Joel 1 — Has Anything Like This Happened?
A locust plague of unprecedented severity has stripped the land. Joel calls the old men to remember if such a thing has ever happened. The vine is dried, the fig tree languishes, the harvests are ruined. The priests cannot offer because the grain and wine are gone. He calls for a solemn assembly, a fast, a cry to the Lord — for the day of the Lord is at hand.
“Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.”
— Joel 1:15
- v.1-4 The four waves of locusts
- v.5-12 A call to wake up; the ruin of crops
- v.13-20 A call to fast and cry to the Lord
Four stages of devastation. Each wave consumed what the previous wave had left. The destruction was total.
Some commentators see four successive locust species; others four armies in apocalyptic vision. Either way, the principle holds — God's judgment, when it comes in waves, leaves nothing behind. The believer should not assume the first wave was the worst.
A pointed call. Awake, ye drunkards. The judgment cuts off their pleasures first. The people who lived for wine had to face a year without it.
God often touches what we love most to get our attention. The locust took what the drunkard prized. Sobriety, however unwelcome, was the first stage of repentance forced on the nation.
The biblical response to national calamity. Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather all. Cry unto the Lord. Four steps to corporate repentance.
A pattern still applicable. When disaster strikes — national, regional, personal — the right answer is not first analysis or activism. It is gathering before God in honesty and fast and prayer.
The day of the Lord. The phrase that haunts the prophets. Sometimes near (a present judgment), sometimes far (the eschatological end). Joel uses it for both senses — the locust plague is a preview of the great day yet to come.
For the believer the day of the Lord is that blessed hope (Titus 2:13). For the unbeliever it is destruction from the Almighty. The same day; opposite experiences. Which side a person is on depends on their relationship to Christ.
Joel's personal prayer in the middle of national crisis. The prophet does not just call others to pray; he prays himself. The shepherd cries with his people.
The model for spiritual leadership. The pastor who calls a fast must himself fast. The intercessor who summons others to prayer must be heard praying. Joel led by going first.
When God touches something you love — your finances, your health, your family, your career — do not first ask why is this happening? Ask instead what is God saying through this? Joel's locusts forced the nation to its knees. The same dealings still work on individuals. Hear what God is saying in the place where the harvest has failed.
The day of the Lord finds its fulfillment in Christ. He is the One who comes — once in mercy at the cross, again in judgment at His return. For those who trust Him, the day brings deliverance (Joel 2:32, quoted in Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13). For those who refuse, the day brings the destruction Joel foretells. The locusts of Joel's day were a preview of the same day still ahead.
A devastation worth recording for great-grandchildren. Some events are so significant that they must enter generational memory. The locust plague would be such an event.
The principle: God's severe dealings with His people are meant to be remembered, told, retold. The lessons of judgment do not survive without intentional transmission.