#DailyDevotion The LORD Will Gather His People
3 “Look, in those days and at that time when I will restore Judah and Jerusalem, 2I will gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat [YHWH judges], and there I will put them on trial for what they did to Israel, My people and My inheritance, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided My land, 3and cast lots for My people; they gave a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine and so that they might drink it. 3Now what have you to do with Me, Tyre and Sidon, and all the districts of Philistia? Are you paying Me back for something? If you are paying Me back, I will quickly and swiftly pay you back for what you did, 5because you took My silver and My gold and brought My fine treasures into your temples. 6You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks.s so as to take them far away from their land. 7Look, I will stir them up to leave the place where you sold them and will punish you for what you did. 8I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, who will sell them to the men of Sheba to bring them to a distant people.” The Lord has spoken!
We are looking here in verse one to the establishment of the New Jerusalem on the Last Day here in verse one. The gathering of the nations are symbolically talked about in verse 2 in Matt. 13 (parable of wheat and tares), Matt. 25 (sheep and goats), Rev. 9, and Rev. 19. I remember in my youth I was greatly worried about WWIII being the end of the world. Now that I have matured in my faith, I look forward to this last battle. WWIII may or may not be this battle. It may just be one more in a long line of battles up to the end. But this last, end time battle, is not one group of nations against another group of nations. It is all the nations, including the USA and the modern state of Israel, if they still exist at this time, against Jesus Christ and His Church. Take a guess how this is going to end for those nations and who is going to come out of it victoriously.
My people and My inheritance, is not just speaking about ancient Israel and Judah. Keil and Delitzsch in their commentary note this also includes the treatment of the Church, you and I, until this great eschatological judgment. So the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and the Romans upon ancient Israel and Judah, and the treatment of the Church by the Romans, Islam and whatever country we, the Church, have existed since Pentecost.
The LORD is going to swiftly bring these people into judgment. He will repay them for what they have done to His holy people. We need not fear what and how the people of the world treat us. The LORD avenges us.
More importantly, the LORD will stir us up to leave the places the world has brought us to. He will send His holy angels to gather us up from our graves and transform we who are alive into our resurrected bodies. They will gather us up into Christ’s kingdom where we will never lack, we will never die, we will never get sick, and we won’t have any enemies any longer.
All those who opposed the kingdom of Christ, who persecuted God’s people will be gathered up and thrown into the lake of fire, prepared to torture the rebellious angels from the beginning of the world. They will never cause us to fear or be afraid again. They will experience there all they have done to the people of God and there will be no relief for them. The LORD has spoken! This is as good as done. So fear God only and let the world be terrified of the Almighty.
Heavenly Father, may Your promises here, give us great comfort when the world opposes us and when Your terrible wonders cause unbelievers to fear Your judgment. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.