Think on these questions while you dwell in Joel 3:1-16:

1. How does the imagery of turning agricultural instruments into weapons of war in Joel 3:10 convey the severity of impending judgment? How does this contrast with other passages in Scripture that emphasize turning weapons into tools for peaceful purposes?

2. In Joel 3:16, the Lord is described as roaring from Zion and being a refuge and stronghold for His people. How does this dual nature of God, as both a just judge and a protective refuge, offer comfort and assurance to believers in the face of impending judgment?

3. Reflecting on the passage, how does the understanding of God's judgment and refuge impact the way we live our lives as Christians? How should this knowledge influence our interactions with others and our approach to serving God in our daily lives?

Transcript:

This is a pretty intense passage for some devotional thoughts to maybe start your morning or to think about as you head out into your day. This idea of judgment, this is intense stuff. In fact, you're coming across some stuff that is opposite of what you hear in other parts of scripture. If we look at verse 10 here, beat your plow shares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Instead of turning your weapons of war, where we see in other parts of scripture, into instruments for agriculture, you're doing the opposite. You're turning your instruments of agriculture into weapons of war. This is intense. This is the idea of impending judgment. God is saying, You have done these things to my people, and so you are going to suffer judgment. This is all happening in this Valley of Jehosifat. This is a pending thing. God is talking about the intensity here of judgment and what it means. So we see here in verse 11, hasten and come all you surrounding nations and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors. Oh, Lord, let the nations stir themselves up. This idea is that it is pending. It is coming.

And it is coming, and it is an important thing to understand because there God will sit and He'll judge the nations. And what is God saying? He's saying that He is over all of these things. This wickedness that has been done is not going to be turned aside easily. There is going to be something that is going to have to happen. Judgment is coming. And we see this with other language in here, verse 13, Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe. It's close. Go in. Tread for the wine press is full. It's been filled up with judgment, and so the vats are going to overflow with judgment because the evil is great. God is talking about how serious this is, and He is not going to let this just slide by. This is hard to think about, isn't it? This is the judgment of God. But at the same time, we have to think about this a little bit and find some peace in this. We know that God judges, but in verse 16, we can find that peace. The Lord roars from Zion, and others his voice from Jerusalem in the heavens in the earthquake.

But the Lord is a refuge to His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. We hear this idea that God is roaring. He is powerful. He is mighty. He is coming in judgment. Even the heavens and the earth quake. We should be terrified at the judgment of Almighty God. But what does the last part of this say? It says, But the Lord is a refuge to His people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. God is not only the judge and the just judge for evils that must be punished, but he is also the refuge for His people. We see this in the Lord Jesus, right? He comes to judge the living and the dead, but in His death and resurrection, He is the refuge of His people. He offers forgiveness. He is their perfect righteousness. He is their stronghold. He is their refuge. And so as we think about these ideas of judgment, there should be a lot of thought within us of, Wow, this is intense. We should be worried about the idea of God judging us. But at the same time, we know that the one who judges is the one who protects us.

He's the one who has made us righteous through his death, resurrection, and ascension. He is our shelter. And so when we know that there is a storm of judgment, we know that we have the shelter that we are safe. And so may we think about this. May we be convicted of our sin as we think about the judgment of God. But may we then be inspired to live a holy life knowing that we have a refuge. We have this stronghold that keeps us safe from that judgment. That doesn't give us a license to sin. Instead, it gives us the opportunity to love and serve our neighbor because we know that we have the freedom to serve God because we have gone from being slaves to sin to being slaves to Christ, slaves to righteousness. So may that be on our mind today, this stronghold that we have. And even though we know the judgment of God is powerful, we know that the forgiveness that we have as the people of God is more powerful than the judgment because it has been paid for us by the Lord Jesus. So may we live our lives as living sacrifices for Him as we go out into His world today.