A couple of days ago I was listening to an interview on ABC FM with Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhiker's Guide series. Among other things, as Adams commented on his life, he said that he had long since come to the conclusion that there is no Santa Claus, no fairies in the garden… no God. There was no evidence, he said, that he should ever think otherwise. His Hitchhiker's Guide series is very much about disaster coming to planet Earth - it is about to be demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. A very pessimistic view of things.
Joel spoke about a day of disaster, "a day of the Lord" that is going to come. The people are wondering - Has it come already?
We don't know a great deal about Joel, except that he was the son of the equally-unknown "Pethuel" (Joel 1.1). He probably lived in the fifth or fourth century BC during the time of the Persian empire. There has been a terrible natural disaster - a massive plague of locusts and a devastating drought. These are a sign of the coming "day of the Lord."
We need to understand that there are things that God doesn't prevent from happening. People may say about the tragedy in Switzerland, Why didn't God stop it from happening? Natural disasters occur. Sometimes they happen at particular times that are good. Some have looked for "natural" explanations of the parting of the Red Sea as the Israelites escaped from Egypt, or the parting of the Jordan River as they crossed into the Promised Land. If there was a "natural" occurrence, it came at a particular time and that was miraculous.
But there are lots of things that God allows to happen. He doesn't just intervene. Accidents happen. If you are in the way of a car when crossing the road, it will hit you - you could be hurt or killed. God doesn't stop that car. Sometimes there are things that God allows to happen as a consequence of our actions. Not all the "bad" things are a punishment except in the consequential sense.
Certainly as Joel looks at what is happening it is a very negative time in the history of the people. They are at a spiritual low, and suddenly they find themselves without the ability to make the appropriate sacrifices to the Lord (v. 9). All the leaders and people need to gather in the Temple of the Lord and "cry out to him" (v. 14). They need to pray - to restore their relationship with the Lord.
That is what we so often fail to do. When a disaster happens, we need to say, Lord, we need to come back to you. That is not suggesting that God has put this disaster on us. He has allowed it to happen. He hasn't stopped it happening. But whatever happens, it is a sign from God that we need to turn back to him.
Now what is the "day of the Lord" going to be like? That all depends on the direction of our life. If we are in a right relationship with God, it is going to be a great time, a time to celebrate. But if we are living without reference to God, it will be a terrible day. It is not that God is terrible, but if we forget about him we will experience his judgment instead of his salvation. Our need is to come to him.
"The day of the Lord is near; the day when the Almighty brings destruction. What terror that day will bring!" (v. 14) Joel brings a very bleak message because the people aren't living in a right relationship with the Lord.
"The day of the Lord is coming soon. It will be a dark and gloomy day, a black and cloudy day. The great army of locusts advances like darkness spreading over the mountains. There has never been anything like it, and there never will be again" (2.1b-2).
He has already talked about the locusts in 1.4, 6 - terrible devastation. I recall travelling down the Newell Highway to Melbourne during a locust plague in southern New South Wales. There was a real danger of the engine overheating because so many locusts were trapped and died on the radiator.
Plague locusts would come and strip everything. It had already happened and it would happen on that dark and gloomy day of the Lord.
But the prophet's message moves on. It is not as if an inevitable disaster has come upon them and there is nothing to be done about it. He has already signalled this in 1.14 in the call to "cry out" to the Lord. Now the Lord is calling them to "repent sincerely and return to me with fasting and weeping and mourning. Let your broken heart show your sorrow; tearing your clothes is not enough" (2.12-13a).
Tearing the clothes is part of their culture - to show that they are sorry. Joel is saying that's not enough. It is what you are like inside that matters. God knows whether you are really sorry for having turned aside from him or whether it is just a big show. We recall Jesus saying something similar in the Sermon on the Mount. Almsgiving, prayer and fasting were important signs of their relationship with God. It is not what other people see, but what your Father sees you do in private that matters (Mt. 6.1-18). God sees our hearts - what our thinking, our feelings, our motives, our desires are. God understands as nobody else does whether our repentance is just an outward show or whether it is genuine. "Let your broken heart show your sorrow; tearing your clothes is not enough."
And then, "Come back to the Lord your God. He is kind and full of mercy; he is patient and keeps his promise; he is always ready to forgive and not punish" (v. 13b). This is what God is like.
In 2 Samuel 11 and 12 we read about David and Bathsheba - and the prophet Nathan. God's grace was available for Saul as much as for David. It is a question of how you respond. When the prophet Nathan confronted David with the fact of what he had done in adultery, deception and murder, he said, "I have sinned against the Lord." The word of the prophet was "The Lord has forgiven your sin."
We need to come to the point where we are able to say, " I have sinned against the Lord." This is what Joel is calling on the people to do - and to do it from the heart. It is the only way to peace. In Psalm 51, we hear David saying, "My sacrifice is a humble spirit, O God; you will not reject a humble and repentant heart" (v. 17).
In fact, the Lord is saying to them, "Come back! I am kind and full of mercy; I am patient and keep my promise; disaster is waiting to come on you but I am ready to forgive and not punish" (Joel 2.13b).
If we reject salvation, we are going to receive judgment. But God is waiting to forgive.
God is faithful to his promise and waiting to forgive. So the message goes on to show his concern for the land and his mercy on the people. "I will give you back what you lost in the years when swarms of locusts ate your crops" (v. 25a). Before, the priests had to weep and pray, "Have pity on your people, Lord. Do not let other nations despise us and mock us by saying, 'Where is your God?' " (v. 17) But now, "Israel, you will know that I am among you, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other. My people will never be despised again" (v. 27).
The story of Jesus and his coming is not described here - that is some four or five hundred years in the future. But here we have the Lord speaking. These are spiritual principles. How we live has consequences for us, for our circumstances, for the world about us - both in things that God allows to happen as well as in specific judgment. There is judgment, but God is love - he is waiting to forgive, he wants to restore.
And in Jesus that message is emblazoned across human history - God calling people to repent, calling people back to himself, offering them forgiveness, restoring to them the blessings and joys of life in his family…
Trusting the Lord and knowing him is "home". Come back to the Lord God!
Back to Sermons