1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
An Invasion of Locusts 2 Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation. 4 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. 5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. 6 For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions' teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness. 7 It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white. 8 Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth. 9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord. 10 The fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes. 11 Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. 12 The vine dries up; the fig tree languishes. Pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from the children of man. A Call to Repentance 13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. 14 Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. 15 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty[c] it comes. 16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17 The seed shrivels under the clods;[d] the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up. 18 How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer.[e] 19 To you, O Lord, I call. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field. 20 Even the beasts of the field pant for you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. Meditation God will crush the curse. The first gospel promise to crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15) is reinforced by Paul (Romans 16:20) and promised in other portions of Scripture. Today’s nitty-gritty imagery is a refreshing reminder that God wins and the curse will be consumed. The devouring locusts described in 1:4 are part of the curse. Deuteronomy 28:38 promises this curse consequence for all who reject God and His word. The first time we meet locusts is the eighth plague in Exodus 10, a sign of judgment. The book of Revelation uses locusts as imagery of woe after the first trumpet blows (Revelation 9:1-12). Joel later offers hope from the consequence of the curse when he communicates God’s promise to His people, “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…” (2:25). How can the curse be reversed and restored? Jesus took the curse we deserve so we can feast on God’s covenant blessings. Paul writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…” (Galatians 3:13) We experience redemption by repenting from our sin and returning to the Lord with all our heart (1:12-20). It is no accident John the Baptist, who “made away for the Lord”, ate locusts for lunch (Matthew 3:4). God’s promise is to crush the curse, smash the head of satan, and fan the flames of hope for the world. Knowing locusts are lunch frees us to feast on God’s faithfulness. Richly Dwelling -What stands out to you about the devastation described in 1:4? Where do you see these consequences of the curse in our world? -Joel calls us to repent, returning to the Lord (1:13-20) and God promises to restore what the locusts have eaten. Where do you need to repent? Do you trust God to restore? -Jesus took the covenant curse so you can experience the blessings of God’s faithfulness. Turn to the cross to see where the curse was crushed! Focus on Christ’s work and feast on His faithfulness. He promises to restore what the locusts have eaten! Key Verse 4 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. Comments are closed.
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AuthorPastor Mitchell celebrates twenty-five years of marriage with Lisa and together they have four adventurous children. |