Devotions

A Spring From the House of Yahweh

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There is coming a day when Israel and the world will know that the Lord is God in Jerusalem. Christians often refer to Revelation to describe the last days, Armageddon, and final judgement. And, today, there are many that say Revelation is too mystical, its allegorical, which is there way of saying it makes a nice fireside story, but isn’t really a description of what will happen. Joel 3:18 says “it will happen”. Joel 3:17 says “you will know that I, Yahweh your God, am dwelling in Zion … and Jerusalem will be a place of holiness”. But this is not just a statement to the children of Israel. Malachi 1:5 goes further saying “Your eyes will see this, and you will say, “Yahweh is great beyond the borders of Israel”. The nations will also know.

I Will Return the Fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem

Joel 3:1–8
The nations have come and gone across Israel. They have done as they will, taking even the people as their spoil. Yes, there were times that God gave Judah over as happened with Jehoiakim who did evil and the nation went into seventy years of captivity at Nebuchadnezzar’s hand. Now though, in the day that Joel sees, the Lord is their God, the Lord is their defender, the Lord will repay their enemies for their abuses. In Joel 3:2 it is in “the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will argue a case against them there concerning my people and my inheritance Israel”. This is “An unknown location with a symbolic name that means “the Valley where Yahweh will judge.” This is the place where Yahweh gathers the nations for judgment. Note that, “Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all include a tradition of a final divine judgment in this valley. The traditional identification connects the site with the part of the Kidron Valley just east of Jerusalem. The pseudepigraphal book of 1 Enoch also describes a final judgment taking place in a deep valley (1 Enoch 53:1; 54:1)”.1

This is the way God repays, not with malice, but by turning their intent, their actions back on them, as it says in Joel 3:7b-8 “I will return what you deserve on your head! 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans and to a nation far away, for Yahweh has spoken”.

Prepare For War

Joel 3:9–13
The nations grow in anger as it says in Joel 3:9-12 “stir up the mighty warrior … “beat your cutting tools of iron into swords … gather yourselves … let the nations be roused”. The resistance toward Israel is building, the men of war are preparing, the nations are allies together, even the weak say “I am a mighty warrior (or the least among us might say, Yes, fight them)”. Then in Joel 3:13 it says, “send forth the sickle” which is a reference to the final harvest, the harvest that goes in to the wine press of the wrath of God in

Revelation 14:19 (LEB) And the angel swung his sickle into the earth and harvested the vine of the earth, and threw the grapes* into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

 

And You Will Know

Joel 3:14–17
On “the day of Yahweh” in Joel 3:14-17 the Lord, Jesus Christ himself, returns and “utters his voice” as he takes his rightful place “dwelling in Zion … and Jerusalem will be a place of holiness”. We will know Jesus Christ as “King of kings and Lord of lords” as it says in

Revelation 19:15–16 (LEB) And out of his mouth came a sharp sword, so that with it he could strike the nations. And he will shepherd them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the wine of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful. 16 And he has a name written on his outer garment and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

From this day on, Israel will no longer be the pathway for armies that tread her underfoot. Long ago, Jesus taught us to pray, in

Matthew 6:10 (LEB) May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And it is being done. 

A Spring From the House of Yahweh Will Come Forth

Joel 3:18–21
Ask what people believe about God today and many will say, that is just a folk tale from our unenlightened and ignorant time in history. But Joel, looking forward says in

Joel 3:18 (LEB) And it will happen on that day; the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the channels of Judah will flow with water. A spring from the house of Yahweh will come forth, and it will water the valley of Acacia Trees.

There is absolute certainty in Joel as a prophet, that “it will happen” and “on that day” the Lord will do a work. And it isn’t just Joel that has this prophetic view, “The image of Judah’s glorious future that ends the oracle (Joel 3:17–21) reflects similar accounts of ideal restoration found near the end of other prophetic books (Isa 66:10–14; Hos 14:4–9; Amos 9:11–15)”.2

And this “spring from the house of Yahweh” is also spoken of in

Revelation 22:1–2 (LEB) And he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming out from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 in the middle of its street, and ⌊on both sides of the river⌋ is the tree of life, producing twelve fruits—yielding its fruit according to every month—and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

 

Yahweh is Great Beyond the Borders of Israel

Malachi 1:1–5
Many people talk of the Bible as being a history of the Jewish people by and for them. God has a different view. Yes, the Bible does record the history of the Jewish people, but it identifies them as the children of Israel, who was a descendant of Abraham, who was a man that believed God. The Bible introduces God and reveals His character and nature. But even more than that, it explains the fallen nature of man and the effects of sin in the world, as it says in

Romans 8:19–22 (LEB) For the eagerly expecting creation awaits eagerly the revelation of the sons of God. 20 For the creation has been subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its servility to decay, into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans together and suffers agony together until now.

Malachi 1:1-5 makes it clear that those God loves experience the blessing of that love. But those that are outside of that love will experience “desolation … desert … ruin”. At first reading, you might say, God has chosen to love Jacob and hate Esau and maybe that is all there is to say, whether you think that is fair or just or not. Let me say this a little differently, but I think with the same meaning. If you are in Esau’s camp, there isn’t anything that you can do to make God accept you. If you could join Jacob’s camp, there is nothing you can do to make God hate you.

A Son Honors His Father

Malachi 1:6–14
Malachi 1:6 describes what we already know, “A son honors his father, and a slave his master” and then asks the question, “where is my honor?”. Malachi goes on to describe how those that are to offer sacrifices and offerings to the Lord for the people, the priests, are taking the best for themselves and offering the weak and sick and lame to the Lord. In Malachi 1:13 they say “This is a weariness (to follow the ways of the Lord and present the sacrifices and offerings)”. Whether they know it or not, whether they value God or not, He knows who He is, in Malachi 1:14b “For I am a great king,” says Yahweh of hosts, “and my name is awesome among the nations”.

He has demonstrated His love for them and “A father-son relationship between God and Israel is implied at the beginning of the exodus deliverance, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my first-born son’ (Exod. 4:22). Hosea saw Israel as an ungrateful son (Hos. 11:1), and Isaiah’s prophecy opens with a complaint of the heavenly Father against his rebellious sons (Isa. 1:2). Like his prophetic predecessors Malachi realized that the heart of the trouble he was probing was a broken relationship with God. Instead of affection and trust there was antipathy to God’s nature and will”3.

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Joel 3:1-21
  • Malachi 1:1–14

Operation Exodus

is helping Jewish people return to their homeland. You might fund one that desires to go home. http://operationexodususa.org/Overview

References

  • 1. Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Joe 3:2). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
  • 2. Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Joe 3:1–21). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
  • 3. Baldwin, J. G. (1972). Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 28, p. 244). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.