It reads in Zephaniah 1:15-16; That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers. An Army of Insect Soldiers ( Joel 2) is a more complete description of this nation of insects that have overrun Judea, describing the individual soldiers and their actions. We must read these verses carefully to notice that he is describing the locusts metaphorically to raise the reader’s emotional response.
{This locust army is a metaphor for the armies that God sends upon Israel when He judges them for their disobedience. God took credit for raising up the Assyrian army against Israel. He took credit again for raising up the Babylonian army against Judah.}
“An Army of Locusts” (1-11)
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come. Before them, fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste, nothing escapes them. They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots, they leap over the mountaintops like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale. They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course. They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves, they enter through the windows. Before them, the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord thunders at the head of his army, his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?
{“ Rend your hearts and not your garments ” means that we must look inward to make changes before that which we do on the outside will be seen as a legitimate exercise to serve. Are our hearts torn?}
“Rend Your Heart” (12-17)
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent (Abandon) and leave behind a blessing, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the Lord your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, and call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly brings together the elders, gather the children, that nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico (Porch) and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the people, Where is their God?’”
{These verses are a future prophecy about the return of Jesus Christ, the battle of Armageddon. symbolizes the final battle between God and Satan. This battle will occur at the end of time and will result in the destruction of Satan and his followers. The Tribulation will end with a series of battles in the distant future. The battle of Armageddon will be fought at Mount Megiddo, north of Jerusalem. Just saying.
The Lord’s Answer” (18-27)
Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people. The Lord replied to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. “I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land; its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.”Surely he has done great things! Do not be afraid, land of Judah; be glad and rejoice. Surely the Lord has done great things! Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten, the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm, My great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.
“The Day of the Lord” (28-32)
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
{last verse, Joel 2:32, is most interesting, as it points out that those who call upon the Lord shall be delivered and saved. Here is how James Moffatt { James Moffatt (July 4, 1870, Glasgow – June 27, 1944, New York City) was a Scottish theologian and graduate of Glasgow University. Moffatt trained at the Free Church College, Glasgow, and was a practicing minister at the United Free Church in Dundonald in the early years of his career.} {translates it: “But every worshipper of the Eternal shall be saved, for Sion hill shall hold those who escape, as the Eternal has declared, and the fugitives whom the Eternal calls shall be inside Jerusalem.”}
{Let’s Pray}
Father God, I thank You and praise You that Your Word is true and stands fast forever. I thank You and praise You that You told us the end from the beginning and that we know that Christ’s victory on the Cross and the full power of the Resurrection, will be realized in the promised kingdom of heaven on earth when the earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. Your many precious promises to Your people, Israel, and that despite their rejection of Christ as Messiah, You have not rejected them or any of Your children. I thank You that in Your grace, I thank You that this wonderful prophecy that You will pour out Your Holy Spirit upon all flesh and the hearts of all who trust Jesus Christ as Savior. I thank You for that one day that is finally and fully fulfilled. Until that time, use me to talk about the good news of Jesus Christ. Give me the urgency to tell all who are unsaved the good news that Jesus has paid the price for the sin of the world, through His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection. Use me to go and proclaim the good news of the gospel of grace to those You put in my path, while there is still time in Jesus’ Precious Name Amen.
{Power Verses}
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13–14 NIV
"Only Life Changes" 