God promised to Abraham a land flowing with milk and honey as an inheritance for his descendants, a land of abundance, a land of peace, a land of prosperity. And so it proved, particularly during the latter days of King David after he had destroyed the enemies of God's people and throughout the reign of his son Solomon. He reigned with wisdom and the nations of the earth brought their tribute to him. But he died in about 930 BC and his son Rehoboam took over the throne in his place where his father had in many ways been wise, his son was full of folly, where his father had led the nation In peace, his son divided the nation. Where his father had acknowledged God in his early days, and God had favoured him throughout his reign, his son experienced the fruits of his father's departure from God, and he himself followed in his path. and walked in the path of idolatry, leading the people away from God rather than towards God. Sometime between 900 BC and 300 BC, a great swarm of locusts descended upon the land. It was quickly followed by a severe drought that hindered the progress of recovery. and left the land scorched and barren. Locusts are a serious problem. Not in their normal state, they are isolated and individualistic and everything seems to be okay until circumstances are just right. the climate, the rainfall, and so on. And suddenly, a change takes place. Physically, they change. And rather than being isolated, they are gregarious and gather together. Huge swarms of them can develop. And this is what took place in Joel's day. And it was the thing of legends. told from generation to generation to come. A locust swarm has been known to cover over 5,000 square kilometres. And in every square kilometre, 45 million locusts are present. A locust swarm the size of Paris could, in a day, consume enough food for half the nation. Today, trouble spots are monitored by satellite, yet even today, if locusts are not destroyed shortly after they hatch, the swarm that forms is almost impossible to control. They ravage parts of the world even today. It's impossible to pinpoint exactly when the one recorded by Joel took place. As I said earlier, any time between 900 BC and 300 BC has been suggested because we know nothing about this prophet Joel other than that he was the son of Pethuel. There is nothing really within the book itself to pinpoint the era in which he lived. no king is named that we may locate the time of his prophecy. The circumstances themselves that he described are somewhat generic to Israel. and he himself and his name were fairly common and more than ten are named within the pages of scripture none of whom seem to adequately equate to this man. So beyond what is recorded in this book and that his name was Joel which means the Lord is God Debates persist as to when he lived and who were the recipients of his ministry. Traditionally, he was considered one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of the prophets. More recently, a much later date has been preferred by many, placing him perhaps as the very last of the Old Testament prophets. And it matters little for his message sounded a warning for Israel and Judah that they should have taken seriously throughout their days, from the days of Rehoboam through to the post-exilic days after Ezra and Nehemiah had returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple and the walls, and the people lived in a degree of peace for a time, awaiting the coming of the Messiah. It's a timeless message and it continues to be relevant today for it is a message about the day of the Lord with particular emphasis on impending judgment. For they in this plague are experiencing the judgment of God. a locust plague that came from God's hand. He it was who orchestrated the circumstances. He ensured that the climate was just right for these locusts to breed and to swarm and to gather and to consume the land. It swept through the land with devastating consequences. What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten. And what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. either enumerating different types of locusts or more likely the different stages in the lifespan of the locust, at each stage consuming the fruit of the land until there was literally nothing left, the whole land stripped of every green leaf, every fruit of the tree would have been devoured by these ravaging insects. The destruction was total and everyone was affected, the young and the old, the wise and the foolish, the priest and the beasts. No one was exempt from this judgment of God that had come upon the land of his people. Such graphic pictures are painted for us by Joel. He calls on the drunkards, awake and weep. Wail, you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. It's almost as though as they're drinking away, and in their stupor they lift their glass to their mouth. It's suddenly empty, that which had been full, because that is what has happened. Their lives had been full, their lives had been prosperous. The next day promised so much hope, so much plenty, and suddenly it was all stripped away. Here are the farmers who have laboured so hard. They ploughed their fields. they've scattered their seed, they've watched the seedlings germinate and grow and they've come to maturity and they've begun to bear fruit and it's about time for the harvest but they will harvest nothing. For in a moment The storms of locusts sweep through the land and devour everything. The fruits of their labours destroyed. The hope of prosperity taken away. The food for future weeks and future months ripped away from their grasps. They're not next allotment of seed for the next seed time and the next harvest affected. Even the priests, as they go about the business of leading the people in the worship of God, even they are affected by this swarm of locusts. For now, there is no grain offering to bring. Now the beasts of the field are starved. Now there is no worship to be conducted for there are no offerings brought. And the animals themselves are confused, crying out in their anguish for food. There is nothing. not a blade of grass left for them after this army has marched through their land and left it barren. Here is the judgment of God upon his chosen people, upon this special people whom he has watched over and whom he has cared for and whom he has promised so much to all since the days of their forefather Abraham who was promised a land that would nourish his descendants. the God who had brought them out of their slavery in Egypt, the God who had cared for them through their wilderness wanderings, even though they had been a hard-hearted and a stiff-necked people, grumbling and complaining over his care for them and refusing to enter into the land. fearful of the giants who lived there when they had on their side the god who had conquered the gods of the Egyptians and brought them through the Red Sea and provided for them every day of their lives to that point. Here is the god who has watched over them through the period of the judges when repeatedly they left him and his worship to worship false gods. And repeatedly they had to cry out to him for him to send a deliverer. And repeatedly he sent such a deliverer to rescue them from their enemies. this God who harking to their pleas for a king to rule over them in his grace and mercy gave them a king, gave them a wise king, gave them a man after his own heart even though they had previously chose one like the kings of the nations around them. Physically strong perhaps, a warrior king perhaps, but not one who loved the Lord. But David rose and took the throne under God's providence, and he was blessed by God and conquered their enemies. This God, who had done so much for them, has brought this judgment upon them. How can this be? How can such a thing happen? Has it ever happened before? Joel asks. Can you remember a day, the stories of your father's? Oh, they told stories, perhaps, of locust swarms that they had experienced, but nothing matched this. Nothing was to compare to this. This was a judgment of cosmic proportions. Why? Why has God judged his people in this way? Well, we're not told specifically what the nature of their sin was. There's a hint of it perhaps in chapter 2 and verse 12. Even now declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart. with fasting, with weeping and with mourning. Rend your hearts and not your garments, return to the Lord your God." They have wandered away from God, wandered away into the world, wandered away into its values, into its priorities, into its aspirations, into its dreams. imbibed the philosophy of the world, the goals of the world, the priorities of the world. They were conformed to the likeness of the world around them. Over and over again we have seen in their history how they wanted to be like the nations around them, even in their call for a king to rule over them. They were not satisfied to have God as their king. They wanted to see him. They wanted to know him. They wanted him to be at the head of their armies, visible, with sword in hand, riding a champion horse. They wanted a saw to lead them. And so it was that they imitated and mimicked the nations. conformed to the standards of the world. No longer were they unique among the nations of the world, no longer were they different, no longer were they wholly set apart for the Lord their God. They were self-dependent and lived their lives according to their own wisdom rather than looking to the Lord, being instructed by the Lord and following the Lord as their God and as their King. And so they were unfaithful to him. They meandered from the way of truth into paths of darkness, from the temple of the Lord their God, They entered the temples of the Baals. They worshipped the idols of the nations around them. They departed from their God, the God who had delivered them from slavery, the God who had provided for them in the wilderness, the God who had given them the land of promise, the God who had prospered them and given them peace. They departed from this God. and this God now sends a plague of locusts to confront them with their sin. In the midst of their worldly pleasure it is cut off, as it were, from their mouths and their life has become bitter and empty and void of pleasure. They are brought to their knees for there is nothing left there Granaries are empty, their fields are parched, their hands have nothing to hold, their larders are bare. There is no food for their children, not a blade of grass for their herds and flocks. Their utter dependence upon God is highlighted in the most basic needs of life. for in a moment he has ravaged them with his army and their unfaithfulness to the God of the covenant is emphasised in this curse that has been brought upon them for this is nothing other than what God had promised them through Moses in Deuteronomy and chapter 28 where they were warned You shall carry much seed into the field, and shall gather in little, for the locusts shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worms shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground. This was the curse of God. This was what was promised. If they disobeyed Him, if they walked away from Him, If they entered the temples of the idols of the nations around about them, if they conformed themselves to the world rather than setting themselves apart as holy to God, then God would judge them. God would shake them with the realities of his power. They were his people. He had bought them at a price. He had freed them by his power. He brought upon them a plague that paralleled the eighth plague that came upon the Egyptians, the enemies of God, because his own people had turned enemy. His own people had denied him. They may have gone through the motions of worship. There may have been a front of religiosity, but their hearts were far from him. Their minds were taken up with other things than the God who had shown such mercy and kindness to them. This plague was intended to shake the people and to call them back to God. It was a wake-up call for them to stimulate their senses that had been dulled through complacency in their ingratitude. It was to turn them from their worldly pleasure and their spiritual indifference. It was to demonstrate to them the utter emptiness and futility of a life lived without God at the center. Sin that so characterized Israel and brought this judgment upon them all too frequently is seen today. And you don't have to look outside to the world. It is well within the church. Our tendency is to pursue worldly pleasure, to pursue the things of the world around us. Its goals are our goals. Its priorities are our priorities. Its dreams and ambitions are our dreams and ambitions. Its energy is spent on the things that we spend our energy on. And so it is that we have left our God. to walk in this world, in the ways of this world, often with indifference toward God, in gratitude to him for his provision, his common grace to us. The rain falls. The sun shines. Ah, yes, on the world. And so on us. But we demonstrate our ingratitude and indifference to his special grace by which he has revealed to us the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. And yes, we'll take that. Thank you very much, God. We'll take salvation. We'll take freedom from judgment, freedom from hell, freedom from the consequences of our sins. But we'll still walk with the world. We'll still fit in with our neighbours around us. We'll still chameleon-like, be all things to all men. And we forget our God. And we forget the call that is made to us, that we are to be holy. We are to be unique. We are to be distinct. We are to be different from the world. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds. Your thinking must change. Your goals and priorities and aspirations must be different from this world. You must lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven and not treasures on this world where locust consumes. Time and time and time again we need to be reminded this world is an empty world without God. This world is a barren world without God. This world is a dark and lifeless world without God. It is a dead world without God. And if God has given you eyes to see, and minds to comprehend, and hearts to understand, then you look at the world and you see its deadness, and you see its emptiness, and you see its barrenness, and you see and you know this isn't how we are meant to live, apart from God. We're lost. we're helpless, without God's wisdom guiding us, without his provision for us. Time and time and time again we need to be reminded to be faithful to him, to walk closely with our God, to find our contentment in him, in knowing him, knowing that that will surpass the circumstances of our lives. Are our lives difficult? Are our lives full of sorrow? Are our lives empty in the things of this world? But do you have God, the God who created the heavens and the earth? Do you have him? Do you have the one who sustains life upon this planet? Do you have him? Do you have the one who is bringing all things to a final consummation? Do you have him as your friend and as your king? He must be all. And for him and him alone we must live our lives. And so God comes to us, perhaps not with a swarm of locusts, but he invades our lives. He invades our indifference. He invades our sense of complacency. He invades it. In one way or another he stops us short. He challenges us, he makes us feel our emptiness, our barrenness, the futility of our lives. He calls us, even now, return to me with all your heart. Come back, come back out of this world. come back out of your sins, come back out of your complacency, come back to me. And Joel's reaction to this calamity which befell Judah was to pray to the Lord. He went to the one who is sovereign over all things. He recognised that God's hand was in this. This was no natural phenomenon alone. It might have been, even in his day, explained in naturalistic terms. The science of his day might have been well enough to develop to have said, well, we've had these kinds of circumstances, and because of this, these locusts have done so well this year, and that's why we're suffering all of this trouble, and explain it away in purely natural terms. But Joel knew. There is nothing purely natural in all the world. Everything is under the control of God. Every beating heart and every flapping wing is under the control of God. He gives every breath and the moments of our days are numbered by him. And Joel went to him. And Joel bowed down to him and called out to him and expressed before him all his trouble and acknowledged his dependence upon him. God had fired a warning shot across the bows, as it were, and Joel heeded it. He heard it. He responded to it. Here was a warning from God. If you persist, if you carry on this course, God is saying to his people, you will face true judgment. And the warnings of God come to us. Sometimes they come in the providences of our lives, and sometimes they come in the preaching of his word. And they are for our good. They may shame us. They may challenge us. They may make us feel uncomfortable. Oh, that we were uncomfortable in our sins. Oh, that we were challenged in our worldliness. For it is the path to salvation to be brought to our knees before a holy God, to confess our sins before him and to plead his mercy. that we may acknowledge his love and concern even in the days of trouble. When he calls us to consider, is this the life that we are to live? Is this the way that we are to go? We are to repent. We're to turn around We're to change course. We're to direct ourselves towards this God. For he will have mercy. He is full of grace. He is ready to show the greatness of his compassion, even to sinners who have wandered away from him. He challenges us that we might change by his grace. And he challenges the world. He challenges the world in their sin. He challenges the world in its complacency. He challenges the world that even the world may be struck by the vanity of life, may be awakened to the realities of their existence, but they too might turn to God, confessing their sins, acknowledging him and seeking his mercy. Here is a challenge to us all and everyone here gathered this evening. that we should call upon the name of God, the Lord of creation. To fail to acknowledge him, to fail to honor him is serious. A life without God is empty and hopeless. Perhaps you've enjoyed life. You've known prosperity. You have pleasure even now, but this in reality is an empty shell. It cannot possibly last. Even if it were to last the whole of your life here on earth, there is an eternal future that awaits everyone. God fires a warning shot across the bowels. And he says, wake up. Wake up to the reality. Wake up to eternity. What will eternity hold? What will life beyond the grave hold? What future do you have? It all depends upon your relationship to God now, in this world. It may be a life full of joy and pleasure forever and ever, Or it may be empty, hopeless, and terrifying as a land devastated by locusts. Joel is a wake-up call from God to all people. Consider your life, for judgment looms. And so what? So what? Well, the thing is this. God offers hope. God offers life. The judgment can be averted. Life eternal and full of joy can be yours if you humble yourself before this holy and righteous God, plead his mercy, and walk in his ways. The call is to us and to everyone who has ears to hear. May we hear. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you do challenge us, for we are prone to wander away from you. We are prone to conform to this world and its values. We are prone to let down our guard and to become indifferent and complacent. Lord, we pray that you would help us, help us even today, to evaluate our lives and the trajectory that we are on, and by your grace to change course, if that is necessary, that we may be with you today, every day for all eternity, under your smile and not under your wrath. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.