The Divine Warrior

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 96:2-6
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith (Westminster Shorter Catechism)
• Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 17:38-58
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Thanksgiving
• Hymn — Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer
• Sermon
• Hymn
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: The Divine Warrior

Scripture: Joel 3

I. The Divine Warrior Wages War in the Courtroom (vv. 1–8)

A. God summons the nations to the valley of Jehoshaphat — the valley of judgment

1. "Jehoshaphat" means Yahweh judges; it is a figurative place of divine courtroom proceedings
2. All elements of an ancient lawsuit are present: summons, accusation, cross-examination, and verdict

B. The specific charges against Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia

1. Scattering God's people among the nations, dividing his land, and trafficking Israelites as slaves
2. Taking silver, gold, and treasures from God's temple into their own temples
3. These nations took advantage of Judah's vulnerability during the Babylonian captivity (586 BC); compare Obadiah 11

C. These nations represent all enemies of God and his people in every age — including Edom and Egypt (v. 19)

D. The principle of lex talionis (eye for an eye) dominates vv. 1–8

1. "I will return your payment on your own head" — repeated in vv. 4 and 7
2. God's judgment perfectly conforms to the sinner's own actions — there is not one particle of injustice

E. Application: God's fairness is a devastating thing

1. To enter God's courtroom on the basis of one's own works is to meet the devastating fairness of a holy God
2. What we need is not God's fairness but his mercy — an advocate who has swallowed up God's judgment at the cross
3. We must enter God's courtroom clothed in the righteousness of Christ alone

II. The Divine Warrior Wages War on the Battlefield (vv. 9–16)

A. God summons his enemies — from the mighty to the weak — to muster all their forces against him

1. Plowshares beaten into swords, pruning hooks into spears (v. 10) — the opposite of the coming peace
2. "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision" (v. 14) — all gathered to be ripe for judgment

B. It is God himself who stirs up his enemies for battle

1. Romans 1:28-32 — "God gave them up to a debased mind"
2. By withdrawing restraining grace, God allows his enemies to fully manifest their evil, filling up the harvest of judgment
3. The wine press fills; the cup of wrath overflows

C. Application: When we see evil in the world, God is sovereign over it

1. Statistics on Christian persecution (2018): over 4,000 Christians murdered for their faith; 75% of all religiously motivated violence suffered by Christians
2. Persecution and the open celebration of evil are signs that God is ripening the harvest for final judgment
3. Even in the midst of evil, God is in control and is moving history toward the day of absolute judgment

III. The Divine Warrior Wages War for His Chosen People (vv. 16–21)

A. God's people are his personal possession — he takes attacks on them personally

1. Note the first-person possessives throughout ch. 3: my people, my heritage, my land, my silver, my gold (vv. 2, 4, 5)
2. Jesus to Paul on the Damascus road: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" — to persecute the church is to persecute its head

B. The Father's response to his children's suffering

1. Illustration: a bullied child's father — the bullies must answer not to the child but to the father
2. Illustration: an assaulted bride — the attacker must answer to the bridegroom
3. This is what frees the church to turn the other cheek, love enemies, and preach the gospel amidst blows — as Jesus does at the cross and Stephen does in Acts 7

C. Warfare brings lasting peace for God's people (vv. 17–21)

1. The land will drip with sweet wine, flow with milk and water — the cup of life, not destruction
2. Jerusalem (city of peace) will finally realize what its name means

D. Contrast and fulfillment in Isaiah 2:1-5

1. In Joel 3:10 farming tools are made into weapons; in Isaiah 2:4 swords are beaten back into plowshares — the reversal signals that the battle is won
2. Judah and Jerusalem in Isaiah 2 consist of believers from all nations who do not bow to the kings of this world
3. The cause of this peace: God the Father fighting for all his adopted children through the Son, who cries "It is finished" as he crushes the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15)

E. Conclusion: Even now, in the midst of enemies surrounding the church, God's people can cry "Peace" — with the full assurance that an eternal, unfading peace awaits when the Divine Warrior King is fully and finally victorious