Joel was a prophet in Israel who warned of a devastating locust plague and called the people to repentance. The plague destroyed crops, dried up streams, and prevented offerings to God. Joel explained this was a judgment from God for disobedience. He urged the people to repent through fasting, weeping and prayer. Joel also prophesied a future outpouring of God's Spirit and the ultimate defeat of Israel's enemies when people call on the Lord.

1. Joel: The “Loscust” Prophet
Joel 1:1-3
1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel the
son of Pethuel. 2 Hear this, you elders, And
give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has
anything like this happened in your days, Or
even in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell your
children about it, Let your children tell their
children, And their children other generation.

2. Introduction

Joel – We know little about him outside this
book

The date – Uncertain, some believe it is early –
about 830 BC

This short book deals with the enemies of Israel

Phoenicians

Philistines

Edomites

Egypt

3. Devastation – Unique

What Joel describes had not happened in
their lifetime, or the lifetime of their
parents.

It would not happen in the next
generation.

(1:3) Tell your children about it, Let your
children tell their children, And their
children another generation.

4. Devastation – Nature

Locust invasion

(1:4) 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.

5. Swarm of Locust

6. THE CLEAN UP

7. Devastation – Results

10 The field is wasted, The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined, The new wine is
dried up, The oil fails. 11 Be ashamed,
you farmers, Wail, you vinedressers, For
the wheat and the barley; Because the
harvest of the field has perished. 12 The
vine has dried up, And 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.

8. Devastation – Results

Streams dry up

Fires break out

Animals hunt water

Vineyards, fruit trees dry up and die

Grain is not produced

Seeds will not germinate in the ground

No food now, no store for future

9. Devastation – Spiritual

The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the
Lord; The priests mourn, who minister to
the Lord. Joel 1:9

They could not offer anything to the Lord

The priests were “out of business”

There was nothing to offer in sacrifice

10. Devastation – Meaning

What was the significance of all this?

This was not just an “act of God” - a
natural calamity (tornado, flood, hurricane)

God had promised such destruction

11. Devastation – Meaning

11 And the Lord will grant you plenty of
goods, in the fruit of your body, in the
increase of your livestock, and in the
produce of your ground, in the land of
which the Lord swore to your fathers to
give you. 12 The Lord will open to you His
good treasure, the heavens, to give the
rain to your land in its season, and to
bless all the work of your hand. You shall
lend to many nations, but you shall not
borrow. Deuteronomy 28:11-12

12. Devastation – Meaning

"But it shall come to pass, if you do not
obey the voice of the Lord your God, to
observe carefully all His commandments
and His statutes which I command you
today, that all these curses will come upon
you and overtake you: Deuteronomy 8:15

13. Devastation – Meaning

39 You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but
you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather
the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 40
You shall have olive trees throughout all your
territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with
the oil; for your olives shall drop off. 41 You
shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall
not be yours; for they shall go into captivity. 42
Locusts shall consume all your trees and the
produce of your land. Deuteronomy 28:39-42

14. Devastation – Meaning

This would not happen if they remained faithful
and obedient to God

Israel was ripe for God's judgment against them

Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at
hand; It shall come as destruction from the
Almighty. Joel 1:15

Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm
in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of
the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is
coming, For it is at hand: Joel 2:1

15. Call to Repentance

13 Gird yourselves and lament, you priests;
Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come,
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. 14 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, And cry out to the Lord.

Joel 1:13-14

16. Call to Repentance

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a
sacred assembly; 16 Gather the people, Sanctify the
congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the
children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out
from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing
room. 17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord,
Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say,
"Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not give Your
heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over
them. Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is their God?' " Joel 2:15-17

17. Call to Repentance

12 "Now, therefore," says the Lord, "Turn
to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with
weeping, and with mourning." 13 So rend
your heart, and not your garments; Return
to the Lord your God, For He is gracious
and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great
kindness; And He relents from doing
harm.

Joel 2:12-13

18. Important Lessons

We see God's covenant faithfulness

He keeps His promises

He promised blessings – if faithful

He promised curses – if unfaithful

God kept all His promises

19. Important Lessons

We see the nature of repentance

God was looking for fasting

God was looking for prayer

God was looking for weeping

God was looking for genuine
repentance

God was looking for change in behavior

20. Important Lessons

We see the promise of Pentecost

"And it shall come to pass afterward That I
will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams, Your
young men shall see visions. Joel 2:28

Study also Acts 2:16 – But this is what
was spoken by the prophet Joel:

21. Important Lessons

We see the only hope of deliverance

And it shall come to pass That whoever
calls on the name of the Lord Shall be
saved. For in Mount Zion and in
Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As
the Lord has said, Among the remnant
whom the Lord calls. Joel 2:32

See also Romans 10:13

22. Important Lessons

We see the defeat of God's enemies
and the victory of His people

And it will come to pass in that day That
the mountains shall drip with new wine,
The hills shall flow with milk, And all the
brooks of Judah shall be flooded with
water; A fountain shall flow from the house
of the Lord And water the Valley of
Acacias. Joel 3:18

23. Time of Decision

Multitudes, multitudes in
the valley of decision! For
the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.

Joel 3:14