Beloved and blessed Father, we thank thee for the Lord Jesus. We only can lift our hearts and open our lips to speak with thee through the virtue and the sacrificial work of our beloved Savior. We thank thee for that tremendous work, far-reaching in its effect than any other divine undertaking. when thy dearly beloved Son was upon the cross of Calvary. We base our hope for time and most of all for eternity on what he did upon that cross. With another we would say, on a life I did not live, a death I did not die, another's death and others' wounds. I stake my whole eternity. And we thank thee, Father, that in the very midst of time, towering all the rest of time, is the great work of his cross. We lift it up, Father, oh, that the world could see the magnitude of thy love, thy matchless grace, as well as thy power to save through the work of his cross. And we who are thine, we bow humbly, but we bow gratefully to worship. and adore thee, Father, and thank thee for the unspeakable gift of thy dearly beloved Son. We bless thee, too, that not only through him and in him do we have life, but only in him and through him can we be blessed as we come to thy precious Word. We beseech that for his glory and for our blessing the Spirit of God will open the Word for our encouragement and admonition. We are so grateful that it is not where we may turn in this precious book, whether from Genesis through Revelation and all in between, it is thy voice. And even today we pray that we shall hear thy voice. There are scriptures, Lord, that can unfold far more than what may be on the surface, and only the Holy Spirit of whom it is written, he knoweth the things of God, even the depths of God. And may he speak and reveal some of them to our hearts and minds today. Yet we would pray for one another. We thank you for those thou as minister, too, to give some measure of restoration. We pray for others that need thy grace and healing hand, if it be thy will. But we are also conscious there are some of thy dear children who may not be get well. For their comfort and grace meet that need, that they may suffer for thy glory if they have to suffer. But more than all else, bless them, Lord, and use them for thy glory even in their sickness and ill health. Then there are some, Lord, that we know may be very near to the time they will be going to be with thee in thy presence. Oh, that they may know the comforting presence of the one who said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And in the valley of the shadow may they rejoice and say, Thou art with me. Then we pray for the families we represent. We are not unmindful. No family is without testing and trial. And some of us at heartaches, Lord, because of some of the difficulties and trials, that may pervade the family history. But oh how we pray, thou wilt give grace to those of us who seek to call upon thee, thou wouldst answer the prayers for the blessing of those for whom we pray. Sometimes it may be a straying believer, or it may be, Father, an unsaved loved one. Grant indeed thy mercies as we pray, one for another in our family, and grant be glorified through it thyself. Then we pray for the whole body of Christ, which is upon the earth. We are not, Father, boasting regarding the position or the condition, rather, that we are in as thy people at large. We see apostasy increasing on every hand, declension and decline, even in spiritual fervor, and how we lift our hearts to thee by the Holy Spirit. in thy will, according to thy purpose, where thou art able to, revive thy people again, that they may rejoice in thee. Now we lay ourselves at thy feet to be taught. Like Mary of all, blessed Lord, we would sit at thy feet, and ask thee that thou will fulfill our prayer, and make the book lift to us. We ask it in thy blessed name, Lord Jesus, and for thine honor and glory. Amen. We come to the, I almost said epistle, but it's the prophecy of Joel. But he did write it, and of course it is a letter, but at the hand of God he wrote it. Now have y'all got a copy of the outline? Someone up there needs one, Louise. Thanks. Now there's some copies you can have that you can put in your book, complete outlines of the book. After the class you can get one. But we'll look on page one and two of our lessons on Joel today and the lesson sheet. But shall we turn to the prophecy itself and read the words that the prophet has written as we look at the opening chapter? The Word of the Lord, and please let us emphasize in the reading of the opening verse, it is the Word of the Lord. How blessed to recognize Now may I state how we were Christians need to realize that whatever we read in the precious book, it is the Word of the Lord from Genesis through Revelation. And grant that we shall ever turn to its pages in recognition and humble appreciation with listening to the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord that came to Joel the Son of Perthuel. Hear this ye, O men. Give here all ye inhabitants of the land. Have this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it. Let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmer worm hath left, hath the locust eaten. That which the locust hath left, hath the canker worm eaten. That which the canker worm hath left, hath the caterpillar eaten. Awake ye drunkens and weep, and howl all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine. For it is cut off from your mouth, for a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number whose teeth are the teeth of lion, and he hath the cheap teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree. He hath made a clean bear, cast it away, the branches thereof are made white, Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of a youth. The meat or the meal offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord. The priest, the Lord's ministers mourn. The field is wasted. The land mourner, for the corn is wasted. The new wine is dried up. The oil languishes. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandman. Howl, O ye vine dressers, for the wheat and for the barley. because the harvest of the field is perished, the vine is dried up, the fig tree languisher, the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered, because joy is withered away from the sons of men. Gird yourselves and lament, ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altar, come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my gorn. For the meal offering and the drink offering is withholding from the house of your God. Sanctify ye of that. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God. And cry unto the Lord. Alas for the day. For the day of the Lord is at hand. And as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes. Yay joy and gladness from the house of our God. The seed is rotten under their clod. The God is a late desolate. The barns are broken down, for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan? The herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O Lord, to thee will I cry, for the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee, for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness. May God bless the reading of his word. May I say very earnestly, these are very solemn words, coming from Jehovah through his servant Joel, spoken many centuries ago, and spoken without question of doubt. to his earthly people in the land of Judah. If you'll follow with me very briefly and quickly, page number one on your outline of the prophecy and the introduction in which we would like to give somewhat of an outline of the prophecy itself. First of all, we consider the date of it, and may I state, though it's not in the order chronologically, yet the prophecy of Joel is undoubtedly the earliest minor prophecy that was written. By those who are more confident than myself, they have dated the time of it to fall between eight sixty BC and eight hundred and fifty BC, so that the prophecy is therefore possibly the oldest as well as the first of the minor prophets. Now also you will find, if not mentioned particularly on our outline here, But the place where Job particularly prophesied was in the opposite direction from our preceding study in the prophecy of Ozea. We noted particularly that Ozea was a prophet of the ten tribes called Israel and sometimes called Ephraim. Job's prophecy, and we shall see it, was directed particularly and chiefly to Jerusalem and to Judah And he prophesied particularly to the people of Judah. Now the occasion of the prophecy is based upon what we have read in the first chapter. There came a dreadful scourge of locusts that invaded the land. They stripped it of all green production, and they have followed a great drought. All of this was a chastening from the Lord, as we shall find revealed in chapter one as we go through it. And it brought great lamentation, both to the old and to the young and to the priests and to the people. But then we would suggest, as you look at number three on your page, the prophecy will enlarge in chapter two. For we shall find that the locusts become typical of a great invading army from the north, which devastates the land to make it like a wilderness. And Joel, by the Spirit, sounds the alarm, calling in Zion for repentance, which will ultimately follow. But it will be in the day of God's restoration of his people. And of course, the great change appears, for the day of the Lord is announced. And we have read, whereby God will intervene on behalf of his people and deliver them from the Northern Army. and someday he will restore more fully and perfectly what the locusts have devoured. And the land will be restored, and the latter rain will be given. But within the chapter that we will be studying, there is a prophetic prediction that we have mentioned on our outline in the introduction. And it will come at the end of chapter two, rather, and there we shall find a prediction of spiritual blessings. by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God upon all flesh. And this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled when the millennial reign of Christ the Messiah begins. The reason we mention it, and we shall mention it in detail and study it more careful, when we come into chapter two, a great deal of confusion would have been avoided among professing Christians if more careful attention had been given to the setting of this scripture regarding the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh. Our so-called Pentecostal friends have been deluded, many of them, to build upon that scripture an erroneous interpretation of the prophecy. Now this will be studied in detail when we come into chapter two. But in number five of your first page, we have the great theme of the prophecy. And the great theme is, as you find through the prophecy, five times Joel mentions the day of the Lord, or the day of Jehovah. We have it as we have read in chapter one, verse fifteen. You'll find it again in chapter two, verse one. You'll find it in verse eleven of chapter two, as well as verse thirty-one. And you'll find it in chapter three, and verse fourteen. The day of the Lord. I believe, if I'm not mistaken in remembering, I believe you will find approximately forty times in the Old and the New Testament the expression, the day of the Lord. And it has a distinct meaning. May I give you three particular references regarding the distinction of it. First of all, you may have noticed in Philippians chapter one, Paul speaks regarding the believer and declares in chapter one how he and he prays in that first chapter that the believer would be kept until the day of Christ the day of Christ and when you read the day of Christ it's always in connection with his coming for his redeemed people that will be his day When he gathers together his redeemed people and brings them to meet him in the air particularly at the Blessed Rapture. And then you have also another expression, not too frequently. It's the day of God. You'll find it in First Corinthians chapter fifteen. And you may find it in other scriptures. The day of God. And that's when the eternal day comes. After all time is finished. and it will be the day of God's glory when his purposes will have been fulfilled, and the universe will be under his perfect control, seen banished, ungodly, separated forever, and in the new creation, God's day of eternal glory will dawn. But the expression, the day of the Lord, has another connotation. May I say this briefly, and we'll see it as we study the book before us. Well, you'll find it in other scriptures. Whenever you read concerning the day of Jehovah or the day of the Lord, look carefully in your context. And it is always described as a day of gloom, darkness, trouble, sorrow, punishment. And you'll find in the context, The description of the day of the Lord is one that speaks of judgment. Now may I just, for just a moment, we'll develop the thought of it when we go through the book, but just a moment, may I put it this way? The whole world is yet to be visited by God in that which is termed the day of the Lord. Look with me in First Thessalonians chapter five, please, will you? I want you to note something. I'd like to make that distinction before we go any further so we can get a clear understanding of its meaning, even as we study the prophecy of Joel. But in First Thessalonians chapter five, there are words that the Apostle Paul wrote significantly about the day of the Lord. May I begin in chapter five at verse one. Now I want you to note, even Paul, when he wrote to the Thessalonians, made a distinction between the coming of the Lord for his sake, and here what we read. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. Now let me pause for just a moment. If you were to read in Acts chapter one, do you remember that just before the Lord went back to heaven? And he'd been forty days on the earth with his disciples after his resurrection. They came to him just before he went back to heaven. Master, are you going to restore the kingdom at this time to Israel? And the Lord said to them, It's not for you to know the times and the seasons which are in God's hand. Now the times and the seasons relate to God's purposes in relation not only to Israel but to the whole world. And so the apostle writes, here to the Thessalonians, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, you know neither I write unto you. I don't have to tell you what they mean. For then in verse two he tells what they knew. You shall know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When did they learn that in the Old Testament? Paul preached it when his converts were brought to the Lord. He taught them the day of the Lord. And then as you go to read on, notice what he said. For when they shall say peace in the world, when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon men as travel upon a woman with child and he shall not escape. Now let me ask a question. Does that apply to you and to me as Christians? Are we looking for trouble like that? Thank God no. sudden destruction? We're looking for a sudden departure to go and meet the Lord in the air. Beloved, look, take the contrast. The day of the Lord means sudden destruction for the world. The day of Christ means he's coming for his people. And what a joy. But let me read on further. No, verse four, please. But ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. No, let me ask you. Is the Lord Jesus coming like a thief to get you in? No. He's not a robber. He's not coming for his people in the attitude of a thief in the night. He may, thank God, he may come in the morning and night. He may come in the noon day, whatever time it matters not. We know he's coming. but for the day of the Lord as a thief. Now look in verse five. You are the children of light, the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of the dark. Listen, my fellow believer, please let me state it. That day of the Lord, a day of judgment, a day of terror, a day of peril, a day of gloom and darkness and night. Not for you and for me. Anybody that wants to go through the great tribulation, I say they're welcome to it. We're not the children of the night. We're the children of the day. But we further on. Therefore we say, let us not sleep as do others. Let us watch and be sober. Spiritually we should be awake. They that sleep, sleep in the night. They that be drunken are drunken in the day. But let us who are of the day. Be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God had not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Please let me re-emphasize. I want to re-emphasize it, because if you miss the emphasis of the meaning of the day of the Lord, we'll not get the true understanding of Joel's prophecy. It's a day of wrath. It's a day of judgment. And here Paul writes of the Christians. That's not for us. We're children of the day. Go to the second epistle, please, for just a moment. The second epistle of Thessalonians. Let me read if I may. And I would like to read something that needs to be a correction in your translation in verse one and two. Now let me just read verse one and two. Now we be fit you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him. Now what's he mean by those words? Well, he said, Brethren, we're looking for the coming of the Lord. We're looking for what he told him in chapter four of the first epistle. Our gathering together, aren't they? Let me describe it. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord where? In the air, so shall we ever be with the Lord. Play, let me say, before the day of the Lord comes and crashes down on the world, you and I are going to be guided to him. Lord Jesus, I wish you'd come. Oh, the joy of seeing it. Then he goes on to say, Paul says, see that ye be not soon shaken in your mind. Don't be troubled, neither by spirit, nor even by word, or anybody that says I'd written a letter to you about it. Now here's the correction of the transplants. As that the day of the Lord is at hand. Now it should be, and you'll find it in your Greek text, it's the day of the Lord. a day of gloom, a day when the Antichrist comes, and the man of sin appears. So, beloved, please get the distinction between the day of Christ is coming for you and for me, and the day of Jehovah, or the day of the Lord, of judgment, and of power, and may I say, that day will go all the way through the millennial kingdom when Jehovah will reign. And then when eternity comes, you've got actually forever the day of God. Won't God be happy? Everything put right in the universe, and His beloved Son, the ruler of it all, and the heir. And don't forget, you and I who are saved to join heirs with Him. Now, I think He wants to... You know, that's a lot better than being the King of England. or the Queen of Sheba for that man. And the real life will be joined as with Christ. So let's go on in our prophecy of Joel then. And let me finish the paragraph that we have before us in that fifth item on the page. The great theme of the prophecy. Therefore Joel can be called the prophet of the day of the Lord. This is the specific time when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the earth in power and great glory. when the enemies of Israel are to be judged, when the Lord redeems and restores the nation of Israel and makes them the head over all the nations of the earth. Now the divisions of the prophecy are very simple. One chapter for each division. Chapter one, which we have read, The Plague of the Locus. Chapter two, we have more enlarged regarding the coming of day of the Lord, the ruin that will be on the earth, the repentance and the restoration of Israel. And then in chapter three, chapter three is a most unusual critical prophecy in great detail describing that awful day when all the nations are going to be visited. Can I repeat that? Look, I hope you get the concept clear. The day is coming. when every nation on the earth will feel the judgment of God being poured out. Can I repeat it again? We fit so satisfied about the conditions that are around us too much. But the day is coming, not only in the United States, but all over the world in every nation. the visitation of God's judgments are going to be part of. May I point out this? God has never yet visited the whole world at one time in judgment. But it's due. It's promised. It's declared in the book. Yes, he deals with nations, and we shall see some of that. We see it in relation to Israel. But now let's go to our chapter and go to your second page. and where we have the prophecy of the chapter before us, regarding the plague of locusts. Now we have read, and you've noted it from verses one through four, that the prophet appeals to the people of Judah because of a tragedy, a visitation, a providence that God has visited his people in a certain way of judgment and retribution because of their sins. And he appeals to the old man, And then if you please note, he also tells the old men to tell the younger one. He tells it to your children. Tell their children to tell it to their generation. You know, I tell you frankly, please. Isn't it too bad we fail to remember what God has done even in nations and even in our own nations? Let me give you an example. I remember during World War I, I was greatly burdened to see if God would move the people of our country in a spiritual way. But I must confess, as far as the nation itself, they went the other way. But as far as those who were in service, I noted that God did more work amongst the soldiers and the servicemen who were at war. Saving some. But he spoke. He spoke. He spoke. Just last evening, my son and I were chatting. I was telling him of a certain brother that I knew how he was saved during the war. And he said, you know, Dad, my boy was at Normandy, twenty minutes after the zero hour, and landed there. But he said, Dad, you know, there was a fellow. He says, I was the youngest. He was only nineteen years old when he landed on the beach in Normandy. But he said, Dad, we had, he said, in my company that I was, he was in what they call the Navy Beach Battalion, and landed and directed all the forces that came in as they came off the ship. But he said, Dad, there was one fellow, a big fellow. He was the worst fellow in our crowd. Wicked, vile. But he said, Dad, I heard him when we were on Normandy. I heard him crying, Oh, God. Oh, God, if you'd get me through this, I'll promise I'll go to church. And he said, he made a lot of promises. After Normandy, he said, he looked at me and said, Bob, I think about it a lot, more than you think. What he did, I don't know. Please. There's a lot of things take place in the history of a nation. God speaking. God speaking. Remember it. Remember it. Look with me in Ezekiel chapter fourteen, will you please? I want you to notice something I found in Ezekiel chapter fourteen. It's the most amazing thing. But I want to point out to you, don't think merely of the nation of Israel. I don't think of any nation. But in Ezekiel chapter fourteen, I'd like to begin reading. I think it's at verse twelve to the end of the chapter. Please note something. It's very interesting to read it. Chapter fourteen and beginning at verse twelve. Now note these words. For when God visits in Providence, when God visits in retribution and judgment, even in catastrophe. He's got a reason for it. But note these words. We'll go down the chapter, beginning of verse twelve. The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinned. And may I say the Hebrew text is, when any land sinned. When a land sinner, the nation sinned. There are national sins that nations commit. May I say, there are religious sins. There can be political sins, and you and I know well there are moral sins, too. Now, you don't need to apply it merely. God used it in the day of Israel for their judgment. But let's read on. Son of man, when the Lamb sitteth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the stout of the bread thereof? Will send famine upon it? Will cut up man and beast from it? Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, Job were in it, They should deliver but their own soul by their righteousness, said the Lord God. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beast, though these three men were in it, as I live, said the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters. They only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land, so that I cut off man and beast from it. Though these three men were in it, as I lift, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast, though nor Daniel and John were in it, as I live saith the Lord God. They shall deliver neither son nor daughter. They shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God. How much more when I send my four sword judgments, and if you will please note, four particular characteristic of judgment upon Jerusalem, the swords, the famine, the noisandies, the pestilence, to cut off from from it man and beast. Yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come forth unto you. Ye shall see their way and their doing, and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I brought upon Jerusalem, and even concerning all that I brought upon it. They shall comfort you when ye see their ways and their doing. Now note the last word. and ye shall know that I have not done it without cause, all that I have done in it. Set the law. Please let me say, we know that God does things of that nature. He's got a reason. There's a cause. There's a cause. Can I just humbly think with you? What about our own land? Is there not a cause? We need not relegate all these judgments of divine visitation in retribution for the sins of nations to Israel only. Beloved, our own nation ought to be on its knees, confessing, repenting, but no. Just as bad as Israel in the past. Well, let's go back to our chapter in Joel. And let me particularly refer to your paragraph on your on your lesson sheet. Number one, the prophets appeal. How few do they remember it? Tell your children. Tell them to tell their children what God has done in visiting, in judgment. The plague of locust was a judgment from the Lord, similar to the one sent upon Egypt long ago in Exodus chapter ten. I don't know how many of you may have read. There are some sources of information. You can read of the plagues of locust. Terrific. They darkened the sky, blackened the sky. I remember reading that on one particular occasion when a plague of locusts came in the land of Africa, and when they all died, the pile of locusts were three feet deep. Millions of them. I remember reading of one account where a train was stopped, couldn't even go. gliding on the slimy locust that they were killing. Beloved, God used it in Egypt as we have reference to here in Exodus ten. And even Moses prophetically announced that the Lord would use them to punish his people. You can get it in Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight and it should be verse thirty three and forty two. And it was a chastening to cause them to return unto the Lord. I don't know. Well, it's a little trite. I really value it. Written by C. H. McIntosh, an old servant of the Lord of the past century. God in everything. God in everything. Did you ever notice the word in Ephesians chapter one, verse ten. He worketh all things that are the counsel of his own will. The will of God. He knows what he's doing. You and I may not understand. He knows. And you and I but a piece of clay. He's the potter. And the clay cannot say to him, what doest thou? Even that you can never have to learn. He was only a piece of clay. God had to break him down till he acknowledged that the most high above, no one dares say to him, what doest thou? And it's my conviction, and please me, I state it. Whatever takes place in the history of a nation. Let me go further. Whatever takes place in the history of a life, we need to take it from God. From God. How important. Sometimes the lesson will be very, very difficult, but it will be profitable. One thing is sure you'll get through quicker. when you act. Well, dear Hudson Taylor said, the greatest mission in the world is submission. And what an example we have in the Lord Jesus. Gethsemane, can I forget, or there thy conflict see, thine agony and blood-like sweat, and not remember thee. And from the garden, as he traced the death of Calvary, and the awful character that sin was going to be played all on him? No wonder that holy heart of the Son of God cried, My God, my God, why yourself has taken me? But nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. I don't know, I put it before you. I'm not a strong hyper-Calvinist, but I do believe God works out his own purpose. and for us individually as well as collectively. But now let's look in verse your paragraph, you've got on the letter B. We will find as we go on studying that the locusts are typical of Gentile armies, and this will come out in chapter two particularly, where the Lord calls them my great army, a forecast regarding the future of the land. And in Daniel we learn twice of the four great Gentile powers, which would and did desolate Israel. and prayed upon the land, the Babylonian, Middle Persian, Grecian and Roman, and even at the close of the Gentile age, the times of the Gentiles will be finished, which the Lord Jesus speaks of, and the final invasion of the Gentiles will take place. And it is described in Joel chapter two, and we'll see it in chapter three, two. May I just point out, look, and this is the value of prophecy. Let me repeat a principle that I've stated before. It not only has an application for the time when it was written, but it propels in the future an interpretation at the time of the end. You find that in all the prophetic books, from Isaiah through Malachi. You can find the interpretation applied to the time in which it was given, whether to that present time or even shortly after subsequent to it, and also to the end of the... Let me give you this thought. What do you think God's looking forward to in relation to Israel? Their ultimate restoration? He's looking forward to us. And you know God looked forward to you and to me the time we would be saved. And wasn't he glad when you took the Lord Jesus as your Savior and I took him as my Savior? And with the purposes of God overall Whether for Israel, whether for the church, whether for the world, he's going to bring them to fruition. And so we can even find, and let me please state again, in these prophecies, don't apply them to the church. You get your prophecy of the church in your New Testament, and all pertaining to it. It's the origin, its function, its destiny, and its glory. But when you look at the Old Testament, God's dealing with the particularly with Israel as a nation and in relation to all the other nations. When God chose Israel, He made them His choice, as you may read in Exodus, verse five and six, to be an example to all the nations. They never were. Let me remind you of something. And my own heart, you and I who are Christians have been saved to be examples to those around us. But someday they will be restored and will manifest his glory. Now go in the verses five through seven. Very interesting. Here the prophet calls to the drunk. Look at verse five. Wake up, you drunken. Boy. Hey, wouldn't that be a good text to put on down the square? What? Or in any liquor bar? Oh? Wake up, you drunken. Notice what it says. Wait! How? All ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, it's cut up from your mouth. No one had happened. Please note if you please. Let me read your paragraph on your lesson sheet. The first swarm of locusts probably appeared in fall, and only the vineyards had not been harvested. The locusts attacked the vineyards. They very quickly stripped the vines and the grapes disappeared. And the drinkers of the wine were to suffer first for excessive drunkenness existed in Israel." Boy, I know prohibition never worked. I lived in the days when it was instituted. But if I tell you one thing, it made more people become makers of beer at home brew. You know when you buy legislation, try to legislate the morals of the country, you have a great deal of difficulty. And the difficulty is because the people are nothing but a bunch of sinners. The purpose may be good. And in fact, I don't know any other way to stop. Drunken drivers, better than if you could take it all away from them, they couldn't get it. You know they want. But this is what God did. God, I wish he'd do it for this country. It may be the final judgment before he does it. But one can write them out. He attacked the drunkards then. And he took away the source of their wine in judgment. Not turn to the scriptures. You've got in the... End of that first paragraph. You've got it in Amos. Amos wrote about it. Isaiah writes about it too. A bunch of drunkards. Please. Please. Once you're saying God hates it. And let me remind you. Oh, by the way, let me remind you. From the scripture that we read in Ezekiel chapter fourteen. There were three men mentioned, weren't they? Noah, Daniel, Job, powerful men that interfered with God, that God said your condition is so bad, even they couldn't pray you out of it. Noah in his day before the flood was a preacher of righteousness, even though he fell after the flood. He was a preacher of righteousness. Job, what a man. His integrity of faith. all through the book, though he was tried solely. Daniel, oh, what a character. And what a man of prayer. God says, you're so bad, even if they prayed, I wouldn't deliver you. You're too bad. Can I raise the question? Look, I remember during the World War II, many persons said to me, why doesn't God stop the war? And I'd answer, well, why don't men stop sinning? There comes a time when God says, No, I've had enough of it. And what will it mean in the day of the Lord when the whole world will be visited in his judgment to come? Now, let me read on in verse six. For a nation has come up upon my land strong, without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion. He hath the cheeked teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and bark. Even the fig tree was skinned. The vine was laid waste. The fig trees were skinned, and clean, bare, cast away. And the branches made white. And verse six gives a suggestion. The locusts are described as a nation. mighty in numbers with lion's teeth, typical of the Gentile nations, who devastate the land. Please, let me state again. Those, now, please, there was a literal locust plague, without question of doubt. But beyond the literal plague, God speaks of an invading army. The Assyrian army came down. Oh, beloved, I can't begin to tell. the atrocity that the Assyrian army laid the land of Israel in their conquest of it and the suffering and the anguish and the bitterness that the people suffered because of their violence. And goes to, well, I had to do it. I had to do it. You were so bad. And God was faithful in so doing it. But the description reminds us indeed of that which can even yet... May I say this again? You'll find this. Of course, in the prophecies, you'll find particularly the nations that assaulted Israel were very close to them. Egypt on one end, Assyria, the northern kingdom on the other, and Israel in between. They were not particularly attacked by outside nations. But look, Joel... And we'll see it devout in the next chapter, and particularly the third chapter, Joel's foretelling of the end, when all nations will gather together to devastate the land. Said the Lord Jesus, ye shall be hated of all nations for my name. And may I point out something very obvious, even at the end time. You know where the greatest troubles come in? from the north of the land and the south of the land. Even at the end time. That little land of Israel, it can be called the center of the world. It's the center of God's purposes and relations of the world, what He wants to do to honor and glorify His name through that people He set aside. And though they failed, He visited them in judgment for their failures. And some days we shall see and have already We have seen it will restore them. But in that end time, but very frankly, the power of Russia is infiltrating through Syria. And one of the ambitions of Russia is to control the Middle East. And you and I see the things approaching where the day of the Lord will actually take place. And so you have the title of it here. the locust describes. Now look at verse eight through fourteen, please. I want you to note particularly here in verse eight what Joel says. One meant like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of a youth. Oh, one can recognize one lamentation there ought to be because of these conditions and God's visitation. And then note, and this is, now in verse nine, in verse nine you'll see the spiritual conditions. The meal offering, the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord, and the priest, the Lord ministered, mourned. Now what's this mean? Well, if you read Leviticus chapter two, you have the description of the meal offering. And that meal offering, which was to be brought to Jehovah, was the symbol and the expression of their devotion to Jehovah. God said, you don't have any. And what was the drink offering? Wherever they used the drink offering, it was the expression of their joy in Jehovah. And may I point out, their devotion to Jehovah was gone. Their joy in Jehovah was gone. And if that isn't a national characteristic of our own land, what else could be? Devotion to God? Joy in God. And the priests and the Lord's ministry. More. They were helpless. Some of them were just as drunk as the others, in fact, unfortunately. What is that? Boy, let me say. What you get in this verse is one of the causes, the spiritual condition. The spiritual condition. There was no devotion to Jehovah. There was no expression of joy in Jehovah. Remember what the first Decalogue said? Thou shalt love the hero, Israel, the Lord, thy God is one God. Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The first commandment. Like it. Please let me say, do I need to? It's obvious. The condition and situation for Israel is based on their lack of devotion to their Jehovah and their joy. And then may I go further. Client. Can that be said to be true in principle for the church today? And the general Christian's outward testimony, devotion to the Lord and joy in love. Now, let me make a qualification. I didn't say devotion to the church, nor joy to the church. Let's be a little careful. Look beyond that. My devotion to God, to the Lord, my joy in the Lord. That's the thermometer for the spiritual condition. Oh, that you and I may realize. For we see it very fine. I say it lovingly. I say it sadly. I see devotion to the Lord sailing today amongst God's people. I don't see the joy they should have in the Lord. A dear old hymn we often sang in my early days. One verse began by saying, Where is the joy that once I had when first I knew the Lord? And beloved, please let me say, let me ask the question. Ask it of your own heart. Do you and I have devotion to the Lord? Do you and I have joy in the Lord? Rejoice in the Lord, always, said the Apostle. And again I say unto you, Rejoice. You don't find it in the world. Ah, but you can find it in Christ and in the Lord Jesus and His God and Paul writing to the Romans said, But we join God. We found him through faith. And through faith we've been justified through our Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on to tell of the positional blessings belonging to us. And then he describes the blessings that can follow as we go on with the Lord. That's last thing he said in verse eleven, I think. But we join God through whom we've received the reconciliation. My. God, they rejoined in him more. It's a meal offering. It's a drink offering. Then he points out something. Very obvious in Genesis chapter thirty-two, I think it is, where Jacob comes back to Bethel, and he rebuilds the altar that he'd once left. And when he made a sacrifice, when he came back, he was so happy to be back, he poured wine on it. It was the symbol of his joy. The symbol of his joy. Oh, beloved, God granted, you and I may realize the meal offering and the drink offering can be missing. And yet the prophet goes on to say, the field is wasted, the husbandman, and the corn is wasted, and the new wine is dried up, the oil languished. Be you ashamed, ye husbandman. Oh ye vine dressers, how ye vine dressers for the wheat and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up. The fig tree, the pomegranate, the palm tree, the apple tree, all the trees of the field, withered, because joy is withered away from the sons of men. Now let me repeat again, you've got it again mentioned. They've lost their joy. Beloved, can I say very clearly, Try to keep your joy in the Lord. You may not find it in anybody else, but you can always find it in him. Rejoice in the Lord. And then Paul goes on to say, Good yourselves, lament ye priests, how ye ministers of the earth. Just think of it. The prophecy. Come on, how. What's more? Ly all night, in fact, after ye ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering is withholding from the house of your God. Oh, beloved, please let me say, we may too frequently and often do, look at this just literally in a historical application. Take the spiritual reason. Take the spiritual reason. Devotion to God and joy in God. was missing. Oh, beloved, let me say, put your devotion in the Lord. Let your joy be in the Lord. And how precious is it to realize you'll be sustained in the midst of all the difficulties when your devotion is saved. Others fail. Oh, I think of many, a dear saint that's been in difficulty, poured out their hearts on him. I couldn't solve the difficulty. I can go on, dear one, and I told him many years ago, look, enjoy the Lord. Make Him the object of your heart. Years afterward, she wrote inside me for giving her that advice. Please, make no difference what the trouble is. If you and I belong to Him, We can only find our joy in the Lord. He's an unfailing source, shall we pray? Oh, blessed Father, how we thank thee for the lesson. We're amazed, Father, that underneath these words we find such an applicable solution to our own difficulties in the present day. We thank thee for it. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, all complete, truly furnished unto all good works. Sanctify the truth and bring us back next week for thy glory to gather, if our Lord be not come. And if you come, Lord, thank you. We're looking for you. In thy precious, worthy name. Amen. You know, I wouldn't mind going from here to God.