Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. A sense of ultimate personal responsibility is inseparable from the mind of man. There is a consciousness within him, which announces the existence of a God who judgeth in the earth, and warns him that the great object of his life must be to prepare to meet Him in a final account. In the text is a striking exhibition of this final judgment of man, the great day of his account with God. The "valley of Jehoshaphat" means the "valley of the judgment of the Lord." The time and manner are His own appointment. In its practical application to man the day of final judgment makes no change in his real character. It simply proclaims that which was before the fact. It declares the sentence which has long been determined. Man's real time of probation is in the present life. Here is the valley of decision. I. WHAT MAY BE UNDERSTOOD AS THE VALLEY OF DECISION FOR MAN. It is the whole life of man upon the earth. There is actually but a single question pro posed from God to man. As a wandering, rebellious creature, he is invited and commanded, to come back in the spirit and act of reconciliation unto God. Will he lay hold of the hope set before him? This is the great question of human life, and it is generally determined by man long before the last hours of his life have come. Many have settled this question for themselves, and so have passed out of the valley of decision. Others have decided, but have chosen death rather than life. These, too, have passed out of the valley of decision. We cannot therefore justly say that all men, now alive, are in the valley of decision. We must narrow down our view to those for whom the great question remains undecided. II. THE GREATER PORTION OF THOSE TO WHOM THE OFFERS OF ETERNAL LIFE ARE MADE ARE UNDECIDED. The great majority who listen to the Gospel are still in the valley of decision. A blessing and a curse are yet before them. III. THE GREAT DECISION MUST SPEEDILY BE MADE. "The day of the Lord is near." By that day we understand the time of final determination of the destiny of the children of men. Soon for every man, this day must certainly come at the period of death. Then this is the accepted time, and this is the day of your salvation. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. |
    |