The Joy is Withered

Joel 1:1-12

We begin our series on the book of Joel today. Joel is part of what we call the Minor Prophets. We call this section of the bible the Minor Prophets because their books are short compared to prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The Minor Prophets have important words for us today. In Joel the theme is the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord refers to a time when the Lord grabs the world’s attention. There is one ultimate Day of the Lord that will occur when Christ returns but there are also other times the Bible describes as the Day of the Lord. These times are called the Day of the Lord because God did something that struck fear in the hearts of the people on the earth. All the Days of the Lord point forward to the ultimate Day of the Lord when God is exalted, sinners are judged and saints are rewarded.

In the first chapter of Joel we have an actual plague of locusts that serves as a prophetic warning. Chapter one is symbolic, but what we see in chapter one are actual events as well. In fact this plague is the occasion that will serve as the launching pad of Joel’s preaching. What Joel sees happening to the people of God through the locust plague inspires him to warn the people of a greater act of judgment to come in the future.

1. The plague of locusts (4, 6-12).

A. Judah was attacked with locusts.

It’s hard for us to understand the type of devastation locusts can accomplish. We are blessed with insecticides and technology that, for the most part, protects us from invasions of locusts. But throughout history locusts have caused widespread devastation.

Locusts are normally independent insects. But under the right circumstances they will gather together in large swarms. Specifically, when drought is followed by the growth of large amounts of vegetation. In these circumstances they begin to reproduce very quickly.

1874 is known as the year of locust in America. A number of our Western states were invaded by locusts. The farmers of that day said “They ate everything but the mortgage”. The swarms were so great in some places the sun was blocked out for six hours. Witnesses reported that when they flew over it was like a gray cloud passing. When they landed on an area they ate everything that was edible to them. They even picked watermelon patches cleaned. When they left a peach tree grove there was nothing hanging on the tree but peach pits. They shredded the curtains of homes. They landed on people’s clothing and even ate away at that. A swarm in 1875 measured 1800 miles long and 110 miles wide.

When the locusts were done they had accomplished more than $200 million of crop damage. In the aftermath the stench of dead locusts was unbearable. Barn yard animals suffered from eating so many of them. Widespread poverty followed and Western migration suffered in the years following.

Judah knew the damage locusts could do. But in Joel’s day they experienced an unprecedented locust plague.

B. Judah was attacked with four waves of locust attacks (4).

There are some who believe the different words in verse 4 refer to different stages of the locust. That is a possibility. But it’s more likely these are different words used for different plagues of locusts. All of the words used refer to a type of locust.

The palmerworm (cutting locust) came and brought devastation. When it left…

The swarming locust came and brought devastation. When it left…

The cankerworm (hopping locust) came and brought devastation. When it left…

The caterpillar (destroying locust) came and brought devastation.

Just when they thought things were going to get better things got worse. Waves of trouble were coming to the people.

Have you ever been in the ocean and a wave knocked you over? You get up and try to catch your breath and another wave hits you. Before you know it you are overwhelmed. That’s how these people felt. It was one thing after another.

This reminds us of the ten plagues brought against Egypt. After the first plague Pharaoh would not listen so more plagues were sent. Sometimes God has to keep sending calamity our way to get our attention.

I feel like 2020 has been a year of waves for the world. We’re not even half over yet and we have had pandemics, senseless killing, riots, nasty elections etc. I feel like wave after wave is crashing upon me.

C. The locust attacks impacted the entire country.

Joel describes the effects of the locusts on the country:

He said the locusts were the equivalent of being attacked by an actual invading army (6).

He said the vines and fig trees were laid bare (7).

He said the offerings were cut off from the house of God (9).

He said the crops were ruined and the wine was dried up (10).

He said the joy of men has withered away (12).

I want us to think about that for a moment. Listen to me. God will make us miserable. There is a time to weep. If we will not weep when it is time to weep the Lord may take away those things that cause us to rejoice. The Bible says it’s better to go to a funeral than to a party because when you go to a funeral you think soberly about God, life and death (Eccl. 7:2). The truth is prosperity often causes us to forget about all the things we should be weeping over. In America there are some things the church should be weeping over.

We should be weeping over abortion.

We should be weeping over homosexuality.

We should be weeping over the hatred between the races.

We should be weeping over drunkenness.

We should be weeping over immorality.

We should be weeping over lost souls.

In order to get us to weep sometimes the Lord has to take the drink out of our mouth, the food out of our belly and the gift out of our hand. That is what He did to the people of God. He used a plague of locusts to take away their joy.

2. The people of God.

Joel addresses different groups of people.

A. The old men (2-3).

Joel asks these men “Have you ever seen anything like this before?” They were old. That mean they had seen a lot. But they had never witnessed an invasion of locusts like this one.

Tell your children

Let them tell your grandchildren.

Let them tell your great grandchildren.

The point is the people of God should not forget what the Lord has done. It’s not just the locusts they are to tell the next generation. It is the message of the prophet that should be shared with the coming generations.

Amazingly the message of Joel is still being shared thousands of years later. There has been a generation of people who have heard this story since Joel recorded it. It’s an important message.

The old men are to tell it. The old mean still have an obligation to tell it. Men, we should be preaching to our children and our grandchildren. We should be calling them to repentance and faith in Christ. This is our duty.

B. The drunks (5).

Joel said the wine has been cut off from the mouths of the drunks. The locusts have eaten all the grape vines up. The Lord, through this invasion, has sobered up the drunks. They have no alcohol to drink. The drunks were among the first to suffer because they were gluttons. They drank in excess.

Sadly, in our pandemic we had many states deeming liquor stores as essential businesses. They should have been among the first to shut down. They need to sober up and see what God is doing! In Joel’s day God saw the liquor stores as non-essential and shut them down Himself! In sobering times people ought to be sober.

He says in verse 8 that they should weep like a virgin would weep over her new husband. How does a woman have a husband and be a virgin? Joel is showing how quickly everything has changed for the people. Notice in verse 5 that the cup was cut off from the drunkard just before it reached his mouth. It was as if he was about to take a sip and the cup was slapped from his hand. In the same way, the virgin’s husband has been quickly taken from her. The ceremony has taken place but before the happy couple even reaches their home the husband is snatched away by death. The suddenness is the imagery here. Have you noticed how quickly life can change? In a moment our world can be turned upside down.

C. The worshipers (9).

There was no offering to bring to the house of the Lord. In the minds of the Jewish people the sacrificial system was necessary to keep covenant with God. The reality is the sinfulness of the people had already kept them from trul worshipping. God’s removal of the sacrifices served to make it plain to the people that they had broken covenant with God.

In our day God has done something very interesting. Our worship has been hindered. There will be some who will tell you it has not. They will argue that worship can be accomplished at home just as well as when the body gathers. Such people are ignorant of Scripture. We are a gathering people. In fact the Greek word for “church” literally means a gathering. In the New Testament, the Greek word for church, “ekklesia”, is never used when it does not in some way refer to a gathering.

We were not able to gather together in person to worship the Lord for three months. If you are saved that has had an impact on you. You have hungered to be back with the people of God worshipping God together. God has gotten our attention.

D. The farmers (11-12).

Joel says the harvest has died in the field. If it grew on a vine it was dead! If it grew on a tree it was dead! If it grew in the field it was dead! This means the food was cut off. The people were depending on the farmers to feed them. Joel tells them to be ashamed and wail. There will be no feasts. There will be no celebrations. There will be no full bellies. The joy of the people has withered like the fruit on the vine has withered.

Tragedy should prepare us for revival:

Drought should make us thirst for the living water

Famine should make us hunger for the Bread of Life

Poverty should make us long for eternal riches.

The discipline of the Lord should make us long for the peace of God.

3. The preaching of the prophet.

How do you preach to a people who are experiencing something like this? Joel starts by asking the old men if they have ever seen anything like this before? These were unprecedented times. Are we not living in unprecedented times? We are seeing things in our world none of us have witnessed before.

Never before have seen our nation shut down school for months at a time.

Never before have we seen our nations churches shut down for months.

Never before have we seen our nations businesses shut down for months at a time.

Never before have seen so many in our nation forced to shut themselves up in their own homes for months at a time.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. In unprecedented times like this the preachers in our nation should learn to preach like the preachers of old who preached during unprecedented times.

A. He saw the catastrophe as an act of God.

People respond in different ways to catastrophe.

When awful things happen some say:

God does not exist. This is the atheistic point of view. If God existed, He wouldn’t let that happen.

God does not intervene. God has established certain natural laws and these laws govern the universe.

God doesn’t love people. In God’s eyes everyone is evil and He doesn’t care that bad things happen to people.

God doesn’t do these awful things, Satan does.

But notice how Joel responds. He calls it the day of the Lord (15). If it’s the Day of the Lord then:

He must exist.

He must intervene.

He must love people because through this He’s calling people to repentance.

He must be the One who is doing it because it’s not called the Day of Satan.

God, by His grace is shouting at His people. After drought, famine and four waves of locusts attacks He is asking “Can you hear me now?”

B. He saw no contradiction in the goodness of God and the discipline of God.

There are those who believe that anything that affects humanity in a negative way is from the devil. These people have a very small view of God.

Who sent the locust plague to Egypt? It was God.

Who flooded the earth? It was God.

Who destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah? It was God.

When God’s patience is exhausted He will bring destruction. When God’s patience is growing thin He will bring warning through discipline.

The truth is, the fact that He only brought a locust plague on the people shows He does love them. If He didn’t love them he would have no patience at all with them.

God is working all things together for good. He is bringing calamity so the people will turn back to Him. In Isaiah 45:6-7 God says

“That they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside Me: I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil. I the LORD do all these things”.

As preachers we are not attempting to save God’s reputation. We are not to look at these awful events and try to be God’s PR guy. God doesn’t need a public relations guy. God never has to apologize. God isn’t interested in being politically correct. This is His creation and He will do with it what He will.

The false teacher Kenneth Copeland recently stood up and said he executed judgment on COVID 19. He said it was of the devil and he spoke it away. He was wrong. Anyone with any Biblical sense should have known he was wrong already but now there is scientific proof he is a false prophet. COVID isn’t gone.

I imagine if he had been alive in Joel’s day instead of preaching to the people he would have been preaching to the locusts. He would have declared them gone. What Copeland and others like him don’t understand is God speaks through calamity. Those swarms of locusts were a sermon of sorts sent by the hand of God to the people of God.

There is no contradiction between the goodness of God and the discipline of God. The same God who heals also wounds.

C. He saw the catastrophe as an opportunity to call people to repentance.

I can almost hear some people saying to Joel “Joel, don’t preach to the people, it’s too early. They are hurting. They are vulnerable. They have lost their crops. They have lost their money.”

When you read the Bible you will see that the great preachers always used calamity as an opportunity to call people to repentance.

Even Jesus did this. In Luke 13 Jesus brought up a disaster that happened in Siloam. A tower had fallen and killed eighteen people. Jesus said

“Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse sinners than all the others that lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

Did you hear that? Jesus used a disaster to remind people about their own soul. The preachers of the Bible used locust plagues, invading armies, drought, famine and other disasters to call people to repentance.

John Harper was a great preacher who used catastrophe to call people to repentance. He was a 39 year old widowed preacher traveling with his six year old daughter and his sister to Chicago to preach at the famous Moody church. The date was April 15, 1912 and he was on the Titanic.

As the ship began to sink he began to preach Jesus. He took his sister and daughter to a life boat but he returned to preach salvation in Jesus. He gave up his life vest to another. As he floated in the icy waters witnesses say he continued to preach the gospel. Over 1500 people died. He was among them. Four years after the Titanic sank there was a meeting of survivors in Ontario Canada. At that meeting a man stood up and said “I am the last convert of John Harper.” Thank God John Harper saw catastrophe as an opportunity to call people to repentance.

Friend, God id getting our attention. If you are not saved it is time for you to repent of your sin and come to Christ. If you are a Christian it is time for you to get serious about reaching people for Christ.

In Joel’s day God took the alcohol away from the drunks to sober them up. God has taken some things from us to sober us up.

Some are intoxicated with sports. The Lord has taken them from us.

Some are intoxicated with crowds of people. Concerts, parties, nightclubs, etc. God has put distance between us.

Some are intoxicated with money. God has shown us how quickly that money can be gone.

It’s time for the church to sober up and take seriously our role in this world to be salt and light. Let us purpose to do that today.