“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”
– Joel 3:14
Joel 3:14 is really a summary verse in a sense for the book of Joel. All throughout this book, you see mention of the day of the Lord, which had meaning certainly in Joel’s day, as God through Joel was warning His people that His judgment was coming, that they would be sent into exile because of their sin.
But there’s a bigger picture here too in the book of Joel because we are seeing a picture of the day when judgment from God ultimately comes for all people before Him. “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” The picture is crystal clear here and all over the Bible. You and I will one day stand before God as our judge and His judgment will be final. That is a sobering thought that Joel 3:14 is teaching and the Bible teaches.
This Verse Reminds Us Judgment Is Coming
The day of the Lord is near and judgment will come to all people.
Now for all who have trusted in Jesus, we look forward to that day, not because we have done enough good things in order to be judged by God, worthy to come into Heaven and spend eternity with Him. No, the farthest thing from it. We are not looking forward to that day because of what we have done.
We are looking forward to that day because of what Jesus has done for us. Through faith in Him, we look forward to the day when we will stand before God, as sinners. We are not deserving of entrance into eternal life with Him, yet by faith in Jesus, His death on a cross for us, His resurrection from the grave, His righteous life accredited to us. We will be welcomed into eternal life with Him. So I would just ask you as you’re listening to this, do you have that kind of confidence, that kind of anticipation when it comes to that day? If not, I urge you to trust in Jesus, the valley of decision. You are in it.
Joel 3:14 Leads Us to Trust In Jesus
Decide to trust in Jesus and when you do and for all of us who would say, “Yes, I look forward to that day. I’ve trusted in Jesus,” let’s look around us and see multitudes of people, where we work, in our neighborhoods, among the nations who are in the valley of decision, who will one day stand before God as judge. You just think about it. Picture every face you’ve seen today, every person you’ve interacted with today or will interact with today.
Every single one of them will one day stand before God as judge. So God, we pray that You would give us an urgency today to share the gospel with them, to call them to decision, to urge people to trust in Jesus, to save them from their sins, that they might not fear the day of judgment that is coming, that they might look forward to that day. God, we pray for this for people right around us, for people in our families, friends, for neighbors, for coworkers, for people in our path that we come across today that we didn’t even know we were going to meet.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for the Unreached
We pray that You give us sensitivity and boldness to share the gospel with them, to see them as part of the multitudes in the valley of decision and God to see people far from us like this. God, we pray for the Khorasani Turks in Iran, almost a million of them, 0.0% followers of Jesus, most never having even heard the gospel. God, we pray that they right now, if they were to stand before You in judgment, all of them, all 1 million of them would be cast out of Your presence into everlasting judgment forever.
We pray for Your mercy on the Khorasani Turks. Cause Your church to go to them. Send out laborers to the Khorasani Turks, we pray. Send us as your church to them. God, help us not to keep this gospel to ourselves. Help us to spread this gospel among all the nations. Starting right where we live, among our neighbors and coworkers and friends and family members. God, we pray that You’d help us to see the world through the lens of Joel 3:14 today. Help us to see multitudes, multitudes of people in the valley of decision.
We know that the day of the Lord, the day of judgment is coming. And so we pray that You would give us boldness and compassion. Give us Your love to share the gospel with urgency in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
