a. The small town of Enterprise, Alabama has an unusual statue in the center of town. They have a statue of an insect, a boll weevil. They didn't put up the statue because they love boll weevils. However, they recognized that the boll weevil was such a pestilence for cotton farmers that the farmers had to diversify into other crops. Because of that change, the agriculture of the area was saved.

b. We may have seen locusts, but most of us have never experienced the devastation which can be caused by a swarm of locusts. History is filled with accounts of the damage caused by locusts. Augustine wrote, "When Africa was a Roman province, it was attacked by a large number of locusts. Having eaten everything, leaves and fruits, a formidable swarm of them was drowned in the sea. Thrown up dead on the coasts, the putrefaction of these insects so infected the air as to cause a pestilence so horrible that in the kingdom of Masinissa alone 800,000 and more are said to have perished. Of 30,000 soldiers in Utique, only 10,000 remained. [City of God, III.xxxi].

c. We do know that locusts were one of the plagues God brought upon Egypt in Moses' time [Exodus 10:12-15 (NKJV) Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land; all that the hail has left." 13 So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. 14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. 15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.]

a. On one level, Joel is a simple prophecy about a coming attack of locusts [Joel 1:3-4 (NKJV) Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation. 4 What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.] [Note: KJV & ASV say palmerworm, locust, cankerworm, and caterpillar].

b. It quickly becomes obvious that Joel is talking about something even worse than a plague of locusts.

c. The locust attack serves as a warning of the destructiveness of God's judgment. The theme of this short Old Testament book of prophecy is "the coming of the day of the Lord." That phrase is used five times in the three chapters of Joel [1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14]. Let's see what those verses teach us.

1. It can be God's temporal judgment on peoples and nations.

2. It can also refer to God's final judgment [2 Peter 3:9-10 (NKJV) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.]

1. James 5:8 (NKJV) You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. The coming of Christ was "near" or "at hand" because the possibility existed that it could come at any time. James was not saying that Jesus WOULD come soon, but that He COULD come at any time.

2. In a similar way, prophecies which say that "the day of the Lord is at hand" may refer to the final judgment. We don't know WHEN the Lord will return and judge the world in righteousness so we should be ready for that day at any time [cf. Acts 17:31 (NKJV) "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."]

1. No one can afford to be "at ease in Zion" [Amos 6:1 (NKJV) Woe to you who are at ease in Zion. . . ."]

2. Some Christians live in fear when they don't need to be alarmed because they are walking in the light of God and have their sins cleansed by the blood of Christ [1 John 1:7 (NKJV) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.]

3. However, many people need a healthy dose of fear whenever they think of facing the Lord in judgment [Hebrews 10:31 (NKJV) It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.]

1. We titled this study "Preview of Pentecost" because Joel was able to look hundreds of years into the future and describe the events which took place as God's spiritual kingdom was being established.

2. God's Spirit was poured out on the apostles.

3. "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Paul also quoted this verse from Joel in Romans 10:13 (NKJV) For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." The New Testament offers the best commentary on Joel's promise.

1. Unbelief causes some to be unprepared.

2. Deception causes some to be unprepared.

3. Procrastination causes some to be unprepared.