“At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.”
The horror of the situation had finally sunk in. These marauders will stop human life in its tracks and there will be death and judgment for certain from the arrival of these unwanted invaders. Like the attack of an occupying army they will strip all bare and rape and pillage the land of all living greenery.
The people are finally seeing their fate and are in anguish about the future. The blood drains from their skin and they experience real and terrible dread. They are finally seeing what the prophet had been telling them and the warnings he has spoken that have fallen on deaf ears, are now heeded, but it is too late.
“She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.”
Nahum 2:10
Some translations translate the face that grows pale, as growing in darkness, a sign of impending death. Altogether it is a dreadful scene as people realise too late that they have rejected the warnings and now face the unthinkable consequences.
“Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.”
The armies of the locusts are ready to descend and destroy. We can hear the noise of them, the chariots on the tops of the hills, clanging and champing to be away into the fight. Then roar of the wheels as they descend with such vigour into the valley of death. Such will be the situation in that last battle against the Lord and His anointed king, the Lord Jesus Christ. The chariots will leap with the vehemence of the hatred against God and His people, but to no avail.
The sound will be like the roar of fire as it takes hold of the dry wasteland and devours all ahead of it. The fire will flame out into the country and leap and crackle until all is consumed. These pictures are very powerful for we can relate to them in our lives. If we have seen great fire then we will know how it takes hold and incinerates the whole edifice of a building. The flames leap and crash and roar until nothing is left. Once it takes hold, nothing or no one can stop it.
We have another picture of a great people, strong and mighty to fight in the battle and arrayed as a huge army on the tops of the hills ready for the word to advance. They are kitted out with armour and armaments and are ready for the fight to the death. They are cruel and filled with hate. They will destroy just for the sake of doing it and are set in full battle array against the people of God. We will see them one day soon, and will be also arrayed with the Lord Jesus in robes of white on white horses of the saints of God.
There will be no fighting, nor do the people of God carry weapons. Christ on the white charger will destroy them all with the Word from his mouth. The enemies of Christ can never stand against Him nor succeed.
“The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. The rest were killed with the sword of him who sat on the horse, the sword which came forth out of his mouth. All the birds were filled with their flesh.”
Revelation 19:20-21
No matter how destructive the enemies might seem to us, they can never touch us or steal the glory of the people of God. We ensure we are on the side of the right armies, the Army of the Lord of Hosts…
“The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen, so do they run.”
Once horses are running there is no stopping them, like a stampede that cannot be brought to a halt for any reason. This is a powerful analogy for the prophet Joel to use, since horses are powerful animals and used for warfare and hard labour. The bolt of the horses from the starting stalls at the beginning of a race is unstoppable. Wild horses thunder down the hills at break-neck speed, exalting in their freedom. Horses that run into battle are equally powerful and are trained to be bold and strong in the face of great danger. It was not for no reason that armies of old used them for speed and their intimidating qualities!
So this is like the locusts that pour over the land like liquid and touch every nook and cranny of the landscape, filling it with their power and their dread. As a charging army with men on horseback that drive the animals into the thick of the battle, where the fight is the hottest and the most virulent, so these locusts will install fear into all that seek to stand against them.
They run.
“I listened and heard, but they didn’t speak aright: no man repents him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.”
Jeremiah 8:6
Wickedness and oppression run like horses into the battle. Souls of the wicked sin without conscience and excuse their behaviour. They run over the land and strip it bare of righteousness and justice and put in its place destitution and spiritual famine. This is happening all over our world and we can but watch and see the destruction of our societies. Like Great War-horses, the sins of the people spread like wildfire, like locusts over the land. No one can stop them except the intervening hand of God, and He will, to rescue His believed people and bring many souls to righteousness.
“We looked for peace, but no good came; [and] for a time of healing, and behold, dismay! The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell therein.”
Jeremiah 8:15-16
It is a common theme of the prophets and should fill us with concern. The Lord sends trouble to teach us, and speaks to us in our troubles. May we listen and turn and be saved.
“A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.”
Fire is the most destructive element, for it changes the substance of things irrevocably. It destroys completely with no hope of renewal. These locusts will destroy like the fire. They will consume everything before them and leave nothing but charred remains of embers behind them. The land is bountiful for it is the land God gave to his people, and is a veritable garden of Eden with plenty for all, but it will be reduced to wasteland – a desolate wilderness of no use to human or animal.
These creatures devour. This is their goal and reason for existence. They must grow and live and so they eat all before them to nourish their own lives at the expense of everything else. They are like fire that totally devours and cannot be stopped. They are a curse, for they take and never give.
This is the outcome for all who forget God and refuse His many offers of mercy. Lives will be devoured by the wastefulness of the locust and destroyed by the deceitfulness of sin. The prophet continues to warn the people, but so far it has fallen on deaf ears. They want sound-bites of comfort and love and not the searching power of the Holy Spirit. They want the temporal blessings of this life and not the reality of the spiritual blessings in their Lord.
Beloved, may this not be true of us, but may we seek the Lord with all our hearts and keep our pathway pure, that we might escape His searching trials that will find us unable to stand up under them.
“To You, O Lord, I Lift Up My Soul. My God, I have trusted in you. Don’t let me be shamed. Don’t let my enemies triumph over me. Yes, no one who waits for you shall be shamed. They shall be shamed who deal treacherously without cause. Show me your ways, O Lord, Teach me your paths.”
“A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more after them, even to the years of many generations.”
The day of the Lord will not be a happy day for those who are under its judgment. The day is coming for these wayward people and it will come in the form of a huge swarm of locusts. It will appear as a day of thick darkness, there will be so many of them. The sun and daylight will be blotted out for there has never been such a hoard of marauders such a these.
They will appear like the sun coming up over the mountains and spreading across the countryside so fast and furiously. As the light travels so fast, so will these destructive hoards of insects. There has never been such a swarm as this one – never been so many insects like these who will destroy everything in front of them. Neither will there ever be again, for they are the judgment of the Lord, like the final judgement that is to come.
They are described here as “strong people,” like a marauding army of invaders from over the mountains who will sweep in like the sea and drown all the land with their plague. They will spread like light over the ground as it arrives over the mountains. No oner will be able to stop it, for it will sweep away everything in sight.
We can only imagine the terror at the sight of this monstrous and destructive army cascading over the hills and devouring the work and livelihoods of the people. They watch helpless as the army of locusts eat their way through the entire land in a few hours. They leave destitution and famine and death. It surely is a day of gloominess and the prophet is right to bemoan the trouble of the people, even if they do not see it for themselves. They must call out to the Lord to deliver them, for there is no one else who can possibly help.
Beloved, when the day of the Lord comes for us, may we be ready to meet it under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty God, who will shelter His people from the last great storm and bring all His ransomed people home safely and triumphant. May we be among that great throng and look in confidence and rest at that last battle where the enemies of the Lord, and of His people, will finally and forever be vanquished.
“I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written which no one knows but he himself. He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called “The Word of God.” The armies which are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen. Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
“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 comes, for it is close at hand:”
The people of God are asleep and insensible to what is coming against them. They do not see nor read the signs in the circumstances of life, and so the trumpet of God will sound against them from the holy hill of Zion, the place where God dwells. As the priests sound the trumpet to call the people to repentance, so the trumpet of God is sounded at the coming tragedy, not of locusts, but of final and irrevocable judgment. It is not a trumpet of rejoicing but of wild alarm. It is to awaken the people and warn them of the coming doom, the impending day that will bring judgment and sorrow on them, for they are lost and without hope of salvation.
They have slept away their chances and have not been faithful, to the Lord or paid attention to the warning He has sent them, so now they face the day of His great wrath with no Saviour to mediate for them. They are in the worst possible state.
The mention here in this verse of the day of the Lord, refers not just to the tragedy of the destruction of the locusts and the famine they bring, but the day of reckoning when the souls of the people will be judged. The day has now come, a day in the future when all will give account for the deeds done in the body. The great day of his wrath is coming and the judgment will be poured out, not in love but in great anger against all the enemies of God, who reject His holy laws and the provision of His salvation offered to all people.
“Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.”
Zephaniah 1:18
The day of the Lord will surely come, as the other days that were foretold by the prophets. There will be no recompense on the last great day, but all will face their judgment and the Lord will make an end to all evil and evil doers.
“Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.”
The prophet Joel hits home the problem. Even the animals are more sensible to their need than the people of God. All streams and water holes have dried up and the animals are thirsty. They pant to the Lord, longing for his blessing and provision. The people are not so…
Those who seek the Lord go after Him with a true and full heart of love for Him. They desire Him above all other things.
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.”
Psalm 42:1
As an animal seek provision from the Lord, so also do we. We long for Him and are desperate for His felt presence and provision for our empty souls. These people in Joel’s time, do not. May we be wise and love the Lord our God with every fibre of our being.
“Lord, I cry to you, For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.”
In the midst of the destitution and disaster, this is the only thing that we can do and the most powerful thing we can do. We cry to the Lord in our pains and troubles and He will deliver us. The trouble here, is the influx of hoards of locusts that have destroyed everything and are likened to a devouring fire that has burned up all the pasture land and the trees of the field. Fire totally destroys and there is no possibility of getting the constituent part back as they were before. It is wholly destructive and this has been the judgment of the Lord on the sin of the people.
God will not tolerate sin, especially in is beloved people, and will deal with us and help us to “see” the rottenness that we have fallen into and give us a way out in repentance.
The problem with these people that the prophet is ministering to, is that they are almost insensible to the voice of the Lord. They do not listen to the prophet. They do not cry out in their famine. They are less sensible than the beasts which have cried to the Lord for food and sustenance. Now the mountains and cool wildernesses are burned up and destroyed and still they do not cry out.
The prophet says that he alone will cry to the Lord. It is a personal response to the situation and Joel recognises his need for the Lord, as do the animals and the field. The people remain deaf to the pleadings of the Lord. The cannot even respond to the trial of fire. This is the natural state of the human heart without God, and a desperately sad and depraved one.
Beloved, may we cry out in our need and experience the deliverance of the Lord before the trial get too onerous and we really fall and fail. May we see the warning signs in our own lives that we are wandering and stop the slipping before it gets away from the presence of the Lord.
“Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, until disaster has passed. I cry out to God Most High, to God who accomplishes my requests for me.”
Psalm 57:1-2
Those who call out to Him are never disappointed and He will deliver the humble from the temptation, the snare and the destruction that await those who refuse. These people in this time of Joel are in deep trouble and their hearts are far from the Lord. They refuse to cry…
“How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.”
The attention now turns to the animals who are affected by the famine. The misdeeds of the people have had an effect on everything. The animals also have nothing to eat or drink and are made desolate by the effects of the famine. The consequences of our sin run deep, not just for ourselves but for others as well. The things we do and say affect those around us and can cause a spiritual famine in our families, communities and countries. We are experiencing this in the West today, as so many have turned from following the Lord and are following false teachers and fables.
The sheep of the pasture of the Lord are made desolate by the falsehoods and many are suffering great loss in the inner life of their soul. The people of God are not being fed good nourishing spiritual food and are therefore dying in the pews. The Lord must come down and save us, for we perish… we dig for food, but it is hard to find.
The people of God are waiting for the return of their Saviour and cry out to Him for deliverance. The whole creation is groaning and suffering waiting for the deliverance of the children of God and the new creation wherein dwells righteousness.
“For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.”
Romans 8:19-22
One day soon the groaning will cease and all shall be peace in the kingdom of God. All evil will be gone. All want and needs will be met and joy and peace will reign. This is the glorious hope of the people of God and a motivation to turn for all sin and be ready when the Lord returns for us. We do not need to be desolate, for we have this glorious hope which is true and certain.
“The seeds rot under their clods. The granaries are laid desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.”
The crops are gone. The produce, the growth and the seeds have rotted in the ground, so there will be no other possibility for a harvest.
If the people are to be saved it will be by the hand of the Lord alone.
“…for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God..”
Ephesians 2:4
It is exactly the same for us today. Before we come to Christ there is not even the seed of saving faith in our lives, but only sinfulness, selfishness and hostility towards the Lord. There must be a work of God’s amazing grace in our hearts, minds and souls if we are to be saved. We must acquiesce. We need to repent of our ways and succumb to the love and mercy of the only Saviour of our souls. Jesus has paid the price already and all we have to do is trust in Him and what He has done for us. It is so easy, and yet so difficult for us to give in to Him.
Beloved, all we have is sin and death, but Christ or Lord offers us life and peace. Let us embrace Him and all that He offers to us in His mighty love. He will bring the harvest out of the desolation in our souls and give us spiritual life. His ways are ways of pleasantness and all His paths are peace…
Daughters of the Kingdom 