If you’ve been with us throughout our study in the book of Joel, you’ll remember the main theme of the book is the great and terrible day of the Lord. The great and terrible day of the Lord is the time that immediately leads up to the second coming of Jesus. It’s a time that starts with the rapture of the church and ends with the second coming of Jesus which enters us into His 1000 year reign in the Millennial Kingdom. During the time known as the Day of the Lord, the final event before Jesus returns is a great and final war. You probably know it as the Battle of Armageddon. Here’s how the book of Revelation describes the Battle of Armageddon:
REVELATION 19:11-21
Do you know what’s amazing to me? What’s amazing to me is despite all the ways God pours out His wrath during this great and terrible Day of the Lord… even then, when God’s holiness and righteousness and omnipotent power will be so graphically on display… even then, people will still reject Him. You’d think the more God shows His strength and righteousness that would cause more people to follow Him. But that’s not the way it happens. The more openly God displays His righteousness, the more openly defiant people become in their rebellion. That’s what’s going to happen at the Battle of Armageddon. At the Battle of Armageddon, all the nations of the world will assemble to make war against God Himself. Joel tells about that war from Israel’s perspective. Revelation tells about it from the church’s perspective. Israel’s perspective is that they’re the boots on the ground, being attacked from all sides. By this point, they will have finally recognized Jesus as their Messiah and they’re desperately waiting for Him to come and rescue them. And we—the believers who have been raptured—will be the armies led by Jesus, returning from heaven. As I said, Joel is describing it from Israel’s perspective. And while he’s using the imagery of war from Israel’s perspective, he’s also mixing in the imagery of a courtroom from God’s perspective. That only makes sense, doesn’t it? Because the Day of the Lord is a time of justice. All the wrong things of history will be made right. We will finally see “fairness” brought to creation. Throughout the passage, God uses judicial language. Verse 2 says, “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land.” The Valley of Jehoshaphat is the place where all the nations will come out to make war against God and He will pass judgment on them. Jesus will lead the armies of heaven out against them—including us. But the battle is going to be over in no time. And the victory will be decisive. And the best part of all is that none of us is going to have to fire a shot. Because Jesus is going to win the battle with His Word. Revelation 19:14-15 describes it like this, “And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” Joel describes the same scene from Israel’s perspective like this in verse 16: “The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.”
This Battle of Armageddon is the capstone event of the Day of the Lord. It’s the time when Jesus comes back to pour out the last bit of God’s wrath on sinful creation. It’s the time when He will usher in a 1000-year period of physically ruling and reigning on earth—free from the tyranny of Satan and his demons. And understanding all that is great—I think it’s necessary. I think understanding end-times events leads us to worship and wonder and awe. But besides all that—Monday’s still coming. Bills are still due. Work is still hard. Pain still hurts. Is all of that end-times stuff just good academic knowledge? Or does it really make a difference today? Let me tell you that it does—and here’s how. I think our understanding of the end-times and the Battle of Armageddon has six implications that directly impact each of our lives every day.
The first implication is the most basic and the most profound one—Jesus is coming back. The first thing that all of this talk about the Day of the Lord should remind us is—Jesus is coming back. For the past several years, I’ve noticed a trend. The majority of good, strong, biblical preachers aren’t preaching on the end-times. In one way, I understand that. I understand it, because I’ve been hesitant to preach on the end times, myself. I think there’s a lack of end-times preaching because the end-times can seem confusing. I’ve told you before that I have good, godly friends who are far better preachers than I am, who disagree with me about our understanding of the end-times. But here’s what we all agree on—Jesus is coming back. The tragedy is—when we shy away from studying the end-times, it’s easy to forget that, isn’t it? But the hope of Jesus’ return should shape everything we do! Listen to how Paul put it in his letter to Titus in 2:11-14: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” As a believer, the way you live your daily life needs to be impacted by the unquenchable hope that Jesus is coming back! And I believe He’s coming back soon! The first implication of Joel’s message about Armageddon is that Jesus is coming. And because Jesus is coming, that brings us to the rest of our implications. The first implication is that Jesus is coming. The second implication is that our mission is critical.
Do you remember what our mission as a church is? Our mission as a church is that we are New Lives Bringing New Life to Our Neighbors and the Nations. We didn’t just pull that statement out of the air. The reason that’s our mission is because it’s based on the mission that Jesus gave us in His Word called the Great Commission. As members of Parkview Baptist Church, we are New Lives in Christ. That means we are MADE to have a right relationship with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are professing believers that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and have been made new in Him. We’re not only MADE, we’re MARKED. We’re MARKED as believers by our public testimony in the waters of baptism. We have followed our Lord's example in baptism by immersion--not as a means of salvation, but as a mark of the salvation Jesus purchased for us by His death, burial and resurrection. It doesn’t just stop when we’re baptized either. Because we’re also MATURING. By saying that we are New Lives, that means we are MATURING as disciples by becoming more and more like Jesus every day. We grow by living life together, learning the Bible together, worshiping Jesus together and serving people together. But here’s the part we might be missing. Because as New Lives, we’re not only MADE, MARKED and MATURING… We’re also supposed to be MULTIPLYING. As New Lives in Christ, we’re called to be disciple-making disciples. We can’t be satisfied with simply adding to our congregation. We’re called to make disciples of Jesus who will in turn make disciples of Jesus. But here’s the thing—just being New Lives isn’t our mission. It has to start there, but that’s not where it stays. Because our mission is to bring New Life to our Neighbors and the Nations. Our mission isn’t to just sit in here on our nicely padded pews in our nicely heated sanctuary. This is where we’re trained and equipped to go into our homes and neighborhoods and workplaces and schools and bring gospel new life to all the people we meet. We bring them New Life by the way we live amongst them. By the way we are kind and loving and gracious and joyful and Christ-like in their midst—not by the way we rant and complain and judge and grumble and bicker. We proclaim the gospel with our lives AND with our words. The Bible says, “How will they believe unless they hear and how will they hear unless somebody proclaims the gospel to them?” Listen to me—The Day of the Lord is great and terrible—who can escape it? You have the way of escape. You have New Life in Christ, and you have the Word of New Life in you. Let it out—Proclaim it to your neighbors and the nations. Our mission is critical because Jesus is coming. The next implication we can draw from Joel’s message about Armageddon is that the time for us to make an impact is now.
One of the dangers about studying the end-times is that it can quickly turn into an academic study or some kind of a way to feed your curiosity. I’ve sat through some studies with beautiful charts and graphs and slides and overheads with all kinds of intricate details and timelines. And I’ve come out of those studies knowing about every crown and horn and head and beast and dragon in Revelation—but not having the foggiest clue what to do with it. That’s really easy to do when you think of these things as applying only to other people in some distant time. But listen to me—Jesus is coming back! And the only thing that’s keeping Him from coming back right now is God’s patience and longsuffering. And when Jesus returns, it’s everlasting too late to do the work He’s called us to do now. The time for us to impact our world with the gospel is now. The time for us to impact our nation with the gospel is now. The time for us to impact Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia with the gospel is now. The time for us to impact Tazewell County and Mercer County with the gospel is now. The time for us to impact Bluefield with the gospel is now. The time for us to impact our workplaces and schools and homes and families with the gospel is now. The Bible says that today is the day of salvation. That doesn’t mean that if you’re already saved then you’re okay—just sit around and wait for Jesus to come get you. No—when the Bible says that today is the day of salvation, that means that today is the day God has graciously given us to accomplish the mission He’s given us to do. Because for somebody in our area or community or school or workplace or even our home—tomorrow will be everlasting too late. The only reason that God didn’t take you home to be with Him the moment He saved you is because He’s left you here to make a gospel impact in somebody else’s life. And the time to make an impact is now—because Jesus is coming. An implication we can draw from Joel’s message about Armageddon is the time for us to make an impact is now. Another implication we can draw is that retirement is later.
I read a really good article this week by an author I admire. I have to admit, the title of the article is what caused me to click on it. The title of the article is: Hillary, Bernie, Donald, and Me. At first, I thought the author was playing the old Sesame Street game—one of these things is not like the other… one of these things just doesn’t belong. But he wasn’t. Here’s how he started the article: “At 70, I am energized to dream great things, because this year Hillary turns 69, Bernie turns 75, and Donald turns 70. My rising energy has nothing to do with their policies or character. It has to do with the incredible fact that all of them want to spend their seventies doing the hardest job in the world.” He pointed out that 5 of the 8 Supreme Court justices are over 65 and three are over 75. Ronald Regan served as president from age 70-78—remember he was shot when he was 70 and went on to serve another 7 years. Winston Churchill served as the British Prime Minister until he was 81 and then “retired” and wrote a massive book called “A History of the English Speaking Peoples.” That certainly beats sitting around watching Weather Channel and Jeopardy every day, doesn’t it? Benjamin Franklin helped write the Declaration of Independence when he was 70. Astronaut John Glenn went into space when he was 77. The famous artist Grandma Moses didn’t even start painting until she was 77! When Albert Schweitzer was 89, he was running a hospital in Africa. South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond won reelection when he was 93—only after promising not to run for reelection again when he was 99. The author of that article went on to say, “If Hillary and Bernie and Donald want to bear the weight of the world for the next four to eight years out of man-centered, philanthropic motives, I find my seventy-something zeal for Jesus heating up. They only get to be president of a tiny territory called the U.S.A. I get to be an ambassador of the Sovereign of the universe.” Listen to me—God has a retirement program. It’s called Heaven. He promises us rest and recreation and fulfillment that we can never imagine. I read somewhere about a lady who has spent her entire retirement on a cruise ship. That’s pitiful to me. Because God’s purpose for us is infinitely greater than even the finest retirement plan AARP can possibly dream up. And His purpose for you is to invest every last breath He gives you in accomplishing His mission. Now—I understand the physical limitations that come with age. I can only imagine what my feet and knees are going to be like in another 20 years. But don’t you think that God knows your limitations? And in His hands, those things you might think of as limitations are just ways He can demonstrate His strength through you. Even the most sickly, homebound person who might seem worthless in the world’s eyes can be the most amazing prayer warrior the world has ever known. The breath you have is the breath that God has given you to accomplish His mission. Make the absolute most of it—because Jesus is coming. So retirement is later.
So far, we’ve talked about four different implications we can draw from Joel’s message about the end-times Battle of Armageddon and Jesus’ second coming. The reality is, we can draw countless implications from this text. Because the fact that Jesus is coming again impacts everything. But here’s the final implication I want to leave you with this morning—because Jesus is coming again, your choices are real. Look at verse 14:
JOEL 3:14
You’ve probably heard this verse because Billy Graham used it all the time as an altar call. But here’s the reality—in the context of this passage, God isn’t telling the nations to make a decision. He’s telling them that, as the righteous judge of the universe, His decision has already been made. We would say that the judge has rendered his verdict. At that point in the Battle of Armageddon, Jesus is ready to return and the righteous judge’s gavel will fall. The time for choices will be over. But by God’s grace, that time hasn’t happened yet. By God’s grace, He’s giving us another opportunity to choose Him. By God’s grace He’s giving you another opportunity to choose to accomplish His mission as long as He sees fit to put breath in your lungs. By God’s grace, young people—He’s giving you another opportunity to quit waiting until you’ve reached a certain point in your life to accomplish His mission. The time to make a gospel impact is now. Whatever your circumstance—rich or poor. Old or young. Healthy or broken. Happy or hurting—God has called you to accomplish His gospel mission. And He’s given you a place to do it through and a group of people to do it with. You just have to choose whether or not you’re going to do what He’s called you to do. The choice is yours. And the choice is real. Because Jesus is coming back.
