#DailyDevotion Jesus Is Our Refuge & Fortress On The Day Of Judgment
Joel 315The sun and the moon will turn dark, and the stars will stop shining. 16 The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem so that heaven and earth will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for His people, a fortification for the people of Israel. 17 “And you will know I am the LORD your God, living in Zion, My holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy, and foreigners will never pass through it again.
We are back to the judgment scene from the previous chapters of Joel. We see this judgment take place at Jesus’ crucifixion. The sun turned dark from noon till three. It was a supernatural darkness because it couldn’t be an eclipse of the sun because it was a full moon that day. The moon not being seen at the time was likely also turned dark, which is why it is not mentioned then. The judgment against the world was placed on Jesus, atonement for our sins was made, and we were reconciled to God the Father. Yet, there is coming the last judgment and that is what this speaks. We see this in Revelation a couple of times. Darkness precedes the Last Judgment. The judgment is bad for all those who have rejected the Father’s offer of grace in Jesus Christ. It is salvation for all who put their trust in Him.
The LORD roars from Zion and Jerusalem. That is to say, most likely He is speaking through His Church which is Zion, Jerusalem, and His Israel. The Church proclaims repentance and baptism into Christ for the forgiveness of sins. It tells the world to repent. But now the voice of the LORD has called mankind to judgment. We see this in Jeremiah 25:30ff. There we see the judgment of the LORD against the nations who have rebelled against Him. They are gathered like the weeds of Matt. and the bad fish are thrown away Matt. 13, the foolish virgins are rejected and the goats are rejected Matt. 25. They are rejected because they do not have faith in Jesus as the Gospel of John tells us in ch. 3, 19 “This is why people are condemned: The Light came into the world, but people have loved darkness instead of the Light because they have been doing wrong. 20 Everyone who does wrong hates the Light and will not come to the Light — he doesn’t want his works to be seen in the light. 21 But anyone who lives in the truth comes to the Light so that his works may be seen to have been done in God.”
The LORD Jesus is our refuge and our fortification. He keeps us from experiencing the wrath of God. He is our refuge and fortress in the day of distress. He has already experienced the wrath of God in our place when the darkness covered Him and He breathed His last. All who are baptized into Christ are the LORD’s Israel. It is written in Matt. 2, 15 “He stayed there until Herod died. In this way what the Lord said through the prophet was to come true: ‘I called My Son out of Egypt.’” Who was that that came out of Egypt but Israel? Jesus is identified as Israel here we who are one with Him in baptism are one with Him as God’s Israel.
Joel says we will know that He is the LORD our God and He will live in Zion. Such is the promise of the New Covenant in Jer. 31:31ff. He forgives us our sins and we know Him in the forgiveness of our sins. No foreigners, that is, no one who does not have faith in Jesus as their Savior shall walk through the Holy City. Such is clear in Rev. 22:15. For now the Church on earth is full of weeds. On that day we will be purified and shine forth with the glory of our God.
Heavenly Father, grant that we have such faith in Jesus Christ, that we do not experience Your judgment, but find in Jesus our refuge and fortress against Your coming wrath. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.