Why God’s People Will Remain
God will see to that. His people will remain forever because he is their “fortress” (Joel 3:16). “Mount Zion” is a picture of God’s eternal government that can never be shaken. The government is built on the foundation of absolute justice, mercy, and love. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, legally guarantees your place within that eternal fortress. You can never be tried for your sins. His wounds from the cross are the everlasting evidence of full payment of all your debt to God. (Joel 3:20-21)
Joel 3:1-21
Time and place of the judgment
At that time I, the LORD, will make Judah and Jerusalem prosperous again. Then in Judgment Valley I will bring together the nations that scattered my people Israel everywhere in the world, and I will bring charges against those nations. They divided up my land.
None to escape the judgment
And they gambled to see who would get my people; they sold boys and girls to pay for prostitutes and wine. You people of Tyre and Sidon and you Philistines, why are you doing this? Are you trying to get even with me? I’ll strike back before you know what’s happened. You’ve taken my prized possessions, including my silver and gold, and carried them off to your temples. You have dragged the people of Judah and Jerusalem from their land and sold them to the Greeks. But I’ll make the people of Judah determined to come home, and what happened to them will happen to you. I’ll hand over your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, who live far away. I, the LORD, have spoken!
Judgment in Judgment Valley
Say to the nations: “Get ready for war! Be eager to fight. Line up for battle and prepare to attack. Make swords out of plows and spears out of garden tools. Strengthen every weakling.” Hurry, all you nations! Come quickly. Ask the LORD to bring his warriors along. You must come now to Judgment Valley, where the LORD will judge the surrounding nations. They are a field of ripe crops. Bring in the harvest! They are grapes piled high. Start trampling them now! If our enemy’s sins were wine, every jar would overflow. Crowds fill Decision Valley. The judgment day of the LORD will soon be here.
God Passes Judgment
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall gather in their light. From the heart of Jerusalem the LORD roars like a lion, shaking the earth and sky. But the LORD is a fortress, a place of safety for his people Israel. I am the LORD your God. And you will know I live on Zion, my sacred hill, because Jerusalem will be sacred, untouched by foreign troops.
Perpetual Happiness of God’s People
On that day, fruitful vineyards will cover the mountains. And your cattle and goats that graze on the hills will produce a lot of milk. Streams in Judah will never run dry; a stream from my house will flow in Acacia Valley. Egypt and Edom were cruel and brutal to Judah, without a reason. Now their countries will become a barren desert, but Judah and Jerusalem will always have people. I, the LORD, live on Mount Zion. I will punish the guilty and defend the innocent.
