Josheb
Reformed Non-denominational
- Joined
- May 19, 2023
- Messages
- 4,489
- Reaction score
- 1,962
- Points
- 113
- Location
- VA, south of DC
- Faith
- Yes
- Marital status
- Married with adult children
- Politics
- Conservative
Joel 1 and 2 would be a reasonable place to start for proving that.
Joel 1 starts out with God sending locusts and those locusts resemble the locusts of Revelation.
Joel 1:4-7
What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; and what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; and what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten. Awake, drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine that is cut off from your mouth. For a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the fangs of a lioness. It has made my vine a waste and my fig tree splinters. It has stripped them bare and cast them away; Their branches have become white.
Revelation 9:3-11
Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.
God sends the lion-teethed locusts to strip the already spiritually desolate land of its resources. Will the people of God worship Him in their travail when they have failed to worship him beforehand? It's very difficult to offer grain offerings when there is no grain, wine offerings when there are no grapes, animal sacrifices when all the cattle are dead, and the birds have fled. The locusts' king is the angel of the abyss. Their king is an angel. It is God who sends the locusts. They are His army, not the army of an earthly enemy. In Joel two there are two trumpet calls. The first is a call of alarm, and the second is a call to congregate and consecrate.
Joel 2:1-2
Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, so there is a great and mighty people; there has never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it no the years of many generations.
Joel 2:15-18
Blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. Let the priests, the LORD'S ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, 'Where is their God?'" Then the LORD will be zealous for His land and will have pity on His people.
The famine is a call to repentance, a call to return to God. God often sent travail upon His people to call them back to faith and faithfulness. This theme runs throughout the Bible.
