In this captivating study, we explore how God communicates His messages through the forces of nature and the prophetic writings found in scripture. Through examining the book of Joel and drawing parallels to the book of Revelation, listeners will gain deeper insight into the divine warnings provided in the Bible. This episode also encourages reflection on our own spiritual journeys, calling us towards repentance and reconciliation with God.
00:00:17 Introduction to the Study in Joel Chapter 2
00:00:33 The Great Locust Plague and Nature’s Role
00:06:13 Prayer for Understanding and Study on Joel
00:06:37 Joel’s Prophecy and the Locusts as a Warning
Does God try to get our attention through natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, famines, or plagues? Welcome to Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee as he answers this question in our introduction to our study in Joel chapter 2. Here he is now.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, I have a brief statement to make as we come to our study today because it’s very important. We are seeing here a great locust plague that was devastating. It was a total disaster for Israel. And God likens that unto the day of the Lord that is coming, a time of judgment. And it has a practical meaning for us today. And will you notice this for just a moment? There is a commercial on TV and radio, and it always ends up by saying, you can’t fool Mother Nature. And the fact of the matter is, Mother Nature has fooled the human race today. Actually, she does not exist. She’s a figment of the imagination. Yet man has always worshipped nature. He’s worshipped the sun and the moon and the stars, the trees and the rivers, the mountains and the sea. And the gods of the Greeks spoke of nature. For instance, Aphrodite came up out of the sea. The sea god brought her forth. She was his daughter, and her name was Aphrodite. She became the goddess of love, the Venus, over in Rome. And today it’s the name of a star. And how she got out of that shell in the ocean and became a star, I don’t know. But that’s the way that it’s come down to us today. Now, the sophisticated pagan around us today, he speaks lightly and learnedly and loudly about Mother Nature. And he is a pagan. He is an environmentalist, an extreme environmentalist. And none of these seem to realize that our God is the creator and controller of nature. And God uses nature to speak to mankind as a warning and sometimes uses it as a judgment. The scripture makes that very clear. Over in Psalm 148, let me just lift out two or three verses here. Verse 7, “‘Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons in all deeps, fire and hail, snow and vapors, stormy wind fulfilling his word, mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl. And then back in Psalm 147, verse 17, “…he casteth forth his eyes like morsels, who can stand before his coal. He sendeth out his word, and melteth them. He causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.” And then back in verse 7 of Psalm 147, sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving, sing praises upon the harp unto our God, who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse, He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise thy God, O Zion. You see, nature is the creation of God, and he is the controller of nations. And therefore, Mother Nature just doesn’t exist. Actually, she’s not around at all, but God is. And is God using nature to try to speak to mankind at the present time? There are a great many very thoughtful people that are not inclined to be sensational that are now taking that position. I noticed that our weatherman, we have one here in Southern California who really speaks with authority. He’s not a boy reading off what’s on the idiot chart. He studies it himself. And he made the statement the other evening. He spoke rather dejectedly about the difficulty in predicting weather today. With all the floods and the tropical storms and the tornadoes and the winds, the heat and the drought, the volcanoes, the earthquakes, and even Mount St. Helens. And that picture that that artist drew down at Newport Beach in Oregon, lovely picture, an awesome picture of Mount St. Helens erupting. And underneath were these words, now that I have your attention. Is God trying to get our attention today through nature? I’m of the opinion that since he’s always spoken to man through nature, that he’s speaking to man today and trying to warn man that judgment is coming upon this earth.
SPEAKER 02 :
We’re off to a great start. Dr. McGee has a lot more ground to cover in just a moment, so let’s pray for understanding. Father, would you give us ears to hear your message, both in nature and in your word, and then give us hands and feet willing to obey where you lead us. In your son’s precious name, amen. Here’s our study of Joel chapter 2 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now as we come today back to the Second chapter of Joel, and we put in at verse 4. Now, we said that in chapter 1, there was a locust plague of that day. And Joel was telling the people that that was a warning from God. Joel, the first of the writing prophets, condemns drunkenness among the people. He does not condemn idolatry. Apparently, it had not come in, and he is the prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah. They were still going to the temple, at least going through the form of worship at that particular time. But now he, in the first chapter, describes this great locust plague. There’d been nothing like it. It was a judgment from God. Then he likened that locust plague to a day that was coming, which he labeled the day of the Lord. And since he’s the first of the writing prophets, he puts sideboards around that period. It begins at night. It begins with the great tribulation period that’s in the future. It will be concluded at the end of the millennium when Christ puts down the final rebellion and the eternal kingdom begins. So that the day of the Lord begins at night, moves into the day, begins with the great tribulation, moves into the millennial kingdom. Now, here in chapter 2, as we indicated last time, there is a marvelous revelation. blending of the locust plague into the day of the Lord. There are certain similarities and there are, of course, certain contrasts. But he does a marvelous job of blending one into the other. In other words, that has been the method and will be the method of all the writing prophets as we’ve seen before, as we’ve considered the ones that have been called major prophets. And Hosea was another example. God takes a local situation, and every prophet had to speak into a local situation. Now, here in verse 4, he’s describing this locust plague and beginning to make application of it to the day of the Lord. And he says in verse 4, “…the appearance of them is like the appearance of horses, and like horsemen so shall they run, like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, like a strong people set in battle arrayed Before their face the people shall be much pained. All faces shall gather blackness. That is, they’ll be scorched, be burned. They shall run like mighty men. They shall climb the wall like men of war. And they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks.” Now, we have seen that the writer of the Proverbs says that the locusts, that they go forth in bands, but they have no king. They have no leader. They don’t need one. Each one knows his place, apparently. And they came in bands, and we believe that when he described four different groups of locusts here, that he’s describing actually the movement of a great army. And it’s an army here of locusts. Now, in the last days, they’ll come up against that land, another enemy. It’ll be like a locust plague. Now, you have that, and that gives preparation for what John later on is going to write in the book of Revelation. Now, he’s going to tell us about a locust plague that will take place on this earth during the time of the blowing of the fifth trumpet. And it’s actually the first woe. My feeling is that you’re right now in the midst of the great tribulation period with all of its attendant horror, actually. Now, I’m reading from Revelation 9, beginning with verse 1. Will you listen? And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth. And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing. Now, this is an unusual locust. That’s all the locusts that attack. They didn’t attack human beings. They attack everything that was green, and they could absolutely denude that which was luxurious and rank green, jungle green, and they could move right through it, destroy everything. And here, these locusts are not going to hurt anything green, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them, it was given that they should not kill them, but they should be tormented five months. And we’re told that it’ll be such a terrible period that men will seek death, not find it. In other words, they’ll not be able to commit suicides. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. They had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth as the teeth of lions, and so on. And I want to tell you, that’s an unusual type of locust, my friends. Now, that will take place during the Great Tribulation. Now, you can see Joel way back here at the beginning of the writing prophets. Joel prepares the ground for John to come along and give us the detailed description of them. So that’s my reason for saying that I think it’s tragic today for somebody to get converted. And, well, I don’t mean to be converted, but when they get converted, that they start a Bible class. There’s so many like that today. They start a Bible class, and lo and behold, they either start teaching the gospel of John or they start teaching the book of Revelation. Now, in my judgment, that’s not where you should begin with believers. I believe Matthew is the key book to the Bible. And until you understand Matthew, I don’t think you will quite get the message of John. And I know you’ll miss the message of the book of Revelation. And for that reason, we can see now Joel, this little prophet that’s been so ignored, it’s essential to understand the book of Revelation to know what Joel says here. Now, do I sound dogmatic when I say that? Well, I hope I do, because I want you to know I am dogmatic about this type of thing. And if I can’t be dogmatic, I’m not going to say it. Because my feeling is that the Word of God needs to be taught with authority. If it’s the Word of God, which I believe with all my heart it is, it’s pretty important. And it’s lots more dogmatic than some of the things that I hear today coming from government, coming from politicians, come from scientists, and come from the interviews on TV today. The Word of God is lots more authoritative. Therefore, I want to be dogmatic about this because I believe it with all my heart. Now, will you notice? We have this description here of them back now in the book of Joel, chapter 2, verse 7. They shall run like mighty men. They shall climb the wall like men of war, and they shall march everyone on his way. You see, already Joel’s beginning to move. from a local plague on into the future of that which is coming and which he’s already labeled twice the day of the Lord. Now, we’re going to see that he’s talking about the day of the Lord. He says, verse 9, they shall run to and fro in the city. They shall run upon the wall. They shall climb upon the houses. They shall enter in at the windows like a thief. Well, that wasn’t the way the locusts did in that. They were looking for something green. And now we’re in Joel. The earth shall quake before them. The heavens shall tremble. The sun and the moon shall be dark. And the stars shall withdraw their shine. Now, this just happens to be more than a local locust plague, or else Joel is exaggerating. And the prophets don’t exaggerate, my friend. This is the picture that John gives us that’s to take place in the great tribulation period. Now, verse 11, “…and the Lord shall utter his voice before his army.” For his camp is very great, for he’s strong who executed his word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it? Now, here we are back again, and this is the third time that he’s mentioned the day of the Lord. That fits in again with what the Lord Jesus said, that except those days were shortened, no flesh would survive. And again, who can abide it? Well, John in Revelation gives the answer. He said at the beginning of this period that God shut down everything, all the forces of nature, no wind blowing anything. God says, there’s anybody going to make it through that are my people, they’ll have to be sealed. And he sealed 144,000 of the nation Israel, but a great company of Gentiles that are going to be able to go through this period. And this is a good question, therefore, that Joel has asked. Who can abide it? What? The day of the Lord. And he’s made clear that the day of the Lord begins in darkness. like the Hebrew day, but sundown, but weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. That’s the way God does it. Now, we come here to verse 12, and what can God’s people do, or what can a sinner do in a period like this? Well, we’re told that. Therefore, also now, saith the Lord, turn even to me with all your heart and with fasting, with weeping and with mourning. Now, the word turn here means repent. And I am reading verse 12. Turn here means repent. God says to his people who turn from him, their heart is turned from him. He says, now repent. And what does repent mean? Well, repent means primarily actually not the shedding of tears. That’s the byproduct of it. Repent means to change your mind. And then you indicate your change of mind by you turn around. Now, when I first entered the ministry, I went to actually my home church in Nashville as pastor. And I had some of the most wonderful people in that church. And they had to be wonderful to put up with Vernon McGee as pastors, my first pastor. And I was as green as grass. And I, in one sense, was rather serious, but rather frivolous also. I just apt to take off for Atlanta, Georgia, or to Memphis, Tennessee, where I’d been in school. And I knew some females in both places. And I’d just take off. And the man that had been responsible for me entering the ministry on the physical side, and that’s pretty important. I didn’t have any money as a poor boy. He arranged loan for me and got me jobs and all that. And I loved him as a father, for he was a father to me. But I went to see him one day in the bank, tell him something I had in mind. And he let me know immediately that my idea was not a very good idea, as many of mine have not been. And so he let me know in no uncertain terms about it. Well, that angered me. And I turned and started out. And so I got to the door and I thought, this is not right. I owe this man a great deal. So I turned. And you know why I turned around and went back? Because it came to me in my mind, my heart that I ought to do it. And when I got back there to his office, I saw tears coming down his eyes. By the way, he told my wife, when we were on our honeymoon, we went by Nashville. And he told my wife, he said, now, I don’t know much about you, whether you get angry quickly or not. But Vernon has a very high temper. And don’t both of you get angry at the same time. Well, he didn’t know my wife then. But that was one of the things that made her so attractive to me was she has a marvelous temper. And she’s put up with a whole lot from this poor preacher. But that day, I turned and went back. Now, what did I do? I repented. I repented of the thing I’d done. And I manifested it in doing the turning and going back. Now, God says to his people, he says, even with your heart, now you’re to repent. And the byproduct will be fasting and weeping and mourning. That is the byproduct. A great many people think that if you could go down to an altar and shed enough tears, you’re converted. I went through that process as a boy, and it was absolutely meaningless. Now, he goes on, and this is quite wonderful here. He says in verse 13, and tear your heart and not your garments. You see, this is to be a heart experience. And not your garments. And actually, the high priest was forbidden to tear his garments. You don’t show it by being a fanatic. You show it by the tear is to be in your heart. And turn unto the Lord. This is repentance. Turn unto the Lord your God. Why? Listen to this. For he’s gracious and he’s merciful. And he slowed anger and of great kindness and repented him of the evil. Now, when we get to the book of Jonah, I’m going to talk about again what it means when God repents. We had it back in the book of Exodus. God does never change his mind. God is immutable. God never changes. But when a sinner repents and turns to God, God has said to him, I’m going to judge you. God says, now you’ve turned to me, I won’t judge you. Why? Because he’s gracious and merciful and slow to anger, great kindness. And he repenteth of the evil. That is, it looks like he’s changed his mind. But he hasn’t changed his mind because God’s always good and gracious. And that’s what it looked like down in Egypt, that God had changed his mind. But God hadn’t changed his mind. He kept on sending the plagues to the Egyptians. And the city of Nineveh, God said He’d destroy it, but He didn’t. What happened? Nineveh repented and turned to God. And it looked like God had changed, because God had said He’s going to destroy the city. But you see, God doesn’t. And why didn’t God do it? It’s not because He changed His mind. But it’s because he is immutable. He never changes. And he’s always good. And he’s always gracious. He’s always merciful. He’s always slow to anger. He always exhibits great kindness. And friends, you can depend on God. I don’t know how this world’s treating you. I don’t think the world outside is very kind. They’re gracious, for God is. And why more people don’t go to him where they can get a good deal from him? Now, he says here in verse 14, who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering under the Lord your God. The Lord will bless you again in the field and in the vineyard. and you’ll have a drink offering, and you’ll have a meal offering to bring to him. And by the way, the drink offering is mentioned here now, and yet there’s no instructions in Leviticus for a drink offering. The drink offering was poured on the other offerings. And it was part of the other offerings, actually. They poured it on, and it went up just like steam, of course, on the hot coals. And Paul, you remember, said he wanted his life to be like that, a drink offering, an offering on the sacrifice of Christ, just to go up in steam, because he felt he didn’t amount to too much. But it was important. the redemption that we have in Christ. What a beautiful, wonderful picture that is. Now, I’ll leave off right there today, but I’ll begin next time with verse 14, chapter 2 of Joel. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 02 :
If you have distanced yourself from God and feel your rebellion is more than He can forgive, I pray this study gives you great comfort. But in order to receive all that God’s grace provides, you must first come to Him with humility and accept His ever-ready grace that cleanses and restores you. Turn to Him today, and you’ll see Him waiting for you with open arms. And is that your story? Has something you’ve heard on the Bible bus opened your eyes to God’s great kindness? Why don’t you tell us about it? We’d love to hear your stories. Each one encourages us all. You can drop us a note in the feedback section of our app, email us at BibleBus at ttb.org, or send a note to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. in Canada Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C, 6B1. Or call and leave a message at 1-800-65-BIBLE. I’m Steve Schwetz, and as always, I’ll meet you right back here as our grand adventure through God’s entire Word continues.
SPEAKER 03 :
Jesus made it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
