7/13/08 - Pentecost 9 - Joel 3:12-16

ALL DECISIONS ARE FINAL
- The Lord will not tolerate unbelief
- The Lord will pardon his people

Joel depicts a frightening scene for us this morning. The entire book of the prophet Joel is a little alarming, really, and these few verses in front of us today are no exception. Because here Joel describes for us Judgment Day, the moment at which the Almighty and powerful God comes back to this sinful earth - and it’s not pretty. There are no celebrations in this portrayal of the end times. There are no people shouting for joy at the sight of the Lord’s return. Joel preaches judgment. Joel shows us the Judge. And all of the Judge’s decisions are swift and just and final.
As these verses begin, we come across the sound of the voice of the Lord. All the nations of this world are being awakened by his command. All can hear it, none can ignore it. They all must come, they all are compelled to immediately gather at the place the Lord has assigned. And in the language of the prophet Joel - this location of God’s final judgment to which all nations must gather is the Valley of Jehoshaphat. A fictional place in a way since it is not mentioned in any other book of the Bible, but a very real place nonetheless. Because in this Valley of Jehoshaphat, a word that means “the Lord judges,” here the Lord judges. A fitting name and a fitting place for the Lord’s final decision on the people of the earth. And through the words of God’s prophet, as all people gather together there in this massive valley, the Lord says, “There I will sit to judge all nations on every side. Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow - so great is their wickedness!” Swing the sickle! Trample the grapes! These will not be gentle commands or soft spoken directives. These will be the final pronouncements on the sins of this world from a God who has hated sin and those who commit them with a fury that we cannot fathom. And so when he finalizes these decrees he “will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble.” And this irrevocable decision will rumble from the mouth of the supreme Judge of the world with such force that even the sun and the moon and the stars will lose their light and shake with awe in the presence of their determined Creator.
All those who did not believe in Jesus as their Savior will be condemned by this ruling. They will be the ones trampled like grapes and cut down with the sickle. They will be the ones who will experience God’s wrath from that point on and never ending throughout all eternity. And the Lord’s decision on their unbelief will be final. There will be no chance for rebuttals at this trial. There will be no closing arguments allowed to sway this Judge. And there will be no appeals. The Lord will instantly make his decision. Unbelievers will immediately go to hell. And there they will stay and there they will suffer more terribly than anything they could have ever imagined. And perhaps the worst part of it all: they will all be undeniably aware that the Lord’s mercy has been forever taken away from them and they will have no hope whatsoever in getting out.
It surely is a frightening scene that Joel describes in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. He shows a righteous Judge who carries out a verdict unquestionably brutal but a decision that is also completely just. And through it all it becomes clear: the Lord will not tolerate unbelief. He will not ignore it. He will not pass it by. He will not be lenient. He will not pretend everything is all right. The Lord will not tolerate unbelief on Judgment Day - and you will see his fury on unbelief with you own eyes.
Because you too will be standing there one day in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. You will be standing right next to those unbelievers who are trampled in the winepress of God’s wrath because of their rejection of the Savior. And these will be the same unbelievers who you stand among and live with and work around right now. Those unbelievers you’ve known for years, those who have never known their Savior, will be standing in that Valley when the Lord comes, and the Lord will not be kind to them. That unbelieving brother or sister you grew up with, that unbelieving mother or father or son or daughter still living, that unbelieving long-time friend or close co-worker you see every week will suffer the wrath of a just God on Judgment Day. Their unbelief will not be tolerated in the Valley of Decision. So why do you tolerate their unbelief now?
We go through our lives surrounded by those who do not know and do not want to know Christ, but it is rare that we do anything about it. We interact with these people, we talk to these people, we work and live and play with these people - and all the while we tolerate their unbelief. That doesn’t mean we approve of it. But we ignore it, don’t we? We pretend it’s not there. We give the impression that it’s not a big deal. We go about our lives with them without warning them, without indicating that we are concerned, without telling them about the danger. And in doing so we tolerate their unbelief. And so what will those people say to you when they find themselves in the Valley of Jehoshaphat as the Lord makes his final decision? What look will they give you when they hear his verdict and are sentenced to eternal condemnation in the death of hell? Will they turn to you and say, “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you keep bothering me about it? Why didn’t you care enough to hurt my feelings? Why did you let me live in unbelief knowing this would happen if I died this way?” It would be a painful thing to hear those words and see those looks from those so close to you. But even more petrifying than that: what would the Lord have to say?
Out of all these unbelievers in the world, you are one of the few who believe in the Savior. You live among thousands who don’t. And you have been given countless opportunities to spread that Message to those the Lord wants to save. But instead of confronting unbelief, you tolerate what the Lord never has and never will. You look past that which God condemns. You put up with something that the Lord cannot put up with. And so what do you expect the Lord to say to you as he sits on his throne in the Valley? Well done, good and faithful servant? Congratulations? I’m proud of you? I would have to expect that the Lord would say to me, “Why didn’t you do anything? Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you even try? What were you doing all those years I gave you? Whose side are you really on?” And that scares me. It scares me to think what the Lord would say to me if all the nations of the world would end up in that Valley of Decision today. Because the Lord does not take kindly to aiding and abetting unbelief. He does not look with favor on selfish silence. He does not tolerate people tolerating unbelief. And if I don’t stand up for the Lord here, why should he stand up for me in the Valley of Jehoshaphat? If I don’t do everything I possibly can to keep people out of the dungeons of hell, why should he let me sit with him in fields of Paradise?
The fact of the matter is: he shouldn’t. Everything I have done in this life and everything I have failed to do makes me just as guilty as the unbelievers I will stand next to in that crowded Valley. I have done nothing to avoid the winepress - and anything I have tried to do has not been enough. All of us should be trampled because of our wickedness, because all of us have a rap sheet a mile long. We will stand there - guilty, we will stand there with the nations at Jehoshaphat, the earth will tremble, the stars will go blind, and the Lord will thunder his final decision in frightening power - but in spite of it all, the final decision that we will hear will actually bring us joy. Because the verdict will be a verdict of pardon. The winepress will still be full and the vats will certainly overflow, but not because of us. We will be right there but we will be safe. Because Joel tells us that although it will be a terrifying event, “The Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.” The Judge himself - the Judge himself! - will be our stronghold! A castle in the midst of destruction. A safe-house in the middle of condemnation. A stronghold in biblical times was the fortress or the tower in which the people of a town would flee when the enemy attacked. There they would be safe within its walls, protected and secure from the dangers all around them. And so although there will be mass destruction all around us in that Valley, we will be completely safe in the stronghold of the Judge himself. Because the Judge also happens to be our Father.
It’s nice when the Judge is family, isn’t it? It’s nice when the governing authority who holds your future in his hands already knows you and loves you and cares what happens to you before the trial even begins. And in our case: it’s essential that the Judge is family because we could not be saved otherwise. The only reason we will be pardoned, after all, is because the Judge will treat us like his dear children. He knows that this scene in the Valley of Jehoshaphat is coming and he doesn’t want to have to pronounce that harsh sentence on us. He will pronounce a sentence on us, of course, but it will be far from harsh. It will be sweet and soothing and moving. Because on that dreadful day - after the unbelievers are sent to hell forever to be punished for rejecting the Lord - the Judge will then turn to you and simply say, “You are pardoned.” This decree will not roar from heaven, but it will resound in your heart. These words will not make the earth vvvvv0mtremble with fright, but it will make it shake with joy. Because the unthinkable will have happened: the holy God will have pardoned sinners. Not that we should be pardoned. But he will pardon us nevertheless because there will be nothing else left for him to do - there will be no punishment left to give.
There will be not punishment left for us there because long before that day comes, long before that Valley, there was a hill. Christ was forced to the top of a hill with a wooden beam on his back. Christ suffered on that hill with our sins on his shoulders. Christ died on that hill with our life in his hands. Christ already suffered in Jerusalem what we should suffer in Jehoshaphat. Christ already endured the exact same consequences of God’s wrath that all unbelievers will have to endure from the exact same God. Christ was in the winepress. He felt it, he endured it, and he survived it. So that now, we who believe in him as our risen Savior do not have to worry about standing in the Valley on the Last Day. We can look forward to sitting in the stronghold. Because of what Christ had already endured we will be pardoned by the Judge himself.
And this verdict, just like the verdict announced to the unbelievers, will be permanent. God will pardon you from your guilt and no one will be able to change that. No accusation from the devil - no matter how valid - will be accepted. No sinful record of what you have done or said or thought will be entered into evidence. The only evidence there will be in that Valley is the evidence of what Christ has done for you. That is the only thing the Judge will take into account. That is the only thing he will look at. And the Judge will see that the punishment has already been paid. He will see that his justice has already been carried out on Jesus. And the resulting declaration of pardon that you will hear with your own ears will last forever. His decision will be final. And you will immediately be taken away from that Valley of Jehoshaphat and ushered into the streets of the New Jerusalem to the shouts of angels, to the blasts of heavenly trumpets, and to the pure and unparalleled songs of the saints already there.
Joel definitely depicts a frightening scene. But Judgment Day will be a good day for us because the judgment pronounced there will be in our favor. In fact, it will be the best day of our lives and that day will never end. I pray that this gospel promise motivates you to reach out to those you know. I pray that this gospel promise comforts you when you fail to do so. And I pray that you remember that God has already determined to pardon you on that Last Day despite all of the sinful actions piled up until then. It is a good thing he is our Judge. It is a good thing he is our Father. And I can’t wait to stand in that Valley, shoulder to shoulder with each of you, to see our Father, our Judge, our Savior face to face.
Amen.

“The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.” - Revelation 22:20