The Locust Plague

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 100
• Hymn — Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Joel 2:12-13
• Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 15:10-35
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — Surely the Presence of the Lord
• Sermon
• Hymn — Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The Locust Plague

Scripture: Joel 1

I. The Reason for the Plague: Sin

A. Joel is introduced without historical markers — the date of his ministry is uncertain, but the message is clear regardless of when he prophesied

B. The locust plague is a direct fulfillment of God's covenant warnings to Israel

1. Deuteronomy 32:23-24 warns of disasters, hunger, plague, and beasts as consequences of disobedience
2. Joel 1:6 echoes this language — locusts with "lion's teeth" and "fangs of a lioness"
3. The name Joel means "Yahweh is God" — the prophet comes to a people bowing to Baals and Ashtoreths

C. The plague is not the force of nature but the hand of God in judgment against sin

D. Application to 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest are not primarily political or policy failures — they are the visible effects of sin and the fall

1. Sin produces division, strife, violence, hatred, economic turmoil, and natural disaster
2. No politician or policy can reach the core of the problem — only Christ and the proclamation of the gospel addresses the root disease of a rebellious heart

II. The Recipients of the Plague

A. The plague touches every inhabitant of the land

1. The drunkards — the vine is destroyed (Joel 1:5)
2. The farmers — the harvest has perished (Joel 1:11)
3. The storehouses are desolate, the granaries torn down (Joel 1:17)

B. Creation itself is a recipient of the plague

1. The vine and fig tree (Joel 1:7), the ground mourns, the oil languishes (Joel 1:10), the beasts groan (Joel 1:18)
2. Romans 8:20-22 — all creation was subjected to futility because of sin and groans together in the pains of childbirth

C. The spiritual leaders of Israel are addressed first and foremost — judgment begins at the house of the Lord

1. Joel 1:2 — "Hear this, you elders" opens the first section (vv. 1–12)
2. Joel 1:13 — "Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests" opens the second section (vv. 13–20)
3. Israel assumed God's judgment fell on the pagan nations around them — not on themselves
4. Christ's coming brought judgment first to the leaders of Israel, not to Rome
5. In Revelation, Christ's warnings begin with the seven churches, not the seven pagan nations
6. Our first response to disaster must not be "the nation needs to get in order" but "the church needs to get in order"

III. The Response to the Plague: Sorrow Over Sin

A. Throughout the chapter, deep, inconsolable sorrow is called for

1. Joel 1:5 — "Awake, you drunkards, and weep and wail"
2. Joel 1:8 — "Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth" — sorrow like a bride who loses her fiancé the night before the wedding
3. Joel 1:9 — the priests mourn because the grain offering and drink offering (the daily tamid sacrifice) are cut off — the worship of Yahweh itself is interrupted
4. Joel 1:13-14 — sackcloth, lamentation, and a solemn assembly are called for

B. The Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 15) defines repentance as a sinner who, out of a sense not only of the danger but of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, and upon apprehension of God's mercy in Christ, so grieves for and hates his sins as to turn from them all to God

1. The question is posed: do you mourn over sin like a bride who has lost her husband, or treat it as a minor nuisance?
2. The tax collector's posture — beating his chest and crying "wretched man that I am" — is the model, not the Pharisee's comparison to others

C. This sorrow over sin is to be remembered across generations

1. Joel 1:3 — "Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children"
2. The pattern in Judges: Israel cries out in anguish, is restored, then returns to its old ways
3. The events of 2020 — loss of corporate worship, social isolation, death without loved ones present — should mark and change God's people permanently, not temporarily
4. In remembering these things, we are to look to the cross, where the only remedy for sin is found in Christ alone