ISRAEL’S VICTORY IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM
You shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall
be holy, and no aliens shall ever pass through her again. 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. “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. But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation
to generation. “For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted; for the Lord dwells
in Zion.” (Joel 3;17-21)
I. ISRAEL’S INTIMACY WITH THE GOD WHO WILL LIVE AMONG THEM
You shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall
be holy, and no aliens shall ever pass through her again. (Joel 3:17)
A. Joel again quotes this promise that God spoke to Moses in context to releasing the plagues of Egypt. God
promised that Israel would know God in other words, experience intimacy with Him. Joel emphasized this in Joel 2:27.
I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God
who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (Exodus 6:7)
B. God emphasized His commitment to live or dwell in Zion, or the Millennial Jerusalem. Jesus will literally be living with
the Israelites in Jerusalem. Joel emphasizes this again in verse 21.
C. After the Armageddon campaign, Jesus will win Jerusalem back from the antichrist and make it a city devoted to
God’s plan to rule the earth during the millennium. Joel prophesied that Jerusalem would be holy, or seen as a holy or
scared geographic place that would be especially set apart for God’s use in ruling the world during the millennial kingdom.
No alien armies would ever pass through Jerusalem again in military conflict. Zechariah made this same point in his
end-times prophesy.
In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord … (Zechariah 14:21)
D. However, Gentiles will visit Jerusalem in the millennium to worship, but without military conflict.
It shall be that whichever of the families of the earth (Gentiles) do not come up to Jerusalem to
worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. (Zechariah 14:17)
II. ISRAEL’S FULL MILLENNIAL BLESSINGS
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. (Joel 3:18)
A. Joel saw supernatural prosperity in the agriculture and livestock due to Jesus’ personal dwelling in Jerusalem. The
mountains would have such an abundant grape harvest that Joel says they drip with the production of wine. The same is
true of the cattle and sheep that feed on the abundant pastures in the hills. They will produce so much milk that the hill
are said to be flowing with it from these milk producing animals.
B. Amos spoke this same prophecy of the abundant grape harvest in the Millennial Kingdom.
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, “When … the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all
the hills shall flow with it.” (Amos 9;13)
C. This time of abundant wine and milk is the ultimate time f fulfillment when God promised Israel that they would live
in a land that would flow with milk and honey.
Bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, “a
land flowing with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 26:15)
D. The rivers and brooks in the Great Tribulation were judged with drought, being made bitter (poisoned) or turned to
blood. But Jesus will correct all this under His leadership, causing so much water that the brooks are described as flooded
with fresh water to enrich the ground.
These (Two Witnesses) have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy;
and they have power over waters to turn them to blood … (Revelation 11:6).
The third angel sounded: and a great star … fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water….
And many men died from the water, because it was made bitter. (Revelation 8:10-11)
The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers … and they became blood. (Revelation 16:4)
E. A river will flow out from the Jerusalem temple unto the Dead Sea causing the acacia trees to flourish. The valley
of acacias was probably the acacia trees of the Kidron Valley;
In that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea
(Dead Sea) and half of them toward the western sea (Mediterranean Sea); in both summer and winter it
shall occur. (Zechariah 14:8)
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the
Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved (Psalm 46:4-5)
There was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east … When the man
(angel) … measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my
ankles … Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too
deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. Then he brought me … to the bank
of the river. When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the
other. Then he said to me: “This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and
enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that
moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters
go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. It shall be that fishermen
will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of
the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many. But its swamps and marshes will not be
healed; they will be given over to salt. Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds
of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every
month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for
medicine. (Ezekiel 47;1-12)
III. GOD JUDGES ISRAEL’S PAST ENEMIES (EGYPT AND EDOM)
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. (Joel 3:19)
A. Egypt and Edom will be uninhabited because they shed the blood of Israelites.
B. The land of Israel’s enemies (Egypt and Edom) will become as dry parched lands, because they shed the innocent
blood of Israelites. They have done this through the years but will probably kill Israelites more in the Great Tribulation
than in any time in history.
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 (Zechariah 13:8)
C. Egypt may experience special judgment in the Millennial Kingdom with one benefit being that no nation in the
millennium will be tempted to esteem the gods of Egypt. Egypt and Edom serve as a witness to all the millennial nations
to obey Jesus who is ruling from Jerusalem.
If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the
plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
(Zechariah 14:18)
IV. ISRAEL WOULD BE BLESSED IN CONTRAST TO EGYPT AND EDOM
But Judah shall abide forever and Jerusalem from generation to generation (Joel 3:20)
A. Israel’s history is so filled with divine judgment through the hostility of military conflict that to be assured they would
never be annihilated as satan desired (Revelation 12) is a very powerful prophesy. This also implies that Israel would
always obey Jesus, thus, removing her reasons for being judged and annihilated like other nations will be.
B. The final fulfillment of this promise is to be seen in the Eternal City (Revelation 21-22)
V. GOD WILL PAY BACK THE NATIONS FOR BLOOD GUILT
For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted; for the Lord dwells in Zion
(Joel 3:21)
A. God will avenge innocent blood (verse 21a) shed by Egypt and Edom mostly in the Great Tribulation of verse 19
Egypt and Edom will be uninhabited because they shed blood of Israelites and then God will inhabit Zion (verse 21b).
B. The last prophesy by Joel was that God would not forget to pay back the unrepentant enemies of Israel. God
would in fact avenge Israel’s blood shed. He will do this because He lives in Israel, as seen in Joel 3:17, 21.
C. Bloodguilt speaks of taking the blood of innocent people by murder or war, etc.
D. Egyptians and Edomites become prototypes of this but are not the full count of nations that committed this sin against
Israel and others.
E. Jesus living in Jerusalem (Zion) is the ultimate vindication of Israel.