The Coming Famine
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Intro
Intro
Text - Genesis 41.28-31; Amos 8.11-14
This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.
Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt;
but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land.
So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe.
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord.
They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, But shall not find it.
“In that day the fair virgins And strong young men Shall faint from thirst.
Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, Who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan!’ And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives!’ They shall fall and never rise again.”
Title - The Coming Famine
Background
Background
Famine, defined
an extreme scarcity of food
a prolonged and extreme lack of food
“Famine is broadly understood as ‘an extreme crisis of access to adequate food, manifested in widespread malnutrition and loss of life due to starvation and infectious disease.’”
Famine in our time
Famine represents the most serious food insecurity situation in terms of both scale and severity.
It occurs when a substantial number of people are dying due to a lack of food or because of a combination of lack of food and disease. When more than 20% of households cannot eat, acute malnutrition exceeds 30% and death and starvation are evident, we cannot talk about a humanitarian “emergency” situation anymore but a “famine”.
There is not a single root cause that just explains all famines - each context has its unique aspects. However, there is always a fatal combination of various factors that can include conflict, insecurity, access, chronic poverty, lack of trade and severe weather events such as persistent drought.
Famine in Bible times
From Abraham to Malachi, there were more than 10 famines recorded in the O.T.
2 famines were recorded in the N.T. time
Why famines occur
Why famines occur
Famine was considered a punishment from God for His people’s sins and rebellion.
Sometimes, a famine occurs as a single and direct work of God
during king David’s rule
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.”
during the time of Ruth
Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
when Elijah caused a 3-year drought
And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
Other times, it is part of a triad of punishment of God
when Jeremiah prophesied of Israel’s captivity
Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for this people, for their good.
When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”
Sword, famine and pestilence are God’s way of expressing His fury against those who disregard His Word.
He who is far off shall die by the pestilence, he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I spend My fury upon them.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols.
So I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land desolate, yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblah, in all their dwelling places. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.’ ” ’ ”
God warned Israel of His 3-fold punishment in the wilderness
‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,
and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,
I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.
‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.
I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate.
‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,
then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,
then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.
I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you.
I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas.
I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.
I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
one of the worst famine to occur in Israel was during the seige of Samaria by the king of Syria
2 Kings 6.24-27 “And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver. Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” And he said, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?””
Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”
Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes; and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body.
Famines have been prophesied for the last days
Famines have been prophesied for the last days
What used to be God’s punishment for Israel alone, now becomes global phenomena.
because God is holding all the nations accountable to His word - the gospel that’s been preached worldwide.
The 3-fold punishment of God is now happening in the Laodicean age
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
wars/sword (plural)
famines (plural)
pestilences (plural
this is the same prophecy contained in the 4th seal
When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.”
I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.
Death rides the pale horse
to kill with the sword (wars)
hunger - famine
death by the beasts of the earth (animal-born diseases)
Famine in our time are directly connected to wars and political conflicts, coupled with spreading diseases
ongoing war and conflict are the primary drivers of the situation in north-eastern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen;
for Somalia it is drought and weak governance after years of conflict.
In some parts of Ethiopia and Kenya, communities are also suffering from a catastrophic drought which makes it incredibly hard for them to buy food locally or have any source of income.
As many as 811 million people worldwide go to bed hungry each night.
14 million children under the age of five worldwide suffer from severe acute malnutrition, also known as severe wasting,
Small farmers, herders, and fishermen produce about 70 percent of the global food supply, yet they are especially vulnerable to food insecurity – poverty and hunger are most acute among rural populations.
The Tribulation Period will be a time of Sword, Famine and Pestilences (plagues)
sword
And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
famine
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads,
and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
plagues
So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.
Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.
By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.
this is the 6th trumpet
the 7 last plagues will be for the whole world - Rev 15.1
Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.
The day of the wrath of the LORD
The sword is outside, And the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field Will die by the sword; And whoever is in the city, Famine and pestilence will devour him.
‘Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains Like doves of the valleys, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity.
Every hand will be feeble, And every knee will be as weak as water.
They will also be girded with sackcloth; Horror will cover them; Shame will be on every face, Baldness on all their heads.
‘They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the Lord; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.
Spiritual Famine in the Last Days
Spiritual Famine in the Last Days
Spiritual famines have also been prophesied for the last days.
Pharaoh’s dreams foretells of end-time events
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do:
The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years; the dreams are one.
And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine.
This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.
Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt;
but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land.
So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe.
although the dreams spoke of literal events duringg Joseph’s time in Egypt...
the dreams also address endtime events
The seven years of plenty speaks of the 7 church ages under the governorship of Jesus Christ
since Israel rejected Christ, God sent him to the world to save peoples and nations!
the Gentile nations are enjoying 7 ages of spiritual bounty
Jesus Christ is directing the bountiful harvests
the seven years or famine represent the 7 years remaining for Israel - tribulation time
when the pressure builds against the Jews, they will begin to experience a hunger for their Messiah!
2 prophets will rise up and introduce to them Jesus Christ as their Messiah
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves;
A different kind of famine
A different kind of famine
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord.
This is not a scarcity of the word of the LORD
An extreme scarcity of “hearers” of the word of God.
This happens when people refuse to hear the word of God from his servants
Israel refused to hear the signs
“Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. And lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord.
“I also withheld rain from you, When there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, And where it did not rain the part withered.
So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, But they were not satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord.
“I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, Your vineyards, Your fig trees, And your olive trees, The locust devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the Lord.
They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.
Now, God is creating a “spiritual famine”
When God’s people stops hearing God’s words, God stops listening to their prayers!
Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts.
When God’s people stops hearing God’s words, God becomes silent!
Zechariah and Malachi were the last of the OT prophets to speak for God.
400 years of silence followed until John came - a famine of hearing the word of God!
Despite the abundance of spiritual truths today, a spiritual famine is taking place
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
many Christians are no longer interested in “sound doctrine”
they prefer entertainment and candy-coated gospel
many Christians prefer the Martha image more than the Mary character
Spiritual famine is not “caused” by God, although it is “sent” by God
Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;
For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’
God’s response to these people - deprive them
They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, But shall not find it.
God will hold back his word
they will begin to feel the effects of not hearing the words of God
“In that day the fair virgins And strong young men Shall faint from thirst.
Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, Who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan!’ And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives!’ They shall fall and never rise again.”
“Ashima” of Samaria a household deity
to swear - to put their trust (in the deity)
God’s plan is not defeated
God’s plan is not defeated
Elijah thought his work was done, but no!
a natural famine reflects the spiritual famine of the time
but God has 7000 men who have not bowed to Baal!
So, God knows who remains faithful to Him whether in time of famine or plenty!
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy,
To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine.
A little that a righteous man has Is better than the riches of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, But the Lord upholds the righteous.
The Lord knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever.
They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We are still living in the 7 years of plenty.
So what? So what should we do now?
Joseph provided the best solution - store in food!
Genesis 41:34–36 (NKJV)
Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years.
And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.
Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not perish during the famine.”
God gave us the best advise today -
God said to WMB - “store in food!”
103 You remember what that dream, that I got the interpretation, was? “Go back and store up Food.” Where was the storehouse? This tabernacle. Where is there anything like it in the country, around here anywhere, that will compare with the Message that we have?
Now, course, our little brothers here that’s out along here, these other little churches, are us. We’re one. Where would you go to, to find It? Show Its comparison anywhere. You go right out in denominational creeds. You’ll go right out away from the Name of the Lord Jesus. You’ll go right out away from these other things. See? And here is where the Food has been stored up.
104 Well, one Message that I preach here to you all…Look, I’ve been preaching from one to six hours to you, on a Message. Well, if I had to use one of those Message, I’d take a week to take It, just a little bit here and a little bit there, see, because It’s been stored up here.
105 It’s on tapes. It’ll go worldwide on the tapes, where people in their houses. Them tapes will fall right into the hands of the predestinated of God. He can direct the Word. He’ll direct everything just exactly to its course. That’s the reason He sent me back to do this. “Store up the Food here.” He forbid me to go overseas.
62-0601 - Taking Sides With Jesus
The Message is the Food that this generation has spurned and rejected!
there is no scarcity of Food -
the scarcity is in HEARING!
The Message is the Food that has been stored for us by our Joseph (Jesus Christ)!
The Message is the Food that will save us from the coming famine
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