Locusts
Joel, 13 July 2014
14 07 14 Filed in: Sermons | Most Unread Bible Books
Big Idea: The day of the Lord is coming. Are you ready?
Overview: Joel explains that a recent plague of locusts is a judgment from God and calls Judah to repent. Although God judges Judah now, He will avenge Judah of her enemies.
Introduction
The day of the LORD. Today is Sunday which many call the LORD’s day. One could make a case that every day is the LORD’s day since the psalmist wrote
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)
This fascinating phrase, the day of the LORD, appears several times throughout the Bible.
Last week we began our series The Most Unread Books of the Bible with a look at the book of Jonah. While the story is familiar, the book is infrequently read according to BibleGateway.com.
Joel
Last week’s lead character, Jonah, was called by God to proclaim God’s truth to the people of Nineveh.
Today we look at another prophet, Joel. He also was sent to proclaim God’s truth, but we have more details about the content of his message.
The Day of the Lord
In the Old Testament, God created Adam and Eve, saved humanity through Noah and his family in the arc, and made a covenant with Abraham to bless his offspring—the Jews—and ultimately Gentiles, too. For generations, God’s people vacillated between following God and obeying Him. Prophets were sent to urge the people to repent and follow God or face dire consequences. The day of the LORD meant the day of judgment, whether it was judgment for Israel or other nations.
The flood itself was one example of God’s judgment. Other punishments included invasions by enemy nations or even natural disasters. The book of Joel highlights one of these tragedies.
The book of Joel begins with these words
The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel. Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten. Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white. Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the husband of her youth. Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD. The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree — all the trees of the field — are dried up. Surely the joy of mankind is withered away. Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes — joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering. To you, O LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the open pastures. (Joel 1)
A great plague of locusts has been unleashed on the earth as a consequence of sin and rebellion, with warnings of greater punishments.
If you’re like me you think, so what? They couldn’t stand a few locusts?
A few months ago I saw a moth in our home. It was small, easily captured, and didn’t seem to be much of a bother…until we discovered it had friends! For months we set traps to capture the dozens of flying pests that invaded our pantry and nearly every room in the house. We finally rid our home of them, but they were annoying and expensive to exterminate.
Locusts are pests like moths, but larger. They are basically grasshoppers. They look pretty cool when they are alone, but they can swarm and when they do it can be nothing short of a natural disaster.
Even small swarms may cover several square miles, and weigh thousands of tons. They eat the equivalent of their own weight in a day, and, flying at night with the wind, may cover over 300 miles! The largest known swarm covered 513,000 km², comprising approximately 12.5 trillion insects and weighing 27.5 million tons!
Wrath
Why would a kind, gentle, loving God ever send such disaster upon His children? Precisely because He loves them! Their behavior was destructive, they forgot Him, and He wanted to get their attention before they self-destructed.
God chastens those He loves, and that chastening calls people to repentance. He keeps His covenant by showing mercy—giving them warnings before punishment. He often sends prophets like Jonah and Joel to get the attention of wayward people.
Chapter one of Joel describes the immediate locust plague which lead to a call for repentance and prayer.
Chapter two is similar. It begins
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand — (Joel 2:1)
A third scene (2:18-32) shows God’s response, returning destroyed crops and promising a future age of the Spirit.
Finally, judgment against the nations is presented, ending with God’s blessings on His forgiven people (3:17-21).
“Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her. “In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD’s house and will water the valley of acacias. But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood. Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations. Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, I will pardon.” The LORD dwells in Zion! (Joel 3:17-21)
Joel mentions little about the details for the disobedience that led to the punishment. His audience likely knew their transgressions.
Amos is the first prophet to mention “the day of the LORD.” The pattern is commonly judgment followed by salvation. The locust is followed by the restoration of God’s people.
The Day of the LORD in the New Testament
The New Testament speaks of the day of the LORD, the second coming of Christ. Jesus came once as a little baby, but He promised to return and the coming is unexpected.
…for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:2)
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. (2 Peter 3:10)
So What?
Thousands of years ago a guy wrote about plagues followed by restoration. So what?
God hates sin.
God judges sin.
We must repent of our sins and receive His merciful forgiveness.
I can hardly go a day without hearing about a tornado, global warming, mudslides, hurricanes, famine, drought, or some other natural disaster. Wars are raging in the Middle East and beyond. Is it God’s judgment? Is it the natural consequence of sin? I have no idea, but I do know we’re all one moment, one event from catastrophe. I also know our country has had a reputation for seeking God, an idea that seems like ancient history. God judges all sin, all people, all nations.
The good news is that we all have access to mercy, forgiveness and grace not because of what we have done, but because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. All other religions are about doing things to make God love and accept us. Only the Christian faith describes a loving God who sent His son for us. Nothing you can do can make God love you more. Nothing you can do can make God love you less…but you must repent and receive the gift of grace, unmerited favor. That’s why Jesus died. That’s why we worship and celebrate, remembering the great sacrifice of God.
The great “day of the LORD” is someday in the future. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. You don’t have to subscribe to a stack of periodicals to realize our nation has been increasingly turning from God. Sin abounds, often unrepentant and even filled with pride. Judgment day is coming for all of us. Are you ready?
This is not one of those warm, happy sermons. People hated prophets because they were called to sound an alarm. So, too, I urge you to repent of your sins, get right with God, run into His arms, receive His gift of grace and mercy, and experience forgiveness and deep shalom peace.
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Oh how we need that today!
You can listen to this message and others at the Scio podcast here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.
Overview: Joel explains that a recent plague of locusts is a judgment from God and calls Judah to repent. Although God judges Judah now, He will avenge Judah of her enemies.
Introduction
The day of the LORD. Today is Sunday which many call the LORD’s day. One could make a case that every day is the LORD’s day since the psalmist wrote
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)
This fascinating phrase, the day of the LORD, appears several times throughout the Bible.
Last week we began our series The Most Unread Books of the Bible with a look at the book of Jonah. While the story is familiar, the book is infrequently read according to BibleGateway.com.
Joel
Last week’s lead character, Jonah, was called by God to proclaim God’s truth to the people of Nineveh.
Today we look at another prophet, Joel. He also was sent to proclaim God’s truth, but we have more details about the content of his message.
The Day of the Lord
In the Old Testament, God created Adam and Eve, saved humanity through Noah and his family in the arc, and made a covenant with Abraham to bless his offspring—the Jews—and ultimately Gentiles, too. For generations, God’s people vacillated between following God and obeying Him. Prophets were sent to urge the people to repent and follow God or face dire consequences. The day of the LORD meant the day of judgment, whether it was judgment for Israel or other nations.
The flood itself was one example of God’s judgment. Other punishments included invasions by enemy nations or even natural disasters. The book of Joel highlights one of these tragedies.
The book of Joel begins with these words
The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel. Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten. Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white. Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the husband of her youth. Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD. The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree — all the trees of the field — are dried up. Surely the joy of mankind is withered away. Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes — joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering. To you, O LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the open pastures. (Joel 1)
A great plague of locusts has been unleashed on the earth as a consequence of sin and rebellion, with warnings of greater punishments.
If you’re like me you think, so what? They couldn’t stand a few locusts?
A few months ago I saw a moth in our home. It was small, easily captured, and didn’t seem to be much of a bother…until we discovered it had friends! For months we set traps to capture the dozens of flying pests that invaded our pantry and nearly every room in the house. We finally rid our home of them, but they were annoying and expensive to exterminate.
Locusts are pests like moths, but larger. They are basically grasshoppers. They look pretty cool when they are alone, but they can swarm and when they do it can be nothing short of a natural disaster.
Even small swarms may cover several square miles, and weigh thousands of tons. They eat the equivalent of their own weight in a day, and, flying at night with the wind, may cover over 300 miles! The largest known swarm covered 513,000 km², comprising approximately 12.5 trillion insects and weighing 27.5 million tons!
Wrath
Why would a kind, gentle, loving God ever send such disaster upon His children? Precisely because He loves them! Their behavior was destructive, they forgot Him, and He wanted to get their attention before they self-destructed.
God chastens those He loves, and that chastening calls people to repentance. He keeps His covenant by showing mercy—giving them warnings before punishment. He often sends prophets like Jonah and Joel to get the attention of wayward people.
Chapter one of Joel describes the immediate locust plague which lead to a call for repentance and prayer.
Chapter two is similar. It begins
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand — (Joel 2:1)
A third scene (2:18-32) shows God’s response, returning destroyed crops and promising a future age of the Spirit.
Finally, judgment against the nations is presented, ending with God’s blessings on His forgiven people (3:17-21).
“Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her. “In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD’s house and will water the valley of acacias. But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood. Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations. Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, I will pardon.” The LORD dwells in Zion! (Joel 3:17-21)
Joel mentions little about the details for the disobedience that led to the punishment. His audience likely knew their transgressions.
Amos is the first prophet to mention “the day of the LORD.” The pattern is commonly judgment followed by salvation. The locust is followed by the restoration of God’s people.
The Day of the LORD in the New Testament
The New Testament speaks of the day of the LORD, the second coming of Christ. Jesus came once as a little baby, but He promised to return and the coming is unexpected.
…for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:2)
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. (2 Peter 3:10)
So What?
Thousands of years ago a guy wrote about plagues followed by restoration. So what?
God hates sin.
God judges sin.
We must repent of our sins and receive His merciful forgiveness.
I can hardly go a day without hearing about a tornado, global warming, mudslides, hurricanes, famine, drought, or some other natural disaster. Wars are raging in the Middle East and beyond. Is it God’s judgment? Is it the natural consequence of sin? I have no idea, but I do know we’re all one moment, one event from catastrophe. I also know our country has had a reputation for seeking God, an idea that seems like ancient history. God judges all sin, all people, all nations.
The good news is that we all have access to mercy, forgiveness and grace not because of what we have done, but because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. All other religions are about doing things to make God love and accept us. Only the Christian faith describes a loving God who sent His son for us. Nothing you can do can make God love you more. Nothing you can do can make God love you less…but you must repent and receive the gift of grace, unmerited favor. That’s why Jesus died. That’s why we worship and celebrate, remembering the great sacrifice of God.
The great “day of the LORD” is someday in the future. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. You don’t have to subscribe to a stack of periodicals to realize our nation has been increasingly turning from God. Sin abounds, often unrepentant and even filled with pride. Judgment day is coming for all of us. Are you ready?
This is not one of those warm, happy sermons. People hated prophets because they were called to sound an alarm. So, too, I urge you to repent of your sins, get right with God, run into His arms, receive His gift of grace and mercy, and experience forgiveness and deep shalom peace.
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Oh how we need that today!
You can listen to this message and others at the Scio podcast here. You can also subscribe to our podcast here.