Let the weak say, I am strong

Joel 3:10

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

The greatest and most important battle of all the ages will be the last one. When Christ returns with His mighty ones, the saints, He shall squash all the forces of evil. They shall be destroyed. Those who have fought against Israel will be the brunt of the Lord’s anger. He shall fight against them with the sword of His mouth. They shall be vanquished and defeated. And His saints shall be part of this great battle. They shall be the victors. And all the people of the earth will fight. They shall beat their plowshares into swords and their pruninghooks into spears. What does this mean? For we see that Isaiah and Micah both tell us the opposite—that they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks. This speaks of the Millennium, in which Christ is reigning, and they shall not learn war any more. But our passage today is not speaking of the peaceful utopia that the world shall be during Christ’s reign, but of the battle that will come before that. They shall learn war in that day. They shall bear their plowshares into swords.

For on that great day, all nations shall come against Jerusalem, and the Lord will fight for His people and for His heritage. His people shall fight in His strength! Let the weak say, I am strong! Strong in the strength of the Lord! He shall give them strength! Now, how do we fight any of our battles? Dear friends, do not fight in your own strength. For we know, as the hymn writer has told us, that the arm of flesh will fail us, we dare not trust our own. For the strength is not in us! Therefore, we may say, “I am strong!” For the strength lies in the one who fights our battles for us. The same one who shall defeat the enemies of Israel in a moment can also destroy the forces which come against us—the wiles of the devil, the principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world. In Him we are strong!

Has our Lord not said, “My grace is sufficient for thee”? Has He not told us that “His strength is made perfect in weakness”? And then, with the apostle, as we understand this truth, we may say, “When I am weak, then am I strong.” We shall not fight and win in our own efforts and power. But in His strength, although we may feel existential and ever-present weakness, we may be strong. Let the weak say, I am strong! It is time, dear one, that you cease from looking to your own strength, and you proclaim this truth today for yourself. For, in the Lord, we are strong!

“Father, we thank you this day that our strength does not come from within. For all of us are keenly cognizant of the very fact that we are weak in ourselves. We do not have strength. But because you fight our battles, we proclaim that we are strong. All strength comes from Thee. The battle belongs to the Lord. Therefore, we shall keep our eyes on our commander, and be strong in Thee. Help us, Lord, we pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”