Bob Josey - The Road to Rewards Part 5B- Sep 14, 2025

SLIDES

The Road to Rewards

(Part 5)

   The Judgement of the Gentiles

(Part 2)

Introduction

During our last lesson, we discussed what’s called the sheep and the goats judgement. The sheep represented righteous or saved Gentiles, and the goats represented the unrighteous or lost Gentiles. During the lesson, we learned that there are two kinds of inheritances. One is free like when a relative or friend leaves you something in their will. The second type of inheritance is earned. It is like an earned reward. The sheep will enter the Kingdom because they trusted in Christ as their Savior. But like the church, their rewards during the Kingdom, will be based on their works. The sheep demonstrated that they are saved by ministering to the Jews during the Tribulation. The lost sheep, who are destined for the Lake of Fire cannot enter the Kingdom because they did not trust in Jesus as Savior. Their being lost will be demonstrated by the fact they did not help the Jews during the Tribulation period.

In today’s lesson, the prophet Joel will add one more element to the judgment of the goats, the unrighteous Gentiles who will not enter the Kingdom because they did not trust in Jesus as Savior.

3. Joel 3:1-3 - a parallel to Matthew 25:31-46

Now let’s turn to a parallel passage that deals with the Judgement of the Gentiles. This passage is found in the book of Joel. The theme of the book of Joel is the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord refers to the direct intervention of God in the affairs of man. The Day of the Lord had two components. One is blessings and the other is curses. We will encounter both blessings and the cursing in the verses we will study today.

The entire third chapter of Joel, 21 verses, deals with the Judgement of the Gentile nations as we found in Matthew 25. We are only going to discuss two verses that complement Matthew 25.

Is there any justice for the Jews? Will the Jew be vindicated for the many centuries of suffering? Yes, Scripture is clear, the nations will pay for their dastardly deeds against this downtrodden people! In chapter three the reader is ushered into Messiah’s courtroom to witness the execution of His judgment upon the Gentiles for their treatment of Israel. We see what the unrighteous Gentiles are charged with in Joel 3:1-2. Let’s begin with verse 1.

1 “For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

In two short verses we will see the Lord blessing Israel and cursing the Gentile nations for their treatment of the Jewish people. In verse one we see God blessing Israel by fulfilling His many promises He made to Israel in the covenants.

Joel introduces chapter three with the words, “For behold” (v. 1), drawing the reader’s attention to what is about to unfold as he explains in detail the action taken by the Lord at His return to set up the Kingdom. The long-awaited Messianic Kingdom that was promised by God through the prophets of Israel has finally arrived. The Lord will restore the land that the anti-christ occupied, as well as all the land God promised them that they occupied.

Have you ever known anyone who lost a fortune but regained it? Walt Disney, Martha Stewart, and George Forman all lost their fortunes and then regained them. Israel has lost their fortune of the land several time over the last 3500 years. But after it is restored in the Messianic Kingdom, they will never lose it again.

Why, the King Messiah has arrived with His angels and His bride to rule and reign with an iron rod. When He arrives, the righteous Jews who survived the Great Tribulation have been separated from the unrighteous Jews. The righteous Jews will enter the Kingdom. The unrighteous Jews will be consigned to Sheol/Hades awaiting the Great White Throne Judgement. Joel continues in verse 2.

2. I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land.

First, God will “gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Where is the Valley of Jehoshaphat? Some say that it is located between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, which has been called the Kidron Valley since the fourth century (named after a small river which runs through it during the rainy season). Since the Mount of Olives will be split forming a massive valley before Jerusalem (Zech. 14:4),

4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

This is probably the place where the Messiah will judge the nations i.e. the Gentiles. Because Jehoshaphat means Jehovah judges or in Hebrew Yehoshaphat means Yahweh judges. The valley has taken on this name; thus, a play on words, God’s judgment takes place in the valley of God, the Judge.

What judgment is this? This is the same judgement that is in Matthew 25:31-46 about the sheep and the goats that will take place during the 75 days between the second coming and the beginning of the Messiah’s in the Messianic Kingdom.

When Joel says that the LORD will judge these antisemitic Gentiles on their behalf means the LORD is standing as Israel’s representative.  Who better to stand as one’s representative than the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. After all Israel is God’s people and His inheritance. The Hebrew word translated inheritance would be better translated special possession. It would behoove all Christians to remember that Israel, since God created them, has been His special possession and in Jeremiah 31:1 God says He has loved Israel with an everlasting love.

Now let’s get back to Joel. The Gentiles from the different nations who did not minister to the Jews during the Tribulation that we just discussed will be there. They will be judged because of not only of not ministering to the Jews during the Tribulation period but now the prophet Joel is accusing them of things they should not have done. 1. Scattering Israel among the nations for 1900 years beginning in AD 70 with the Romans. 2. Dividing the land that God gave to Isarel in an everlasting covenant.

Application

The division of the land among the nations was something they had no right to do because it was not theirs to divide and they will pay the consequences. Some of the political of leaders of nations advocating a two-state solution might very well be among those who stand before the Lord as lost sheep because they did not obey God’s will for the land that He gave to Israel. There could also be leaders of some so-called Christian denominations, as well as some people who call themselves a Christians who are antisemitic and also are advocating a two-state solution who will stand before the LORD as lost goats destined for Hades the Lake of Fire.

It is clear that the individual Gentiles who survive the Tribulation and did not minister to Israel during the Tribulation and had anything to do with anything scattering Israel among the nations and dividing the land that is not theirs will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

4. The Resurrection of Jewish and Gentile Old Testament Saints and Jewish and Gentile Tribulation Saints

We have four remaining people groups to discuss - the righteous Jew and Gentile Old Testament saints who died before Pentecost and righteous Jewish and Gentile saints who died during the Tribulation. One thing that all four groups have in common is that each group must be resurrected before they can receive new resurrected bodies, be judged, and receive rewards as did the church before the Judgement Seat of Christ. We will begin with the Jewish and Gentile Old Testament Saints.

At this time the Jewish and Gentile Old Testament Saints have been in the grave for thousands of years.

It is clear from Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets that there will be a resurrection of Old Testament saints who were Israelites.  We see this in Isaiah 26:19.

19   Your dead will live;

Their corpses will rise.

You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy,

For your dew is as the dew of the dawn,

And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.

This can only be Old Testament saints because the unrighteous will not shout for joy when they are resurrected. When they are resurrected, they will be headed to stand before Jesus at the Great White Throne Judgment to be assigned to an eternity in the Lake of Fire.

In John 11:24 Martha told Jesus that she knew Lazarus would be resurrected on the last day.

In Daniel 12:1-3 we see the resurrection of the Jewish and Gentile Old Testament Saints and the Tribulation saints. Let’s first read verse one to get the context of verses 2-3.

1 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

We discussed this verse several weeks ago.  Daniel is referring to the Great Tribulation and the Time of Jacobs distress. Michael, the archangel, will help deliver the some of the Jews during the Great Tribulation.  The elect will not only survive the Great Tribulation and will also be saved spiritually as they realize that Jesus is the promised Messiah at the second coming.  Now let’s read verse two that speaks of resurrection.

2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

Of course, sleep is a euphemism for being dead. In John 11 Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus fallen asleep and He was going to awaken him out of his sleep. In verse 12-14 Jesus made it clear that sleep represented death.

12   The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

13   Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep.

14   So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”

Some have taken the view that anyone who dies is in a state of what they call soul sleep. The problem with that is that the soul/spirit goes either to Hades or heaven at death. The rich man’s soul/spirit who died went to Hades and Paul said in saying in Philippians 1:23-24 that if he died, he would be with Christ and if he lived, he would continue to minister to people.

2 “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

The verb will awake in the Hebrew shows that something or someone will cause these dead people to awake i.e. to be resurrected. We know that it’s not a something but a someone who will cause the dead Old Testament and Tribulation righteous Jews to be resurrected. That someone is Yahweh. These resurrected Jews will receive a body that will probably be like the one each church member received at the rapture.

Verse 2 is connected to verse 1 and shows a continuance of thought.  In both verses we see a deliverance of God’s people.  In verse one is a deliverance of the Jews and Gentiles physically from the anti-chirst and his cronies. In verse three Daniel shows that the remnant will be saved and delivered spiritually so the result that they will not have to spend an eternity in the Lake of Fire. Unbelieving Jews will be resurrected to shame and everlasting contempt and will not partake in the blessings of the covenants God made with Isarel.

The unrighteous Old Testament Jews and Gentiles will also be resurrected to receive an indestructible everlasting body that will suffer greatly but not be consumed in the Lake of Fire. The unrighteous will not be resurrected until the 1000-year Messianic Kingdom has ended. After this resurrection, all the unrighteous will be stand before Jesus to so can consign them to the Lake of Fire for an eternity. Note also that they will be an everlasting object of abhorrence and disgust.

3 Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

Some of these Old Testament saints have been dead for thousands of years, yet some died during the Tribulation. In any case, all of them will be resurrected bodily to everlasting life and many to positions of honor in the Messiah’s millennial kingdom. Being glorified in the kingdom, they will shine like the brightness of the heavens. (Cf. Matt. 13:43, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” They will be wise, for they will trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob even though some of them suffered. They were a witness to others and because of that, led others to righteousness in that they also trusted in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

There are two group left that we have not discussed – the righteous Jews and Gentiles who lived during the Old Testament

5. The Resurrection and Judgement of Martyred Jewish and Gentile saints during the Tribulation

Our last group to be resurrected and judged are the Jews and Gentiles who were martyred during the Tribulation. We find this in Revelation 20:4.

4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

John saw a new scene. The purpose of the thrones that John saw was twofold: ruling and judging. There are different views about those sitting on the thrones, but we are only concerned with the martyrs.  

John also saw the souls of some people not yet resurrected who had been beheaded and who had not worshiped the beast. These are quite clearly Jewish and Gentile Tribulation martyrs who died because they held steadfastly to the testimony of Jesus and the word of God. They had refused to take the mark of the beast or to worship his image, and they had died for their faith. John saw these martyrs come back to life because they experienced bodily resurrection. As a reward for their faithfulness, these martyrs will reign with Christ on earth during the Millennium. The name Christ or Messiah (Anointed One) looks back to Psalm 2:2 here, as it does wherever it occurs in Revelation (11:15; 12:10; 20:6), and it ties this reign to Old Testament expectations of God’s kingdom on earth.

Someone made the following comment. “They who were once judged by earth’s courts to be worthy of death are now the judges of the earth under Christ.”

Application:

Since the beginning of the creation of man, whether it’s before the Law of Moses, during the Law of Moses, during the church age or the Tribulation, God’s people never go unrewarded for being a witness for Him and for being faithful to His commands. Doing good works with the right motive, especially during persecution, will bring rewards for those who were faithful.  Some rewards will be earthly while many will be as we rule and reign with Jesus the Messiah doing the Messianic Kingdom. Being faithful to the and ministering to others in His name is always our choice. Eventhojugh we are all slowing down, we still can make the daily choice to be faithful and to minister to others.