 the day of the Lord. We're going to be looking at that in Joel chapter 1 and so I'll read verse 1 and do an introduction and then we'll get into our study. Joel chapter 1, the day of the Lord is at hand. Joel 1 verse 1, the word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethual. Now as you know we are currently looking at books of the Bible that are referred to by theologians as the minor prophets. Now when you hear the term minor prophets there are 12 books in the Bible that are referred to in that fashion, minor prophets. Now the reason that they're called the minor prophets is because they are much shorter than the prophets, some of the books of prophecy that you see like the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. So when you do studying in your Bible there are those who will help you to see that there are what are called the major prophets which are the larger books and then there are what are called the minor prophets. There are 12 books that are called minor prophets, the book of Hosea, this book here Joel, the book of Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Naim, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. All of those are referred to as minor prophets. Now as we look at these kinds of books, major and minor prophets, we need to remember that the prophetic office that was that we find in scripture originates really in God's purpose for the nation of Israel. Now Israel was to be a nation through whom all other nations were to be blessed. So God gave to them the law and he commanded them to be obedient. Now as you read your scripture God says if you are obedient you will become my own possession and you will become a nation of kings and priests. Now that would not happen if they followed the beliefs and the ways of the surrounding nations because God's intent for Israel was for it to be a unique nation amongst all nations of the world and that would not happen if they were following the wrong ways. So they need to be separate. They need to be separate so God gave them commands and God gave them revelation to guide them. Now the other nations followed demonic methodologies of discerning the future and God in his word condemns that. Now God wants them to know what he has for them so the way he gives to them insight into his plans is he reveals his plans through his prophets. To guide Israel God gives promises as well as warnings and you can see that very specifically in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy chapters 28 through 30. And so God intended to guide the nation of Israel so he gives promises and he gives warnings but somebody once asked the question how did the prophets fit into the picture. They would come along and they would say because you broke the covenant the covenant curses have fallen upon you or are about to fall upon you. In other words it has happened or is about to just as God has warned you. And so the prophets were those who would come and speak to the children of Israel and say God warned you and even as he said to you this would happen it's about to happen. So the prophets messages of sin and judgment would have to be seen in the light in light of this background and understanding of the Old Testament. Now the prophets didn't proclaim only judgment and the prophets didn't proclaim only destruction. They also revealed a message of salvation and they revealed the message of a future glory through the Messiah and they wanted people to know that there would be a beautiful future that's awaiting them. So you see that in Jeremiah for example chapter 29 verse 11 where God says I know the thoughts that I think toward you says the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope. Or Isaiah chapter 12 verses 1 through 3 and in that day you will say oh Lord I will praise you though you are angry with me your anger has turned away and you comfort me behold God is my salvation I will trust and not be afraid for yeah the Lord is my strength and song he also has become my salvation therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. So God would not only speak concerning the future in the sense of judgment that could come but through the prophets he also gave them a hope and a future speaking of Messiah and it's this hope and this future that God has for the nation that we're going to be looking at in the book of Joel. Now as we begin here in verse 1 notice how it simply says the word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Petual. Now there are several men in Scripture if you were just to open up a concordance look up the name Joel there are several men in Scripture named Joel the word Joel simply means Jehovah is God little is known of this man except from this book we know that he's a prophet from the southern kingdom he may have lived close to Jerusalem even as mentioned here his father's name was Petual which means persuaded by God and he may have been a priest as well as a prophet this book the book of Joel was written around 835 BC and he may have ministered right around the time of Elijah and Elisha. Now for some background here God moved Joel to see an event that had just occurred locusts have descended and they've stripped away every living green thing and Joel is proclaiming this as a judgment that came from the Lord. Now in the past God brings judgment through nature there are times that people may even ask concerning certain events that occur in the world or even our nation there are those who will ask does God bring judgment through nature and the answer is he has now I'm not one who will stand up and say a tornado is judgment from God I'm not somebody will stand up and say a tsunami is a judgment from God I don't have that kind of freedom and I don't have that kind of anointing I don't have that kind of discernment or wisdom I just don't have that so I'm not one who's going to stand up and say this particular natural calamity occurred from the hand of God I can't do that I can't say in the Old Testament that there are many many instances where God brought judgment through nature and you can see it from really from the beginning you see it in Genesis chapter 7 when God brings a flood that floods the whole earth you see it in Genesis chapter 19 when Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed by fire and brimstone that was rained on them you see in Exodus chapter 7 through 11 the plagues on Egypt which include frogs and lies flies livestock disease boils thunder hail locust darkness and so you see nature you see in Numbers chapter 16 verse 30 the earth opening up and swallowing Korah Nathan and Abraham you see that God sent a storm to rock the boat that Jonah was in so that he'd be thrown overboard in Jonah 1 you see God withholding the rain until Elijah prayed and James makes mention of that in chapter 5 verse 17 when you look into the New Testament book of Matthew chapter 24 Matthew 24 speaks of judgments from God that include famine pestilence and earthquake and then in Revelation chapters 6 through 19 there's a series of judgments that are all based in nature and so is it possible that God brings judgment through nature the scriptural answer is yes has he done it before many times and so God brings judgment so Joel is speaking of this and he's taking this as an opportunity to proclaim the message of God and he uses the terribleness of what has happened as a prophetic picture of what will one day happen the future judgment in the day of the Lord is going to make this pale in comparison and so beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 4 the word of the Lord that came to Joel the Son of Bethwell hear this you elders give ear all you inhabitants of the land has anything like this happened in your days or even in the days of your fathers tell your children about it let your children tell their children and their children another generation what the chewing locust left the swarming locust has eaten with the swarming locust left the crawling locust has eaten and what the crawling locust has left the consuming locust has eaten those were some hungry locusts now beginning the word of the Lord something you get used to seeing as you read your Bible but that's a phrase that's employed to reveal that the message that is coming is divine it's been commissioned by God the term the word of the Lord is a phrase that is used in various books like the book of Isaiah or the book of Micah Zephaniah Malachi as well as others they'll use that phrase so the reason that he begins by saying the word of the Lord that came to Joel is simply to make sure that the people know that this is a message that is coming from God himself that Joel is making it very clear even at the beginning that this isn't something that he came up with himself but this is something that God has moved him to proclaim he's delivering a message from the covenant God of Israel and as he begins he says in verse 2 hear this you elders and give ear all you inhabitants of the land so this is a message intended for all from the leaders to the general population he says hear this but not only hear this give ear into this so that means you need to not only listen carefully but you also need to make a decision see sometimes in the word of God is divided and presented to the congregation there are people there who are listening they're listening they hear they hear with the ear but they're not making a decision to obey with their heart and you can do that you can go to Bible study you can hear the word of the Lord because whenever the word of the Lord is divided whenever the Bible is rightly divided and communicated through the anointing of the Spirit God is speaking to the congregation and when that happens there are those who are saying speak Lord you're serving here I want to know what the Spirit is saying to the church so that my life can be transformed so that I can do those things that please you I'll be well instructed I will be obedient and so I know the wisdom that you would give to me comes through obedience to your word so he says you need to listen but you need to hear you need to do both you need to not only just allow the words to settle in so that you understand the language but you need he's saying to decide to obey what God is saying because it's through that decision of obedience that God actually reveals himself to man in mark chapter 7 verse 16 Jesus said it like this if anyone has ears to hear let him hear and that's what you hear through the book of revelation when God is speaking to the seven churches he who has an ear hear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and so there is a word that God is speaking that they're intended to hear so the civil as well as the religious leaders are first mentioned because they're the examples there to consider what is happening and there to use their position to inspire others to learn by their example of repentance the people could also see their own need to do so this example you know today we perhaps need to remember that those who have been placed in a position of leadership or authority often do the best job of leading when they're the best examples because they undermine their authority when they don't obey the message they communicate to somebody else it's like a parent trying to raise a child to live in the right way and so the parent says to the child you need to go to church and so what does the parent do the parent drops the kid off at church well they get back home and they go back into bed and they sleep for another couple of hours many years ago now I don't know if this still happens to this day but I do remember it was happening several years ago now because it was brought to my attention how a little boy was being dropped off here like first service and then he was being picked up third service at the end of third service and I it was brought to my attention they were children's ministers were saying you know we don't know what to do pastor because the little boy is being dropped off and the parents will come back or the mom will come back at the conclusion of the third service and they don't go to the church they're using this place as kind of like free daycare what do you think and I said I think we need to love that baby I think we need to have people who care for the little one and we need to have people who are in between surfaces watching to make sure he's safe because we want to win this little boy to Jesus Christ we want him to know he's loved because quite obviously his mama and his dad haven't valued him they see this on Sunday as an opportunity for them to sleep in or go do some shopping or whatever it's heartbreaking when you think about it but it's an opportunity also that we were more than willing to to invest ourselves in and we cared for the baby because that's what we should do I remember a lady a dear friend of ours who was working at a preschool and the mother came to her and said to her I'm on vacation for the next two weeks just don't tell my child because I'm going to be dropping the baby off here so I can have me time and I still remember that I still remember hurting for that little one whose mama I have to be honest with you perhaps this is offensive to some please understanding the spirit that's being communicated I just thought wouldn't it have been a valuable thing for that mama to spend time with their own baby how sad it is for someone to be so caught up with me time that they forget the greatest responsibility they have which is to help a child to know that it's loved in a world that will not love that child and then a lot of people don't understand that we need to not only hear but we need to obey and it begins with the leaders the examples to the nation so that God is speaking and the leaders are to hear obey so that the people of the nation can see how serious this message is and that's why you're speaking first to the leadership what is happening is going to be severe it's so severe that it should have revealed the hand of God to these people now notice in verse 3 how it says tell your children about it let your children tell their children and their children another generation this is so important that your children and your grandchildren your children and your grandchildren should be instructed about it not only are my children to know what God's message is in other words but the grandchildren should have that generationally that message should be handed on relay races for those of you who might remember track if you were in track and field and all relay races are often lost by a failure in the exchange of the baton that individual just didn't make the pass and it wasn't it wasn't completed and so the race is lost in the spiritual life that we live there is a baton that is being handed off guys and so tell your children but also tell your children's children not only in other words are you to adhere to this message but don't forget it communicate it and do it in such a way that your children will embrace it so that your children will take that message and communicate it to their own children you see what's about to happen has to be spoken of and it needs to be remembered it's not to remain a lesson learned only by the old but it must be delivered to the young there are lessons that that older people the older generation have learned but it's not just our lesson it's it's a lesson that that we're supposed to be given to other people I was watching some of you might like to watch mm a and stuff like that I I'll watch it I think they're lucky I'm not in the ring but anyway oh they'd be guilty of murder they'd kill me but I was watching the introduction of a new show where these four particular MMA coaches are trying to woo a team to themselves and each one of them are saying this is my style this is what I can do for you perhaps some of you may have seen that some of you fellas I don't perhaps you ladies um and so this one particular individual is trying to to encourage this fighter to join his team and he's telling him all the good that he can do for this young fighter which is interesting because the coach who's speaking is a former champion guys got many many fights many victories he's well known his name is shamrock he's well known and um anybody who's ever watched MMA knows that he had a great reputation of being a ferocious fighter and so I was interested in hearing him as he's encouraging this young fighter and then they have the younger fighter speaking to the camera alone and he says he says something like when when he was fighting I wasn't even interested in MMA in other words he said I don't really know in essence he said I don't really know what I can learn from him because he's so old and I thought isn't that the way youth is that's how I was how can that old man know anything how I never thought how did he get old I never thought how did he get into the position that he's able to instruct like when I saw pastor chuck I was 20 years old and first time I encountered pastor chuck smith I was 20 years old pastor chuck was 43 so I thought man that's an old man what's that old man got to say to me I'm 20 years old what does he know and that's only 43 pastor chuck is 80 he'll be 86 on the 25th of this month 86 so 43 years of my spiritual life have been an awareness of this one man chuck's man but when I first saw him I thought he was just an old man what's that old man got to say to a young man because as a young man I think I know more than the old man especially today in this age of of binging or googling you know you don't even need to really read all you need to do is get some cliff notes on various things you become an expert on everything you can be an expert on everything all it takes you is 10 minutes and before you know it you've looked at a few sources read a few things made a few notes you're now an expert and it took this person 40 years to learn the little bit that you're now just writing down and thinking you already know and so it's really important especially in these last days I would encourage those of us in this room not us those of you in this room who are younger to learn from the elder especially when that older person has lived the life of righteousness for years because they have something to communicate to you they can share with you because as different as this world may seem to be in reality we still go through the same kinds of temptations less the flesh less of the eyes and the pride of life those are the three basic things that have been getting man since the garden of Eden they're the three basic things that satan still uses to undermine and destroy and so it may come in a different form or appear different but it's all in substance the same and so somebody who's been walking with the Lord through their experience with God can communicate to you this is what God can do this is what God has done this is what God will do in your life you see and sometimes people will get up and they'll say oh that guy doesn't know anything he doesn't know anything about my life but God knows everything about your life and all we really need to do is communicate to you the answer is found here in this word and God's word can help you to live a life and oh by the way I've gone through similar things not exactly the same for sure but I've gone through things and I've seen God to be faithful he's faithful to me he'll be faithful to you and so the old are to communicate to the children but the children are to take that and communicate to their own children in Psalm 78 verses one through seven the psalmist says this give ear oh my people to my law incline your ears to the words of my mouth I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us we will not hide them from our children telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done for he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded to our fathers that they should make them known to their children that the generation to come might know them the children who would be born that they may arise and declare them to their children that they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments so that's what the Lord is saying communicate to your children and to your children's children the key is to teach and commit the lessons God teaches to future generations failure to do so leads to destruction and you can see this in biblical history I was mentioning on Wednesday how that when we concluded the book of Joshua in chapter 24 the generation that lived during the time of Joshua was a righteous generation but they all died out and I was mentioning on Wednesday night how that another generation arose that didn't follow the things of the Lord it's found in Judges 2 verses 10 and 11 it says when all that generation had been gathered to their fathers another generation arose after them who didn't know the Lord nor the work which he had done for Israel then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the bails and so what happened is when one generation died the future generation the next one arose and did not know God I was sharing some of you were with me on Wednesday how that one of my great concerns as a member of of a movement that God had done in such a wonderful way that we refer to as the Jesus movement that Jesus revolution with the Jesus music and the Jesus people my great concern is that it doesn't die out in one generation but that we communicate that to the future generations that's what scripture says so Joel says you must tell your children and they the parents must tell their children he goes on in verse four and he speaks concerning these various locusts with the chewing locust left the swarming locust has eaten with the swarming locust left the crawling locust has eaten with the crawling locust left the consuming locust has eaten now there are those who would say these are four different kinds of locusts others will say this appears to be four stages of the development of a locust but the more natural reading would simply see it as a picture of continuing and complete devastation what one swarm leaves behind is consumed by the next and so forth till all is gone that's the whole point that's being made everything's destroyed so he says in verse five awake you drunkards and weep and wail all you drinkers of wine because of the new wine for it has been cut off from your mouth so he speaks to the people and he says you drunkards need to awaken out of your drunken stupor now why is he beginning with uh with those who drink why is it beginning with them because some some of those people who are drinking and are getting inebriated can be very loud i know that you've never been around a loud drunk before you never saw yourself drunk did you and not only do some people when they're drinking become very loud sometimes they can have a very carefree attitude and i've been around what we call loud and happy drunks we used to call them happy drunks you know because there's some mean drunks you don't want to be around them you know the guy's five foot four but he suddenly grows to be 300 pounds of mean because he's been drinking and the alcohol makes him think he's big and tough right but there are others who are just kind of carefree and just kind of silly and they're silly drunks and and they're entertaining and uh so he's saying there are those who drink who have a carefree appearance it seems like nothing bothers them at all and they can talk loudly draw attention in themselves they're very carefree so he's saying to them instead of laughing you need to weep because your vine has been destroyed what gave you so much pleasure has been taken away from you is what he's saying now you might want to note this this is interesting because this reveals that a great sin in israel was drunkenness it's been said no good ever comes as a result of being drunk there are those who today even in the church get greatly offended if if i should say or a minister like myself should say avoid the alcohol they get upset well the bible doesn't say i i can't drink i can't tell you how many emails and conversations i've had over the years you you're you're a legalist that's the favorite word that is used for me and people like me you're a legalist what i find interesting is this why are people arguing about how much they can drink why aren't they beginning to see how much of the spirit can i have the bible says be you're not drunk with wine which is excess but rather be filled with the spirit instead of being drunk with wine and the argument is how much wine can i drink why not say how much of the spirit can i walk in an individual who wants to argue with me about drinking is not interested in walking in the spirit bottom line they're not interested in walking in the spirit they're interested in feeding their flesh which is why they want to argue i have never had somebody walk up to me and say to me i just want to know how much more the spirit can i have and get away from the wine it's normally i just want to know how much wine can i have and still have the spirit well the bottom line is why even create such a such an argument why not say this jesus can you give me more of your spirit so that i don't have a hunger for the flesh so that i don't get into arguments about how close to the edge i can walk and still go to heaven i would like to have so much of your spirit that i never even want to have anything of the flesh that makes sense to me and that's pretty much what it means to love the lord thy god with all your heart is that hunger and that's desire for righteousness that jesus said seek after you see so one of the chief sins in israel is quite obvious because it's brought out in the very first thing that's mentioned related to the sinfulness it's brought out there your drunkenness now as he continues on in verse six he says for a nation has come up against my land strong and without number his teeth are like the teeth of a lion and he has the fangs of a fierce lion he has laid waste my vine ruined my fig tree he has stripped it bare and thrown it away its branches are made white and so he's speaking concerning this nation now these locusts are pictured as an invading army and they're coming in hordes and they're destroying everything they're pictured notice like fierce lions they destroy everything with their sharp teeth now as he's speaking here notice with me he speaks concerning a vine and a fig tree the vine and the fig tree are ancient symbols of the nation israel you see that in deuteronomy chapter eight verse eight so he's saying that they have come and destroyed my nation in verse eight he says lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth now when he speaks like this he's saying this is the proper response you should have you should have deep sorrow like a young bride who has lost her husband she is now exchanging her wedding dress for sackcloth instead of joyful songs she's now beginning to mourn why why is she called to mourn in such a way well he says in verse nine the grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the lord now those were the offerings that were daily offerings they were made in the morning they were made in the evening according to leviticus 23 13 and so without the daily offerings the people are now cut off from the fellowship with god now the priests are to mourn because they couldn't offer the sacrifices notice verse nine he says the priest mourn who ministered to the lord they're to mourn because they cannot offer their sacrifices now in one sense the sacrifice was their source of livelihood because they lived off the offerings but in another sense and they need to mourn because something's happening that's terrible and as priests they're to model the proper response before the nation it should be mourning now when it uses the term lament lament and and it speaks concerning sackcloth lamenting is something that occurs from the inside sackcloth is that which is visible so let your broken heart be obvious to people true repentance is always demonstrated by changed behavior when somebody says I'm sorry to me if they've done something that has been hurtful or wrong I accept that and I'm more than willing to to say well of course I forgive you if you're asking for that of course we do that but a genuine repentance is always demonstrated by a changed behavior so if somebody says to me I'm sorry that I told you you're ugly and I say well that's okay and then they go on to say but you're still ugly but I'm still sorry well I kind of think they're not being sincere because if if you're really sorry why do you keep repeating the thing that is hurtful why do you do that and so lamenting is an internal condition sackcloth is the external when somebody really has a broken heart their behavior demonstrates it true repentance is not just saying I'm sorry but it's turning away and having a new life and so that's what he's saying this is a picture of sincere mourning over what has happened and if you have sincerity in your mourning God will forgive and will restore so he's calling for a tearful heartful heartfelt repentance he's saying you need to you need to repent you need to turn away from your sin now in verse 10 the field is wasted the land mourns for the grain is ruined the new wines dried up the oil fails notice the words wasted ruined dried up oil fails he's saying there has been a complete devastation and a complete ruin so verse 11 be ashamed you farmers wail you vine dressers for the wheat and the barley because the harvest of the field has perished the vine is dried up the fig tree has withered the pomegranate tree the palm tree also and the apple tree all the trees of the field are withered surely joy has withered away from the sons of men this complete devastation is has occurred and you need to be aware of that your livelihood and your identity have been attacked it's dried up and it's withered that speaks of the roots of the plants and the trees have been destroyed your source of joy has been stripped away it's stripped away from all the lives of the people so what should I do well verse 13 gird yourself and lament you priests wail you who minister before the altar can lie all night in sackcloth you who minister to my god for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your god consecrate a fast call a sacred assembly gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the lord your god cry out to the lord he's saying there needs to be a morning there needs to be a time of total repentance and a real repentance begins with religious leaders have a genuine broken heart because if you have a genuinely broken heart you'll be an example to all that the times are serious ministers have the responsibility i'll say this very quickly ministers have the responsibility of going before the people and demonstrating what god requires that's what my job is that's what my calling is i'm supposed to be living in such a way that that the lord can use me to encourage people to to love him and so as an example if something something bad happens i know how my my fellowship is i've seen it over the years very often what they do is they they look to see my response to these things because it helps them to know what their response should be and so that's what he's saying here he's saying it's going to begin with the leadership it's going to begin with the priests in our day i really believe that there needs to be a repentance that begins with the pastors of the nation i really do i believe that sometimes pastors can get caught up with with numbers of people that go to the churches and the budgets that they have and the concerns that they might have concerning those two things and they can begin to compromise the message of the gospel they can begin to change the message to appeal to people so that people will show up and continue to give and before you know it they're not calling the people to live for jesus christ because they've taken their sights off of heaven themselves and they put it onto the church because they're afraid that the church won't show up for things and so what we need to do is we need to be examples examples of what god can do in somebody's life examples of what god wants to do in the congregation and so it begins with us and he's saying listen if you want the lord to move then you ministers need to have a true heart of repentance he says in verse 14 consecrate of fast call a sacred assembly gather the elders and the inhabitants so he's saying the people will follow your lead if you do this they're willing to respond to the repentance of the leaders they also will cry out so they need to be a national act of repentance and the seeking of god and now he goes on and says this alas for the day for the day of the lord is at hand it shall come as destruction from the almighty is not the food cut off before our eyes joy and gladness from the house of our god the seed grain shrivels under the clods storehouses are in shambles barns are broken down for the grain is withered how the beasts groan the herds of cattle are restless because they have no pasture even the flots of sheep suffer your punishment oh lord to you I cry out the fire has devoured the open pastures and a flame has burned all the trees of the field the beast of the field also cry out to you for the waterbrooks are dried up fire has devoured the open pastures complete devastation the day of the lord the day of the lord is at hand joel is moving from the present situation in order that he might compare it to future events and it serves as a way to compare their present situation with something that is far worse he speaks of this in verse 15 by referring to it as the day of the lord the day of the lord he says is at hand the day of the lord is a technical term it's a term in scripture that refers to a period of time that god brings judgment now i'm going to develop this with you for just a few minutes this is the kind of thing that could actually take several weeks to try and develop just point by point i'm just going to breeze through it with you to be honest with you but i'll begin by saying this the day of the lord is a technical term it relates to a period of time when god is bringing judgment the bible speaks concerning the day of man the day of christ and the day of the lord you might find that interesting the day of man the day of christ and the day of the lord when the scripture speaks concerning what is called the day of man that speaks of the time when man makes judgment according to man's opinions now i didn't point this out to you but when we were in first Corinthians chapter four verse three paul said this but with me it is a very small thing that i should be judged by you or by a human court in fact he said i do not even judge myself now when he said it's a very little thing that i'd be judged by you or by a human court the literal translation from the greek language gives more insight paul is literally saying to me it is a very little thing that by you i may be judged or by man's day but not even myself do i judge by man's day now when he speaks concerning by man's day he's speaking of the time when man judges based on his own opinion we are in that day right now now you can see that pictured in daniel chapter two when nebuchadnezzar had this this dream of a man and you can remember this man that he had that had a a head of gold and he had a chest and arms of silver he had his his belly and his thighs that were of bronze his his legs were iron and his feet were iron mixed with clay and so later on we see that that really represents man's day that represents kingdoms the babelonian on and on and on for particular kingdoms that are going to rise up in succession and that refers to man's judgment man's judgment on the earth and so jesus refers to that same thing in luke 21 24 when he refers to it as the time of the Gentiles and so you have in scripture what is called a man's day so you have the day of the lord the day of christ but you have man's day man's day is what we're in right now where man judges based on his own opinion and does not look to scripture for the answers but basically gives their own opinion and so that's one thing but there's a second day i mentioned it to you a moment ago it's called the day of christ the day of christ is also a reference to what is called the rapture of the church in first Corinthians chapter one verses seven and eight paul said you come short in no gift eagerly waiting for the revelation of our lord jesus christ who will also confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our lord jesus christ philippians one six being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of jesus christ so he's going to keep us until he takes us out of this world in the rapture so the day of christ but this other day that we're looking at is called the day of the lord now the day of the lord begins after the rapture it is also called the great tribulation it is given great detail in a revelation chapter six through nineteen but is the day of god pouring out his wrath and so you see in isaac 13 9 behold the day of the lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate he will destroy its sinners from it you see it in amos 5 20 is not the day of the lord darkness and not light is it not very dark with no brightness in it so the point is this terrible destruction by locus serves to be a picture of a greater future destruction that will come upon man a time that is called the day of the lord and when we've gone through the book of revelation and we've looked at each one of those those judgments that actually get greater and then greater until it's brought to a conclusion that's called the day of the lord and so what joel is doing is he's taking current events and he's saying it is bad now but in god's prophetic timetable there's going to be something yet in the future that i can compare this with which is called the day of the lord and so this day of the lord is a future event but he uses these things that are taking place at that time as a foretaste or a foretelling of something that is yet future to come so in that these locusts and all have come through and devoured all that there is he's saying this is bad and what needs to be done is is genuine repentance and it should begin with the leadership of the nation of israel and the religious leaders ought to be the greatest examples because they're most aware of what god is doing and so i don't expect for example to bring it to the 21st century i don't expect the president or congress or the courts to bring righteousness to this nation do you i don't i don't look for some person in some political office or some judiciary position some governor or whatever i do not look to them to establish righteousness and i don't necessarily with you i don't necessarily think that that their influence would be permanent anyway because i've seen it too many times i've seen it in the history of this church 911 and and before you know it we have prayer meetings and the church is filled with people coming to pray and they're seeking god what's happening disasters happen and before you know it you have people showing up in churches and and they want to know more of god until everything smooths out so you can have a president who will go on tv or will be on the radio and will read a prayer and people are comforted by that and i think that that's all all good but i don't expect a president a governor a mayor i don't expect them to be the example that i follow for for god to move i expect the ministers to i i expect the pastors to stop fighting over location of churches and size congregations and and and territories that they're expanding into and somebody gets mad because of that or trying to find a new way to reach a new generation and and using carnal techniques to do that i i really think that what we need to do is be aware of the fact that true revival comes when people are broken hearted when they get on their faces they god move when they see disasters and it moves them not to just rally around for a while to try and help people to have that that strong human spirit and you know lift themselves by the the bootstraps but but when the pastors in the churches in the areas that are affected go out and begin to minister and and and seek the lord and work in unity and pray for people and help them that's what really changes communities anyway and so here he's simply saying listen these locusts formed and they brought destruction the priests and the officials need to return to god the priests especially have been impacted because the offerings that are not coming in has impacted them in tremendous way because that's their sustenance but beyond that they ought to see what's taking place so they can lead the nation to fall in its face before god to seek god so he'll restore them and by the way this is only a picture a small picture of what one day in the future will come in this time called the day of the lord we're in the time of man you're in that time of the Gentiles there will be a time of the day of christ when the rapture of the church occurs but after that you're going to have what is called the day of the lord and so he says in verse 19 and 20 lord to you i cry out for fires devoured the open pastures a flame has burned all the trees of the field the beasts of the field also cry out to you for the waterbrooks are dried up the fire has devoured the open pastures the locusts had a scorched earth effect everything has been consumed even the beasts of the field are crying out for help the judgment is terrible it affects all life lord we're crying to you and we need your help that's the wisest thing that you can do don't you think when you're going through something cry out to the lord and that's what he says oh lord to you i cry out and that's what the church ought to be doing even today