When God Sends the Locusts

Introduction

Background

God’s Symbolism

What we saw in the life of Hosea was an illustration of the character of Israel carried out by Hosea marrying a prostitute.

This was God’s message to Israel, that you have played the part of the harlot, and you have been married and committed immorality to other gods.

Joel has a different message. The message that Joel would proclaim was illustrated by a plague of locusts in Judah. Not only were there locusts, there was also a great drought that was destroying the land. Joel uses this calamity to emphasize God’s glorious Kingdom.

Who was Joel?

An interesting note about Joel is that he might have been the original writing prophet. You can find the ministry of Joel located in 2 Kings 11-12 and in 2 Chronicles 22-24. This takes place during the reign of King Joash.

Joash was made king at the age of seven, and you’re not going to find Joel being tough on him. Instead, Joel is going to talk to the people of the land, beginning with the elders.

The major theme of this book is the “day of the Lord”. Joel’s job is to prepare the nation of Judah to receive the things of God at the appointed time. We’re going to see that Joel is preparing them for war and judgement, and it’s up to the people to seek God.

Context

In these opening chapters, we see that the locusts have already invaded, but God is using this calamity to save them from future judgement.

In other words, God used some sort of disaster or calamity to get the attention of the people before something worse happened. You’re going to see that Judah defeats the Assyrian army only because they sought the face of the Lord. It wasn’t because of their strength…it wasn’t because of their strategy…it wasn’t because of their diplomacy…the reason they won the victory was by their submission to the things of God.

Tonight, I am preaching a message titled, When God sends the Locusts.

Sometimes, we think that the trial years, that the hard times, that when we lived our life in disobedience to God that those times are wasted…that those seasons of life have been eaten by the locusts…but when God comes into the picture, you’re going to see that God can restore the years that have been eaten by the locusts, He can bring new life to things that were once dead.

I. When the Locusts Come

Joel 1:4 NKJV

What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.

Locusts Throughout the Bible

They Represent Destruction

Whenever you see locusts in the Bible, almost every time, they are used to to talk about waste and destruction.

Deuteronomy 28:38 NKJV

“You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it.

Psalm 78:46 NKJV

He also gave their crops to the caterpillar, And their labor to the locust.

Psalm 105:34–35 NKJV

He spoke, and locusts came, Young locusts without number, And ate up all the vegetation in their land, And devoured the fruit of their ground.

These little, insignificant bugs, when gathered in their ranks, became a force for destruction.

They are so destructive, that the Bible uses them as synonymous with fear.

Job 39:20 NKJV

Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror.

When the locusts would come, they would destroy crops and kill livelihood. And just like any other natural disaster, there was nothing that could be done…because these locusts were numerous and aggressive.

They Represent Provision

We do see them in the law and in the New Testament, they were the primary diet for John the Baptist

Matthew 3:4 NKJV

Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Some will say that John ate locusts because he was so far removed from worldly comfort that he at locusts…but the locusts were lawful for the Jews to eat and were able to be a part of their diet.

Leviticus 11:22 NKJV

These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind.

Here is why John ate the locusts…

To show that God uses instruments of destruction and calamity as provision for His people.

When God wanted to free Israel from Egypt, He send a plague of locusts to wake Egypt up. To say, “I am God, and I command all things, even the locusts.”

He does the same for Judah here…He says, “Wake up Judah…I am God and I command even the common and insignificant things like the locusts.”

They Represent Power and Strength

Whenever God is describing a force too powerful to be stopped by men, He often describes them as locusts.

Jeremiah 46:23 NKJV

“They shall cut down her forest,” says the Lord, “Though it cannot be searched, Because they are innumerable, And more numerous than grasshoppers.

Judges 6:5 NKJV

For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.

Judges 7:12 NKJV

Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.

These locusts would come with such a vast number that it was unbelievable. They would come and the skys would turn dark because of their great numbers.

Not only do they represent Destruction, Provision, Power and Strength, but they represent unexplained wisdom

They Represent Unexplained Wisdom

Proverbs 30:27 NKJV

The locusts have no king, Yet they all advance in ranks;

This Proverbs was written to show the foolishness of the world and how easily wisdom is gained. That these locusts have no mind, they are simple creatures, yet they form in ranks to do the bidding of the Lord. They move in the safety of their numbers and they work in one accord to fulfill their function.

We only begin to struggle when we try to go out on our own. A locusts by itself is doomed to be eaten by birds or by other predators, but locusts, when they move together in ranks, make the birds flee and the predators move out of the way, because their numbers are too great.

In the same way, when we try to “be wise in our own eyes”, we are vulnerable to attack. But when we follow God, and we rise up in our ranks, and serve Him with one accord, then we have defense against our spiritual predators.

So, these locusts in the story of Joel mean many things…and Joel as the man of God is able to hear from God exactly what God is saying in the midst of the locusts invasion

Joel’s Godly Wisdom

Joel 1:1 NKJV

The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

The name Joel means, “The Lord is God.” And Joel’s message was to remind the people of that reality.

We turn on the news, and sometimes, because of the headlines and because of the calamity, we lose sight of this truth, that God is in control.

We either see two things on the television today…

We either see hopeless pessimism…that is that the world is going to end and we are hopeless because of the problems that we face…

Or, we see meaningless optimism. They’ll give us the breaking news for the day to fill us with fear, and then they’ll play the “inspiring story” of the day to give us hope that there is still good in the world…

However, as the people of God, we have to be like the Prophet Joel, and remember that hope is not lost, because Christ is our hope, and that there is goodness in the world, but our optimism is rooted and grounded in the Gospel of God, not in the goodness of man.

That’s why Joel is such a Godly man, because in the middle of the calamity, He was able to hear from God and deliver a message that brought clarity and safe passage to the people in Judah.

When began to address the nation about the reality of these locusts, He does so in a wise and humbling way, addressing each group as needed instead of making one blanket statement for the whole nation.

Joel Addresses the Elders, Then the People

Joel 1:2–4 NKJV

Hear this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers? Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation. What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.

When Joel says, “you elders”, he is addressing the old men, and he does this for two reasons.

First, they have lived a long time and can verify that what he is saying is true.

Here is the young prophet Joel. He is now calling on these older men, who know the law, who have lived and seen God’s blessings and His curses, to give validity to what he is preaching.

What does Joel say? He asks, “Have we ever seen such calamity before?” And it was wise for these elders to say, “This is something that hasn’t happened before, our situation is just as bad as Joel says it is, we know he is speaking the Word of God.”

Second, the elder men have influence and standing in society.

Think what would have happened if the prophet Joel would have begun declaring, “thus says the Lord” and the old men rejected it? If they would have, his message would have fallen dead to the ground because of the hardness of their hearts.

In our terms, I want to say that if we are going to be the church that God wants us to be, our older members, especially our older men, are going to have to receive and verify what God is doing here in our church.

When I stand before the congregation, when I stand before the church, and I say, “This is where God is leading us”. and the older men of this church turn it down, my message will hit the ground, and it will never take off.

As the elder members of this church…not that we have “elders” here in our government structure…but as the older members of this church, the ones who have held true through thick and thin, the ones who have seen the best and the worst that Providence has to offer, the ones who have seen calamity and destruction but have also seen God’s blessings are going to have to be the first ones to receive where God is taking us.

Truth be told, is that I as the pastor, will likely never move forward unless I get the support and blessing from the older generation.

I don’t think you understand your influence in the ideas that I have or the direction I want to go. If I am surrounded by people that crush dreams and reject ideas, then there will be no growth.

But if I am surrounded by saints and leaders that are ready to encourage and ready to see what God is saying, then, just like Joel is going to say in chapter 2, “God will give life despite the years that the locusts have eaten.”

Joel’s address of the elders first was for good reason, because if they were to follow God, the rest of the nation will follow God.

That’s why he addresses the elders and then the general population together. We are going to see some different groups he will address, but he places the elders in one category, and everyone else in the other.

Joel Addresses the Drunkards

Joel 1:5–7 NKJV

Awake, you drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the new wine, For it has been cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come up against My land, Strong, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, And he has the fangs of a fierce lion. He has laid waste My vine, And ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and thrown it away; Its branches are made white.

These are the sinners that Joel is addressing here. He is calling them to repentance.

He is saying to them, “You’ve lived your life in pleasure, and now the pleasures of the world are gone…what will you do now? It’s time to wake up and make a return to God.”

He illustrates the locusts, calling them lions with sharp teeth…saying they ruined and destroyed two things essential to Jewish life and custom…the vines and the fig trees.

If a man in this time had a vineyard and an orchard of fig trees, that was a sign of contentment and wordly success.

This is God’s way of saying that the world leaves no real contentment. That it’s pleasures are temporary and that hoping in the living God, and storing up treasure in Heaven is the only way to have lasting reward.

Matthew 6:19–21 NKJV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

These drunkards, these sinners, these inhabitants of Judah were so comfortable on the earth that their heart was far from God…now that their comfort has been eaten, it’s time for them to wake up and remember where real joy comes from.

Joel then Addresses the Farmers

Joel 1:8–12 NKJV

Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering Have been cut off from the house of the Lord; The priests mourn, who minister to the Lord. The field is wasted, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine is dried up, The oil fails. Be ashamed, you farmers, Wail, you vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field has perished. The vine has dried up, And the fig tree has withered; The pomegranate tree, The palm tree also, And the apple tree— All the trees of the field are withered; Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.

He addresses the farmers to reveal the hopelessness of the situation…

not only were this years crops destroyed, but there were going to be seasons of calamity and destruction caused by drought.

He compares these farmers to a young virgin whose fiance has died a tragic death.

There may be another come along, but she will never cease to wonder what life would be like with her real love. So these farmers are in a hopeless situation, where this season and the seasons to come will never be forgotten.

This is symbolism for what sin does in the life of a person…it doesn’t just cause grief for a short time, but it causes grief for years to come.

Because of our personal sin, or because of sins others have committed against us, it could potentially affect us for a life time..

I am going to jump to the end and say that God is good and restores those things…we don’t have to live in defeat because of sin….we can turn to God and watch Him heal our dry and broken heart.

Finally,

Joel Address the Priests

Joel 1:13–20 NKJV

Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth, You who minister to my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God. Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord. Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty. Is not the food cut off before our eyes, Joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed shrivels under the clods, Storehouses are in shambles; Barns are broken down, For the grain has withered. How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless, Because they have no pasture; Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment. O Lord, to You I cry out; For fire has devoured the open pastures, And a flame has burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field also cry out to You, For the water brooks are dried up, And fire has devoured the open pastures.

This situation was so hopeless that Joel calls for an emergency fast.

They were only required to fast once a year on the Day of Atonement, but this was a situation that required the nation to return to God in a way they haven’t in a long time.

We take God for granted in our life, and only when we find ourselves in a hopeless position do we think its necessary to pray.

God didn’t send a foreign nation to invade, what God did was take away the basic things of life by using something as simple as a locusts..

in this opening, we need to be reminded just how fragile our world really is. It doesn’t take much to destroy our perfect world…it just takes one season of forgetting Who God is to almost destroy our life.

The only remedy is to seek Him in lament, that is to grieve…to seek Him by fasting…that is to deny yourself…and to pray to Him, asking His forgiveness for our stubborn hearts.

When we do those things, when the people of God respond to Him in worship and praise, with vulnerability and weeping, then we can clearly see the emptyness of this world.

There are times in our life when God brings us to our knees. But to have those situations resolved, we need to hear from the Word of God….but just as importantly as hearing from the Word of God…it takes a people willing to obey the Word of God and to be willing to have His restoration take place…to let go of the pleasures of life and embrace Godliness.

When the locusts come…they drive us to our knees…but when God’s Restoration Comes….it brings us to a place of thankfulness and healing that cannot be described by human wisdom.

When God’s Restoration Comes

Prepare and be Prepared for War

Joel 2:1–11 NKJV

Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming, For it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations. A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots Over mountaintops they leap, Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, Like a strong people set in battle array. Before them the people writhe in pain; All faces are drained of color. They run like mighty men, They climb the wall like men of war; Every one marches in formation, And they do not break ranks. They do not push one another; Every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, They are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city, They run on the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter at the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness. The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?

God has gotten their attention by allowing them to be overtaken by these swarming locusts.

But, just like John the Baptist used this force of destruction as his daily provision, God is going to use this calamity to reveal a greater truth to this nation.

God says to them in 2:1-11, “prepare for war, because war is coming!”

These locusts were symbolic of what Assyria would do to them if they were captured by them. They would take away their best years…they would cause calamity and heart break like they’ve never seen before…and to top it off, Joel makes it clear here that they are coming because God is sending them there, just as He sent the locusts.

How does God tell them to prepare?

Prepare by Repentance

Joel 2:12–17 NKJV

“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him— A grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”

Repentance is necessary in your daily life…there is never a day when you shouldn’t be living in repentance.

The ugly truth about humanity is we are cast into sin and only by a work of God can we be cleansed.

The very best Christian you know has gotten to be that way because they have cast off sin.

I imagine that this person you know is selfless, controlled, understanding, fair, wise, and full of the Holy Spirit. These things are the opposite of sin.

But if that same person were to refuse repentance in their daily life, sin would come back so strong that their life would be ruined and look no different than what Joel calls the drunkard.

Personal repentance is a daily necessity.

But here in the nation Israel, it was a greater feat, because they needed national repentance in order to be spared. They, as a nation, were responsible for glorifying God, not just as individuals…this was call to both personal and national repentance.

Prepare by Trusting God’s Promises

Joel 2:18–27 NKJV

Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, And pity His people. The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations. “But I will remove far from you the northern army, And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, With his face toward the eastern sea And his back toward the western sea; His stench will come up, And his foul odor will rise, Because he has done monstrous things.” Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the Lord has done marvelous things! Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; For the open pastures are springing up, And the tree bears its fruit; The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the Lord your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you— The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.

I am not going to take a long time on this point and belabor this message…

the simple truth is that we have to prepare our hearts by committing to fully trusting the in promises of God.

This is a promise that God made Israel and a promise He makes His children, that He has the power to restore the years eaten by the locusts.

Some of you are dealing with baggage and trauma caused by sin, whether it was yours or another’s, and you have let the enemy lie to you and claim that the time was wasted…maybe he lies and tells you you’re no good.

But God says something different. God says that He will turn calamity, destruction, hard times, bad seasons, sinful living for our good so that we can glorify Him.

Whatever area of your life has been eaten by the locusts, begin to trust God and watch Him restore that to you in a way that is overflowing…becuase He will.