In the Valley of Decision.
Friend, How Are You Deciding?
EIGHT centuries before Christ, God gave to one of His servants a vision of the far future. To the prophetic ken came the condition of his own generation, sinful and barren, and the judgments of unerring justice because of the sin, loved and long persisted in. The conditions then were typical of far future conditions. The judgments then were typical of the great final judgments. The latter rains of his own land became the type of the abundant outpouring of the Spirit of God in the last days. The last-day preparations for war among all the nations are vividly portrayed; and the prophecy clearly indicates that this preparation occurs just before the great harvest of God, the end of the age, the second coming of Christ. (Compare Joel 3: 9-12; Matt. 13: 39; Rev. 14: 12-14.) At this time God sits "to judge all the nations;" "for their wickedness is great." Then, preliminary to the execution of judgment, the prophet sees "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the great day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision." The time of the fulfilment of the prophecy is abundantly shown to be the last days: (a) It is a time when God sits in judgment upon the nations. (b) It is when the harvest of the earth is ripe for the wine-press of wrath. Rev. 14: 14-19. (c) It is at a time when the great day of God is near, and probation shall be forever closed; for that day to earth is "a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess." Therefore God thus exhorts His people: "Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you.
"Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." Zeph. 2: 1-3. That decree is God's declaration that all has been done that could be done, and humanity must be left to the characters they have forever chosen: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy9still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22: 11, 12. Just previous to this awful declaration is the time of the fulfilment of the prophet's vision, when "multitudes" are seen "in the valley of decision." Why is this? The answer may be found in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation, which we have before shown is a supplement to this prophecy in Joel. Verses 6 to 12 present before us their messages, sometimes denominated the first, second, and third angel's messages, but in reality, one great Threefold Message, going to all peoples, nations, languages, tongues, and kindreds, the last phase of the everlasting Gospel, announcing the impending judgment of God. The first of these messages calls from the fear of all things earthly to the reverent fear of God; from giving glory and honor to man to rendering to God that which is His due; from the worship and service of the creatures to the worship or service of the Creator. All this must include faith in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of men, and obedience to every precept of God. This is clearly evident from the twelfth verse, which describes the class of people developed by the heeding of the message: "Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Such are the characteristics of the remnant Church which shall greet the Lord when He comes. The second part of this message declares that Babylon, the great, confused mass of creeds and associations of human origin, is fallen. The third forces us to the conclusion that because of the rejection of the first message the religious world has turned from the power of God to the power of men, and thus formed a union of Church and State identical with the beast and its image of chapter thirteen. Against yielding to this union the solemn voice of the third angel is lifted. The alternative is presented of temporal gain and ease in the service and sin of the beast, or the worship and service of God with temporal persecution and loss, but with eternal triumph in the world to come. Rev. 15: 2, 3. The two ways are set before the entire world as never before; and the prophet, seeing the time, declares, "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the great day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Dear soul, you are one of the multitudes. You can not remain neutral. You must decide either for God or against Him. Nay, more; you must decide for yourself or against yourself. Your eternal interest and eternal destiny are involved for weal or wo. Why not "fear God, and give glory to Him"? Why not "worship Him," the great Creator? Why not look to the judgment of God rather than the judgment of men? Why not accept Jesus Christ as your complete Saviour, His example of perfect obedience to the commandments of God as your example? What is all the world with its blandishments, its pleasures, its gains, compared with one moment with God in eternity? Why not be ready to face the great day of God, with its awful burden of wrath and judgment, knowing that you have a mighty Friend who is able to save you and will save you to the uttermost? May you be among those who shall decide for God.