Joel [Part 2] - End Times Prophecy & The Returning of The Captives

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Joseph Shulam.

Shalom. We did one lesson on the prophet Joel, and this is the second lesson on the prophet Joel. The Prophet Joel is only less than a thousand words, and in the Hebrew it has four chapters, in the English it has three chapters. And we are going to do the four chapter of the Hebrew, which is part of the third chapter in the English. The text starts in this chapter with this phrase that is repeated several times in the prophets. It says:

This formula appears in Jeremiah several times, even in one chapter twice, in chapter, 50 verse 4, and chapter 50 verse 20 of Jeremiah, the same formula that Joel starts with chapter four in Hebrew. "Behold those days," specific days and a specific time. What time?

Verse two:

Very interesting text. And what does it remind me of and should remind every good Bible student? It reminds me of Romans chapter 11, verse 25, 26 and Luke chapter 21, verse 24, which talks about the time of the nations. Yeah, the fullness of the time of the nations. I think that Joel chapter 4 in Hebrew, chapter 3 in English, has to do with exactly these eschatological promises of God that are repeated in the New Testament with some of the same topics and terminology. Let me read verse one and two again. "For behold, in those days." Which days? "The days when I bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem." In those days, in that time.

Well, folks, the last captivity of Israel started with the Romans exiling the inhabitants of Judea, emptying Judea from Jews. There were other Jews. Some of the Jews went to the Galilee and survived there. But in the two wars, the two rebellions of Israel against Rome in 70 AD, that brought down the temple in Jerusalem and destroyed all of the spiritual hierarchy of the nation of Israel. And then in the second rebellion in 135, between 130 to 135 AD, the Bar Kokhba Revolt, the women were raped wholesale by the Romans, and the men, according to the numbers that the records give, 400,000 men were taken to be slaves in Rome. Judea was emptied. Specific time. But the New Testament, Yeshua himself in Luke chapter 21, verse 24, and Paul in Romans 11:25 and 26, we have this concept of the fullness of the time of the Gentiles. When is that time when God is bringing back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem! We are living it right now, dear brothers and sisters. We are still in the process of Jews returning to the land from all over the world, still. From Africa and from Asia and from South America and from Siberia and even from China.

This hasn't happened yet. This is not talking about Ezra and Nehemiah returning to the land. This is talking about a time when the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem will return, and all the nations are going to gather against Israel in the valley where God is going to judge them. The Valley of Jehoshaphat means the valley where Jehovah will judge.

God has never rejected Israel. I know Christian theology has said, beginning with the fourth century, God has rejected Israel, has rejected them. Finished with the Old Testament, finished with the Torah, finished with Passover, finished with the biblical seasons and times of the Lord. No, but God has never done that. This Christian theology, it's not in the Bible. Not in the Bible. Yeshua, the apostles, all celebrated the feast, went to synagogue, read from the Torah. And we have dozens of promises of God in the prophets and in the Torah itself of Israel's sinful behavior against God, God's punishment and even curses against Israel because of the rebelliousness.

But Jeremiah says clearly in chapter 31, after the promise of the new covenant. Christians read from chapter 31 of Jeremiah, from verse 31 to 34. But if they read from 35, 36, and 37, they'd see that as long as the sun is shining by day and the moon and the stars by night, God has not rejected Israel. The sun is still shining today outside in Jerusalem and in Seoul. Even in Beijing. Yes.

They have drinking. Instead of 'what have you to do with me'. Indeed you, Gentiles, what have you to do with me? Or Tyrus, Sidon, which means Lebanon, the coast of Philistia, which means Gaza. You will retaliate against me...

That's the end of the book of Joel. But let me go back. This is actually an eschatological, end-time prophecy. But as I look at what's happening right now in the world, the United Nations is gathering against Israel, believing the lies of our enemies, denying the word of God that gave this land to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob and to their descendants as an everlasting possession. You can read that in Genesis chapter 13, verse 15, if you wish. But it appears more than 20 times in the law Moses, and another 20 times in the prophets. Yes, this is serious stuff, folks, and it's going to happen. If you want to be on God's side, you have to be on Israel's side. If you want to be on the side of truth, you have to be on Israel's side. If you want to be on the side of righteousness, you have to be on Israel's side.

I'm not talking politics, folks. I am talking to you Biblical prophecy, promises of God. We are living the promises of God, both Jews and Gentiles. Jews and Christians are living the promises of God. But these promises connected to the land of Israel and to the people of Israel. The world is setting up to fulfill every word that God promised in the Bible and here in Joel. We have seen the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit coming on Mount Zion on Pentecost, with the apostle Peter speaking in Jerusalem, and the apostles speaking. And the Jews that came from the diaspora each one heard the voice of Peter in their own language. God is capable and God is faithful. Whatever he promised will happen. We have parallels to this. One of the more interesting parallels is with Isaiah chapter 2. Here Joel says:

In Isaiah chapter 2, he's talking about the future,

Yes, there will be peace. But when God makes the peace, not waiting for the United Nations to make the peace.