Session 9 Armageddon Campaign: Valley of Jehoshaphat

Transcription

1 FORERUNNER CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP MIKE BICKLE THE BOOK OF JOEL Transcript: 06/07/03 Session 9 Armageddon Campaign: Valley of Jehoshaphat INTRODUCTION Joel 2. We won t go through it in depth, but we will go through it a little. Also turn to Deuteronomy 28. This is our eighth session on Joel 2. Last week we looked at the ten principles and gave the handout. We re looking at the handout again. We gave the overview last week, and this time we re just going to look at Roman numerals I and II in a little more depth. PREPARING EVEN NOW FOR THE MOST DRAMATIC HOUR IN HISTORY This handout is giving the overview of the whole burden of the book. It begins in Roman numeral I: one of the expressions of the forerunner ministry. Forerunners are those we described in the last session whom God is raising up to prepare the people of God for the things that God is determined to do. The Lord is fiercely determined to do a number of things that are very unique. He has done them in history, but the measure and the scope in which He s about to do them is unparalleled. In terms of His judgments, on the negative side, and the release of power, and the visitation, this will far surpass what He did in the book of Acts. It s the most dramatic hour of history. As He raised up forerunners before the first coming of Christ to prepare the people for this very unique reality, the God-Man stepping into human history, so also the Holy Spirit is raising up forerunners in this hour, because the God-Man is about to step into human history a second time. It s going to be very, very dramatic. There are ten different principles in Joel 2 that I believe characterize the preaching of the forerunner ministry. Forerunners don t have to use this language, but they must bring these different realities forth very clearly in Joel 2 in a systematic way. We re asking the Lord to raise up 10,000 fiery forerunners across the earth. All we need is 10,000. I don t mean people who just carry the message a little, but people consumed with it and anointed by the Lord. PAIN AND BEAUTY WILL STUN THE HUMAN HEART ON A GLOBAL LEVEL There are two things that stun the human heart. One is beauty and the other is pain. Pain and beauty stun the human heart. The end-time drama is going to have an unprecedented amount of power related to God s beauty being released and revealed and imparted, and also the pain related to God s judgments shaking everything that can be shaken. Of course, the result of it is to produce people who have the grace of fasting and prayer. The response that God is looking for in order to release His solution is wholehearted people as described in Joel 2:12-17: people who have given themselves to the Lord in a wholehearted way, as characterized by fasting and prayer. Fasting and prayer isn t the point; wholeheartedness is the point. Fasting and prayer enhances and expresses wholeheartedness. PREACHING THAT PRODUCES TREMBLING UNTO WHOLEHEARTEDNESS First, the Lord is raising up these forerunners to lift their voice and blow the trumpet in Zion, that all the inhabitants of the land might tremble (Joel 2:1). It s preaching that produces trembling. Today, the preaching that s common in the land doesn t produce a trembling heart. Not all preaching will produce trembling, but we need that day of the Lord prophetic preaching that causes believers and unbelievers to tremble when the reality of it touches their spirits. The trembling that comes from this kind of prophetic preaching, and the anointing of

2 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 2 the Spirit, and the power of God on the preaching and the hearing, is what produces the fasted lifestyle. It produces the response of Joel 2:12-17: gathering before the Lord in wholeheartedness. THE PRAYER MOVEMENT WILL CRESCENDO IN THE WAKE OF PROPHETIC PREACHING I ve seen a lot of ministries try to gather the people (Joel 2:12-17) to fasting and prayer, but the people who gather are hard to motivate because the people have never experienced trembling before the Lord. I don t mean that as an experience, although there s an experience of trembling before the Lord, but rather in a most general sense. The Word of God hasn t made them tremble. They haven t heard the kind of prophetic preaching or teaching that makes them say, Things will be very serious in a very short amount of time. It s hard to fill the prayer rooms, and it s hard to fill the stadiums and they re going to be filled before the end with intercessors and worshipers without the prophetic preaching that precedes the crescendo of the prayer movement. The prayer movement is going to crescendo in the wake of prophetic preaching that causes trembling. We looked at that a bit in session six, so I won t develop it here. GOD S JUDGMENTS WILL BE RELEASED THROUGH MILITARY INVASION ACROSS THE EARTH I really want to focus on Roman numeral II here. Part of this trembling preaching is a result of the revival; but it s also this very strange idea very strange to the Western church, but profoundly biblical, that God s judgments will be released through military invasion as a common strategy across the whole earth. There may be a few nations that are exempt from this, but if they are they re very few and they re the rare exception. The vast majority, if not every nation of the earth, will experience military invasion, hostile military conflict before the Lord returns as a part of His biblical plan. It s clear from Genesis to Revelation; it s clear in the book of Joel. It s a very important end-time strategy. It s going to shake the United States. We will experience a military invasion. I believe that we will have limited nuclear exchanges. I believe that our nation will be disturbed. There will be disruption. I don t believe that we ll be conquered and controlled; but I believe that we ll be disrupted and oppressed in certain measures, in some places a great amount, and in some places not so much; only the Lord knows. The Body of Christ must understand that this is coming. And the Lord is orchestrating it, and He s doing it for one reason: to awaken the prayer movement; to awaken the sleeping Church. There are many things that we ve been talking on in these last sessions in the book of Joel that make it clear why God is using this strategy. We re going to go to Deuteronomy 28 before we go to Joel 2:1-11. Joel 2:1-11, the passage that we re looking at tonight, is Joel s prophecy of the military invasion of Israel by the fierce nation of Babylon. It came in three waves: first in 606 BC, second in 597, and then eleven years after that, in 586. There were three waves of military invasion over a twenty-year period that shook the nation of Israel to its very core, to its very foundations. The reason Joel 2:1-11 described it is so that it would produce a right response before this invasion happened. Again, it came in three waves. It s a picture. The Babylonian invasion, the most terrible military crisis in the Old Testament to the nation of Israel, was when Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon which is in the area of modern-day Iraq attacked Israel in three massive invasions over a twenty-year period that left the nation decimated. It happened again in the New Testament times in 70 AD, not by Babylon or Iraq, if you will, but by Rome.

3 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 3 THE SHAKING BY WHICH ISRAEL IS SHAKEN WILL SHAKE ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH The Bible makes it very clear that it s going to happen again in the generation in which the Lord returns. There will be a massive military invasion from the countries of the north, from the land of the north. They re going to come and shake Israel to the core of its foundation, which will surpass in intensity and magnitude what Babylon did in 586 BC. It will surpass what Rome did in 70 AD. And it will be the most unprecedented shaking in Israel s history. It s yet to come. But it won t end there. It won t just be the nation of Israel. This shaking by which Israel will be shaken will touch all the nations of the earth. The Lord, not the Devil; though the Devil is fully cooperating. The Devil cooperates with the Lord many times against his own will, and without his knowledge he falls right into God s plan. Even though he hates God, he falls right into the sovereign plan of God time and time and time again. This is tough if it s the first time you ve ever heard it. God is raising up a worldwide evil empire led by a wicked man called the Man of Lawlessness, the Man of Sin (2 Thess. 2:7, 9), commonly known as the Antichrist. He will have a worldwide empire through which every nation of the earth will be shaken and harassed. It s going to happen to America. It will be more intense in Israel, but it will touch our nation as well. Joel 2:1-11 isn t just about the coming shaking of Israel; it s also talking about the coming shaking of America. In America it will occur in lesser intensity, but even so it will be comparable to that which is going to happen. This passage isn t just an interesting historical lesson about what happened in 586 BC when Iraq, or Babylon, attacked Israel. The Lord says, No, no it s not just a history lesson; it s a prophetic foreshadowing, it s a token, it s a description of what s going to happen again to Israel and all the nations of the earth. It will occur in a lesser intensity in all the other nations; but the greatest intensity will be in Israel. God says, I m in it. I will produce fruit; I will shake everything that can be shaken and I will bring forth a pure Church and the end-time harvest out of this great shaking. The disruptive thing, to the Western mindset especially, is that God is the One who will raise up this evil empire, just as He raised up Babylon. Right there in Joel 2:11, He calls Babylon His army. In effect He says, I did it! Babylon, this wicked nation, is serving My purposes. When God raises up a wicked nation and uses it to purify His people, then He turns around and punishes the wicked nation for their wickedness. They don t escape the righteous dealings of God. But God uses them as a tool or a rod of His anger for a moment before He turns His anger on them. That s what will happen to this worldwide coalition of nations under one leader. He won t control the world, though he will impact it. His presence and oppression will be felt in the whole world; but he won t succeed in conquering the world. I don t believe that he will conquer America, but he will shake America. We ll feel the force of his kingdom in a very, very real way; but we ll survive it. The Lord will intervene. That s His purpose. Israel will survive it and the Lord will intervene; but there s a very, very unusual time ahead, regardless. The greatest days for our planet are yet ahead; and the worst days for our planet are yet ahead as well. The greatest days for Israel, and the worst days, are yet ahead. The greatest days in America s history, and also the worst days, are still to come. They are yet ahead of us. There s a lot to say about that, but the reality of it should produce a bit of trembling in our hearts. When the Spirit of God begins to move on it, as forerunners begin to call out this message with a prophetic anointing, and

4 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 4 as God begins to back up this message with signs and wonders, the prayer rooms of the earth will become full when this message becomes anointed with authority and it begins to happen not only proclaimed, but when it begins to happen, you ll see that the prayer room will experience the most dramatic turnabout in history. The end-time church, which is currently so lethargic, is going to be a praying, fasting, abandoned church in the hand of God. Then the Lord is going to fulfill His purposes in it. THE LORD WILL SEND ON YOU CURSING, CONFUSION, AND REBUKE Take a look at Deuteronomy 28. We know that the first few verses, Deuteronomy 28:1-14, is blessing. Anyone who reads it sees the blessing. But the rest of the chapter, from Deuteronomy 28:15-68, are the curses that God is going to release upon the people of God, the people of Israel, if they don t obey Him. Moses says in verse 20, The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do (Deut. 28:20). The Lord is going to do this. Of course He s talking through the prophet Moses particularly, specifically about the nation of Babylon, as described in Joel 2, coming in to fulfill this. Then an evil empire at the end of the age is going to do it in a manner that will surpass even the nation of Babylon. In Deuteronomy 28:28-42, Moses describes the plague of locusts. God says, I will send locusts in (Deut. 28:38, paraphrased). That s what happens in Joel 1: the locusts came in; they were sent by the hand of God. The children of Israel couldn t believe that God was the author of sending the locusts; but their own prophet Moses said that this was going to happen. It s not just going to be natural events just taking their course. God says, I will send the locust on purpose to devour your land. That s what Joel describes in Joel 1. THE LORD WILL BRING A NATION AGAINST YOU FROM AFAR Joel 2 is a second event. It s not the plague of locusts of Joel 1 reiterated, as some scholars say. Joel 2 is very distinctive, and it s a separate event. They re two different events. Joel 1 is the plague of locusts; Joel 2 is the military invasion. Look at Deuteronomy 28: Right there in verse 49, God says The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly or show favor to the young and they shall besiege you at all your gates (Deut. 28:49, 50, 52). Look at verse 58: they will give way to cannibalism. That s exactly what happened in 586 BC in the siege of Jerusalem, as many historical reports attest. And it happened against in 70 AD when the Romans came against Jerusalem. The very words of Deuteronomy 28 were fulfilled precisely. And they re going to be fulfilled again, because what happened in Babylon in 586 BC, and in Rome in 70 AD, were precursors. They foreshadow what will happen in the generation in which the Lord returns. I wanted you to see the progression here. You can read on in Deuteronomy 28: He says, I will disperse you across the nations (Deut. 28:64, paraphrased). This is Moses talking to them. Here they are at the end of forty years in the wilderness. They re the first generation to emerge from Egypt, and when Joshua takes over, as he s soon to do, they re going to go out and conquer the land of Canaan. Moses says, Let me tell you: there s bad news coming. Israel will say no to God, and you will be cursed with plagues of locusts and military invasions; you ll succumb to cannibalism of your own children in these lengthy sieges. And the Lord is going to scatter you to the nations of the earth.

5 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 5 He did it to them twice: once in 586 BC and then again in 70 AD. The point is, this is the foundation of Joel 2. The plague of locusts descended in Joel 1, and the military invasion occurred in Joel 2. Read Joel 2. If you re listening and you re thinking, this is serious. This is real. Israel has a very difficult future, and a very glorious future; and Israel can t make it apart from the Body of Christ, the Gentile dimension of the Church in the earth in all nations gathering in unified concerts of prayer for the favor and the power of God to break in and touch their nation. When God touches Israel, it s going to be a very significant dimension to releasing the great harvest and the fulfilling of the Great Commission for which we re also concerned. The Great Commission won t be fulfilled without a Holy Spirit visitation on the nation of Israel and a unified Church. These three things all go together: a visitation to the nation of Israel by the Holy Spirit exalting Jesus, revealing Jesus; the Church in the cities of the earth walking in unity, and the great harvest. All three go together in the plan of God. The Lord is orchestrating this, and He s birthing a prayer movement to lead the way to those three dimensions: unity in the Church, salvation for the nation of Israel, and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Theologically you can t separate those three issues from one another. We try, but at the end of the day we ll see them all as one Holy Spirit plan, and they ll all be fulfilled. But they ll flow out of the impact of a global prayer and worship movement of fasting and prayer, and that s what will bring all this to pass. In Luke 21:20-24, Jesus describes the Roman invasion that occurred in the generation after His death and resurrection. He prophesies it, and it serves a double purpose. He says in essence, Jerusalem will be surrounded by Roman armies (Lk. 21:20, paraphrased). This was in 30 AD, and they said, Really? Again? And Jesus essentially said, Oh yes, it s going to happen twice more. In Luke 21:20-24 He describes a future military invasion of Israel that happened a generation later, in 70 AD. He was describing two events in one passage: an imminent invasion within one generation by the Romans in 70 AD, and a far-off invasion of this worldwide evil empire in the generation in which the Lord returns. Both of those invasions are being described in that passage. Jesus prophesied that military invasion would be a significant part of God s purpose for the nation of Israel before His coming. He describes it in greater detail in Matthew 24: WHEN THEY SHALL SAY, PEACE, PEACE, THEN SUDDEN DESTRUCTION COMES Then John the apostle comes along in 90 AD. In Revelation 6, He says it again. Now the apostle John prophesies it. The point is, this isn t just an Old Testament prophecy of Moses and Joel and Isaiah. This is prophesied by John the apostle; it s prophesied by Jesus; it s prophesied by Paul the apostle as well. Paul says, When everyone is saying, Peace, peace! suddenly the peace will be disrupted (1 Thess. 5:3, paraphrased). He s talking about military invasions, for He s taking peace away, not just from Israel, but from the whole earth. There will be a false peace for one brief moment, and then the world will be thrown into confusion and military conflict. When everyone is saying, Peace! Peace! suddenly destruction will come. Paul prophesies that for the generation in which the Lord returns. That s this generation. I believe that we re in the beginning of that generation. THE LAMB OF GOD WILL RELEASE THE SEALS THAT REMOVE PEACE FROM THE EARTH Paul prophesied it. Jesus prophesied it. The apostle John prophesied it, in Revelation 6. And then, you know what John the apostle does? He attributes it to Jesus in Revelation 6:1-17. It s the whole chapter, but particularly in Revelation 6:4 and 6:8 he describes the military invasion and the implications of that invasion.

6 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 6 But John goes so far as to say: The seals will be broken and this great destruction, this global destruction will occur, and the Lamb of God is the One releasing the seals. It s Jesus setting this in motion. John s people must have thought, Jesus is going to do it? John could have said, Well, He said that He was going to do it back in Luke 21 and Matthew 24. He already prophesied that He was going to do it, and I tell you by virtue of a heavenly encounter, He is going to do it! Revelation 6:8 tells us that one-fourth of the earth will die. One-fourth of the population of the planet will die in the wake of these military crises. One fourth of the entire earth! Incidentally, if there are ten billion people on the earth in the next twenty years, which is what s currently projected, that means it will be fifty times the magnitude of World War II. One-fourth of the population dying will be fifty times more severe than World War II. There were fifty million deaths in World War II in six years; fifty million people died, not only in Europe, but mostly in Europe and Asia, in a six-year period of time. It s mind-boggling that fifty million people died in that short amount of time, but this is going to be fifty times that, 2.5 billion people, based on the current projection of ten billion people alive in the year That s a general number. My point isn t to give accurate numbers; my point is to give you the sense of the scope of what s around the corner. LIFE AND DEATH WILL BE IN THE BALANCE OF WHOLEHEARTED LOVERS God is raising up prophets today, forerunners, who take Moses seriously. They take Joel seriously; they take Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel seriously. They take Jesus prophecy seriously. They take Paul the apostle seriously. They take John the apostle seriously. All these prophets said it very, very clearly. And it s not just going to evaporate; it s really going to happen. And life and death will be in the balance of the prayer movement of the wholehearted people of God who live the name of Jesus. GOD IS USING THE LEAST SEVERE MEANS TO REMOVE ALL THAT HINDERS LOVE That s a little introduction to Joel 2. It s intense! There s no way to water it down. If you do, you do it to the peril of God s people. It s serious; it s graphic; it s powerful; it s real, and it s coming! It can t be stopped. It s coming, because the Lord has orchestrated it as part of His purpose to bring forth the largest number of people at the greatest depth of love possible without violating their free will. That s what the Lord is going to do. You may think that He s being a little intense by allowing fifty times the number of people who died in World War II to die. That s mind-boggling, but I assure you this: the Lord is using the least severe means to bring the greatest number of converts to the greatest depth of love possible without violating their free will. That s what He s doing: He s removing the things that hinder love to those who will say yes. And those who say no will experience tremendous devastation. THE DIVINE PICTURE OF THE BABYLONIAN INVASION We re now going to begin to describe the divine picture of the Babylonian invasion, which happened in three waves over twenty years: in 606, 597, and 586 BC. Joel is probably prophesying about ten years prior to the first wave. It s important to know this, because when the Lord prophesies with great urgency and says, It s happening in a moment! it may be five, ten, or twenty years away. But it s a moment either way, because the Lord is giving the nation, and in this case, the nations of the earth, time to hear the message, digest it, and spread it across the earth. We re at the beginning of that time right now. We re in that ten-, twenty-, thirty-year time frame. We re at the door. This is a time to begin to throw away business-as-usual Christianity and begin to enter into that wholeheartedness that s the only thing that will equip our souls for such a time as this.

7 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 7 Joel 2:1-11 isn t just a description ten or twenty years ahead of a coming invasion in Joel s day; it s the divine picture, the clearest picture available, of the invasion that s coming to Israel at the end of the age. Of like kind, but to a lesser degree, it will happen in the nations of the earth as well. It s a principle I call, like kind but lesser degree ; whatever God promised Israel in the Old Testament, the Church in the earth will have in like kind, but to a lesser degree of glory. And the judgment we will have as well, in like kind but in lesser degree. The Lord normally focuses in on Israel. But today we say, Well, Lord what about this? He says, Well, I never change; My strategy is the same. What I do there, I ll do everywhere. The judgment that s released in Israel will be of like kind but lesser degree in the nations. And the glory I promise will be of like kind and lesser degree. The vast majority of the promises given to Israel, the negative and the positive, will be in like kind but of a lesser degree but enough to shake everything that can be shaken. Joel 2 is the clearest description of what s going to happen to Israel, and a clear description of what will happen to a lesser degree to the nations of the earth even to the good old United States of America. It will happen here as well to a lesser degree. He goes on in Joel 2:1, Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain (Joel 2:1). Then He essentially says, Let the people tremble when they hear this. Let it drive them to the fasting and prayer of Joel 2:12-17 (Joel 2:1b, paraphrased). He goes on to say: For the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand: a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains (Joel 2:1-2). YOU WON T WIN A POPULARITY CONTEST IF YOU GIVE YOURSELF TO THIS He says, The day of the Lord is at hand. Now whenever you begin to say, The day of the Lord is at hand, it means that you re in that five-, ten-, fifteen-, twenty-year period where the unique activity of the day of the Lord is about to be manifest. When you begin to cry out, The day of the Lord is at hand! I want to tell you this: you ll be viewed by both believers and unbelievers as fanatical. The moment you say, The day of the Lord is coming! people say, OK But when you add the phrase, It s at hand, meaning it s in the next ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years, the unique activity of the day of the Lord is at hand, you ll be called fanatical and, undoubtedly, a moment later you ll be called cultish. It s OK to talk about the day of the Lord as long as you don t place it in the generation of people who are listening to it. That s not politically correct. It s that unique time frame when God releases unusual, heightened amounts of supernatural activity in order to war against His enemy called sin. That s why it s called the Lord s day; it s the day when He exhibits His leadership against His enemy called sin. He does it in two ways, through blessing, or revival, and through judgment. And the moment it s placed in the generation of those who are listening, it becomes fanatical and wrong. We re very happy that it will happen one day, but when it talks about our generation, our automatic response is, No! This can t be true! It s the record of human history, even among the redeemed, from the beginning, to cry out, No! when it s applied to their day. When it s applied to the future we say, Yes! I believe the Bible! until it

8 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 8 begins within that generation. There s almost a universal rejection of this message when it begins to knock on the door. In 2 Peter 3:3-4, Peter said, In that day mockers will rise up and say, You ve always said that the day of the Lord is coming! You ve always said that the appearance of the Lord is coming! They will mock you in that day (2 Pet. 3:3-4, paraphrased). Within and outside the house of God, they will mock those prophetic trumpetblowers. So brace yourself for resistance. If you set your heart and become one of those forerunners, understand that you won t win a popularity contest if you give yourself to this. However, you will prepare people who will listen and hear. It will mean life to many, many people. Now turn back to Joel 2:2. Joel begins to prophesy in very frightening language. There are four different phrases used: one a day of darkness, two a day of gloom, three and four, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Those are four different descriptions describing this ominous approach of overwhelming negative. It s an ominous approach! It s frightening. And it s God s direct judgments that He described in Revelation 8-9, where God looses plagues on the earth. And it s part of the destruction of the Lord that He is raising up an evil empire releasing military crisis in the nation to create the drama of beauty and pain, the two things that stun the human heart. FORERUNNERS ARE PREPARING THE PEOPLE DECADES IN ADVANCE It s a very, very negative time, but the good news is that the power of the Holy Spirit, the greatest revival in human history, is breaking out simultaneously alongside the day of gloom. It s a day of gloom to the people who resist it. People say this: I don t like that doom and gloom. Let me tell you this, doom and gloom is actually God s own language for the day. When we mockingly say, I don t like doom and gloom, we re telling the Lord, We don t like Your description of Your day. Now, at the same time, we don t like only doom and gloom. But if you don t preach, believe, and prepare the people for gloom and doom, along with the greatest unprecedented visitation of revival and power, the people will be unaware of what s happening and unprepared to respond. The dynamics and the drama will be so intense if they don t have a chance to hear it, think on it, and process it. When it s suddenly at the door, they won t have the time to respond in the way that they could have responded. That s why God raises up forerunners: to give people a chance to digest it, to process it, even over a few decades. Some don t get to hear it and it comes anyway, because it comes suddenly, as Paul said. This world leader will bring a false peace. In 1 Thessalonians 5:3, Paul says that when Jerusalem and the implication is the rest of the world as well is saying, Peace, peace! then suddenly destruction will break in like birth pangs on a woman in labor, over the whole earth. That s the very language used in Jeremiah 30:3-7. The prophet says, It will be a day of trouble, like that of a woman in birth pangs, for Israel and the nations of the earth (Jer. 30:6, paraphrased). WE DON T HAVE TO HIDE JESUS IN A CORNER WHEN GUESTS COME OVER It s coming. It s gloom and doom, but it s not only gloom and doom. Don t get into the fear of man, and don t reduce the gloom-and-doom dimension. We don t have to apologize for Jesus prophecies. They re wise; they re true. They re inevitable; they re final. They re going to happen. We don t have to apologize for Jesus. We don t have to hide Him in a corner like a drunk relative when the visitors come over. Hide Him away! Jesus is loving; He doesn t do that! And we tuck Him away.

9 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 9 Jesus says, Away with that! I don t need to be apologized for or hidden in a corner by your human logic. I m going to shake the earth! I will bring forth the greatest number of lovesick worshipers at the deepest level of love possible in human history without violating anyone s free will. I m bold about My plan and you don t have to water it down, apologize, or cover up for Me, or hide Me in the closet when the friends come over, in the back room somewhere. The Jesus who is a Bridegroom who is lovesick over His people is a righteous and terrifying Judge who is going to remove everything that hinders love through His judgments. LIKE THE MORNING CLOUDS SPREAD OVER THE MOUNTAINS Joel goes on to say, A day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains (Joel 2:2). Like a morning cloud spread over the mountains qualifies and describes the first part of Joel 2:2 in the NKJV translation. In other translations it describes the second part of Joel 2:2. I think that both of them work. Here s the principle: the day of darkness is going to break in upon Israel and the whole earth like morning clouds spreading over the mountains. In other words, Joel by the Holy Spirit likens the day of gloom to the dawning of a sunrise. In the dawning of a sunrise there are several characteristics. Number one: it s vast. I mean how big is the sunrise coming up over the mountains? It s vast! It s comprehensive. It covers everywhere the eye can see. It fills the whole land. It s massive! Joel is saying: This army of gloom is coming on the horizon like a sunrise. You won t be able to miss it. You won t escape it. It s vast! It s irresistible! Try to stop the sun rising over the mountains. Get all the energies that you have and try and stop that from happening. It s totally irresistible. Here is another very important part of the analogy of the sunrise: it gradually increases in its intensity. That s God s way of doing it; there s a gradual increase of intensity. The day of gloom will grow stronger and stronger. This is what happened in Israel. Remember, there were three waves of the Babylonian invasion over a period of twenty years, from 606 to 586 BC. When the first wave breaks out I m not so sure that we re not at the beginning of the beginning of that. Really, though, we re just in the foundational stages, because it s going to be a lot greater than any of the terrorist activity happening right now. There s going to be a much, much greater dimension than that. When it breaks out, we won t say, Wow! I m glad that that s over! The Lord says, Read the Bible. When it breaks, it increases in intensity over ten or twenty years. It doesn t go away; it intensifies. It s like the morning cloud spreading over the mountains; like the sun rising. It s vast. It s irresistible. It s continual. That s what happened in Deuteronomy 28. It began with locusts and ended with a military invasion and dispersion to the nations. There are three dimensions we looked at in Joel 1. It began with the locusts, and then after the locusts came, they said, Wow, it s over. Then the drought broke in, and they said, Wow, now it s really over! Then the fires broke out and they said, Well, it must be over now! and then famine came after that.

10 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 10 In Joel 1, there were four levels of increased activity. And it s going to happen as it did with this military invasion. I believe this passage could be describing both the gloom and the coming army. Joel is prophesying and describing a vast army approaching just over the horizon. He says, It s just around the corner! It s like the dawning of a new day. Those who have eyes to see will say, Oh, it s a new season. He says, As the hours go by, it intensifies and fills the horizon and becomes as bright and as intense as the noonday sun. He s using this in a negative way. In other words, it will be consuming when it s over. He goes on to describe this army in Joel s day and the Roman army in 70 AD that did the same things. But in its fullest intensity it s really describing the army at the end of the age the army that we will yet see touch Israel, the army described in Ezekiel and Zechariah It describes this period in the nation of Israel. This will happen in America too, but in lesser degree. A PEOPLE COME, GREAT AND STRONG, THE LIKE OF WHOM HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN Joel goes on in Joel 2:2, Like morning clouds spreading over a mountain, a people will come. They ll be great; they ll be strong (Joel 2:2, paraphrased). He says, The like of whom has never been seen; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations (Joel 2:2b). In other words, When this army comes, it will be completely unprecedented in its size and in fierceness. It will be unprecedented. Later on in Joel 2:20, he describes it as the northern army. This northern army is the army of Babylon. It s described many times in the book of Jeremiah as the army from the north. Joel and Jeremiah were contemporaries. Between the two of them, it s very easy to figure out that this is the nation of Babylon. Ezekiel says that the army from the north is coming again to Israel; it will be this worldwide coalition of evil nations led by the man of lawlessness, the man of sin, the man of iniquity, the Antichrist. They re coming from the north again, and the Lord will say to Israel, I ve warned you in history; I ve warned you in prophecy. It s exactly the same picture that I ve given you as a warning throughout your history. It s going to happen again. They re great and they re strong, this military force. It s great in the sense of large numbers, of numerical strength. Psalm 2:1-3 tells us that all the nations together will gather together against God and against His Christ. That gathering of all the nations will come into unity to resist God s purposes in Israel. It s a great army. The NIV uses the word large. The word great in the NKJV is speaking numerically. It s going to be the largest military buildup in all human history. There s never been anything like it. It will be far beyond the armies of World War II. It s great. But it s more than great; it s strong. Joel calls it a strong nation, a strong people set in battle array (Joel 2:5). It s going to be strong in its military sophistication. We re talking about advanced technology. We re talking about smart bombs in the next ten, twenty, and thirty years, and biological and chemical warfare. It s mighty; it s strong. This is not a force to be taken lightly. It s a powerful evil army, and the Lord has even allowed the advancement of knowledge and technology and science to be used to the full benefit of the Devil. The Lord says, I m not one bit threatened by My release of knowledge to accelerate in that generation to give you every advantage that you could possibly have. And I will still be victorious.

11 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 11 THIS ARMY WILL BE STRONG SPIRITUALLY BY SUPERNATURAL POWER The Lord is allowing this army to be raised up to discipline His people. Then He will turn around and discipline, punish, and destroy this army. But it won t just be strong in military sophistication; it will be strong in economics. It will have the mark of the beast. There will be economic monopolies that make the strength of this empire unimaginable. But it won t only be strong in terms of economics, might, and military sophistication; it will be strong spiritually by occult power. It s said that the great weapon Adolf Hitler possessed over the masses was a demonic ability to rally and deceive them and get them to live in abandoned sacrifice for his cause. Revelation 13 adds that this empire will be strong not just in persuasion and deception, but in supernatural signs and lying, evil wonders. They will be very stunning miracles, and demons will go forth deceiving the nations and bringing them to the aid of this world leader. THE BALANCE OF LIFE AND DEATH IS IN THE HANDS OF THE PRAYER MOVEMENT Joel goes on to describe this army in Joel 2:2: it will be a people the like of whom the world has never seen (Joel 2:2). It will be unprecedented in its fierceness, its human size, and its demonic strength. Its powers will be beyond anything in history. Daniel spoke of this and said, It will be a time of trouble such as the world has never seen. It will be the most intense time of trouble ever (Daniel 12:1, paraphrased). Jesus quotes that verse in Matthew 24:21. He says, When these armies gather and all this comes to pass, it will be the worst time ever. If it wasn t cut short, no one would be saved (Mt. 24:21-22, paraphrased). Not even the elect would have been saved if this global drama wasn t cut short by the prayer movement and the Lord s intervention, in concert together in the grace of God. The prayer movement isn t a practice thing; it s real. The Lord will minimize His judgments in some areas and raise up cities of refuge, pockets of mercy. He will release greater judgments in other areas. The prayer movement is the critical human dimension in which the life and death of the nation is in the balance. Whole geographic areas will have pockets of mercy, and others will be battle zones disaster areas. The prayer movement won t determine everything, but the prayer movement will significantly determine what s happening in the spirit in the occultic as well as in the Holy Spirit dimension. It will contribute to that in a very significant way. UNPRECEDENTED DESOLATION BY RAGING FIRE Joel 2:3 is talking about unprecedented desolation by raging fire. He says, It s going to happen again (Joel 2:3, paraphrased). It happened in Babylon; it happened in Rome. It s going to happen at the end of the age. A fire devours before them before they show up, fire will come and behind them a flame burns (Joel 2:4). Fire will devour after them as well. The land is like the garden of Eden before them in other words, lush and plentiful and behind them a desolate wilderness (ibid). Surely nothing shall escape when this happens. WHEN THE LORD RETURNS, HE WILL RESTORE THE DESOLATE CITIES The Old Testament prophets constantly describe the desolation of Israel just before the Lord returns. This is depicted all over the book of Isaiah, as well as in Jeremiah and some other places. Isaiah 61 tells us that when the Lord returns, He will rebuild the desolate cities (Is. 61:4). I know just from my own studies that at least

12 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 12 twenty times though it could be even more; I m thinking particularly about Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Isaiah the prophets proclaim, When the Lord returns, He will restore the desolate cities. He will restore the desolate places. Great! We think, The boring churches will finally be exciting! No, the desolate places are desolate cities. When the Lord returns, the earth will be full of desolate cities. Think of the carnage that followed in the wake of the Second World War, for that s the most graphic depiction of what s going to happen, though this will be maybe fifty times more intense. Nevertheless, the carnage of the cities of Europe and of Asia after the war ended is a picture of the desolation. When the book of Isaiah talks about how the Lord will restore the desolate places, it s talking about the cities of the earth in the aftermath of this global conflict. They re going to be desolate, but the Lord will restore them at His own appearing. He s going to set up a thousand-year reign upon the earth, and the cities will be restored. Some nations will be completely annihilated; other nations will be brought into His kingdom and made to prosper. Incredible, glorious things will happen. Natural life is going to continue in an accelerated prosperity beyond anything that we can imagine. It will be like the conditions of the garden of Eden, but in natural life. In other words, there will be people who grow and live and die and work and all those dimensions, but with supernatural prosperity all around it. That s another subject, but the point is, A fire will burn before them, and the fire will be a flame burning after them as well. Think of the great wars of history. World War II is just the clearest picture. During the Battle of Britain in August and September of 1940, the Nazis bombed the cities of England. The fire went beforehand; that s my point. Praise God, the Nazi army never got to invade, but the fire went before Hitler many times in the cities. The same was true in the invasion of Russia on the eastern front; there was tremendous bombardment before the invasion. Fire broke out before the army even showed up, and fire followed the army. When Hitler left the eastern front in the Ukraine, the Soviet Union, and Russia, he had a scorched earth policy. When he left, he burnt everything for incredible amounts of miles. He scorched everything when the Nazi armies retreated. And that s going to happen again. Joel says that in the day when Babylon does this, and the armies at the end of the age, nothing will escape in the areas where the intensity is manifest. The buildings, the animals, the plants, the architecture, the agriculture, nothing will escape the intense areas of desolation. The prayer movement is going to create pockets of mercy and cities of refuge all over the earth. It s amazing that the Lord places the balance of it in the wholeheartedness of the prayer movement. The prayer movement isn t a small thing that we re going to get to one of these days; it s the very centerpiece of God s end-time strategy. THEIR APPEARANCE IS LIKE THE APPEARANCE OF HORSES Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like swift steeds, so they run (Joel 2:4). It s this terrifying advance. Of course in World War II, the Germans broke in suddenly with what was called a blitzkrieg. Suddenly whole nations were destroyed and conquered in a matter of weeks. It will be equally sudden with the more destructive blitzkrieg tactics of this evil empire at the end of the age. As Paul the apostle said in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, when they say, Peace, peace! suddenly the blitzkrieg, part II will be upon the earth. Blitzkrieg is German for lightning war. Hitler enacted lightning wars. He conquered Poland in three weeks and France in four weeks. He conquered Belgium and the Netherlands in a matter of days ten to fifteen

13 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 13 days. It was very sudden. Suddenly, nations were conquered. It was staggering. And it s going to happen again with similar swiftness. WITH A NOISE LIKE CHARIOTS OVER MOUNTAINTOPS THEY LEAP Joel 2:5 describes the terrifying sounds: With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap (Joel 2:5). Picture the deafening noise of 10,000 chariots charging on the land. Then imagine the sound of a raging forest fire and bonfires in the grass. He says, It will be like the noise of chariots, thousands of chariots, leaping on mountains. It will be like the noise of flaming, raging fires. When you study the history of World War II, one of the things that s commonly reported is the incredibly terrifying sounds of the attack. It was deafening and terrifying. The sound of war is a subject in and of itself. The very sounds of war will be magnified. Joel is using the language of his own day. It s painting the most terrifying scene that you could imagine. A STRONG PEOPLE SET IN BATTLE ARRAY Joel describes them as a strong people set in battle array (Joel 2:5). It s terrifying. Some people like to think Joel is only talking abut the locusts; but he s talking about a literal military invasion. Dwayne Garrett describes how there s overwhelming evidence that Joel 2 is describing a military invasion, and not just reiterating the locust invasion of Joel 1. Those of you who aren t familiar with the book of Joel may say, What was all that about? but those of you who have been reading the book of Joel know that a lot of scholars will say that the locust invasion is being described twice. It s not; it s describing the military invasion. I m absolutely convinced in my heart that it is. Dwayne Garrett presents a brilliant case in those places I just described, and we have that book in our bookstore. I found the best one I could find, to spread around. I ve read many of them, and it s in a class of its own. BEFORE THEM THE PEOPLE WRITHE IN PAIN; ALL FACES ARE DRAINED OF COLOR Joel 2:6 describes the devastation on the residents of Jerusalem, on the Jewish victims in the city of Jerusalem. But the same thing could be said for the other cities of the earth, where it will be of like kind but of lesser degree. Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color (Joel 2:6). Their bodies will be gripped with terror. They re going to go pale in their faces because of fear. It goes on, and there are many other places in the Scriptures that describe it. Jesus said in Luke 21:26, People will faint for fear when this takes place (Lk. 21:26, paraphrased). They will faint for fear in the midst of all these calamities. THEY RUN LIKE MIGHTY MEN, THEY CLIMB THE WALL LIKE MEN OF WAR Joel 2:7-8 describes the fierceness of this advancing worldwide army. In Joel s day, it was Babylon. But the Lord means it to describe more than Joel s day. It s a very common biblical principle in prophecy to describe the imminent fulfillment of an event, while at the same time describing an-end time eschatological fulfillment as well. He says, They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. They do not push one another; every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down (Joel 2:7-8). This is a fierce and evil army. When the heat of war, the heat of the battle is upon them, they lunge right in there!

14 Transcript: 06/07/03 Page 14 He goes on to say, They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief (Joel 2:7-9). They run like mighty men; they re a zealous army. They climb the walls of Jerusalem. They re absolutely invincible; no obstacle can stop them. That s what Joel is saying. They march in formation (Joel 2:7-8). They re a trained, disciplined, seasoned army. This is no chaotic band of guerillas; they re trained. They re restrained and disciplined. Incidentally, God s army will surpass them in this way as well. This is an evil army that s being described. They ll be courageous in the heat of the battle. They ll lunge fearlessly in the presence of the weapons. Look at the description of the assault on Jerusalem. They run to and fro in the city, on the wall, and enter the houses through the widows (Joel 2:9). It s a total, complete, assault on the city. Zechariah 14:1-3 describes this again. It s terrifying. It s the same total assault upon the city of Jerusalem that s being described here. It s unstoppable. They will run to and fro on the walls. No resistance without divine help will stop them. Even America won t be able to stop this force. There s a lot being said. I think it s good that America is blessing Israel, because it s a blessing on America. But I tell you, America isn t the answer to Israel. This force that s being raised up will be irresistible, and God and God alone will be able to stop it. And He will, too. And He will bring the salvation of the nation of Israel in the wake of it. It says that they re going to climb into houses and windows (Joel 2:9). They re so invasive; there s no stone unturned in their assault. THE ASSAULT OF MORTAL ADVERSARIES MERGES INTO GOD S GREAT PLAN Go down to the next two verses: Joel 2: We ll end with this very briefly and we ll take it up again the week after next, after the conference. What s happening is that all creation is going to be impacted by this. The Babylonian invasion of Joel s day, the Antichrist coalition of evil nations assaulting all the nations of the earth in his desire to control the whole earth, merges into the appearing of the Lord. It all merges together! What God is really saying is, I m the One who is involved in all this. I am the God who has the power of the sun and the moon and I m using My power to direct the affairs on the earth. I m the One who is allowing the conflict. I have power over all the earthly conflict. Look at this: I can turn the light out on the sun any time I want. I m watching with attentiveness; I m exerting My power! I m orchestrating a drama so that the righteous will be more committed in depths of love and the wicked will be resisted with the full force of God. In the merging of these military crises with the appearing of the Lord and God s power in the heavens, He s saying, I have power to stop it. There is no fear in heaven! I m completely in control. Watch this. And He brings the whole thing to a crescendo to the coming of the Lord. We re going to go a lot more into this in session nine. THE LORD GIVES VOICE BEFORE HIS ARMY, FOR HIS CAMP IS VERY GREAT The Lord goes on in Joel 2:11: The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great (Joel 2:11). In other words, I m the One leading My army. Babylon is His army. Of this evil nation, the Lord says, This is My instrument; I m using it. I will turn on Babylon and discipline her. She is My army. I m raising her up.