by Leonard V Johnson
A little history: The Prophet Joel was inspired to write here between 835──800 BC, during the reign of Jehoash, king of Judah. The Book of Joel, chapter 1, verses 1-20 describes a devastating locust plague that struck Judah. The locusts came in four waves, stripping the land bare and causing drought and famine. The Prophet Joel calls the nation to repent of their sins and turn back to the LORD God ── because no human effort could solve this crisis.
This devastating locust plague wasn’t just a natural disaster ── it was seen as a “Day of the Lord” event, a Divine Judgment! The Prophet Joel uses this grave crisis to call the nation of Judah to repent, showing how physical hardships can indeed be viewed as a spiritual wake-up call within God’s living word.
Here is most of the first chapter of this amazing Book ── the Prophet Joel painting a vivid picture that continues to speak to us today ──
“The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2) Hear this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers? 3) Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation. [AND EVEN, THIS GENERATION!].
4) What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
5) AWAKE, you [spiritual] drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the new wine, For it has been cut off from your mouth.”
The Prophet Joel is calling out that spiritual numbness where people are so caught up in their own pleasures, distractions, and life itself, that they’re completely oblivious to what the LORD God is trying to tell them through the crisis at hand. The “new wine” is a metaphor for THE COMING JUDGMENT ── it’s not about literal wine, but it represents the severe consequences of ignoring this dire warning from the LORD God.
Then, the LORD God begins to talk about a nation coming up against the land ── describing the locust plague as an invading army. The following verse sets up the locusts as the LORD’s tool for judgment, showing just how serious the situation is ──
6) For the nation has come up against My land, Strong, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, And he has the fangs of a fierce lion. 7) He has laid waste My vine, And ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and thrown it away; Its branches are made white.”
Let us turn momentarily to the Book of Revelation, the 9th chapter ── I want to make a comparison with what the Apostle John is describing with the FIFTH TRUMPET plague.
Verse 1 – “Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. …” – Satan and his demons being thrown down to the earth from the atmosphere. “ … To him was given the key to the bottomless pit, 2) And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.” – as I mentioned in “A ‘Secret Rapture’?” certainly, an indication that the atmosphere will be thick with volcanic ash, towers or even radioactive dust and ash! And, as I have witnessed, there is grave trouble with America’s disaster response. 1
Verse 3 – “Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4) They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal [the glorious Spirit of God] on their foreheads.”
Now, I do believe there’s a very good chance – and I can’t prove it – that a nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) may be used. Here is the Apostle John in a great vision – under the inspiration of God’s Spirit – writing and describing a series of events which are to take place at the time of the end of this age – the end-time trauma. This great army of Islamic soldiers, 200 million strong (cf. Revelation 9:16), will go forth swarming as locusts and as ferocious as lions. But they don’t ‘harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree’ like we see here in the Book of Joel – they destroy men with different types of weapons which destroy not the buildings, trees, or grass. It’s interesting to know that many nations have this technology and what damage these types of weapons can indeed do.
Let’s go back to the Book of Joel, the 1st chapter ──
8) Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth. 9) The grain offering and the drink offering Have been cut off from the house of the LORD; The priests mourn, who minister to the LORD. 10) The field is wasted, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine is dried up, The oil fails.
11) Be ashamed, you farmers, Wail, you vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field has perished. 12) The vine has dried up, And the fig tree has withered; The pomegranate tree, The palm tree also, And the apple tree ── All the trees of the field are withered; Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.
13) Gird yourselves and lament you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth, You who minister to my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.”
Verse 13, the LORD God calling priests to show deep reverence through the traditional mourning practices ── sackcloth and lamentations ── showing the seriousness of the LORD’s message. The LORD God’s ministers today truly need to take these future prophetic warnings seriously and mourn for what’s coming to the nations. Speaking to us about both this crisis written about here and a soon-coming crisis.
14) Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD.”
Now, he uses a term ‘you elders’ which were the leaders, the higher-educated, the wise, the kings and princes – today you might say presidents, vice presidents, prime ministers, senators, governors.
This dire warning was certainly for the Prophet Joel’s day ── but it still stands TODAY as testimony against the modern-day nations of Israel – including the United States of America, the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth Nations; Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
15) Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.”
This is the whole message of the Prophet Joel!
My friend, it’s not about the locusts which are eating up the land in such places as East Africa, but the message here is – THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND!! WAKE UP, SLEEPER, RISE FROM THE DEAD! ‘Awake, you drunkards, and weep; turn to Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ!’ He is crying out with this little, short prophecy here to the nations of Israel ── the United States of America, the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth Nations, such as Australia and New Zealand! As well as JUDAH ── modern-day Israel!
Droughts in Human Civilization History
Droughts have been a constant challenge throughout human history. Evidence shows that droughts have influenced human civilizations since the very beginning of mankind’s civilizations, such as the Mesopotamian and Persian, from early human migrations to the collapse of ancient empires.
From the mega-droughts that toppled the Egyptian Old Kingdom and the Maya civilization, it’s been a constant thread through human history. Here, Prophet Joel is using this locust plague as a powerful metaphor. It’s fascinating how he describes four stages of locusts, each more devastating than the last, to illustrate the LORD God’s judgment getting worse. The Prophet Joel turns that immediate disaster into a grave warning about the soon-coming Day of the LORD!
It saddens me that many Sunday-going churches don’t even teach from the Old Testament, and they’re not even privy to this metaphor of the LORD God’s judgment on an unrepentant world as time marches forward in this present evil age. When shepherds don’t teach the full Counsel of God, including the Old Testament warnings about progressive judgment, it leaves people unprepared for what is coming.
So, we have certainly had droughts. There was the great dust storm of May 11, 1934, one of the most severe storms of the Dust Bowl, carrying hundreds of millions of tons of topsoil from the Great Plains to the Eastern United States. In 1935, the United States faced one of its most devastating agricultural crises — a massive locust and grasshopper invasion that compounded the hardships of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. As devastating as all of that was ── those, too, were only forerunners of what is prophesied to occur. What has been will be once again (Ecclesiastes 1:9). When drought comes at its full force and fury, described by the Prophet Joel, as well as other places within God’s living word, it will be a time when ‘the seed shrivels under the clods, Storehouses are in shambles; Barns are broken down, For the grain has withered. The animals groan ── the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; the flocks of sheep suffer’ – Joel 1:17-18.
Verse 19 ── “O LORD, to You I cry out; For fire has devoured the open pastures, And a flame has burned all the trees of the field. 20) The beasts of the field also cry out to You, For the water brooks are dried up, And fire has devoured the open pasture.”
The Day of the LORD ── at our doorstep
Surely, the Day of the LORD prophesied often feels like some far-away future event, doesn’t it? Many today are proclaiming, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning’ – cf. 2 Peter 3:4. O’ how much closer it is since the time of the inspired words of the Prophet Joel! When you look upon the population of the Earth, some 8.3 billion people. When you look today at the massive murder rate around the world ── The global intentional homicide rate, defined by the UN, is about 5.8 homicides per-100,000 people on average. 2 When you still look at the United States’ debt that continues to rise ── some $39.5 trillion! How long can we continue going down this dirt road? Does not all that, alone, show you the WRITING ON THE WALL for where in the world it is headed? ── that the prophesied Day of the LORD is at our doorstep?
The Seventh Seal Opened – the Seventh Trumpet Blast
Our loving and merciful Savior, Jesus Christ, gave us some things to look for in Matthew the 24th chapter, when He said, “’ THEN they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10) And then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11) Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.’” ── they will be proclaiming to their people, ‘Nothing to see here, people! Just go about your business!’ And like the famous Elton John sings, “And all this talk of Jesus coming back to see us. Hmm, couldn’t fool us.”
Verse 12 ── “’ And because lawlessness will abound [see verse 37], the love of many will grow cold. 13) But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14) And this gospel of the kingdom [of God] will be preached in all the world AS A WITNESS to all the nations, and then the end will come.’”
Because then the end-time prophets will arise and shall go out unto all the world and to all nations proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God is coming soon, and they will be persecuted and hated, and will ultimately be martyred!
Let’s turn again to the Book of Joel, to chapter 2 ──
Verse 1 – “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 is coming, For it is at hand.”
Verse 2 ── “A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom HAS NEVER BEEN; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations.”
Notice the living words of our Savior ──
Matthew 24:15 ── “’ THEREFORE when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place’ (whoever reads, let him understand).” ── concerning a prophesied future Catholic-led European civic and military leader of a “United States of Europe,” like the Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes had done before, coming into Jerusalem. Antiochus IV’s early actions in Israel were part of a military and political campaign to secure Seleucid control over the region. Verse 16 ── ‘then let those who ARE IN JUDEA [modern-day Israel] flee to the mountains. … 21) For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22) And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.’”
The Prophet Daniel spoke of this same Day of the LORD and the Seventh Trumpet Blast ──
“’ At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered [the saints of the living LORD God!], Every one who is found written in the Book. 2) And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life [the FIRST RESURRECTION], Some to shame and everlasting contempt [the SECOND RESURRECTION].” ─ Daniel 12:1-2.
Returning again to the Book of Joel chapter 2 ──
Verse 3 – “A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them.”
Illustration of Revelation 9:13-17 (AI-generated)
It should remind us of what the sixth messenger sounded in the Book of Revelation, chapter 9 ──
“Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14) saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels [which could indeed be demons] who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ 15) So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.’
Verse 16 ── “Now the number of the army of the horsemen [an Islamic army] was TWO HUNDRED MILLION; I heard the number of them. 17) And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.” – Revelation 9:13-17.
Joel 2 ──
Verse 12 ── “’ Now, therefore,’ says the LORD, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’ 13) So rend your heart, and not your garments; RETURN TO THE LORD YOUR GOD, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.”
Verse 15 ── “’ Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; 16) Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babies; …” ── and like our Lord Jesus Christ admonished, “’ pray that your flight [out of Jerusalem, Israel] may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.’”
Verse 17 ── “’ Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
Let’s turn over to the Book of Jeremiah, the 30th chapter, and let’s read a quick reference ──
Verse 6 – “’ Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in labor with child? …’” – God looks around and sees men walking around doubled over as if they are in labor pains. “ … ‘So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins Like a woman in labor, And all faces turned pale?’”
Verse 7 – “’ Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.’” – recall, Jacob was Abraham’s grandson – and his name was changed to Israel. And he passed that name onto his two grandsons – Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob had crossed his arms and said, “let my name be named on them.” Now, the Apostle Paul made it abundantly clear that those who have the faith of Abraham are Abraham’s seed and are recipients of the promises which were made by God – becoming spiritual Israel. But friend, this here is not only speaking concerning the nations of Israel today, like the two main tribes Ephraim and Manasseh – United States of America, the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth nations, respectively. But it’s speaking primarily concerning JUDAH ── which is modern-day Israel today!
A great majority of the people of this world do many things while they pray to show how pious they are – like wrenching their clothes, or reciting prayers while wearing a tallit prayer shawl, or flogging themselves, or thumbing through rosary beads and giving the sign of the beast. Almighty God wants us to rend our hearts – get down to the very inside of our spirit, REPENT AND TURN UNTO HIM!
Almighty God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ are not sitting upon Their thrones throwing lightning bolts at people – like the imaginative Zeus! What They desire is for us to repent – “’ But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles [in reverence] at My word’” – Isaiah 66:2.
We beseech You, Father God, that You will save us, even though we’re rotten sinners and we deserve every bit of it – we need Your mercy, and we need You to be slow to anger. Help us to turn to You and to rend our hearts. □
1 Atkin, E., “The Troubling Failure of America’s Disaster Response” 17 July 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2026. https://newrepublic.com/article/149899/troubling-failure-americas-disaster-response.
2 Maria, Caitronia, Countries Ranked by Murder Rate, The Facts Institute, 28 May 2026.
