END-TIME JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL’S ENEMIES
“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, 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. 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. 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; because you have taken My silver and My gold,
and have carried into your temples My prized possessions. 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. Behold, I will
raise them out of the place to which you have sold them, and will return your retaliation upon your own
head. 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 3:1-8)
I. THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS
A. Jesus is going to return to the earth. With all the events preceding, throughout and after His return, the greatest
drama of all time will unfold before the eyes of all mankind – specifically the eyes of Israel. It will be a drama unsurpassed
by every movie ever produced, every story of heroism ever told and every experience of radical deliverance ever lived.
Thick with tragedy and flooded with Divine romance, no other tale will ever compare. It is the great story that God
purposed from all eternity – the story that would cause all of mankind to marvel and all believers to spend eternity in
awe, overwhelmed forever by His everlasting kindness (Ephesians 2:7).
B. When Jesus returns, He will return to an earth that is shaking beneath His judgments, staggering under the pressure
of mankind’s sin, and broken under satan’s rage. In that day, hostile nations will have once again imprisoned and taken
captive Jewish people, treating them with hate-filled injustice and scattering them all over the earth. “They will fall by the
edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations …” (Luke 21:24). There will really be Jewish and Gentile
captives all over the earth, and they will have no hope of deliverance because all the nations will be their enemy. Unsaved
Jewish prisoners will be awaiting their death, even wanting their death, that they might escape the unrelenting hatred of
the nations that has tormented them for all of history. It is when the nations have Israel backed into a corner with no hope
of deliverance that the great Deliverer will show Himself strong on their behalf. At that time, the sun will be darkened, the
moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. God will distress
the nations; men’s hearts will fail them from fear and expectation of what is coming. Then, as the captives tremble in their
prisons, void of all hope of liberation, the Son of Man will be seen coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory. The captives will lift up their heads to see their redemption drawing near! (Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25-27)
II. BRINGING BACK THE CAPTIVES
For in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem (Joel 3:1)
A. Instead of winding the book down to a slow end, Joel continues to bring the message to a crescendo or revelation.
The significance of his proclamation is building broadening to a global dimension and speaking directly toward all nations.
Chapter three is a direct continuation from Chapter Two and there should be no break in thought. As we saw in the
previous chapter, it is the same time period: the great outpouring of God’s Spirit is the same time frame as when he brings
back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem. The inevitable question that arises from this piece of information is, who are
the captives and where have they been? The answer: these are the captives from Israel, citizens of Jerusalem and Judah
that were scattered all over the nations.
B. A season is coming yet again to the nation of Israel when there will be heinous hostility among the nations towards
them. A number of people living in Israel will be taken away as captives. Many Jewish people will be deported out of the
land against their will. We do not know what number will be taken captive in this way, yet scripture makes it clear that in
that day, there will be many captives that the Lord brings back and many prisoners that the Lord releases.
1. The Lord will protect a number of the Jewish people in the land and they will experience the supernatural safety
that Joel prophesied would be available to them (Joel 2:32).
2. Others will join the world dictator, the antichrist, and become part of his regime; and these will not be deported.
They are what is called apostate Israel.
3. Still others will flee just as Jesus instructed when He said, “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place … then let those who are in Jerusalem flee to the mountains”
(Matthew 24:15, 16). In other words, “When you see this evil leader desecrating the temple and demanding the earth’s
worship of him, flee!”
4. Others will be anointed apostolic believers, young and old, who will actually be sent from Israel to the nations in the
same way that Paul was sent as an apostle (Isaiah 66:19; Acts 1. God will commission prophetic apostolic believers to
the nations. They will come and go, doing the will of God right in the midst of the chaos.
5. Summary – some will flee, others will be deported as captives, some will stay in Jerusalem; and of those who stay,
some will be supernaturally protected and some will join the evil regime of the antichrist. Still others will be raise dup by
God as missionaries, “sent ones” to come and go to the nations. There will be so many different responses taking place
in the nation of Israel during this time period.
C. Many passages in scripture speak of this coming captivity for the Jewish people and the prisoners form Jerusalem
being scattered among the nations in the generation that the Lord returns. This ‘bringing back of the captives’ was not
totally fulfilled in 1948 when captives were brought back to the land and Israel became a nation.
D. Although many commentators interpret the captives of Joel 3:1 as the Jewish people imprisoned through history,
the context is actually about a very specific generation – that of the Lord’s return. These are real captives in real time.
1. There will first be another deportation of captives – it is yet future. We do not know the number or percentage of
citizens that will be taken. Zechariah prophesied that half the city of Jerusalem will be deported and taken into captivity
(Zechariah 14:2). How staggering! If about six-hundred thousand people live in Jerusalem right now, fifty-percent, as
Zechariah foretold, would be three hundred thousand people!
2. This is a part of God’s end-time plan and both Jews and Gentile believers will face captivity by evil enemies.
Though we do not like the weight of this prophetic testimony, the glory that follows for these captives will far, far
outweigh the suffering.
E. After the nations have scattered them, Jesus will show Himself as their Deliverer. Those who have been fleeing for
their lives will suddenly see their Deliverer – literally the Lord Himself. When the Lord Jesus returns, he will set actual
captives free from prison camps (Zechariah 9:11-17). Jesus said, “For the Spirit of the Lord god is upon Me, because the
Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to
the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61:1). We often limit these verses to the
spiritual deliverance that he brought in His first coming, yet they will be completely fulfilled in the natural also when Jesus
comes to reign as King on the earth. Jesus will open real prison doors and the captives that He frees will begin their
journey back to Jerusalem. He will show them that He is truly their God, their Deliverer.
F. Unsaved Jewish people who are held captive will see Him in the sky, shining with brightness. Then their Jewish
Deliverer will free them from their captivity and make them part of His army! He will give them power to battle under a
supernatural anointing, and as they are fighting alongside this shining King, they will get saved!
G. These captives will then begin their journey back to Jerusalem, as the Lord gives them supernatural ways to find
water, food and direction along the way (Isaiah 49:10-12; Jeremiah 31:9). That day will be like a scene from the summer
of 1945 in Europe after World War II was over, as multitudes walked across Europe to return to their burned cities and
shattered homes. Hundreds of millions of refugees will be marching across the nations from all different directions,
returning back to their homeland. As He brings them back, the event will involve a supernatural dimension right alongside
the natural, human process. Those recently freed Jewish prisoners will literally walk back to Jerusalem. God will give
supernatural direction and provision along the way.
III. GATHERING ALL NATIONS
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 3:2)
A. Before the Lord brings back the captives of Israel related to His Second Coming, He will first gather all the nations
together for judgment. He will bring them down into a specific geographic place – the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There is no
place in Israel with this name, therefore, most are content to see this passage as only symbolic of God’s judgment. I see
the battle at the Valley of Jehoshaphat as the Battle of Armageddon.
B. Why is the Lord bringing judgment to the nations? It is because of their horrific treatment of Israel, His inheritance.
Many Gentile believers are unprepared for what this passage implies. To the un-renewed mind of a Gentile believer, this
is an offensive concept.
1. An unsaved Gentile would of course find this offensive, but even a Gentile believer has difficulty with it because of
not understanding god’s purpose with the nation of Israel.
2. Many have a low-grade, unspoken and even unperceived resistance towards God’s choosing of the nation of Israel
and His action of performing a special work of grace in their midst.
3. As believers that love God, we stumble through this subject, only finding assurance in the fact that it’s in the Bible.
Yet the Lord wants us to come much higher in both our understanding of what He is doing and our agreement with it.
C. Summary – there are five things happening simultaneously in this one dramatic time period as seen in Joel 2:28-3:2.
There will be a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-29), supernatural deliverance of the wholehearted (Joel 2:32), tremendous
and terrifying signs in the heavens (Joel 2:31), a freeing of the deported captives by God Himself and the
sovereign judging of all the nations of the earth (Joel 3:2). All five of these events will happen in the same time frame
which the Lord called, “In those days” and “at that time” (Joel 3:1).
IV. THREE REASONS FOR GOD’S GLOBAL JUDGMENT
I will also gather all nations … 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. 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 3:2-3)
A. The judgment of the nations is related to their bad treatment of Israel. In Joel 3:2-3, God reveals a standard by
which He will judge the nations; He proclaims His reasoning for His judgment by naming three transgressions. The nations
have done these three things throughout history, yet there will be a unique climax of these actions in the generation of the
Lord’s return.
1. They scatter God’s people, Israel, among the nations.
2. They divide God’s land.
3. They enslave or cast lots for God’s people, the Israelites.
B. Scattering Israel – the nations still seek to scatter the people of Israel from the land and they will succeed to some
degree for a short time. This is a terrifying idea to the people in Israel, yet the greater point of the passage is not what
man will do to Israel, but what God will do to the nations that come against Israel. The nations involved in this persecution
should tremble and be afraid.
C. Dividing up the land – God charges the nations for dividing His land and using it in ways contrary to His purpose.
He will bring them into judgment over this issue. This speaks of the way the nations have seized the land of Israel and
divided geographic areas for their own agenda, making their own political domains and governmental divisions. This is
exactly what the antichrist will do when he marches into Jerusalem and sets up his headquarters. He will use the nation for
his own purposes, in spite of this warning against using the land for governmental intentions that are contrary to God’s
revealed purposes.
D. Enslaving the Israelites – God’s third controversy with the nations is that they have cast lots for His people. In
other words, they have enslaved His people and put them in prison (Joel 3:6). So many passages in scripture reference
the nations enslaving Jewish people. The Lord continues, “They have given a boy as payment for a harlot, and sold a girl
for wine, that they may drink” (Joel 3:3). They have so degraded and devalued a little Jewish boy that they use him as
payment for a brief moment with a prostitute. They have sold a little girl in exchange for one glass of wine – esteeming
her life as of less worth. God’s dispute with these nations is that they have so despised the lives of the Jewish people,
counting them completely worthless and invaluable. They were selling them in large numbers and the price of their lives
is low because there is not a great market for them.
E. Perhaps the greatest portrayal in history of this kind of treatment of the Jewish people was seen in Nazi Germany.
Nazi Germany was not only about death camps; it was about work camps. I believe that the foundation of Nazi Germany,
Adolf Hitler was seeking to liquidate the Jewish race as an intentional act of worship to satan, exchanging this worship with
satan for world dominion. Yet this was not the case with many of the others whose primary interest in the Jewish people
was the economic advantage of free labor. They wanted the slave trade so that the industries and warehouses could be
filled with free labor. Driving human souls like cattle, the Nazis would trade a hundred Jewish people for a couple crates
of wine, saying, “Take them all!”
1. A more severe time than WWII is advancing on the horizon of Israel and it will come to pass before the Lord returns.
It will be the most severe time frame in Jewish history, the greatest adversity and suffering ever experienced, named
appropriately by God as, “Jacob’s Trouble”. (Daniel 12:1, Jeremiah 30:7). Though WWII was the worst depiction we have
yet seen as a human race, the enslaving, selling and abusing of the Jewish people that the Lord speaks of in this passage
was not fulfilled in the 1940’s – it is still yet to come. It will be in the same exact time frame in which Jesus appears in the
clouds and in which all of the nations are being led into divine judgment.
2. Because WWII was the most bitter time in history for the Jewish people, many people refer to the 1940’s as Jacob’s
Trouble. Yet we know from scripture that Jacob’s Trouble will be concurrent with the Second Coming of Christ. Quoting
Daniel, Jesus spoke of this time frame as a great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world and
will never be again (Matthew 24:21). What is scheduled for Israel at the time of Christ’s return will be far worse than the
1940’s in Europe. This time of trouble will come upon the whole earth, not just Israel (Revelation 3:10). Jacob’s Trouble
will disturb the entire world. It does no service to the Jewish people to concede that Jacob’s Trouble has already passed, suggesting
that now that they made it through the 1940’s all that is in store for them is an ascending experience of glory.
That is an absolutely false message that lulls the nation of Israel to sleep. We need to say the whole message. Yes, a
great glory is coming, yet simultaneously so is the greatest trouble ever known.
F. The three transgressions – scattering the Jews among the nations, dividing up the land, and selling the people into
slavery – have all happened at various times and at different levels of intensity throughout history, but they will have their
ultimate expression in the time of Jacob’s Trouble. And God is angry about these three offenses. All those who participate
in the slightest degree, corporately and as individuals, will face severe judgment before Him. In that day, it will be
surprising how many professing Christians will have participated in these three evils. Though it may be a participation
of a small level, it will not go unchecked b god. In God’s zeal for His people, His warning to the nations right now is that
they absolutely do not even want to get near these three offenses. They are such an atrocity to Him that He will bring
judgment to all of the nations of the earth over these precise issues.
V. GOD’S CHALLENGE TO THE NATIONS
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; because you
have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My prized possessions. 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. Behold, I will
raise them out of the place to which you have sold them, and will return your retaliation upon your own head. 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 3:4-8)
A. Joel records an obvious exchange of actions and dialogue between God and the obstinate nations who will resist
Him and His people. And though the exact words of the nations are not recorded, God’s response to them reveals their
position before Him They are intensely provoked by god’s claim that He is going to judge them for their treatment of Israel
and out of their mouths spurt offensive declarations to the effect of, “We are not worried about You! We are in unity
against You and You will not prevail over us! We are not afraid of God!” It is this arrogant posture that the Lord
challenges when He says, ‘Indeed, what have you to do with Me?” (Joel 3:4). He is cross-examining them: “Do you
think that there is any agreement between us with what you are doing?”
B. Addressing Tyre, Sidon, and all of the coasts of Philistia, God asks, “Will you retaliate against Me?” Historically,
these nations did rebel against God; it was a partial fulfillment. Tyre and Sidon are modern-day Lebanon, the country
north of the nation of Israel and Philistia is the country south of Israel, the Palestinians today. Modernly speaking,
Lebanon is a tremendous source of resistance against Israel, and the Palestinians are still doing what they did in the
days of old. In this passage in Joel the Lord speaks to Lebanon and the Palestinians of today, using their ancestral
names, because He knew they would be in the very thick of the trouble at the very center of the resistance against
Israel during the end times.
C. To these nations, the Lord essentially says, “Do you think that you will retaliate against Me? Do you think that
you will resist My will and defeat Me just because you are in alignment with an evil global government? Do you think that
you will stop Me, because you, little nations, can hide under the shadow of all the big nations that you are confederated
with? Do you think that will now change your standing before Me?” God uses the word “retaliate” as though they were
paying Him back for something He did wrong. Yet what they retaliate against is the covenant He made with Abraham to
give the Jewish people dominion in the land. This covenant is sure and steadfast and it will not be broken. Israel will have
dominion not only in their land, but across the whole earth. As Joseph’s brothers despised him because of his favor and
his calling, so the unbelieving nations despise Israel. They are furious toward the Lord and toward Israel because of
promises He made to Israel. Enraged by His covenant, they challenge God as though they have a just case. They charge
the God of the whole earth with misbehavior, thinking they will prevail against Him because of arrogant confidence in their
global confederation.
D. God will answer this stubborn resistance of the nations by exposing their false controversy with Israel. Through the
prophet Ezekiel, the Lord tells us just why the nations actually despise Israel. “Therefore, as I live”, say the Lord God, “I
will do according to your anger and according to the envy which you showed in your hatred against them; and I will make
Myself known among them when I judge you” (Ezekiel 35:11). God tells the hostile nations that the reason they do not like
Israel is not really about some issue of justice, but because of bitterness, anger, greed and envy. He says in essence,
“You have animosity, raging bitterness, and envy towards them because you want what is in their midst. You want their
gold and their possessions.” Cutting through their political rhetoric, He exposes their motivations as having everything to
do with the God of justice and His unassailable covenant with Israel. The nations are angry because they want what God
has given Israel and it will not work. The Lord confronts them with, “Swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation upon
your own head, because you have taken My silver and My gold. And you have carried into your temples My prized
possessions. Also, the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem you have sold to the Greeks, that you may remove
them far from Your borders” (Joel 3:4-6)
E. The Lord continues with His plan of judgment upon these nations, “Behold, I will raise them up out of the place to
which you have sold them, and will return your retaliation upon your own head. 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 3:7, 8). As a warning to the nations, the Lord declares in detail what He will do to judge them. This Divine retaliation
had an actual fulfillment in history, yet once again, it is not only a history lesson but a declaration of what is to come. This
precise judgment happened in history as a pattern of what will happen once again in these nations in the end times. These
very nations will enter into the same conflict with God, and He will bring the same manifestation of judgment upon them.
Yet if the little nations are going to be judged for these things, how much more will the superpowers of the earth be judged?
Joel 3:2 tells us the Lord is going to gather all nations together for judgment, not just the small nations Joel specifically
mentioned in Joel 3:4. He will judge them swiftly because they touched Israel in a wrong way. He is specifically and
intimately watching the details of everything that is happening.
F. The main point of this passage is God’s zeal to confront the abuse of the nation of Israel and God’s zeal to reward
those who actively involve themselves in esteeming Israel in the way that He does. There is a cause-effect in the reward
He will give and there is a cause-effect in the judgment He will administer. This sowing and reaping reality will affect
everyone’s lives, in real time and real space at the end of the age.
VI. THE UNDERLYING POWER OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY
A. God’s sovereignty is the basic premise behind everything, the foundational point of the whole story of human history.
God has the right to decide who – He had to choose some people group through whom He would establish His kingdom –
and He chose the Jewish people. He has the right to choose where, and He chose the city of Jerusalem, and the land of
Israel. He has the right to choose what and he chose Israel to be the governmental structure of the entire earth for a
thousand years. All the nations of the earth will be ruled under this government. He has the right to choose when and
He chose the millennium. When the apostles asked Him when it would be that He would restore the Kingdom to Israel, He
told them that it wasn’t for them to know, but that the Father has chosen the time (Acts 1:7). God chooses how everything
will culminate. He will gather the nations together in one giant war, the Battle of Armageddon. This is what god has
chosen and there are no arguments. He is God, and we are not. In His perfect wisdom, God chooses who, when, what,
where and why. He is going to rule the earth from Israel.
B. In our natural un-renewed minds, we do not like this. We want God to choose America. Of course, every nation
would want God to choose them to rule from. But He had to choose one and He chose it before Creation. He chose Israel
(Psalm 132:13-14). Any place that God would choose as His capital city would have incredible warfare and hostility
related to it. Indeed Israel has had a more difficult history than any other nation in the history of the world. But those who
have the greatest glory will also have had the greatest crisis Although Israel has been the most hostile nation to Jesus, it
will be full of lovesick worshipers before it is over. Through them, God will demonstrate to the whole earth His
unfathomable kindness.
C. God chose Israel for His own glory. In Ezekiel 36:22, the Lord states, ‘I do not do this for your sake, O house of
Israel, but for My holy name’s sake …” The way He has orchestrated history and will orchestrate its culmination is about
Him revealing His sovereignty and His name to man. Often times the Jewish people get into the very same error that the
Gentiles do by thinking it is about ‘them’. Similarly, in confusion and frustration, the Gentiles ask, “Why is Israel the
favorite of God?” yet this is a false premise. It is not about Israel being God’s favorite, but about the Father’s promise to
His son to rule the nations. On the other extreme, some Gentile believers get caught up with Israel that they nearly
worship the nation more than Jesus, grieving the Holy Spirit by their soulish unbiblical perspective. The covenant God
made was not about Israel, but about His sovereignty. It is about Jesus displaying His splendor to all the earth. It is not
that the actual people are unimportant to Him; He cares intensely about people, whether they are Israelites or Gentiles.
Yet God has based His covenants upon geographic areas and bloodlines and these covenants are so critical to Him.
They are the covenants that have made a way for us to know Him. Once we encounter the revelation of His sovereignty,
it no longer matters which city or nation God has chosen, but simply that He has chosen it. It is about Yeshua, Jesus and
His choice to plunge Himself into human soil, becoming our Brother and presenting to the Father a kingdom of priests.
D. God’s sovereign choosing of Israel began with the covenant God made with Abraham (Genesis 12:3). Abraham was
a Gentile from Ur of the Chaldeans, or modern-day Iraq. Abraham was a Gentile, an Iraqi, who God brought into covenant
with Himself, and then out of the covenant he made him the father of many nations, one of whom would bring forth the
Messiah. This covenant was where the whole plan of salvation began to take form. Before there was time, Israel was
chosen of God as the race through whom the Messiah would come; the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world
But when God made covenant with Abraham, He brought His plan into time and space. God told him that He would bless
all the nations through his seed, and everyone who blessed him would be blessed and everyone who cursed him would be
cursed! (Genesis 12:3). This covenant has been the underlying factor of the course of history. The people of Israel are
the heirs of that covenant and we as Gentiles are grafted into it. The sovereign and holy part of the whole reality is not
the nation of Israel, but the covenant itself.
E. Throughout history, the most significant movements have been related to nations either blessing or cursing Israel,
and all of the major developments have been according to the outworking of this irrevocable covenant that God made with
Abraham so long ago. Those who bless Israel receive God’s blessing and those who curse them receive God’s judgment.
God’s judgment upon the nations is the manifestation of His defense of his covenant.