall be a forerunner of the general one, when the whole frame of nature shall be dissolved. Joel 3:15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. Joel 3:16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. Joel 3:16 . The Lord shall roar out of Zion — He shall strike the enemies of his people with astonishment, as the roaring of the lion astonishes the weaker beasts of the forest. And the heavens and the earth shall shake — The destruction shall be as certain and dreadful as though God’s enemies were destroyed by thunder and lightning from heaven. But the Lord will be the hope of his people — Though the heaven and the earth pass away, his word and promise, given to his servants, shall not pass away. Joel 3:17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. Joel 3:17 . So shall ye know that I am the Lord dwelling in Zion — Very graciously present with you, and ever watching over you and delighting to save you. Then shall Jerusalem be holy — After the church’s enemies are destroyed, the Messiah is come, and the remnant saved, the people of God shall be holy. There shall no strangers pass through her — No profane or unclean person shall be found in the church of Christ. Joel 3:18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. Joel 3:18 . The mountains shall drop down new wine — Namely, the vines planted upon the mountains. The hills shall flow with milk — So fruitful shall the hills be, that milk shall abound everywhere. And all the rivers, &c. — These expressions are all figurative, and highly poetical, and, according to Calmet, symbolical of the doctrine of the gospel; which, accompanied by the Spirit of grace, was to flow forth from Jerusalem, and to water the Gentile world, which had been as a barren and uncultivated land. Joel 3:19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. Joel 3:19-20 . Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom, &c. — These two people were remarkable for the spite they bore to the Jews. The Egyptians were their oppressors when they first became a nation, and afterward exercised great cruelties upon them, during the reign of the Egyptian kings who were Alexander’s successors. The Idumeans are often reproved and threatened with judgments by the prophets, for the malice they took all occasions to vent against the Israelites, though nearly related to them: see the margin. These two nations, therefore, are taken, in a general sense, for the enemies of God’s people. But Judah — The redeemed of the Lord, his church, shall dwell, or continue, for ever — Free from the annoyance of enemies. The Christian Church is evidently intended, including probably the conversion and final restoration of the Jews. Joel 3:20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. Joel 3:21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion. Joel 3:21 . I will cleanse their blood, &c. — The word blood seems here to signify pollution in general; and the promise implies, that God would perfectly purge away the guilt and defilement of all the sins of his people, by a free pardon and entire sanctification. Calmet, who applies this to the times of the gospel, thus interprets the verse: “Jesus Christ cleanses, by the new law, the blood which remained unclean under the old. We find in the sacrament of the new law that real purity, of which the legal ceremonies and purifications were only a figure.” For the Lord dwelleth in Zion — And his presence shall be a source of purity, as well as of consolation to his people. “It is uncertain,” says Archbishop Newcome, “whether we have the key to this difficult chapter; which may not be fully understood till Jerusalem is rebuilt, and till the prophecies, Ezekiel 39:5 ; Ezekiel 39:11 ; Revelation 20:8-9 , are accomplished.” Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Joel 3:1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, THE JUDGMENT OF THE HEATHEN Joel 3:1-21 HITHERTO Joel has spoken no syllable of the heathen, except to pray that God by His plagues will not give Israel to be mocked by them. But in the last chapter of the Book we have Israel’s captivity to the heathen taken for granted, a promise made that it will be removed and their land set free from the foreigner. Certain nations are singled out for judgment, which is described in the terms of Apocalypse; and the Book closes with the vision, already familiar in prophecy, of a supernatural fertility for the land. It is quite another horizon and far different interests from those of the preceding chapter. Here for the first time we may suspect the unity of the Book, and listen to suggestions of another authorship than Joel’s. But these can scarcely be regarded as conclusive. Every prophet, however national his interests, feels it his duty to express himself upon the subject of foreign peoples, and Joel may well have done so. Only, in that case, his last chapter was delivered by him at another time and in different circumstances from the rest of his prophecies. Chapters 1-2 are complete in themselves. Chapter 3 opens without any connection of time or subject with those that precede it. The time of the prophecy is a time when Israel’s fortunes are at low her sons scattered among the heathen, her land, in part at least, held by foreigners. But it would appear (though this is not expressly said, and must rather be inferred from the general proofs of a post-exilic date) that Jerusalem is inhabited. Nothing is said to imply that the city needs to be restored. All the heathen nations are to be brought together for judgment into a certain valley, which the prophet calls first the Vale of Jehoshaphat and then the Vale of Decision. The second name leads us to infer that the first, which means "Jehovah-judges," is also symbolic. That is to say, the prophet does not single out a definite valley already called Jehoshaphat. In all probability, however, he has in his mind’s eye some vale in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, for since Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 38:1-23 ) the judgment of the heathen in face of Jerusalem has been a standing feature in Israel’s vision of the last things; and as no valley about that city lends itself to the picture of judgment so well as the valley of the Kedron with the slopes of Olivet, the name Jehoshaphat has naturally been applied to it. Certain nations are singled out by name. These are not Assyria and Babylon, which had long ago perished, nor the Samaritans, Moab and Ammon, which harassed the Jews in the early days of the Return from Babylon, but Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Edom, and Egypt. The crime of the first three is the robbery of Jewish treasures, not necessarily those of the Temple, and the selling into slavery of many Jews. The crime of Edom and Egypt is that they have shed the innocent blood of Jews. To what precise events these charges refer we have no means of knowing in our present ignorance of Syrian history after Nehemiah. That the chapter has no explicit reference to the cruelties of Artaxerxes Ochus in 360 would seem to imply for it a date earlier than that year. But it is possible that Joel 3:17 refers to that, the prophet refraining from accusing the Persians for the very good reason that Israel was still under their rule. Another feature worthy of notice is that the Phoenicians are accused of selling Jews to the sons of the Jevanim, Ionians or Greeks. The latter lie on the far horizon of the prophet, and we know from classical writers that from the fifth century onward numbers of Syrian slaves were brought to Greece. The other features of the chapter are borrowed from earlier prophets. "For, behold, in those days and in that time, When I bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all the nations, And bring them down to the Vale of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there, For My people and for My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the heathen, And My land have they divided. And they have cast lots for My people: They have given a boy for a harlot, And a girl have they sold for wine and drunk it. And again, what are ye to Me, Tyre and Sidon and all circuits of Philistia? Is it any deed of Mine ye are repaying? Or are ye doing anything to Me? Swiftly, speedily will I return your deed on your head, Who have taken My silver and My gold, And My goodly jewels ye have brought into your palaces. The sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem have ye sold to the sons of the Greeks, In order that ye might set them as far as possible from their own border. Lo! I will stir them up from the place to which ye have sold them, And I will return your deed upon your head. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Judah, And they shall sell them to the Shebans, To a nation far off; for Jehovah hath spoken. Proclaim this among the heathen, hallow a war, Wake up the warriors, let all the fighting-men muster and go up Beat your ploughshares into swords, And your pruning-hooks into lances. Let the weakling say, I am strong and come, all ye nations round about, And gather yourselves together. Thither bring down Thy warriors, Jehovah, Let the heathen be roused, And come up to the Vale of Jehoshaphat, For there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put in the sickle, for ripe is the harvest. Come, get you down; for the press is full, The vats overflow, great is their wickedness. Multitudes, multitudes in the Vale of Decision! For near is Jehovah’s day in the Vale of Decision. Sun and moon have turned black, And the stars withdrawn their shining. Jehovah thunders from Zion, And from Jerusalem gives forth His voice Heaven and earth do quake But Jehovah is a refuge to His people, And for a fortress to the sons of Israel. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, Who dwell in Zion, the mount of My holiness; And Jerusalem shall be holy, Strangers shall not pass through her again. And it shall be on that day The mountains shall drop sweet wine, And the hills be liquid with milk. And all the channels of Judah flow with water; A fountain shall spring from the house of Jehovah, And shall water the Wady of Shittim. Egypt shall be desolation, And Edom desert-land, For the outrage done to the children of Judah, Because they shed innocent blood in their land. Judah shall abide peopled forever, And Jerusalem for generation upon generation. And I will declare innocent their blood, which I have not declared innocent, Jehovah who dwelleth in Zion." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.