The Day of the Lord

VOH-M 2879 230730                                      The Day of the Lord                                      Joel 2:1-11             By the grace of God, I have never lived in a part of the world wracked by war. But because I enjoy studying and learning about history, I have read many books and watched many movies about World War II. During that war, both the Axis and Allied powers used saturation bombing as a technique to demoralize the enemy and to destroy manufacturing centers and lines of transportation.             Beginning on September 7, 1940, the German Luftwaffe bombed the city of London daily for 56 days, almost 2 months. During the entire war more than 20,000 civilians in London died as a result of the bombings. More than a million houses were damaged or destroyed.             On the side of the Allies, Major General George Doolittle supervised the repeated bombing raids of Berlin. Over the course of the war, thousands of tons of bombs were dropped causing massive fires and widespread destruction. Both sides lost countless airplanes and crew members in the destruction. Many civilians also died from hunger, disease, or injuries.             Most of the air raids were not carried out with total surprise. Early in the war, coastal watching and listening posts alerted citizens of an impending raid. Later, radar became more prevalent and reliable. But the wailing of sirens announcing an imminent air raid was a sound that aroused fear in even the most stouthearted.             We’re conducting our study from the book of Joel under the theme; “The Day of the Lord.” Today’s teaching, like the title cut from a music album, carries that same title. My opening comments gave a bit of insight into some of the damage done in World War II. But according to Joel, the effects of the coming day of the Lord would be much more severe. I can imagine that Joel’s words struck fear in the hearts of those who heard his message.             So, I invite you to listen and follow along as I read our text, Joel 2:1 to 11. In this proclamation by the prophet, Joel, we see the sequence of WARNINGS that will precede the Day of the Lord. We ignore these warnings at our own peril. The First WARNING (that will precede the Day of the Lord) is,             The Alarm Sounded             You may recall that in ancient times, every walled city had watchmen stationed at strategic places to warn the people of any approaching danger. One prominent example of this practice comes to us from Ezekiel chapter three where the prophet outlines the responsibilities of the watchman and the consequences he faced if he failed to warn the people of danger.             In our text, Joel is sounding the alarm. He cries “blow the shofar, the ram’s horn, in Zion, and sound the alarm in my holy mountain.” So, this alarm is not from a soldier on the wall of Jerusalem, but from a priest on the Temple Mount, Mount Moriah. This is primarily a spiritual warning. He is vehemently warning the people that the day of Jehovah’s terrible judgment is approaching. In fact, this judgment is so certain that Joel refers to it in the past tense; it has come.             This sounding of the ram’s horn should cause all the people of the land, Jew, and non-Jew alike, to tremble. Like the air raid sirens of World War II, it was a frightening sound that motivated people to seek cover. In fact, Amos wrote, “If atrumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?” Even today, observant Jews say that the sound of the shofar should inspire the hearer to be in awe of Yahweh.             What was the cause of this fear and trembling? The day of the Lord! A day filled with darkness and gloom. It will come, blocking out the light like the locust plague blots out the light of the noo