Hear And Give Ear For The Day Of The Lord Is Near

Joel 1:1-15

We often forget the disasters in our lives. Despite reminders, we forget. In 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor awakened the US to the threat of war. But that threat was soon forgotten. In 2001, when 9/11 happened, it awakened the US again. But hadn’t she learn from Pearl Harbor? In 2011, a great tsunami hit Japan. 16,000 died; their homes destroyed. Many died escaping to the hills. But Japan was known for tsunamis - it’s a Japanese word! How could they not know? Hundreds of ancient stone markers on hillsides read - “Don’t build homes below this point - remember the calamity of the great tsunamis.” But people ignored and died.

How about us? Did we learn from past trials and turn to Christ. Must we experience another event? Some don’t learn until things worsen. But others never learn. They could be blindly optimistic or in denial. Maybe like unbelieving Jews in Jeremiah’s time, they thought God would never judge his people. But the Old Testament prophecies, even Revelation, were written to God’s professing people - believers and unbelievers. He warned them to repent. If they did, they’d be restored and saved; if they didn’t, they’d be judged. And Jesus spoke of the Day of the Lord - where God will separate the sheep from the goats. This day of judgment and deliverance is seen in various places. Yes, there are believers and unbelievers in the church. And the church is forewarned about that day. It’s a call to turn to Christ. In the book of Joel, God used a disaster to warn the people about that final day. But would they listen? Would they be forewarned? How about us?

There are two things to draw from this message. Firstly, God sends and has always sent devastating events. Secondly, the troubles affect everyone to awaken them. As verse 2 says, we are to hear and give ear.

Firstly, God sends and has always sent devastating events. The passage describes how judgment and devastation come from God. Verse 4 described a plague of locusts - “That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.” Verse 6 described a great destruction that came by the hand of another nation - “For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.” So these events - the plague of locusts and war devastated God’s people. But how do we know that these were from God? Verse 15 speaks of a future day of judgment sent by God - “Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” In other words, these recent troubles were warning signs of something more devastating - namely, the Day of the Lord, verse 15. Therefore, the recent troubles were also from God - sent to warn and instruct everyone - old men, every inhabitant, fathers, children, and grandchildren, verses 2-3.

Now, was it both locusts and war, or both? We're not sure. And why we don’t know is because we don’t know when Joel prophesied. No king is mentioned - so we don’t know his time period. But there was judgment for the sins of the people. If we see it literally, this judgment was a locust invasion. Verse 4 says, “That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.” These could be different locust stages - some versions call them the cutting, swarming, hopping, and stripping locusts. Regardless, they caused a lot of damage. Locusts could wipe out a country’s food supply - leading to famine, high costs, disease, etc. In 1889, there was a locust swarm in the Red Sea region destroying 5000 square kilometers. There were an estimated 24.5 trillion insects. They would’ve weighed 43 billion tons. These locusts formed camps in the evening of half a meter high and in the morning, they flew off again in search of food. They’d block out the sun - turning day into night - covered everything, eat everything that was green and strip off tree bark, and even break branches with their weight.

But we can see it symbolically as war. Some scholars date Joel to after the Babylonian conquest, where he described the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. Verses 6-7 say - “For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.” The lion was a symbol of Babylon. So the locusts could’ve been describing a nation - how the Babylonians came like locusts and devoured like lions. Frankly, we don’t really know which. This is apocalyptic literature. And the symbolism described a destruction worse than anything in the past, verse 2. So locusts or armies - both were sent by God as judgment for evil doers, deliverance for God’s remnant, and to establish God’s reign. As Calvin said, we shouldn’t lose sight of that lesson by trying to determine the exact details. What we know is this judgment was sent by God. He led them through tribulation, to turn them to him, to punish evildoers, and establish his rule. All his people will go through tribulation. But those who repent and truly trust will be delivered. But those who don’t will be judged. That’s the lesson.

But all of these events - days of the Lord - show a greater event coming - a final judgment day. Many passages speak of this final day. Malachi 4:1 says that on the Day of the Lord, the earth will burn like an oven and the wicked shall be burned up - no survivors. So if the troubles in Joel were bad, the final Day would be much worse. The New Testament says that hell is a place “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” That’s what we’ll see in Revelation - the final Day of the Lord. But before we get there, I’d say this - don’t be so eager to interpret all details - like what the metal locusts are. Focus rather on the principles. The Day of the Lord is a day of trouble when Christ will right wrongs, set himself up as king, and deliver his people.

And they pointed to the Day of the Lord. Now, what is the Day of the Lord? Verse 15 says, “Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” Revelation speaks about this day. And partly our study of Joel is to prepare us for Revelation - to understand certain concepts. In the Bible, there have been many such days. This phrase - Day of the Lord - is used to describe how God is at work in history to do 3 things - to confront and punish evil, to save his people, and to asserts his rule. That’s why in the Bible, we see such days - although the phrase Day of the Lord is not used. In the Garden of Eden, there was sin - God confronted evil by cursing Satan, covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness with coats of skins, and asserted his rule by posting an angel to guard Eden. In Babel, when the world wanted to challenge God, he scattered them - he punished their pride and established his rule. But we immediately hear of Abraham, called out of Ur to follow God, made righteous by faith. In Egypt, there was slavery. God punished the oppressors with plagues of locusts and death, so God’s people could be set free. By so doing, God set himself over Pharaoh. And the Passover was instituted to remember that. Then Israel herself became the oppressor and enemy. God used Assyrian and Babylon to punish them - kicking them from the land - showing he was powerful and just. He couldn’t be appeased by a show of religion - keeping of sabbaths, feasts, and dietary laws. But he saved a remnant who trusted, preserved them through exile, and returned and established them again. When Christ came, he warned the people to repent. But they killed him. But by his death, he delivered his people from their sins and he ascended on high and sat at the right hand of the Father. But because of her rejection, Jerusalem was destroyed - she had refused to submit to her king. But a remnant was saved - a remnant from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. As you can see, through these events of the Lord, God brought trouble, warning, punishment, and salvation.

But why were these judgment events told to them and us? Why did Joel remind his readers of these past devastating events? It was to awaken them. That’s the second point - the troubles affect everyone to awaken them. We learn in Joel 1 that the spiritual state of the nation was bad. Even though judgment had already come, they forgot. Everyone needed to repent. Everyone from the lowest to the highest needed to wake up to their sin and the sin of the nation. Everyone needed to be reminded and learn. It lists 5 kinds of people. Verse 2 speaks about the old men - or the elders or leaders of the land; verse 5 speaks about the drunkards; verse 8, the young women about to get married; verse 9, the priests; and verse 11 - the farmers. Why? Because that final Day of the Lord would be so complete that no one will be spared - except those who believe and repent.

It lists leaders - such as the elders and priests. More than the others, they should’ve known that things were brewing. But they weren’t. They didn’t lead people in repentance. And trouble came. Then there are the silly people who go on with their lives - not aware. Drunkards - they’re so out of it they don’t know what’s happening. They’re so oblivious they don’t see warning signs. Or young women about to get married - they’re so distracted with their lives that other things don’t matter. Only their wedding day - getting flowers, food, and fashion all ready - nothing else matters. But these aren’t spared the trouble that will come. Then it speaks about the common people - the farmers - working hard at their business - they’ll be hit too. Two women in the field, when Christ comes one will be taken, the other left behind in judgment.

But what’s interesting is this - despite the troubles they’d just faced, they still had to be instructed to wake up and mourn. Which means, it didn’t come immediately to them. COVID came - people sobered up. But after restrictions were lifted and life seems to return to normal, people forgot. There were spiritual lessons to learn from COVID, but after a while, we forget them. You have all experienced trying events because of your sins in the past - have you learned? Or are you back to where you were? You would’ve thought the devastation from the locusts and war would’ve woken them up; that they’d repent, but they didn’t. Instruction was given again. Everyone had to act on them. How?

Firstly, they were to talk about it. Verses 2-3 speak to the leaders - “Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.” Nothing this bad has happened to them. Leaders, everyone in the land - tell your children, your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren. It had to be repeated. This was the purpose of Passover - to remind the people about their deliverance. They would’ve been judged if not for the blood of the lamb. But Passover became another formal institution. They had to remember.

Secondly, they were to wake up. Verse 5 - “Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.” Drunkards don’t care about much - just where their drink and next drink are. And after a many drinks, you get passed out and angry drunks. But the way to make a drunk person alert is to take away his bottle. So Joel said they should be as aware as drunkards who have no more drink. Some of you are drunk on work, leisure, sin.

Thirdly, they were to mourn. Verse 8 - “Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.” Ayoung bride only cares for her wedding - she’s all joy and ecstasy when planning. But the thing she loves - her fiancé is suddenly taken away from her. She had a happy expectation - but now lost her man. What sadder thing can happen to her? The message is clear - there’s something worse. When you see catastrophes, wake up and mourn for your sins.

And fourthly, they were to realize their faith was at stake. Verse 9 - “The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers, mourn.” When locusts or war have destroyed everything, priests couldn’t offer sacrifices. There’d be no more grain to offer. No grapes, no wine offering. And this was significant for God’s people. Because of calamity, worship is affected. People don’t feel the joy of being in the house of the Lord. But rather than repenting, they continue in sin and a lack of joy. How many of you are living in your sin and have no joy of worship?

And fifthly, they were to realize that their lives were at stake. Verses 11-12 - “Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.” Farmers exist to farm. That’s their job. They labor to grow grain. But the field is dead, the trees are dead. Everything is dead. The locusts and war had destroyed everything. There’s simply no more life to live. No ore joy.

There’s a succession of pictures - a call to wake up to know what is the condition of our faith and life. Are we prepared for the Day of the Lord? What crisis do we need to remind ourselves and our children that there will be a great event one day? We’ve just had COVID, there’s the Russian-Ukraine war, there’s inflation, etc. But we’re not always awake yet. Some of you get it, some of you don’t get it.

These words in Joel were written to God’s professing people. But not everyone of them is a true believer. These problems were warnings - were they, are you, prepared for the Day of the Lord? Congregation of Christ - are you ready? Are you saved? Have you trusted Christ? In Reformed circles, there’s a discussion about what to call church members at the call to worship - Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ or Congregation of the Lord’ Jesus Christ? They say not everyone in the church is beloved yet. But others say, those who are beloved will identify with the word.

Revelation was written to faithful and unfaithful churches - all were called to repent and trust. If they did, their names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life. If they didn’t, there’d be gnashing of teeth. Joel’s words today instruct us to make sure of our salvation. Our troubles are always warnings to get right with God: for leaders to remind their people, fathers to teach their children, drunks to stop drinking, giddy young people to focus on your faith, and those living in sin to get right.

But this is not meant to frighten you concerning the Day of the Lord. It’s a wonderful day for those who truly believe. As God’s children, current troubles don’t signify a worse punishment to come. Christ has borne that punishment for us. He’s been ravaged by his enemies, so we’d escape judgment on the Day of the Lord. But if Christ has paid that penalty, how shall we live any longer in our sins? Would we be humbled to lament our sin knowing what it did to our Savior? That’s why the Day of the Lord is not scary - it’s a day when we’re delivered from this world of temptation - to worship Christ our king! Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, you’re ready because of Christ. Live no longer in your sins. Wake up and live for him whom you love. Congregation of Christ, many of you are not ready for the Day of the Lord. But will you heed this warning? Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.