 Chapter 3, we're going to look at verses 1 through 3 and then get into the chapter. Joel chapter 3, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 3. Joel writes, for behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people, my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided up my land. They have cast lots for my people, have given a boy in exchange for a harlot, sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. Now, remember with me that Joel in chapter 2 had concluded by speaking up what he referred to as a time of salvation. He had made it clear in chapter 2, verse 32, it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Interestingly enough, just this morning in Romans chapter 10, verse 13, we saw the same thing. And so Paul was given to us insight into what God intended to do. But Joel is speaking concerning the very last days. And when God begins to summarize the events on the face of the earth and what is about to take place. And that's what we're going to be looking here. When Jesus sets up his kingdom, there are going to be tremendous amounts of people who will be saved. And one of my commentators said, when he returns to planet earth to set up his kingdom, there will be the greatest time of people turning to him than any other time in history. Though the tribulation will result in millions of deaths, ultimately millions will survive. And they'll have come through purged. And they're going to enter into that time when the Lord begins to rule and reign. We're going to look at some of that in some little bit of depth tonight. But there'll be millions who are there. Millions of them will have turned to the Lord. So as we look at this in verse 1, notice how he says, Behold, in those days, and at that time I'll bring back the captives of Jude and Jerusalem. Now, the people of Israel had been scattered throughout the world, but they are going to be brought back. This is called a national regathering. And God is the one who's going to regather them. This will take place, this particular event that's been spoken of, though we're going to take it apart a little bit, but this is going to take place when Jesus is returning to set up his kingdom on earth. In Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, chapter 30, verses 3 and 4, reread that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. He says, If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you. And from there he will bring you. In Isaiah chapter 11, verses 10 through 12, and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse who shall stand as a banner to the people, for the Gentiles shall seek him and his resting place shall be glorious. It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left. From Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Kush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath, the islands of the sea, from Chino, Montclair, Chino Hills. He will set up a banner for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Now, Jesus in Matthew 24 saying the same thing, verse 30 and 31. Then the sign, the Son of Man will appear in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet. They will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew, chapter 24, verses 30 and 31. So when Jesus returns, he will incarcerate the devil. I have to think about that for just a minute because that is going to be a glorious day for that enemy to be finally put away. He'll incarcerate the devil. He'll take this false prophet who had been deceiving the people and they're going to be put in prison, if you will, for a thousand years. And during that time when the enemy is incarcerated along with the false prophet, during that time, Jesus will begin to rule and reign on planet earth in his thousand year reign called the millennial reign of Christ. Jeremiah 23, 5 and 6 says the days are coming declares the Lord. When I will raise up to David a righteous branch, a king who will reign, reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called the Lord, our righteousness. And Isaiah 65, 19 and 20, I will rejoice over Jerusalem. Take the light of my people. The sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. Never again will there be an infant who lives but a few days or an old man who does not live out his years. He who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth. He who fails to reach a hundred will be considered a cursed. So it's going to be this time on planet earth when Jesus begins to rule and to reign. No longer will we weep over the loss of our babies. Things of that nature. Minister to and prayed for a lady today who was very, very sad because her year and a half old nephew fell into a pool yesterday and drowned. Never again, never again will we weep like that. Never again will we sorrow like that. Never again will you stand at the grave or rather at the bedside of a grandmother 70, 80, 90 years old and watch her as she passes into eternity. Never again will you have to do that. You won't have to do that. There will be some who die. Yes, there are those who did not follow closely the Lord, but he's saying that that if a man died at a hundred, he'd be looked at as being just a kid because when Jesus rules and reigns, his intent is for us to live with him and ultimately enter into eternity with him. Now, when these things are about to take place, Jesus is going to gather the people together for judgment. Now, every person alive at his second coming will be gathered together during the tribulation. Many people will come to believe in him as their savior. Others are going to make it through the tribulation, but they still are rejecters of Christ. Amazing, isn't it? But true. They're going to make it through, but they're still rejecters. And so at that time, we have what is called the judgment of the nations. Now, I think of Jesus as you do always as my savior, but the Bible also makes it very clear that he is our King and the Bible also makes it very clear that he is our judge. In John 5, 26, and 27, Jesus said, for as a father has life in himself, so he has granted the son to have life in himself. He has given him authority to judge because he is the son of man. Now, this gathering of this judgment is found in Matthew 25, verses 31 through 46. This is what is also referred to as the judgment of the sheep and goats. Now, part of how they are judged is how they treated the nation of Israel during the tribulation. There are those at that time who were visited, those who were ill, those who were naked and were clothed, those who were thirsty and had received water. And the Lord is going to be commending someone who had ministered in that way. And they're going to say, when did we visit you in prison? When did we care for you when you were in that condition? And he says, when you did it to one of these, the least of mine, you were doing it as unto me. But there's another group that he said, you didn't do these things. You didn't visit them in prison. You didn't give them water when they were thirsty. You didn't clothe them when they were naked. You didn't do any of those things. When did we not do that to you? When you didn't do it to one of the least of mine, you did not do it as unto me. So part of the standard of judgment is how they treated Israel during the tribulation. Now, the nations that have been enemies of Israel are brought to a place called Jehoshaphat. The name Jehoshaphat, that's the first time I ever heard of that, is when somebody said, jump in Jehoshaphat. I had no clue what that meant then. I still don't know why they said that, but jump in Jehoshaphat. And what is that? Well, the Valley of Jehoshaphat, though the word Jehoshaphat means Jehovah judges. So it's spoken of a place that they're gathered to receive judgment. The commentators dispute concerning the exact location, but many believe it's just outside of Jerusalem and what is referred to as the Valley of Hinnom. The Valley of Hinnom is also a word that is used in the New Testament, and Jesus used that because it was a dump where all the refuse was burned. So it became a picture of how fire. It's where the worm dies not and the fire is never quenched, Jesus said. When you go to Israel and we come circling the city because we drive outside of the city, you go right by the Valley of Hinnom. So you'll see where Gehina is. And that's where some are saying that this particular area may be the place where the judgment takes place. Now, these who are being judged in this particular context are assembled for judgment because they attacked Israel and they're the ones who lost. Zechariah 9.16 says the Lord the God will save them in that day as the flock of his people for they shall be like jewels of a crown lifted like a banner over his land. So the enemy has come, they've assembled, they have been battling and the battle that they do. And sometimes we think of it as just a single battle. It's actually called the campaign of Armageddon but that's when the nations are assembled in opposition of Israel. They're gonna have their battles and ultimately what's gonna happen is judgment. It will ensue when Jesus has come through. But I want you to see something here. He says, excuse me, in verse two, I'll gather all nations, bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people, my heritage Israel. I notice whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided up my land. They have cast lots for my people. Have given a boy in exchange for a harlot. Sold a girl for wine that they may drink. They took children and they used them as bartering chips to secure harlots and wine. They took the Jewish children and they used them to secure pleasures for themselves. We say within ourselves in the days that we're living in this 21st century, is it possible that somebody really would sell children off in that way? And then we have to remember, of course, of course they do child trafficking. I was reading and it says, those statistics regarding the magnitude of child trafficking are difficult to obtain. The International Labor Organization estimates that 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. I was reading something concerning that because it's not only in what you would say non-religious environments. You might find this interesting. But today there are children who are brought into forced labor, sexually exploited, used as drug runners, and even hired out to beg for religious teachers or handlers. I've been in India and I have seen children who actually are, well, we refer to it in this way and they're actually, they have what we would refer to as a pimp, somebody who's actually overseeing their activities and when the children go out to beg, which they do, and you'll find children everywhere, the minute, the second that they see you're a European or an American, the moment they recognize that you're not from that area, they will come up to your car, they'll walk up to you at the street, you'll be surrounded by kids, we've been surrounded by children, but we were told by those who brought us over to minister in India, we were told, don't give them money. And an American naturally is thinking, if I give them a little money, what's wrong with that? I mean, I want them to be able to buy something to eat, I want them to take something home to their mom so that they can have something for the family. We don't think about that very seriously because when I was there, we were driving by this particular site and there was a woman who was sitting under some shade and she had some large, large boulder type rocks and she had a hammer and she was hitting the rocks and making the larger rocks into gravel. And so next to her, she was pushing the broken rocks over to form gravel and we saw her when she put that rock down, started hammering it. And so our guide said to us, because somebody said, why is she doing that? And you have to understand it's 95 degrees, about 85, 90% humidity. She works 10 hours a day. So we asked, why is she doing that? And our guide said, because there are no jobs. She's doing the only thing she can to help her children survive. She will be there for 10 hours today as she will tomorrow and the next. And for 10 hours of labor, breaking rocks into gravel, her pay will be 50 cents a day. 10 hours a day, 95 degree heat, 90, 85, 90% humidity. At the end of the day, after doing all of that work, you stick your hand out and you get 50 cents. And she does it every day to try and survive in the circumstances that she finds herself in. And so when these kids walk up and they got their hands out, an American is more than willing to give them a dollar or a five dollar bill, whatever. Go get something to eat. We're told not to do that. Why not? Because they'll take that money and give it to their handler. And he pockets it all and gives them nothing. So what we did is we brought food and we had it in packs with us. And when a child would walk up and stick the little hand out, we'd give them candy. Because for our kids, that's just something we give our kids. For them, it's a luxury. They don't get candy. So we would give them candy. We'd bring some little health bars, things of that nature, things they could eat, things that we could bring over with us. And we fed them. Sometimes they're religiously, they're sold into this in a religious way. And religious individuals will actually pimp those children. And so the way children are treated during the time that we're reading here is really not that far off from what's actually taking place right now. And God says, this is the reason judgment is coming. Look what they did to my kids. They cast lots for my people, have given a boy in exchange for a harlot, sold a girl for wine that they may drink. Indeed, what have you to do with me, oh Tyre and Sidon and all the coasts of Felicia? Will you retaliate against me? But if you retaliate against me, swiftly and speedily, I will return your retaliation upon your own head. Because you have taken my silver and my gold and it carried it into your temples, my prized possessions. Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, you have sold to the Greeks that they may remove them far from their borders. So before he speaks of the final judgment and all, Joel notes the hostility that was happening during his day. And he's simply recalling what had happened in the history of Israel. In 2 Chronicles 21, 16 and 17 it says, moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoim the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians. And they came up into Judah and invaded it and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king's house and also his sons and his wives. So that there was not a son left to him except Jeho has the youngest of his sons. And so he's pointing out their history and how that they deserve judgment all the way back from earliest days. Now he says in verse seven, behold I will raise them out of the place in which you have sold them and will return your retaliation upon your own head. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the people of Judah. They'll sell them to the Sabians, to the people far off for the Lord has spoken. So the ones who have been sold off will actually be used by God to bring judgment on those who did that to them. He says in verse nine, now this is interesting here, proclaim this among the nations, prepare for war, wake up the mighty men, that all the men of war draw near, let them come up, beat your plowshares into swords, your pruning hooks into spears, let the weak say I am strong, assemble and come all you nations gathered together all around cause your mighty ones, cause your mighty ones to go down there, oh Lord. Now God is calling the nations for war. This is how he's gonna bring them to the place of receiving their deserved judgment. But I wanna look at this with you for a couple of moments here. When it says here prepare for war, now this is important, when it says prepare for war, this does not speak simply of being physically ready to fight. It doesn't mean assembling an army alone, it doesn't mean equipping them, giving them the proper weapons. That's not all it's speaking about. When it says prepare for war, it speaks of prepare religiously. Preparing for war during that day was to make offerings and sacrifices. They would consecrate themselves to their God. It really speaks of a holy war. It speaks of a time where the Lord is saying, prepare for your holy war. Now when I was reading that and looking at that passage, I couldn't help but think of our own day, how this fits in. Because jihad is just that, isn't it? It's a holy war. It's a preparation that he says ceremonially, get yourself ready to fight in a religious sense. That you who believe in your sacrifices, offerings and prayers to your gods, he's saying go ahead and do that because God is saying, because I'm gonna show you who the true God really is. And so this battle that has taken place this campaign is gonna be filled with people who have religiously prepared themselves for war. Now, briefly, 100 years ago, this really wouldn't have made much sense. 100 years ago, if I'd have said, well, I wouldn't have said, nobody would have said 100 years ago, or very few people I'll put it that way, not many, very few would have said, this speaks of a divine retribution against the people who are coming against Israel in a holy war fashion. So they would say, we have to apply this to other days because it certainly doesn't, it can't happen now, why? Well, because 100 years ago, Israel was no longer Israel, it was the land of Palestine. The reason it was called Palestine is because the Romans wanted to rename the nation and so to take away the name Israel, they gave it the name Palestine because Palestine is really a derivative of the word Philistine. And so they were calling it the land of the Philistines because they wanted to remove and did remove a huge amount of Jews from the land. So even 100 years ago, when you were studying passages that were prophetic like this, you would not, your mind would not have gone to a nation established. So you would have had to find an allegorical interpretation. There had to be something there spiritually because the nation doesn't exist. So in our lifetime, some of our lifetime, we have seen things that for centuries were only kind of looked at but not understood. That Israel would once again exist as a nation was unheard of because the people had been scattered to the four corners of the earth. So how could we actually look at a people being prepared religiously for war against the nation of Israel and think that that's gonna take place in the latter days when there's no such nation as Israel? Part of the reason why they developed what is called replacement theology, meaning that the church replaces Israel in prophecy is because there was no nation of Israel when that particular theology began to be formulated. So they had to find ways to explain prophetic passages. So they said that the church took the place of Israel so you can't literally look at Israel as a real nation because it doesn't exist. But guess what? It does exist. God has already allowed the return. It isn't exactly as it will be in the last portions of the last days, but he's allowed the returning of the Jews from throughout the nations to prepare this for the things that will indeed take place at last time. So he's saying mobilize your troops, be fully prepared, be fully equipped, take your available metals, transform them into weapons, come fully prepared for war because it will be a decisive battle in this time of Armageddon. Now what's interesting on top of this, if you look at verse 10, look at the phrase, let the weak say I am strong. That's only found in this passage here in scripture. Let the weak say I am strong in those words. And I was talking to Marie a little bit earlier my wife and I was saying to her, oh interesting, our theology sometimes is a little messed up when we sing songs because there's a song we used to sing give thanks and give thanks to the holy one for he has given Jesus Christ his son. And then it goes on to say, let the weak say I am strong. Let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord, our God has done for us, right? And then we sing give thanks. Well interestingly enough, that's not what this is talking about. When it says let the weak say I am strong, it is not in reference to somebody who is weak and dependent on the Lord. It's context is speaking about those who are coming in opposition to Israel. And what God is saying is you go ahead and come with full confidence that you're gonna win this battle. Come with full confidence, come prepared. Have your battle weapons ready, be religiously prepared. Let even the weakest among you think that they're gonna conquer because you're going against a foe that cannot defeat you. Come in with that full arrogance. Come in with that full anticipation of victory. Come in that way. He says, cause your mighty ones to go down there, oh Lord, that's an interpolation. That's something that the prophet says when he says, when they assemble in this way with this attitude, God bring your mighty ones and show them who is the real king. Show them who's in charge when this takes place. In contrast to the nation's confident expectations to destroy Israel, Joel is praying for God's intervention. It's like what it says in Psalm two, verses two through four. The kings of the earth set themselves. The rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bonds and pieces, cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. That's one of the few places, if not the only place in scripture that you find that the Lord laughs. And incidentally, there are those who use this scripture that I just quoted to you and said, that's why you never laugh in church. Cause the Lord is laughing as he's deriding his enemies and therefore that's part of what made church such a somber place to be all the time because everybody knows that God doesn't have a sense of humor. But I look in the mirror once in a while and I know he's got a sense of humor. There's a time to laugh, isn't there? And a time to cry. And I'm certain that Jesus, I'll depart from my notes for a minute here. When I think of the Lord and I get my ideas from him in scripture, I don't just create a God for myself and then worship that. But I see the Lord is filled with joy. He had so much that he says, my joy I give to you. He had so much it overflows into us. Part of the fruit of the spirit is joy. Now, I don't know if you've ever had joy without smiling. I maybe have. Maybe you're just, man, do I have joy today? Maybe you do. There are some like that. I mean, there are some people, you know, they're real quiet and they just, but they're so filled with joy. I mean, that may be. Do you think Jesus laughed very often? I believe that he did. I do. I believe you couldn't help but laugh if you hung around with the apostle Peter. I mean, the man only opened his mouth long enough to take one foot out and put the other one in. There were so many things when you study scripture about the apostle Peter that he would say just the wackiest things. And I don't have in my mind a doubt that there were times that the men were around to campfire after a long day of ministry with the Lord. And I don't think that they were there telling jokes around the campfire. But I do believe that Jesus smiled a lot. I do believe he was pleasant to be around. Have you ever found joyful people, happy people? Have you ever found them attractive? Do you want to just be with them? Just hang around with them? I like to be around people who are always laughing or making me laugh. I enjoy that. One of the guys who does that a lot is Raul. He really is a lot of fun to be around. He really is. I have a lot of fun with my friends and we laugh a lot because that's just part of being a believer. We don't have the burdens. We're not shackled anymore. I have a friend named Bob Grenier. I'll give one example. Then I'll get back to the Bible study. A friend of mine named Gary, Gary Ruff, and I and Bob, a few of the other guys went on some ministry to South America years ago now. And Gary and I were seated together in pretty much almost the back of the plane. And right across from us was a lady and two children. And about three rows in front of us was Bob who was seated by himself. And these kids were crying and crying and really upset right next to us. Now I have to be honest with you. I'm thinking, oh man, this is gonna be a long flight and those kids are gonna be doing this the whole time. We're not gonna sleep. So I said, oh, you know, I've got children. I understand. We'll make it through. And I'm kind of getting ready, right? When here comes the stewardess and she walks up to me and she says to Gary and me, excuse me, sirs, but these children are upset because their dad and brother are not seated next to them. Would you please change seats? And we said, well, of course, of course. We did not know that this man in his son had business class seats. We didn't know that. So we said, okay. So we get up and we were standing there. Here comes this angry man. He was not happy. And he takes our seat with his son. And so we're thinking we're gonna go up a few rows. So we pass Bob with the stewardess and Bob leans out and he says to me, where are you guys going? And I smile at him because I don't know. I said, we're just moving up. Oh, okay. So we keep walking and she comes to that special curtain and opens it up and leads us in. And there we are in business class, right? That's where they call you Mr. Rosales. Is that kind of environment? And we sit down in business class seats, right? And they walk up, would you like some orange juice? And I say, hey, give me two. And they bring us orange juice and glasses. Then the stewardess walks up and says, excuse me, sir. That gentleman back there says he knows you. I said, where? Back there. And it's Bob and he's leaning out into the aisle waving at me because he's trying to get her to give him a seat up there. Do you know him? I drink my orange juice and I said, I've never seen him in my life. Lean up and I'll wave at him. He didn't think it was funny, but I laughed pretty much all the way home. I just think that there is just such a joy that the Lord gives you and sometimes you're happy too. But there's sometimes there's some joy. So no, I believe that Jesus Christ had a great time with his men. I got somebody angry one time when we're having communion. I said, I think that when Jesus speaks about, do this in remembrance of me, of course, we keep our minds on exactly what he's referring to. But when the men would take communion and have fellowship over the broken body of Christ and remember how he brought them together, it had been suggested to me and I thought, well, that's a possibility. That maybe they laughed amongst themselves a little bit too as they enjoyed this time of communion, the joy of the spirit that God has done for us, maybe even began to speak amongst themselves when we remember Peter. Do you remember when you told Jesus to build a couple of more booths up there for Elijah and Moses and how Jesus wanted to slap you down? You remember that? You remember when you started sinking, when you climbed out of the boat? See, when men get together, we have a tendency of, we used to call it chopping each other low. We used to just chop each other up, you know? And I don't know, maybe that's ungodly in these men. They're so pure, they glow in the dark and all of that. I don't know. But I suspect that the guys laughed amongst themselves a lot. Laughter is like medicine. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. So when the Lord holds him in derision and the Lord shall laugh, it has nothing to do with humor. It has everything to do with his majesty. But you can't say that God doesn't laugh except that when he deals with sin, because that's not true at all. But getting back to what we really ought to be looking at, verse 12, let the nations be awakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations, 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. So they're coming to fight. They come with a rage. They come with determination. Their intent on full destruction of the nation of Israel. When he says in verse 13, put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe, he's simply saying judgment has arrived. It's now time for you to be judged. In Revelation 14, verses 19 and 20, the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. For the wine press was trampled outside the city and blood came out of the wine press up to the horse's bridles for 1,600 furlongs. Then he says, multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will grow dark. The stars will diminish their brightness. A huge amount of people are in this valley of decision. It's really what you call a picture of a sea of humanity. And it is here that Jesus's words will be pronounced at the judgment of what is called the judgment of the sheep and goats. Now the sheep, the scripture says, will be on his right hand and the goats will be on his left. It says in Matthew 25, 34, the king will say to those on his right hand, come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. They're gonna enter into the joy of their Lord, but to the goats he will say according to Matthew 25, 41, he will also say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed it into everlasting fire. Now notice, prepared for the devil and his angels. Briefly, the concept or belief that there is such a place of everlasting fire called hell for many people today is what they would refer to as a way of thinking out of the Middle Ages. There are growing movements today in church circles for two different things. One, for the concept that in the final judgment, and with people are not going to enter into the kingdom of God, that there is a place that is called, or that will happen where they are annihilated, the annihilation of the soul. There are cults that believe that and there are Christian groups that are of that persuasion also. Then you have, on the other side, you have today, it's almost a universalism where pretty much everybody goes to heaven. And there's some well-known contemporary pastors who have written books that basically say that everybody's going to go to heaven. Fine, because God is love and love conquers, love wins. But you have to take away the words of Jesus. You have to take away the warnings of Paul. You have to take away every warning that you find in scripture related to the wrath of God. Final judgment. You have to take those and you have to allegorize them. You have to use them as just illustrations of how angry God can be. And you have to invent, basically, a way for everybody to enter into the kingdom of heaven in order to do that. But when you read the scripture, there's a way to read scripture when the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense. And so, if it says that the Lord is saying specifically that this is a place that was created, not for man, but notice what he says there. He said, this is everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. They were the ones who are intend to do inhabit because they rebelled initially. And so, in order for me to enter into everlasting fire, I have to do everything within my grasp to resist the spirit of the Lord when he calls me to himself. I have to ignore all of his calls. I have to ignore the warnings. I have to ignore scripture. I have to ignore everything. So I actually will enter into judgment without Christ. And I can say that, especially here in the United States where there are radio stations that blare the gospel 24 hours a day, you can turn on a TV program and any given Sunday and sometimes every day of the week, and you can see somebody who will preach the gospel. And America has turned a deaf ear to the gospel. And then basically what they say is, well, if God is the God of love, then how could he let me go to hell? But it's not as if he's sending you there. It's that person is very often choosing to reject. And so Jesus makes it very clear that there's a place that is prepared for the devil and his angels, but this is also a place where those who reject him will go also. In verse 16, the Lord also will roar from Zion, utter his voice from Jerusalem. The heavens and earth will shake, but the people will be a shelter for it. But the Lord will be a shelter for his people and the strength of the children of Israel. So like the sound of a mighty lion, God's voice will sound out of Jerusalem. And the picture is all creation resounding in response to his majesty. And those who belong to him, they will find the refuge and comfort in him, and no longer will an enemy ever be able to harm them. In verse 17, so you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain, then Jerusalem shall be holy. No aliens shall ever pass through her. Again, those who do come to Israel are coming to worship him. Zechariah in chapter eight, verses 22 and 23 reads, yes, many peoples in strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts in those days, 10 men from every language of the nation shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man saying, let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. So they'll be entering into the city of Jerusalem. I was mentioning recently, hopefully not in here, how that, when we go to Israel, and we go up to the north first, we don't go to the south, we go to the north. So we'll go up in Tel Aviv and we go up to Jaffa and Caesarea, Caesarea, Philippi, Dan, Nature Reserve, the Sea of Galilee, we stay up there for several days and we see all these things. We go to the place where Jesus gave the sermon on the mountain, you know, we're there on the Sea of Galilee having Bible studies and all of that. And your spirit is getting really enriched by this, frankly. Your Bible is finally opening up and you're beginning to see what Jesus is talking about. You'll be on the Sea of Galilee, for example, and you're looking to what is called the Arbel, which is like a V in a mountain range, small mountain range, to your west. And there you're able to say, you see the Arbel right there? The air that's coming from the Mediterranean that's cool will meet up with the warmer air that's coming from the drier climate and the wilderness here over the Sea of Galilee. And when that takes place, storms would occur. And so now, every time you read concerning storms on the Sea of Galilee, you're able to put in your mind's eye what you saw. And it makes your scriptures come alive when you're there at the Sermon on the Mount. And we're in the area that Jesus gave that and you go through Matthew five, six and seven and you read it and you say, what an amazing time that would have been. You see, so you're very enriched. So when you're coming down south, actually going up to Jerusalem, we'll be in this tunnel, usually coming from the Dead Sea and we'll come up through the tunnel for these pilgrims' first observance of the city of Jerusalem. And you go through this long tunnel as you're about to enter into the city and so our guide will always do this. They'll put on some music, oh, Jerusalem or something that highlights the beauty of the city. And as the music plays in the background, there you are seated, listening. The guide will begin to give history. This is the city of the great king. This is where King David was and he begins to go through history. It's very good, by the way, they're very good. And then he keeps going and he'll say, and this is the place where Jesus Christ was. And this is where he ministered. He begins to share because they're very knowledgeable and biblical things related to the New Testament. And so your heart is beginning to well with anticipation, you're in a tunnel. And as the music comes to an end, he always times it just for us. The bus driver actually slows down just to make sure. Then he'll say, and the last time we were there, my Jewish guide said this, this is the city of your Messiah, my Messiah. I'd never heard a Jewish guide come out and say, my Messiah. And when he said this is the city of your Messiah and my Messiah, then you enter in and in front of you is the city and people burst into tears every time. The city of the great king, the sea of Jerusalem. And the day will come when 10 men will grab hold of a Jewish man and will say, we wanna go with you because we've heard that God is with you. So those who have no relation to God, they're not gonna be entering in, but it's those who have a desire to worship him. It will come to pass, verse 18, in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine. The hills shall flow with milk. All the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water. A fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord. Water from the valley of Acacias. The land once again will flourish. It'll be lush, it'll be beautiful. Even the mountains and the hills will have vegetation. Water will be abundant. Zechariah 14a says in that day it shall be that living water shall flow from Jerusalem. Half of them toward the eastern sea, half of them toward the western sea. In both summer and winter, it shall occur. And finally, Egypt shall be a desolation, 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. Jerusalem, from generation to generation, for I will acquit them of blood guilt, whom I had not acquitted for the Lord dwells in Zion. Egypt and Edom represent Israel's enemies, all of whom he's saying will be completely judged. And at this time, Israel will flourish and will be completely and finally forgiven as Jesus rules and reigns. And it says in Zechariah 1210, I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication. Then they will look on me whom they have pierced. Yes, so mourn for him as one mourns for his only son. Grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn. They'll finally see him for who he is and they will worship him for who he is. And this will all take place when Jesus rules and reigns on planet earth. And it really isn't that long from now.