Flight JAO01 - Part B

It is that scripture that is on the door of the United Nations.

It will beat their swords into posture. It's a great thing for the nations to see, the delicates to see as they come in. The only problem with them putting that on the United Nations is ain't never going to happen this side of the second coming. World peace is often high on people's list of hopes and dreams for the world, and one day there will indeed be true world peace.

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Request the Dads Make a Difference package online at connectwithskip.com or by calling 1-800-922-1888. Now, let's turn to the book of Joel as we continue in the Bible from 30,000 feet. Here's Pastor Skip. So what we have in the day of the Lord that is seen by locusts that swarm into Israel, followed by the Assyrian captivity in 722 BC, followed by the ultimate day of the Lord in the future, is a progressively intensification of God's wrath. Where we see in the book of Revelation seven seals as judgment, seven trumpet judgments, seven bowl judgments. We read about smoke and fire and heat and lightning and hail and darkness and beasts and falling stars and demons that come out of the bottomless pit to torment people.

So if you're wondering could it ever get any worse, the answer is a resounding, oh yes, and that's how bad it will get. Now notice something about this, and this is why Christians, I believe, will not go through the tribulation period. There's been debate on that. There's a group of people that call themselves post-tribulationists in their theology. I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. Some people think I'm wet behind the ears and that the only solid theology is they're post-toasties, I call them, post-tribulations. Jesus comes back at the end of that.

But notice why I don't believe in that. Verse 15 of chapter 1 says, for the day of the Lord is at hand. It shall come as destruction from whom?

The Almighty. Jesus said this, in the world you will have tribulation. Everybody has tribulation from the world, from the source of a world not at odds with God, or that it is at odds with God, not in sync with God. The world gives us plenty of grief and persecution and tribulation and mocks you.

You probably experienced some of it this week, even today. You get hassled by the world. The world is not your friend.

The world system is not your friend. Wrath and tribulation that comes from the world as a source is one thing, but wrath and tribulation that has its source in God as punishment is quite another. So you can't equate the tribulation that comes from the world with the final tribulation that will be sent by God, something you're not intended to face. Chapter 2 verse 20, but I will remove far from you the northern army. Now we could infer that to mean the Assyrians, the Assyrians, although the Assyrians really came from the east, but it's an interesting rendition. I will remove far from you the northern army and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land with his face toward the eastern sea, that is the body of water in Israel that is on its eastern boundary, which is the Dead Sea, 1290 feet below sea level. You'll see it when you go to Israel with this, or you've seen it if you've gone to Israel with us. That's the eastern sea, and his back toward the western sea, that forms the western border, or that's the Mediterranean Sea. Then notice, his stench will come up and his foul odor will rise because he has done monstrous things. Now I said that this swarm of locusts came in from the north, and there's a reference here to a northern army in the future, and it could have a hint of this.

I'm not going to be definitive, but I do see a perfect template where these things just sort of groove together. An army that comes from the north described in Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39. There's an army that is referred to that can be identified at least in part from Russia that will sweep down to Israel. Ezekiel 38, the prophet said, you will come up against my people, speaking to those people in the north, you will come up against my people Israel like a cloud to cover the land.

I will put my hooks in your jaws and draw you into that land. And the question has always been in Ezekiel 38 and 39, not only who is that nation, that's pretty easily identified with Russia and allies, what is interesting are the allies. Because part of the allies, according to Ezekiel, is Iran. And what's interesting is there seems to be, and there's never been one like there has been today, an alliance that is formed between Iran and between Russia. And the hook in the jaws could be, can't be definitive, but could be, kind of lean this way, is the growing Islamic population in those people groups within the greater Russia delegation as well as allies with Russia.

That could be the hook that brings them in. And that is that antagonism toward that plot of land that has given the neighbors so much trouble for the neighbors, so much trouble for so long, and that is that little piece called Israel. We can just get rid of Israel. And the Bible says in the end days, Zechariah said, all the nations of the world will come against that little plot of land. Now notice the stench again in verse 1.

I want to keep going on this, but I'm giving you these themes. Stench and foul odor. If you read Ezekiel, excuse me, if you read Zechariah 14 that talks about the Lord standing up fighting for his land against those nations that come in, Zechariah 14, and then you read Ezekiel 39, it indicates that not only will there be a widespread decimation of that army that comes in from the north, but that it will take seven months to bury their dead. Seven months to bury the dead. They'll have to bring in professional barriers to do the job.

So fascinating how it could all fit together. Verse 28, it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy.

Does that ring a bell? Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And also on my men servants and on my maid servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire, pillars of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. Now notice verse 28, it shall come to pass afterward. After all of that darkness, then afterwards, I'm going to pour out my spirit on all flesh.

And it's speaking to the nation of Israel. It's interesting in Judaism, a day, a 24-hour day does not begin with daylight, it begins with night. It begins with sunset, that's the beginning of the day. And it goes all the way through the night into the next day until sunset the following day. So it begins with night, then it is followed by a glorious day.

Just like a time of darkness and then afterward a time of light. Now of course, Acts chapter 2, Peter quoted this a set of prophecies referring to what was happening in Jerusalem. And so this causes people to get puzzled because it's one thing to read the book of Acts, it's another thing to read the context from which Peter in the book of Acts was quoting in the book of Joel. Because the context is clearly dealing with the nation of Israel, the flesh, the sons and daughters of all flesh of the nation of Israel and the ultimate judgment of the tribulation period. And so people scratch their minds when they go back and they go, why then did Peter say that what Joel wrote about was fulfilled? Well, he never said it was fulfilled. What he said is this is that which was spoken of by Joel. And then he quotes all these verses that we just read, including the verses that speak of the final judgment of the great tribulation, the smoke and fire, etc. Why? Why did Peter even quote that?

Here's the answer. Here's how these scriptures fit. Just as the locust plague prefigures a future judgment on the world, so Pentecost prefigures a future outpouring on the nation of Israel. You may want to hold that thought, this future awakening of Israel, this future outpouring on Israel. Because by the time we get to the book of Romans 9, 10 and 11, Paul the apostle is going to say, and so all of Israel shall be saved. And you're wondering, what does that mean all Israel will be saved? Well, you're going to have to wait till we get to that portion on our Sunday morning in the book of Romans. But look at chapter three, verse nine, proclaim this among the nations, prepare for war, wake up the mighty men, let all men of war draw near, let them come up. Could be a reference to Armageddon when the nations pour in and assemble. Then look at verse 10, an interesting take on a familiar scripture.

Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong, assemble and come all you nations and gather together all around, cause your mighty ones to go down there, oh Lord. Down in verse 13, put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe, come go down for the wine press is full, the vats overflow for their wickedness is great. I commend you, read after this when you go home, Revelation 19, that same imagery when Jesus comes back of treading the wine press from Isaiah and from the book of Joel. Treading the wine press, putting in the sickle, all a symbol of God's judgment. Now, in Isaiah chapter 2, we have the reverse. We have the original scripture that says, and they will beat their swords into plowshares.

Remember that? Their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to make war anymore. It's a beautiful promise of future peace in the world. And by the way, it is that scripture that is on the door of the United Nations. They will beat their swords into plowshares. It's a great thing for the nations to see, the delicates to see as they come in. The only problem with them putting that on the United Nations is, ain't never going to happen. This side of the second coming. It's going to take Jesus to return, and it's going to take the tribulation period to judge the earth, and Jesus to set up his kingdom before they turn, before this world turns its implements of war into implements of peace. It will happen.

He will make sure it happens, but it won't happen until then. Here it's different. Here it's reversed. They will beat their plowshares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears. Until they turn, reverse, they will beat their plowshares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears. Until the peace comes, brought in by Jesus alone, this is what the world will face every single generation until the end of the age. And I commend people who work for peace.

I do. I think we should. Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers. We should do everything we can. Paul said, if it's possible, live at peace with all men.

Guess what? I've discovered it's not always possible. You can try. You can set negotiations, but I do not believe in the ideology called pacifism. As long as human beings impaired by the fall are walking the earth, you can put your sword down. You can get rid of all your implements of destruction. You can do that now, but I'll warn you, not everyone will. You can turn in all your nukes, all your guns, all your knives, but there'll be somebody out there who goes, oh good, now you're vulnerable.

I'm going to get them all and I'm going to abuse you. There will always be a bigger bully. That's why nations have figured it out that with negotiation comes a bank of power that in case negotiations don't work out, you've got something to back it up. That's reality. I'd like to be a pacifist, but here's why I'm not.

You're walking down the street on Central. You're a pacifist. You don't believe in violence of any sort at all.

If you're a tostolian pacifist, that is a pacifist along the lines of Leo Tolstoy in War and Peace. You don't even believe in a police force or judges and you say that's because of what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount, but you're walking down Central and there's a thug who doesn't ascribe to your ideology and he has a bat and he has a hold of a little girl and he starts hitting her. What do you do? Well, you say, I go over and I have a good talk to him. Great.

Good luck. What if the talks fail? What if he says, not only am I going to kill this little girl and smash in her head, you're next.

Love demands that you do everything you can to stop that man and that is not a pacifistic position. So, until they beat their swords into plowshares, just word up here, they're going to beat their plowshares into swords. But, verse 20, but Judah shall abide forever. That's the glorious aftermath.

That's a glorious future. Judah shall abide forever and Jerusalem from generation to generation. So, it'll always be there. If you don't make it to Israel on this trip or the next tour or in this lifetime, you'll see it, but it's going to be really different.

It's always good to get it before and an after. There'll be a Jerusalem in the kingdom age that won't even look like present Jerusalem. Read the last several chapters of Ezekiel, you'll find out how different the topography is. Then, after the earth is destroyed and there's a new heaven and a new earth, there's a capital city that comes down out of heaven that's the size of the moon and it revolves around the earth and that's the city called New Jerusalem. That's the capital city of the eternal state. That looks vastly different than the millennial Jerusalem and certainly present Jerusalem. If you want to see the Jerusalem or the topography of what it was like at the time of Christ, you can still go to Israel today and a lot of it is still intact.

Anyway, my plug's over. Let's go on to Amos. Amos has a theme, the denunciation of the nations. So, he's going to Amos has a theme, the denunciation of the nations. Now, Joel is from the south.

That's the first guy we read. Joel is from the south and he preaches to the south. Amos is from the south, Tekoa, and he preaches to the north, the 10 kingdoms of the north or the 10 tribes of the north. He is not a professional prophet. He's not a priest like Isaiah. He has no religious background. What I like about this guy is he's a farmer. He's a sheep breeder from Tekoa out in the desert. It's right by Bethlehem, six miles from Jerusalem. He is also a tender of sycamore fruit, it says in this book.

So, he's like the country preacher who came to town. Verse one and two are prophecies about eight nations. I'll list them for you. Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, those are two nations to the east of Israel. Moab, also to the east. Judah, that's the southern two, and Israel, that is the top 10 of the Israelite kingdom. Verse one, the words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, the king of Judah, in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, the king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. You remember king Uzziah? He was a good guy.

You remember this? Isaiah 6, in the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. The train of his robe filled the temple.

Uzziah was a great king, but Uzziah made a king-sized mistake at the end of his reign. He was the king who wanted to be a preacher. He wanted to be a priest, so he intruded into the priest's office. It says in 2 Chronicles 26, he went into the tabernacle and he started burning incense like priests do. And the priest saw him and said, dude, you can't be here. I'm paraphrasing a little, but he didn't say dude, but dude, you can't be here. Get out of here. And the king, being the king, got upset like, don't you know who I am?

I'm the king. And he protested at the priest Amaziah getting mad at king Uzziah for trying to act like a priest. So when he's having a little hissy fit, king Uzziah, the priest looks at him and notices his head is turning white, and his hand is turning white, and he becomes leprous, as white as snow. And the Bible says he contracted leprosy from that day onward, and he had it till the day of his death. According to Josephus, the time he did that, went into and intruded into the priestly office, the historian Flavius Josephus says a great or a giant earthquake took place in the land. That could be exactly what we're seeing referenced here when it says in verse 1, two years before the earthquake. Okay, chapter 1, verse 3, we're going to look at a few verses and notice a pattern. Thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Damascus and for four, I will not turn away its punishment. Look at verse 6, thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Gaza and for four, I will not turn away its punishment. Verse 9, thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Tyre, that's the northern city up in Lebanon, and for four, verse 11, thus says the Lord for three transgressions of Edom, and for four, and finally verse 13, thus says the Lord for three transgressions of the people of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment.

These are several groups who were around Israel and who messed with Israel. And you know there's a principle, I think you know this by now, if you mess with the nation of Israel, God messes with you, right? You mess with God and if you do, God messes with you. Because Zechariah the prophet said concerning Israel, whoever touches you will touch touches the apple of his eye. It's like poking somebody's eye.

God doesn't take kindly to that. So you got to ask yourself, where are the Phoenicians today? So you got to ask yourself, where are the Phoenicians today? Oh that's right, they don't exist. Where are the Babylonians today? There's Iraq, but the Babylonians don't exist. Where are the Philistines today? Seen a Canaanite lately?

They don't exist. You may want to write in the margin of your Bible Matthew chapter 25, the judgment of the sheep and the goats. It's the judgment of the nations after the day of the Lord as previewed by Jesus himself.

And it's the judgment that he will give to the nations based on how they treated his brethren, the Jewish people, during the day of the Lord, during the tribulation period. That's Skip Heitiger with a message from the series, The Bible from 30,000 Feet. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Right now, listen as Skip shares how you can connect more people around the world with the life-changing truth of scripture. Your support today means that more lives will be changed through the power of scripture. With your generosity, you'll help expand the reach of these broadcasts into more major US cities. I'm praying that God will provide the support from friends like you to make that vision a reality.

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