Joel 1:1-4
When Nature Attacks
Joel was a prophet called to preach in a difficult people. I am
going for forego an introduction and settle for a message and a
conclusion.
I. \\#Joel 1:1-4\\ Mother Nature Seems Angry
A. A plague of locusts had come upon Israel.
B. \\#4\\ The names of four bugs are used.
1. There are many differing opinions about these creatures.
In the Hebrew, all four names are different but some feel
they are all different species of the locusts.
2. There are also differing views on the timing, but whether
they all came in one year or came one year after the
next, the results would be devastating for years to come.
3. But two things are certain.
a. All was lost.
Joel 1:7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked
my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast
it away; the branches thereof are made white.
Joel 1:12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree
languisheth; 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.
b. It would take years to recover.
Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years
that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and
the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great
army which I sent among you.
C. Mother Nature seems angry with America.
1. Things are happening that I have never heard of and; to be
honest, if it weren’t verified by so many sources, I
would think some of what I read was a Hollywood horror
movie.
a. New bacteria have begun to attack us.
(1) CNN reported on June 27 that a 12-year-old girl
contracted a flesh-eating bacteria while
swimming and playing on a Florida beach.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/27/us/florida-girl-flesh-eating-bacteria-
trnd/index.html
(2) A Newsweek article, dated 6/29/2019 and written
by Brenda Cole, a woman died from flesh-eating
bacteria after just walking along a Florida
beach.
https://www.newsweek.com/florida-necrotizing-fasciitis-flesh-eating-
coquina-beach-1446671
b. Wildfires have become a major plague in California and
Washington State, in part because of a seven year
drought that just ended this last March. Both the
largest and the most deadly fires occurred last year.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/15/california-
drought-free-after-7-years-dry-conditions-remain/3168753002/
(1) The biggest wildfire in California’s modern-
history started last year when a rancher who is
highly allergic to wasps found an under-ground
nest and closed the hole by driving a metal
stake into it. Unbeknown to him, a spark from
the hammer striking the stake flew to the
ground, igniting a fire storm. More than 130
homes, 400,000 acres (625 sq miles), and one
firefighter were lost in the flames.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/us/california-ranch-wildfire-
wasp-nest.html
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/9675690-181/spark-from-hammer-
metal-stake
(2) During the same year, California also experienced
its most deadly fire, killing at least 85
people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Fire_(2018)
c. While part of our country is dealing with drought,
other parts are dealing with floods.
(1) This year had some of the worst flooding in more
than 50 years, especially across the Midwestern
states.
(2) The Missouri River, the Mississippi, and the Ohio
Rivers have flooded because of heavier than
normal rainfall amounts, heavier snow fall in
Canada, and warmer temperatures which have
caused additional snow melting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Midwestern_U.S._floods
https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disaster/2019-u-s-spring-floods/
(3) States affected have been Tennessee, Kentucky,
Texas, North Carolina, South Dakota, Florida,
Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska.
https://www.vox.com/2019/6/11/18659676/flood-midwest-nebraska-iowa-
forecast
d. Then there is Alabama’s biggest fear, tornadoes.
(1) According to Wikipedia, the US has already had
1088 reports of tornadoes in 2019 with 818
confirmed.
(2) In a 12 day period, over 200 tornadoes swept
across the Midwest.
https://www.vox.com/2019/5/29/18643166/tornado-2019-ohio-kansas-
missouri
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornadoes_of_2019
2. I could list more, but I simply want to point out that it
appears Mother Nature is angry.
II. There is no Mother Nature. It is all Father God.
A. The term "Mother Nature" is a non-religious term used to
describe the normal workings of God in the affairs of our
planet.
1. When we speak of Mother Nature getting angry, we are
simply saying that things are not going according to the
normal laws of nature. They are worse!
2. However there is no Mother Nature.
B. God was making it very clear in the book of Joel that
it was not Mother Nature who was angry. It was Him.
1. \\#Joel 2:11\\ God called these bugs "His army."
2. Interestingly, the Bible says all of the plagues which
have been hitting our country are under God’s control.
Psalm 148:8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour;
stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Psalms 147:18 He sendeth out his word, and
melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow,
and the waters flow.
C. Many Christians laugh at the notion of climate change. I
don’t think we should for several reasons.
1. The Bible makes it very clear that God had and will judge
the earth through the forces of nature.
a. We have all heard of the Weather Channel.
b. Have you heard Weather Chapter? Revelation 16
describes three weather related plagues caused by
God in the future.
Revelation 16:9 And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath
power over these plagues: and they repented not
to give him glory.
Revelation 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out
his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his
kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed
their tongues for pain,
Revelation 16:21 And there fell upon men a great
hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight
of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of
the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof
was exceeding great.
2. I fully understand the abundance of false news and
conclusion jumping that is common among the news outlets
today, but consider what is going on.
a. Scientists are saying is that something bad is
happening, something that is not natural.
b. Apparently, they have data that tells them so—and I
don’t doubt that they might.
c. The problem is they are guessing at the cause.
(1) They think it is caused by man.
(2) What if it is being caused by God?
(3) What if we are seeing the beginning of a judgment
which the Bible is prophesying in Revelation 16?
III. \\#1:5-2:1\\ God’s Message - God sent the plague of bugs to get
Israel’s attention. In Joel, He had it and told the people
what He wanted them to do. I do not believe God has America’s
attention yet; but if He ever gets it, this is what He will
want us to do.
A. \\#1:5\\ Awake the slumbering!
Joel 1:5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and
howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the
new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
1. By this command, God was hinting that the attack had
already begun..
a. I am not speaking of the bugs. Believe it or not,
they were just God’s method of waking up the people
(His alarm clock).
b. I am not speaking of the Assyrian army. They will be
the judgment.
c. The attack had begun before the judgment and the
alarm were even necessary.
d. The attack was the attack of sin!
(1) Israel had been attacked and was being defeated
by sin.
(2) What sins?
(a) Pretty much the same ones attacking America
today.
(b) Denying God’s existence, blaspheming God,
lying, stealing, violence, fornication,
perversion.
2. God had sent the bugs to wake Israel up to the attack they
were sleeping through. If they did not wake up, they
would sleep through their own destruction.
B. \\#1:11\\ Be Ashamed - God wanted the people to feel
something.
Joel 1:11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl,
O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the
barley; because the harvest of the field is
perished.
1. Look at the commands of emotion that God gives to the
people:
a. \\#5\\ "Awake, ye drunkards, and weep"
b. \\#8\\ "Lament like a virgin girded"
c. \\#9\\ …mourn
d. \\#11\\ "Be ye ashamed!"
e. \\#13\\ "…lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of
the altar"
2. Israel was incapable of feeling shame, which meant they
could not feel remorse, or sorrow, or conviction!
3. I am convinced that America is in the same condition.
a. I believe America has shut itself down to feeling
of shame, remorse, sorrow, and conviction.
b. A lesson I learned a long time ago is that whenever
we deaden ourselves to one emotion, we deaden
ourselves to all emotions.
c. While America believes it is a loving nation today,
our nation no more feels love than it does shame;
no more feels compassion than it does remorse; no
more feels joy than it does sorrow.
(1) Our people can complain about the separation of
parents from their children at the border while
signing laws to slay babies.
(2) They can boast of medical care for all while
stealing the food out of the mouths of middle
class workers.
(3) And they can denounce God’s Old Testament
judgments on sinners while promoting a religion
that rapes, sells, beheads, and burns alive
those who stand in its way.
4. God commanded His people to open their hearts and fell
some shame. I believe it would do us all some good to
do that today.
C. \\#1:14\\ Assemble!
Joel 1:14 …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,
1. The solution to Israel’s impending destruction was not
to fortify their armaments.
a. The solution was to get back in the house of God and
to cry unto the Lord.
(1) To assemble in the house of God means to WORSHIP
God.
(2) To cry unto the Lord means to PRAY to God.
b. \\#13\\ The priests, their preachers, had some additional
commands.
(1) They were to put on sackcloth…
(2) …pray all night…
(3) …"howl" out loud to the Lord.
2. These are not new commandments. God
a. Why are they being given?
(1) Because the people quit worshipping God and when
worship stops obedience stops.
(2) God was not calling the people to fight for Him.
He was calling the people to worship Him.
b. God is not against weapons and armies, but they will
not save a nation that God does not favor!
Psalm 33:16 There is no king saved by the
multitude of an host: a mighty man is not
delivered by much strength.
17 An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither
shall he deliver any by his great strength.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them
that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep
them alive in famine.
Back to the title and the missing introduction. The title is "When
Nature Attacks." What does it mean when Mother Nature attacks us.
It means God is angry and is attacking us. Friends, wake up. Where
America is going is where Israel has been, and it is to destruction.
The alarm clock is ringing. Wake up and repent.
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