(Joel 2:17) Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'" {18} Then the LORD will be zealous for His land, And pity His people. {19} The LORD will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.

As of today, the Jewish people are still a reproach among the nations.  Even the United States gets involved telling them to give away their land for a peace settlement.   But God will settle matters in His own way, without compromise or negotiation!

(Joel 2:20-27 NKJV)  "But I will remove far from you the northern army, And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, With his face toward the eastern sea And his back toward the western sea; His stench will come up, And his foul odor will rise, Because he has done monstrous things."

 (Joel 2:21) Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvelous things!

Did you notice the “prophetic past tense”?  It’s very confusing.  God speaks of things yet to be as if already done.

(Joel 2:22) Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; For the open pastures are springing up, And the tree bears its fruit; The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. {23} Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you; The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month.

 (James 5:7 NKJV)  “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.”

 (Joel 2:24) The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. {25} "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, 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 be put to shame. {27} Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.

Israel has been put to shame, but remember what Hosea said:

(Hosea 1:9-10 NKJV)  Then God said: "Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you are not My people, And I will not be your God.

(Hosea 1:10) "Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There it shall be said to them, 'You are sons of the living God.'

(Joel 2:28-29 NKJV)  "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, Your young men shall see visions. {29} And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

 (Acts 2:14-17 NKJV)  But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. {15} "For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. {16} "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: {17} 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.

 But was everything fulfilled that Day?

(Joel 2:30-32 NKJV)  "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. {31} The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.

(Joel 2:32) And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.

(Zec 13:8-9 NKJV)  And it shall come to pass in all the land," Says the LORD, "That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one- third shall be left in it: {9} I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, 'This is My people'; And each one will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"

Joel continues:  God will bring back His people!

(Joel 3:1 NKJV)  "For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,

(Joel 3:2) I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land.

(Joel 3:3 NKJV)  They have cast lots for My people, Have given a boy as payment for a harlot, And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

(Joel 3:4 NKJV)  "Indeed, what have you to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia? Will you retaliate against Me? But if you retaliate against Me, Swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation upon your own head;

(Joel 3:5) Because you have taken My silver and My gold, And have carried into your temples My prized possessions.

(Dan 5:3-4 NKJV)  Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. {4} They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

(Joel 3:6 NKJV)  Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem You have sold to the Greeks, That you may remove them far from their borders.

Remember the sequence:

Babylon

Medo-Persians

Grecian, or Greeks

(Joel 3:7-8 NKJV)  "Behold, I will raise them Out of the place to which you have sold them, And will return your retaliation upon 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 people far off; For the LORD has spoken."

(Joel 3:9-10 NKJV)  Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Wake 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 strong.'"

(Isa 2:4 NKJV)  He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; 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.

(Joel 3:11-12 NKJV)  Assemble and come, all you nations, And gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD. {12} "Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

(Joel 3:13 NKJV)  Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow; For their wickedness is great."

(Rev 14:18-20 NKJV)  And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe." {19} So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

(Rev 14:20) And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs. (200 miles)

(Joel 3:14 NKJV)  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. {15} The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness. {16} The LORD also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.

(Heb 12:26-29 NKJV)  whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven." {27} Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Heb 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom   which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. {29} For our God is a consuming fire.

What a Tremendous Change will take place!

 (Joel 3:17-21 NKJV)  "So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, [Set apart for God] And no aliens shall ever pass through her again." {18} And it will come to pass in that day That the mountains shall drip with new wine, The hills shall flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; A fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD And water the Valley of Acacias. {19} "Egypt shall be a desolation, And Edom a desolate wilderness, Because of violence against the people of Judah, For they have shed innocent blood in their land. {20} But Judah shall abide forever, And Jerusalem from generation to generation.

(Joel 3:21) "For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted; For the LORD dwells in Zion."

I have tried to tie Old Testament prophecy together with the rest of the Bible.

·     Peter’s quotation in Acts.

·     The Hebrew writer’s statement about shaking heaven and earth

·     The statement in Revelation about the winepress.

 Hopefully we’ve been reminded again of the coming judgment of God, and how terrible it will be to be fighting against God.

 I hope it is clear that God is going to make a great distinction between those who serve and love Him, and those who have been in opposition to Him and/or His people.

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