Joel 3:14-16
"Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision. There the day of the Lord will soon arrive. The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine. The Lord’s voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth will shake. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a strong fortress for the people of Israel."
It is estimated that maybe 10% of the Jews in Israel are really religious at all. Most would claim to be atheist. They might keep the Kosher traditions and other sorts of cultural traditions, a form of godliness. It's not unlike some of the first century Christian's who were formerly Jewish and had converted. They were requiring new gentile Christians to be circumcised. And of course it's the same mistaken idea, focused on the form of religion and not on the source. And into this reborn nation state the prophet calls upon the people to make the choice, to give their whole heart to the God who has blessed them. They are to decide to which side they belong. They are in the valley of decision. God’s wrath or his refuge? This is God's grace yet again. His willingness to forgive the repentant and supply them with his Spirit, by whom he is constantly present with his people. The father stands watching for them. He sees them while they are far off and he waits for them to decide.
God says tear your heart not your clothes. He doesn't want the outward appearances of repentance, outrage and grief. He wants a repentant heart.
Meanwhile God is ensuring that all the enemies of the church are gathered together in all their might and power. His prophecy challenges them to bring it on. Bring everything you've got. All your might and machines. Every warrior and hero. Let all the forces of all the nations be summoned to join in confederacy against God and his people. Muster up all your strength. Bring it on.
Psalm 2:4
"But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them."
The archangel’s trumpet sounds, calling together all his mighty ones to prepare for war.
Psalm 110:6-7
"He will punish the nations and fill their lands with corpses."
The war goes from a challenge to a summons. Not just a come as you dare, but come whether you like it or not. There's no escaping the judgment of God, even for the atheist. Even those who fight against him and perish will be raised from the dead to face his judgment. Even a heroic death in rebellion won't save them from facing him.
And God wants mankind to bring everything they got. The greatness of men’s wickedness makes them ripe for God’s judgment. It's like when Elijah challenged the Baal priests. Shout louder, chant more, bring everything you got. In the valley of decision God wants mankind to know that nothing they can do, nothing they can invent, nothing they have is greater than his judgment.
It should be obvious. All the inventions of mankind are made from created things, things God made. Their manipulation of the creation isn't going to undo the creator.
So it's the valley of threshing, the sifting, the harvest. And the harvesters are His Angel Armies. The proud enemies of God’s church will be crushed and broken to pieces like chaff on the threshing floor. Multitudes of living and dead, sheep and goats. Everything comes to this end. Even the sun, moon, and stars are transformed by this day.
The atheists dream comes true. God finally shows himself in all his glory. And for them? Sorry...too late. You made your decision against grace, now your reward. God comes in so much power and strength that even the earth and heavens will shake in terror, then burn and dissolve.
The once hidden dimensions, extradimensional, from eternity to eternity, “the realm of the Spirit”, a higher dimensional reality beyond the observable universe; will open up, unfolding the New Jerusalem, and the new heaven and earth will open up to the children of God. Without spot, or sin. No longer exposed to the fall which has been dissolved and eliminated in the new birth. The state of things has been transformed. No longer operating in a three dimensional environment, no longer limited to up and down left right high low, now human creation comes into unity with God in the extraordinary supernatural inside and out of the new creation. Multidimensional, transcendent, omnipotent. You could say it's nondimensional.
It's interesting to me because it's already there. Right now we're incapable of fully grasping it because we can't comprehend and see beyond the limitations of our human experience. But we can understand that the kingdom of God, that extraordinary nondimentional experience is both coming and already come. It can't be explained by the means we have available to us. It has no beginning or end. It just is. It's already not yet.
And that kingdom came near. “The kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15). In the person Jesus was and is "already not yet". The kingdom is him and we are in him. So as created beings we are part of him and where he is.
Yeah Mike...but what about today?
Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is coming (already not yet), but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes. People will not say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ because God’s kingdom is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)
As John Wesley said, “It is present in the soul of every true believer.”