The Final Showdown of Armageddon:
Armageddon is going to be “God versus the nations”
In the last chapter of Joel, the Lord calls for the war of Armageddon to begin. This is literally the war-to-end-all-wars. Many have heard the word used so often it has lost its sense of impending doom and destruction. As we finish the commentary in the Book of Joel, we see that the famous battle is indirectly referred to here at the end of this short series of prophecies. The idea of Armageddon is not as scary as it used to be. It’s made light of by politicians, authors, and filmmakers, but it’s a deadly serious subject that the prophet addresses in this last chapter.
From locusts to Babylon
The prophet Joel began this little book by calling on the Jewish people to learn from the plague of locusts that devastated their crops. Then he urged them to repent and call upon the Lord because many worse things were going to follow, things much worse than heavy swarms of bugs that eat every growing thing in sight.
Repentance and fasting was an urgent message from the prophet. He warned them that the day of the Lord was at hand. It was the final end of all things. It was the fast-approaching day when Babylon would conquer, capture, and destroy everything in their tiny nation. But that was only a dreadful beginning of the troubles for rebellious Israel.
Joel 3:9 Prepare for war: Armageddon
“Proclaim you this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.”
The Lord speaks to the surrounding nations, those who have sworn allegiance as enemies against Israel, warning them to get ready for the final battle. Prepare for war, get ready to fight this final showdown. Those enemies have boasted about this day but when it finally arrives it seems that many aren’t sure if they want to get involved. The prophet Ezekiel writes about this same battle. It’s known as the ‘War of Gog and Magog.’ The Prophet says the Lord will have to put a hook in the jaw of the leader of the armies to get them all into the fight. In the end, they reveal themselves to be nothing more than boastful cowards, but they have taken on the God of the Heavens. Joel, Ezekiel, and many other prophets write about the appointed time that God has set for all this boastful talking to end.
Joel 3:10 Plowshares into swords
“Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.”
God tells Israel’s enemies to bring everything they have to this battle because they are going to need it. Even to the point of turning their farming equipment into weaponry. If any of their soldiers are timid or afraid of the fight they need to put aside those fears or worries and step strongly into the fray. It will be an epic final battle, its heroes will be sung about for a thousand years. Everyone is warned to engage with their best effort and courage.
Gandalf once told Bilbo Baggins, when the hobbit told him he had found his courage,
“Good, you’re going to need it.”
As the foes are desired to “beat their ploughshares into swords, and their pruning hooks into spears,” that so they may perish in their unhallowed attack on Judah and Jerusalem, so these latter, and the nations converted to God by them, after the overthrow of the antichristian confederacy, shall, on the contrary, “beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks,” when under Messiah’s coming reign there shall be war no more Isa 2:4 Hsa 2:18 Mic 4:3. A. R. FAUSSET
Joel 3:11 The Mighty Ones assemble for Armageddon
“Assemble yourselves, and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together round about; there cause your mighty ones to come down, O Lord.”
The challenge from the Lord continues, He knows they have long boasted about throwing off the shackles of God’s rule. Send your best soldiers, your mighty ones, the Lord prods further. Now they have the opportunity to destroy the ‘chosen people.’ The Jews haven’t looked or acted much like the ‘chosen people’ for a long time but they are chosen nonetheless. They weren’t chosen because of anything special in themselves. They were chosen by the Lord to essentially teach them and the world many lessons, too many to even begin to discuss in this short article.
Chosen because of God
When Jesus told his friends he must go to the cross and die, they either didn’t understand what he meant or they thought he was being too negative and tried to talk some sense into him. In the same way, the Jews and the world have never understood the true meaning of the ‘Chosen People.’
It is only after this famous battle of Armageddon is over that the world will finally begin to see the Jewish people act like the ‘Chosen people’ were supposed to all along. We’ve never seen the prophecies fulfilled when Israel serves and honors their God as they were always intended to do.
God’s prodding of the enemies of Israel is His way of saying to them, “Give your absolute best because this is your last shot.” He knows they won’t win but there is a purpose is this terrible final battle.
Joel 3:12 Wake the heathen
“Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.”
This is no more time for sleepers, judgment time has come. Joel continues the message of the Lord. In the valley of Jehoshaphat, which is the modern-day Valley of Kidron. This is where the judgment is focused.
Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” Psalm 2:1-6
Psalm two is a great summary of the common attitude reflected among many throughout man’s history. We don’t want the rule of God over our lives. We will make our own gods and set our own boundaries.
Joel 3:13 Put in the sickle
“Put you 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.”
Just as judgment is inevitable, the time for harvest is the same. Harvest time has usually been a time of great joy for farmers and the surrounding communities. This final harvest will be different. The souls of those who lived in rebellion against God will face the grim reaper. It will not be a movie scene or a fictional character with a piece of farming equipment in his hands. The angels of God Almighty will ascend at the appointed time, when the battle is winding down, to pick winners and losers.
But the winners and losers will have already chosen their fate by their own actions. In the battle of Armageddon, those who fought against Israel will realize the grim reapers, God’s angels, have come for them.
The passage in Revelation 14:14-20 uses this same typology of the winepress when it refers to the wrath of God.
Joel 3:14 Valley of Decision
“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”
In that valley, on that fateful day, a vast multitude of humanity will spill their blood, giving their lives, for a hopeless cause. It was hopeless from the very beginning when Adam chose to go with his wife who had taken of the forbidden fruit. Every man and woman since then has had ample opportunity to decide if they preferred their own path or God’s.
Armageddon and all that it means for the plan of God is approaching. It is best to decide now whose side you wish to be on. In the future, years from now, the armies and enemies will grow in power. Then begin their final march on Israel.
Choose now whom you will follow. Your own self-interests or those of a gracious and merciful God. He loved the world so much that He gave His own Son. The payment for the sinners who humble themselves and ask for entrance into eternity.
Joel 3:15 Cosmic Chaos
“The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.”
I believe the dark sun and moon that the prophet mentions are referring to three things. The terrors of war, troubling events in the cosmos, and the war between angelic good guys and bad guys.
During most wars, thick black clouds of soot darken the skies as they rise from the burning bodies, cities, and nations. Also, in the approaching last days, the Bible refers to real problems in the heavenly realm. Falling stars, comets, and asteroids likely will send humanity into hiding because of the heavenly calamities that will take place. Falling stars, crashing into the earth, is not going to happen. Physics won’t allow that and God created the world with physics included. That’s an allegory describing the third event.
In chapter twelve of the Book of Revelation, we see that Michael, a good angel, will lead a war in heaven. And cast out all the bad angels and send them cascading to earth so they can receive their punishment. The falling stars refer to the fallen angels getting their eviction notice from heaven. From that moment on things on earth get progressively terrifying.
Joel 3:16 Armageddon: Shaking the heavens
“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.”
God roars from Jerusalem. He shakes the heavens with his mighty cry. Yes, this is allegory too, but something will happen to stun and terrorize the enemies of Israel. When Israel is surrounded and vacant of hope, God steps in to defend His city. All the years of cries and claims from the Palestinians will be silenced when they and the world realize that God has arrived. He has come to defend the city He told everyone was His and His only. There will be no peace negotiations, only the Prince of Peace coming in to clean up the mess and establish His throne.
This won’t be a symbolic battle but a shocking bloodbath with broken, dying, and dead bodies spread across the landscape.
(Compare Eze 38:18-22 ). The victories of the Jews over their cruel foe Antiochus, under the Maccabees, may be a reference of this prophecy; but the ultimate reference is to the last Antichrist, of whom Antiochus was the type. Jerusalem being the central seat of the theocracy ( Psa 132:13 ), it is from thence that Jehovah discomfits the foe. A. R. FAUSSET
Which side will you be on?
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This book presents to you the teachings of a very old disciple of Christ (The Dead Man of Rome)-Hippolytus. He was an ardent defender of the teachings of the early disciples. He was an early disciple himself, but he was very aware of the many false teachings that were creeping into the church and affecting the truth of scripture. One of his more renowned writings was called, ‘Against Heresies.’ In it, he defended the word of God and the word of the first Apostles.
Hippolytus was born around A.D. 170 and lived to about A.D. 236. He was a contemporary of a more famous Irenaeus who learned under the teaching of Polycarp and Justin Martyr. He was born only seventy years after the death of the Apostle John. John was the last of the original twelve disciples of Christ, and the only one to avoid martyrdom.
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