Joel
Major Lessons From the Minor Prophets • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Joel
25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you.
(Bulletin Only)
1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
Joel. His name means “the Lord is God.” Pethuel.His name means “openheartedness of/toward God” and is the only occurrence of this name in the Bible.
2 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 ancestors?
3 Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.
4 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.
https://youtu.be/lAI6W2TOkh4?si=j_3dgneDcgn1OIhp
Joel used four different words to describe the plague (v. 4; see 2:25), and it’s been suggested that they represent four stages in the life cycle of the locusts. However, the words probably convey the idea of successive swarms of locusts invading the land, each swarm destroying what the others had left behind.
When a hard times hit it can come in waves. Each wave of devastation compounding on the next.
5 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.
Wake up and weep / it has been snatched from your lips
To the drunkards: “Wake up and weep!” (Joel 1:5–7) Except for pointing out the insincerity of some of the worshipers (2:12–13), drunkenness is the only sin that Joel actually names in his book. However, this was a serious sin that the prophets often condemned (Hosea 7:5; Amos 4:1).
Perhaps the drunkards represented all the careless people in the land whose only interest was sinful pleasure.
6 A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. 7 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.
My vines / my fig trees - Note how Joel uses the personal pronoun my as he speaks of the land and its vegetation, for all of it belonged to the Lord, and He had a right to do with it whatever He pleased.
These people had good reason to weep because there was no wine and wouldn’t be any more until the next season, if there was a next season. Because of the locusts and the drought, “the new wine is dried up … the vine is dried up” (Joel 1:10, 12). Keep in mind that bread and wine were staples in the Jewish diet, so that even the people who didn’t get drunk were affected by the loss.
8 Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the betrothed of her youth. 9 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. 10 The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails.
11 Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. 12 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 people’s joy is withered away.
13 Put on sackcloth, you 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. 14 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.
The Jews were required to observe only one fast, and that was on the annual Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29, 31). But the religious leaders could call a fast whenever the people faced an emergency and needed to humble themselves and seek God’s face. This was such an emergency. It was time for the people to humble themselves and pray
14 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 I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
15 Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. 16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes— joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17 The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up.
18 How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering. 19 To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. 20 Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.
Joel didn’t ask God for anything; he simply told the Lord of the suffering of the land, the beasts, and the people, knowing that God would do what was right. “The fire” (Joel 1:20) refers to the drought, which left the land looking like it had been burned.
Too often we drift along from day to day, taking our blessings for granted, until God permits a natural calamity to occur and remind us of our total dependence on Him. When water is rationed and food is scarce, and when prices for necessities escalate, then we discover the poverty of our artificial civilization and our throwaway society. Suddenly, necessities become luxuries, and luxuries become burdens.
12 “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
return to me with all your heart
13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
The one thing that encourages us to repent and return to the Lord is the character of God. Knowing that He is indeed “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.
Leave behind a blessing
25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you. 26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.
But there is also a word of grace and compassion. If the people will return to the Lord they will recover: "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, . . . my great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, . . . and My people shall never be put to shame" (Joel 2:25-26).
So why does God allow or bring hard times to us.
9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
