Joel 3:15

Joel 3:15 says, The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.  There will be little doubt that God is at work.  Even the heavenly bodies will be affected.  We are about to have a solar eclipse, and many people worldwide are anxious to see it, but when God darkens the sun and moon in the day of judgment, the lost will not be anxious to see it happening.  Verse sixteen adds, The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.  Since God spoke everything into existence, we should not be surprised that His voice can shake the world.  No matter how many or how powerful the weapons we have may be, they are no match for the simple voice of God.  The second part of the verse tells us that the Lord is the hope of His people.  As followers of Christ, we are God's people, and we can rest assured in that fact.  Even if heaven and earth are shaken, our faith keeps us safe from whatever comes.  We are God's children forever.  Verse seventeen continues, So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.  I believe that God was telling His people in that day and today that when He comes in judgment, there will be no doubt that He is God.  After the judgment, there will be no more hope for salvation, no more strangers will pass through. God will gather those who are His.  It is hard to envision life without the ravages of sin, but in the place that God has prepared for His people, sin will no longer exist.  There will be no division based on nationality or anything else. We will all be brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are now by salvation.  We as followers of Christ should be living with this truth now.  We are not called to live totally in the will of God one day in heaven, but to live under His Lordship now.  I am not sure how we can feel justify hating other people today based on external characteristics and then feel that we will love them in heaven.  We as followers of Christ must live by God's standards today and forever, and that standard is that we love as God loves.