The Day of the Lord - JOEL STARTS

We begin a study in the book of Joel. Historians believe he prophesied during the reign of Joash in Judah. Joash was trained by the priest Jehoiada. A national disaster was striking Israel - locusts were eating away the produce of the land in several waves. 

Joel 1:4 (ESV) 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.

This tragedy, Joel proclaims, prefigured the Day of the Lord. Now, at that time in Israel, many believed the Day of the Lord would lead to Israel's rebound from her subjection to the nations. But Joel brings the bad news - it will be a day of judgment on the chosen nation. 

In his first address to the nation, the Prophet Joel addressed four different groups. 

First, he calls the elders of the nation to bear witness that what they experienced was something never before seen. 

Joel 1:1–2 (ESV) The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: 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?

Elders are essential to any nation or people group. They are the living history of family and origins. They give us perspective and wisdom because they've seen things that help frame what we are going through in light of where we've been. Joel asks a haunting question that suggests what is to come is unlike anything they've ever seen. 

Second, he calls the drunkards to wake up and weep. 

Joel 1:5 (ESV) 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.

Drunkards are the downfall of a nation. They decemate families and fatherhood, which a culture needs if it is to survive. In this case, the drunkards, known for singing and joy, are called to wail because no amount of alcohol will anesthetize them from what will take place. 

Third, he tells the farmers to wail. 

Joel 1:11 (ESV) Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

Farmers are the backbone of a nation, providing food and opportunity for all. Joel tells them that their back is broken as the plague has wipe out the possibility of produce, only famine is expected. 

Finally, he calls on the priests to call a fast and repent. 

Joel 1:13 (ESV) 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.

One group is asked to do something about the problem. The priests, the religious leaders, are given a game plan to turn things around. Fast and pray. 

Joel 1:14 (ESV) 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.

The hope of every generation is in the spiritual leadership that chooses to seek God through the turmoil. While judgment may come to Israel, hope will also rise in the return from exile. When Godly leaders pray, they plant seeds for revival and resurrection in the land.

Joel paints a picture of the day of the Lord that counters modern convention. He told them plainly that the Day of the Lord would be dark and terrible. 

Joel 1:15–16 (ESV) Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. 16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

So the prophet himself calls out:

Joel 1:19 (ESV) 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.

What do we do when the day is dark? We seek God with all that we have. We turn to Him in hope that His mercies will be ours once again.