On the front page of USA Today, May 21, 2007, there is a very interesting article about the scorching summer that is predicted for the United States.  I want to quote from this article which is from Denver.  “As Memorial Day weekend beckons, federal climate scientists predict drought will intensify in much of the West this summer and persist in the fire-scorched Southeast despite recent rain.”

Dropping down in the article, “In its drought outlook for June, July and August, the federal Climate Prediction Center foresees some improvement in the Gulf Coast states, including central and South Florida and the state’s Panhandle.  But southern Georgia and northern Florida, raked by wildfire this month, ‘may see deterioration’ even though the rainy season is due to start, the center reports.

“‘Fire is the big story,’ says Mark Svoboda of the National Drought Mitigation Center in Nebraska.  ‘The lack of spring rains has increased fire incidence.’

“The climate center outlook also expects little lasting relief in dry areas of the West, from California across Nevada and Utah, and new drought areas developing in large parts of Idaho and Oregon.”

Picking up the article a few paragraphs down it says, “Drought, a scourge in the West for nearly a decade, now afflicts about one-third of the contiguous USA, including part of the upper Midwest.  The total rises to 49% with areas classified as ‘abnormally dry.’  More than 40% of Alaska fits into the dry category.

“In the West, 69.5% of the region’s 11 states were either in drought or abnormally dry, nearly double the area affected a year ago.”

Just having returned from Australia, I know that Australia is suffering from the fifth year of drought, and it extends over much of the country.  Fortunately, just after I left they did start receiving some rain, and it came just in the nick of time as a couple of cities were within days of running out of water.  They rely a lot on cisterns and on water entrapment areas to draw water for the cities, and those were running low.  Reservoirs were all dropping to dangerously low levels.  They are not out of the woods yet, but it is definitely looking better because they have had some nice heavy rains spread throughout the country just where they needed it.

Drought inspires fear for most people.  With drought we realize famine often follows, as well as fire.  In some situations, devouring locusts can follow.  Once the rains start up after a drought, locusts hatch in some areas of the world and cause devastation for what crops you do have.

We have all seen the haunting images of starving people especially women and children in Africa, specifically Ethiopia and Darfur.  News footage recently of fires in California, Georgia and Florida look quite ominous.  Oddly enough, if you have been following the news, there are floods taking place in some areas of the country where too much rain is falling. You will see in one footage on the newscast fire from drought, and in another section of the news you will see floods in another area of the country.

What is the world coming to?  Isn’t this horrible?  Isn’t this ominous?  Should we be shaking in our boots and terrified?  Before we panic, I want to read a few more items and cogitate for just a moment on what this does mean.  We will take these one at a time, and these are starting with The World Book Encyclopedia, 1983edition.  I want to read their article on drought.

DROUGHT
“Drought is a condition that results when the average rainfall for a fertile area drops far below the normal amount for a long period of time.  In areas that are not irrigated, the lack of rain causes farm crops to wither and die.  Higher than normal temperatures usually accompany periods of drought.  They add to the crop damage.  Forest fires start easily during droughts.  Much valuable timberland has been burned during these dry periods.  The soil of a drought area becomes dry and crumbles.  Often the rich topsoil is blown away by the hot, dry winds.  Streams, ponds, and wells often dry up during a drought, and animals suffer and may even die because of the lack of water.

“Weather forecasters cannot predict with certainty just when a drought will occur.  But they know that these drier-than-normal periods tend to alternate with wetter-than-normal periods in an irregular cycle.”  Notice it is an irregular cycle, but it is a cycle.  “Droughts of the past can be read in the rings made by trees as they add new wood each year.  In wet periods, the year’s layer of wood is thick, while in a dry period, the ring is thin.

“The Southwestern States of the United States suffered one of the worst droughts in their history from 1931 to 1938.”  Indeed, my father told me about those dust bowl years.  In Detroit the sky would go dark with dust blown all the way from Okalahoma and Texas!  This was back in the 1930’s.  “The drought affected the entire country.  Few food crops could be grown.  Food became scarce, and prices went up throughout the nation.  Hundreds of families in the Dust Bowl region had to be moved to farms in other areas with the help of the federal government.  In 1944, drought brought great damage to almost all of Latin America.  The drought moved to Australia and then to Europe, here it continued throughout the summer of 1945.  From 1950 to 1954 in the United States, the South and Southwest suffered a severe drought.  Hundreds of cattle ranchers had to ship their cattle to other regions because pasture lands had no grass.  To help ease the hardship, the federal government again conducted an emergency drought-relief program.  It offered farmers emergency credit and seed grains at low prices.

“In 1961, drought struck the Northern Great Plains states and Canada’s prairie provinces.  During the mid-1970’s, California and a number of other states in the western half of the United States experienced severe drought conditions.  Major losses of crops and livestock occurred as a result.”

As we can see, history is replete with episodes of drought.  What you see in the newspaper today, is really just a continuation of what the world has been going through for a long time.  Now I want to read a little bit of two different articles about locusts.  The first one comes from The World Book Encyclopedia, the same edition.

LOCUSTS
“Locust is any short-horned grasshopper, or a grasshopper with short antennae (feelers).”  Dropping down in the article:  “Since ancient times, locusts have been known for destroying crops.

“Most locusts are brownish and are about 2 inches long, with a large head, large eyes, and short antennae.   They have long hind legs for jumping, and four wings which fold over their backs when they are not flying…

“Locusts plagues occur in nearly all continents from time to time.  Only extremely cold countries are free of these insects.   Locusts travel in swarms and settle on green fields like a blanket.  They eat green leaves and stalks.  The female locust lays her eggs in the soil in a case that usually contains about 25 eggs.  Swarms of locusts have ruined crops in many parts of the world.  One swarm by the Red Sea was believed to cover an area of 2,000 square miles.  The Rocky Mountain locust destroyed millions of dollars worth of crops in the Mississippi Valley between 1870 and 1880.  Between 1930 and 1940 [corresponding with the dust bowl in the United States], grasshoppers caused damage on the Pacific Coast, in the Southwest United States, and on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains.

“Swarms of migrating locusts are sometimes so large they shut out the sunlight.”

Then from Wikipedia I have this article on the Desert Locust.  “Plagues of the Desert Locust have threatened agricultural production in Africa, the Middle East and Asia for centuries.  The livelihood of at least one-tenth of the world’s human population can be affected by this hungry insect.  The Desert Locust is potentially the most dangerous of the locust pests because of the ability of swarms to fly rapidly across great distances.  It has two to five generations per year.  The northern highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea slow the movements of Desert Locusts to the breeding areas of the Red Sea coast.  Potential Desert Locust plagues originating in east Africa can be prevented if action is taken during or before localized outbreaks in Eritrea and Sudan.

“While the Desert Locust alone is not responsible for famines, it can be an important contributing factor.”

Dropping down, “The Dessert Locust lives a solitary life [while it is dry], until it rains.  Rain causes vegetation growth and allows the female to lay eggs in the sandy soil.  The new vegetation provides food for the newly hatched locusts and provides them with shelter as they develop into winged adults.

“During quiet periods, called recessions, Desert Locusts are confined to a 16-million-square-kilometers belt that extends from Mauritania through the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, across the Arabian Peninsula, and into northwest India. Under optimal ecological and climatic conditions, several successive generations can occur, causing swarms to form and invade countries on all sides of the recession area, as far north as Spain and Russia, as far south as Nigeria and Kenya, and as far east as India and southwest Asia.  As many as 60 countries can be affected within an area of 32-million-square-kilometers, or approximately 20 percent of the Earth’s land surface.

“Locust swarms fly with the wind at roughly the speed of the wind.  They can cover from 100 to 200 kilometers in a day and will fly up to about 2,000 meters above sea level (thereafter it becomes too cold).  Therefore, swarms cannot cross tall mountain ranges such as the Atlas Mountains, the Hindu Kush or the Himalayas.   …swarms regularly cross the Red Sea between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and are even reported to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the Caribbean in ten days during the 1987-89 plague.  A single swarm can cover up to 1200 square kilometers and can contain between 40 and 80 million locusts per square kilometer.”

These are definitely terrifying things to ponder.  Severe drought, fires, locust infestations are things to pause and consider.  But should they be something we should fear as end-of-the-world fulfillments of prophesy?  As we look at the subject, I think you will see there is a side to this we should pay attention to, but it is not what we would see in the newspapers.

Obviously, these problems of drought, fire, locusts and floods have been taking place for a long, long time.  There have been terrible floods.  I know that if you go back in history some of the floods have been just absolutely enormous, as indeed some of the fires caused by drought.  I know I read of an incident when most of Lower Michigan was covered by fire.  That was due to logging and bad farming practices, and then a dry summer hit.  I think this was in the 1800’s or early 1900’s.  Fire started in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and actually just about covered the state.  So it has happened in the past.  It is important for us to realize as far as these physical things go, this is nothing new under the sun that we are experiencing today.  Floods, droughts and fires are just a continuation of cycles that have been around for a long time.

THREE OBSERVATIONS BY A FARMER
As a farmer, I made a few observations, and I want to share them with you.  The first observation is that the world has always experienced these things.

THE WORLD IS AWASH WITH FOOD
The second observation is that today the world is awash with food.  I can tell you that that is true because it is about worthless.  Thousands of farmers quit farming each year because they cannot make a profit.  Millions upon millions of acres around the world do not even go into productivity.  They are not even planted because it would not be worthwhile to plant them.  Part of this is the fact that we have mechanization today so one farmer can do a lot of work with his machinery compared to a family farm from years ago.  Years ago a family farmed with an average of about 40 acres.  It took a lot of people to work the land, but the amount of land has not changed.  The amount of land in the world that is arable actually has probably decreased a little bit, but most of the earth has never been in production for farming.  It is suitable for farming.  So this fear of the world running out of food is a gross exaggeration.

I will give you a few statistics.  This year American farmers intend to plant 90 million acres of corn.  Guess what we want to do with a lot of it?  We want to burn it and turn it into ethanol.  We are not going to eat it or feed it to cattle or sheep, but burn it.  That is how much corn there is.

In 1935 the United States planted 100 million acres of corn and realized a crop of two billion bushels.  In 1975 (40 years later), 80 million acres were planted and resulted in a crop of six billion bushels.  Because of modern farming techniques, better corn hybrids and a knowledge of the land for which fertilizers to use, we can produce an awesome amount of food.  It is debatable whether fertilizers are best for our health, but as far as producing food, we can produce an awesome amount of food.  Even all around us where we are sitting right here, there is a lot of idle land that could be planted, and farmers are being paid not to plant it because food is virtually worthless.  The only reason you see the images of starving people on the news is because of corruption, bad government and war. There is plenty of food to take care of the people on the earth.  God would not design an earth that would run out of the food for the people He knew would exist on it.  He is a lot smarter than that.

Financially, farmers today desire to receive 60% of parity.  They would be happy if they could get 60% of parity.  If you are not in the farming business, you may not understand what farming parity is.  Farming parity is a set standard that the government made telling farmers that the government wanted them to be able to realize the same amount in purchasing power as what they made in 1914 to 1915.  In other words, the government has said farmers should make parity.  In other words, make the same amount of money in purchasing power as they did in 1914 and 1915.  Farmers are saying we do not want parity.  We can never attain it.  If we could have 60% of parity we could turn a profit.

A bushel of wheat today fetches about $4.76.  Can you imagine that?  In purchasing power, it has gone down and down and down.  I believe back in 1914 and 1915 it was $3.00 a bushel in 1914 dollars.  That is my best recollection of what parity was.  So farmers have lost a ton, but their efficiency has made it so that they could keep producing more and more wheat.  It is like that when you talk about cattle or corn or whatever.  I have been in the cattle business now for 31 years, and cattle are selling today for the same price as when I bought into the farming business 31 years ago.  Tell me how that can be done.  Concluding, there is no shortage of food.

DOOMSAYERS ARE NOT DETERRED BY THE FACTS
But another observation, and my final one before we start getting into Scripture, is this: Doomsayers are not deterred by the facts.  Unfortunately, they will continue to believe the worst and ignore the fact that we are able to gain weight in our country.  There is an obsession with overweight people.  There is more food that people can choose from than ever before.  The entire world is now serving food to everyone else through trade so when you have a drought in one area, the rest of the world that has idle land and good weather conditions is quickly able to fill the need because of modern transportation methods.  We know that for a fact that when there is a freeze in Florida and the orange crop is ruined, do you run out of orange juice in the store?  You pay a little bit more, but it comes from South America, Latin America, Australia and other places that can raise citrus.  Mexico is a good place that always quickly can fill the bill when we need it.  They can simply step up to the plate and give us what we have to have.

WHAT THE SIGNS OF THE END ARE NOT
We ignore God’s warnings at our own peril, because He tells us not to be terrified and not to be worried about physical signs such as droughts.  I want to look at a couple of Scriptures that we often turn to, but let’s first refresh our memories before we take off on this sermon.  Turn to Matthew chapter 24, verse 3.  “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be?  And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’”  It is a very direct question.

Verse 4:  “And Jesus answered and said to them:  ‘Take heed that no one deceives you.’” Then He tells them what not to be deceived by.

Matthew 24, verse 5:  “‘For many will come in my name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many.’”  And here is what you will be hearing.

Verse 6: “‘And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.’”

Turn, if you would, to Mark chapter 13.  Verse 3:  “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, ‘Tell us, when will these things be?  And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?’  And Jesus, answering them, began to say:  ‘Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, “I am He,” and will deceive many.  But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet.’”

“‘But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled…’”  Why?  Verse 7:  “‘For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles.  These are the beginnings of sorrows.’”

He says you have always had this.  They will continue.  Do not be deceived that these are some special sign of My return, but they are the sorrows that we have always had.  You would see they are the beginning of birth pangs if you were to check into the actual verbiage there.

Continuing in verse 9 He tells us some things to watch for.  Verse 9 of Mark 13:  “‘But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues.  You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them.  And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.’”  That is the main physical sign to watch for.  When the gospel has been preached to all the world as a witness corroborating Matthew 24:14, that is the main physical sign to watch for.

Turn to Luke chapter 21.  These are all accounts of the same situation of answering the question about Christ’s return when He was talking to the disciples.  There is a little bit of different information in each one.  Luke 21, beginning in verse 7:  “So they asked Him, saying, ‘Teacher, but when will these things be?  And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?’  And He said:  ‘Take heed that you not be deceived.  For many will come in My name, saying, “I am He,” and “The time has drawn near.”  Therefore do not go after them.’”

There are many out there that are saying, look at these wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes and pestilences.  We are pointing this out, therefore the time is drawing near.  Why don’t you follow us?  But He says do not go after them.

Verse 9 of Luke 21:  “‘But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.’  Then He said to them, ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.’”  From where?  From heaven it says and not from the earth.  That is what we want to focus on now.  These signs from heaven that are fearful sights are what we want to focus on.

The fearful sights is actually one Greek word phobetron, meaning frightening thing, by example a terrific portent.  It comes from the word phobio which means to frighten, to be alarmed, or by analogy to be in awe of or to revere.  There will be signs from heaven to be in awe of and to revere and to pay attention to.  They are not earthly signs.  They are not physical earthquakes.  We do not have time to go into spiritual earthquakes, but they take place.  We do not have time to go into spiritual warfare to a great extent.  We have done that before.  There is spiritual war.  We know Ephesians tells us we are involved in a spiritual war.  Those are the wars we should pay attention to.  There are signs from heaven that we need to be aware of and that we need to be in awe of.  I want to cover some of those signs today.

FAMINE OF THE WORD
Let’s turn to Amos chapter 8.  Verse 1:  “Thus the Lord God showed me:  Behold, a basket of summer fruit.  And He said, ‘Amos, what do  you see?’  So I said, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’  Then the Lord said to me:  ‘The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.  And the songs of the temple shall be wailing in that day,’ says the Lord God…”  There was a lot of wailing from the temple when it fell in 586 B.C. We also understand that the Church of God today is the temple.  Since Jesus Christ’s first coming, the Church is God’s temple.

Continuing in verse 3 of Amos 8:  “‘Many dead bodies everywhere, they shall be thrown out in silence.’  Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, and make the poor of the land fail, saying:  ‘When will the New Moon be past, that we may sell grain?  And the Sabbath, that we may trade wheat?  Making the ephah small and the shekel large, falsifying the scales by deceit, that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, even sell the bad wheat?’”  There are a lot of analogies there that we could go into, but I think you can start to see there are some spiritual ramifications here at the end of the age.

Now let’s drop down to verse 11 of Amos 8.  This is a Scripture that we in the Church have known and have spoken of often as an end-time prophecy.  “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord God, ‘That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.  They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it.’”

There is a famine of the word today, brethren, and this is the famine that we need to be paying attention to.  There is a drought today, and that is the drought that we need to be paying attention to.  Spiritual famine and spiritual drought are what we need to pay attention to.

Turn over to Micah, two books back.  Micah chapter 6.  Read verses 9-16.  We understand we are in a spiritual abomination of desolation today, and it is because of unrepentant sin.  We are promised here to have drought in which we eat physically and we are all full, but we eat spiritually and we come away empty.  We drink spiritually and come away thirsty.  We sow and we do not reap.  We cannot seem to benefit.  What kind of sowing are we talking about, and what kind of sword are we talking about?

“SWORD” MEANS DROUGHT
If you were to look up that word “sword,” you would find in the Hebrew, it is chereb which means a drought.  The sword can also be an analogy for a drought, also a cutting instrument.  It comes from the word chareb which means to parch, to desolate and to ruin.  So what is sown and what we are trying to grow are killed by drought.

We know we are trying to grow in holy righteous character like God and bear fruit for Him.  Yet, because of unrepentant sin, lies and deceit, we are going nowhere.  The Church continues to suffer.  This is the sword that is punishing the Church.  It is cutting down the plants that God would like to be growing in a healthy state.  It has to bring about a drought and a chastisement on the Church in order to see the Church correct itself.  Then sin would be eliminated and thereby bear fruit.

RAIN FOR FRUIT
Turn, if you would, to I Corinthians chapter 3.  We will look at sowing, watering and planting.  Read verses 5-9.  You are this temple in this city that God is building, but He is using you as plants to do it.  One brings the water, and another sows the seed.  God produces the increase.  He is to work in our hearts, if we let Him.  He will help us to grow in holy righteous character.  This is the crop that God is talking about.  This is the rain that we need and the seed that needs planting within us in order to bear fruit.  Back up to Isaiah chapter 55 for corroboration on that.

We do not want what has been sown into our lives to not bear a crop for God.  We want the water and the seed.  We want to bear fruit.  We want the sunlight to be converted.  We want the truth of God to be converted in our lives so that we can be fruitful for God.

Read Isaiah 55:8-11.  God’s word is doctrine.  It is truth.  It is what we need to have seed and bear fruit for God.  It is the rain that waters the seed that He plants within us, and He says it will bear fruit.  I will accomplish what I want to do.  But it is up to us to be part of His success by letting Him work in the soil that we are.  Indeed, we are His garden, as we said last week.

God says, I do not want My rain to return to Me empty, but He can deny us the rain.  If His thoughts (His doctrine, His truth) are rain, He can deny us the rain.  When we are hardhearted, why should He teach us?  Why should He give us mercy?  Why should He give us understanding?  Ask ourselves the question:  am I preventing the rain from landing on my soil so that my plants are dying?  Spiritually that is what God sees.  He does not see just the physical trees and the grass out there.  He sees the crop He wants to produce from the earth.  It is a crop with eternal life at stake.

God is a farmer.  We often quote James 5:7-8.  Let’s go to James chapter 5.  Verse 7:  “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.  See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.  You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

We need to be patient, waiting for the Farmer to send us the rain that we need to make this seed that He put within us grow.  But we have to assist it.  We are a patch of ground. As we have said before, what is our ground producing?  Is it producing thorns, briars and thistles?  Or is it producing beautiful fruit for God?  We have to examine that and see.  If we are not producing because of a drought, it is our sins probably causing it.  They are causing that drought.  God has to withhold the rain from those who are hardhearted, merciless and unforgiving, which means full of violence.  To God, that is violence.  Just to say, “I hate my brother,” is violence.  Remember the example that Christ used.  It is not just murdering our brother that matters.  It is what we have in our heart that can deny God the character growth (the fruit) that He would like to produce in our lives.

I want to examine this idea of the sword being both a good thing for us (if we are using God’s word accurately) or a drought if we are not.  Turn to Revelation chapter 1 where John is speaking.  Read verses 12-16.  This is a picture of Jesus Christ here shining like the sun with a sharp two-edged sword coming out of His mouth.  That is His words.

Turn back to Hebrews chapter 4.   Verse 11:  “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest [speaking of the Millennium that is ahead], lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience [like ancient Israel].  For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

God’s word is alive!  His truth, His doctrine, His rain is alive.  That living water is a two-edged sword coming out of His mouth.  His truth is like a two-edged sword.  When we use it properly and let Him guide us, we grow in holy righteous character and we bear fruit.  If we use it in a wrong way or are harsh, judgmental and cruel, that sword can be turned against us.  Jesus Christ speaks the Father’s word, and He teaches the truth with it. He also corrects with it.  He can cause droughts and especially if we abuse His word. If we harm other people with false representations of His word and His intent and His plan, He will punish us for that.  We cannot be left guiltless.  We must repent.  Revelation chapter 13 tells us exactly that.

SPIRITUAL DROUGHT
Turn to Revelation chapter 13.  Speaking of this beast, beginning in verse 6 it says:  “Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven”  In other words, it is speech out of the mouth.

Continuing in verse 7:  “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.  And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.  All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  If anyone has an ear, let him hear.  He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity…”  He who uses God’s word to take someone into captivity or their position will go into captivity.  Captivity of what?  That is captivity under the beast power, Satan.

Continuing again in verse 10 of Revelation 13:  “…he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword.”  He who abuses God’s word to the detriment of God’s people or the people in the world will be killed with the sword that Christ wields from His mouth (His judgment).

Finishing verse 10:  “Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”  That word means endurance.  We must endure these things, and if we have them in our lives, we must correct them.  If we are being abused, we have to get away from it.  We have to get to the point where we can bear fruit (holy righteous character for God).  We need to get away from drought and famine.  Spiritual drought and famine, indeed, can only be observed with spiritual wisdom and spiritual vision.

I want to go to some Scriptures in Isaiah 29 that will describe this spiritual battle.  That is the famine and drought that we are in right now.  Isaiah 29, starting in verse 1:  “‘Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!’”  Ariel is another name for Jerusalem, and David dwelt in physical Jerusalem.  Being begotten of the Spirit (a person who had the Holy Spirit), he was also a dweller in spiritual Jerusalem.

Continuing:  “‘Add year to year; let feasts come around.  Yet I will distress Ariel; there shall be heaviness and sorrow, and it shall be to Me as Ariel.  I will encamp against you all around, I will lay siege against you with a mound, and I will raise siegeworks against you.  You shall be brought down….’”  Up to there, that could be speaking of the former fulfillment in 586 B.C. when Jerusalem was surrounded by Babylon and the temple destroyed.  Now watch how it transitions into the battle that we are involved with at the end of the age.

Breaking back into verse 4 of Isaiah 29:  “‘…you shall speak out of the ground; your speech shall be low, out of the dust; your voice shall be like a medium’s, out of the ground; and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.’”  We know the serpent is in the dust, and he licks the dust.  He is behind mediums.  So this is a very spiritual reference now to this battle for Ariel, the city of Jerusalem.

Verse 5:  “‘Moreover the multitude of your foes shall be like fine dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones like chaff that passes away; yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly.  You will be punished by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire.’”  Remember one of the things that happens physically when you have a drought is fire.  It becomes a problem.

Verse 7:  “‘The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her fortress, and distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.’”  We are living a nightmare, brethren!

Verse 8 of Isaiah 29:  “‘It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, and look, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is still empty; or as when a thirsty man dreams, and look, he drinks; but he awakes, and indeed he is faint, and his soul still craves:  so the multitude of all the nations shall be, who fight against Mount Zion.’”  So this enormous host that attacks God’s Church (His temple, His holy city) at the end of the age causes us to be in a famine (a drought).  It is a drought which is like being in a nightmare.  If you were to look up that term “nations,” you would find also locusts are involved because part of the definition of that word “nation” is locusts.  Physically it means non-Jew.  Spiritually it means locust.  So you have this idea of locusts also attacking.

Continuing in verse 9:  God tells us, “Pause and wonder!  Blind yourselves and be blind!” Think of II Thessalonians where it talks about blindness because we do not love the truth.  Think of Revelation 3 and Laodicea who is poor, blind, wretched, naked and miserable.

Continuing in verse 9:  “They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.  For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, namely, the seers. The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, ‘Read this, please.’  And he says, ‘I cannot, for it is sealed.’”  People even in responsible positions are having a hard time understanding the Bible and the truth here at the end of the age.  Because we did not love the truth, God poured out blindness.  He withheld the rain and caused a drought which allowed the enemy to take over a very weakened Church.

Verse 12 of Isaiah 29:  “Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, ‘Read this, please.’  And he says, ‘I am not literate.’  Therefore the Lord said:  ‘Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me…’”  This is a matter of the heart, brethren.

Continuing in verse 13:  “‘…and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.’”  Yes, our fear is by the commandment of men.  Watch out for earthquakes!  Follow me if you don’t want to go into war!  Follow to the place of safety!  The time is drawing near!  Look at the fires and the droughts!  We follow the commandments of men instead of the fear of God.   We should be fearing the drought that is spiritual (the famine that is spiritual).  The blindness is spiritual.  The hardheartedness is bringing it all on.  We have to do something while we have time yet.  It is our job.

LOCUSTS REPRESENT DEMONS
Turn to Joel chapter 1.  We are going to look at these locusts for just a moment.  Joel 1, verse 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?  Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.”  What we are going through, brethren, is the stuff of legend someday.  There has never been a tribulation quite like this.

Verse 4 of Joel 1:  “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.  Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.  For a 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.”  This is at Satan’s behest.

Verse 7:  “He has laid waste My vine [we know what God’s vine is], and ruined My fig tree; he has stripped it bare and thrown it away; its branches are made white.  Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.  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.  The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails.  Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished.  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.”  We should be the most joyful people on the planet, yet we are described at the end of the age as poor, blind, wretched, naked and miserable.  We are seeing what has caused it, brethren.

Verse 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.”  Then He tells us what to do about it.  What are we going to do to fight off the locusts and end the drought?  What are we going to do to end the famine and stop the fire which is the sin that is consuming us?  Each and every one of us who has not repented is having sin consume them (the fiery darts).

It tells us what to do in verse 13:  “Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; wail, you who minister before the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth [in other words mourn and repent], you who minister to my God; for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.  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.”  Fast, pray and repent are what we should do, for the day that we are enduring is very great.

Continuing in verse 15 of Joel 1:  “Alas for the day!  For the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty.  Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?”  Are we not miserable, brethren?  Are we not full of all kinds of problems and unanswered prayers?  Of course we are.  We have to admit our condition if we are going to be able to do something about it.

Verse 17:  “The seed shrivels under the clods, storehouses are in shambles; barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.  How the animals groan!  The herds of cattle are restless, because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.”

We could go to so many places to study this.  We do not have time in one sermon.  Ezekiel chapter 34 tells us how the pasture is ruined, trampled and polluted.  It says how we are pushing on each other and keeping each other from the feed and from the clean water.  What food and water we have we are polluting to make each other sick.  What we have allowed to happen to God’s vineyard and to His fruitful trees is a travesty.  Just when He wants to have Christ return and put an end to the world’s suffering, we are in a shambles.  But God will win!  The question is whether we will be with Him when He wins.

Turn to Revelation chapter 9 please.  We are going to look where these locusts came from.  Who are they, and where did they come from?  Revelation 9, beginning in verse 1:  “Then the fifth angel sounded:  And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth.  To him was given the key to the bottomless pit.”  Obviously, that is Satan.

Verse 2 of Revelation 9:  “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.”  It was blotting out the truth of God (His sunlight).

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.”  Remember we saw in the article from The World Book Encyclopedia that sometimes swarms of locusts can actually blot out the physical sun?  The spiritual locusts can do the same thing.  That is what these are.

Drop down to verse 9 of Revelation 9:  “And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.  They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails.  Their power was to hurt men five months.  And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.”  That means destroyer.

Verse 12:  “One woe is past.  Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.” We are well into this woe.  It is still attacking the Church.  We do not have time to look at the fact that it attacked the Church on the periphery for five months.  It was not until the end of the age, the last couple of Church eras, that it actually started to make inroads.  In the very last Church era it was overcome, as we saw in Revelation 13.

It is a frightening scenario, and that is why we need to look at these signs from heaven (from above).  We need to pause in fear and in respect and have an awe of what God is trying to do.  Then we need to do our part to correct the situation.  The physical things we see on earth, brethren, serve a great purpose for those in God’s Church.  They help us see the state of God’s garden (the state of His vineyard, His wheat crop, of His fruit trees).  We see the state of the Church.

If you can, go back and review a recent sermon in conjunction with this sermon “The Genesis Project” and another sermon called “A Woman Works in the Garden.”  They explain how the Church is supposed to work and cultivate the garden.

The Day of the Lord is, indeed, a terrible time of testing.  It is a very dark time for God’s Church, but it has been going on for quite some time.  There are signs that it is drawing to a close, a conclusion.

Turn, if you would, to Joel chapter 2.  Once again we will begin in 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 [we are in it now, brethren]:  A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.”  This is right after Joel chapter 1.  It is this army of locusts that have come into God’s people.  “A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been…”  There has never been this sort of army attacking within God’s Church.  “…nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations.  A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them…” God’s garden to Him is the Garden of Eden.  It is a spiritual Garden of Eden that He is working on to produce crops.  Before this army, it looked like a garden.  Afterwards it says in verse 3: “…and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them.”

Verse 4:  “Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run.  With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array.  Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color.  They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks.  They do not push one another; every one marches in his own column.  Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down.  They run to and fro in the city [within God’s city], they run on the wall [of the temple]; they climb into the houses [of God’s virgins, of His people], they enter at the windows like a thief.”  Christ says guard yourself against this thief.

Continuing in verse 10 of Joel 2:  “The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble…”  We do not have time to look into the spiritual earthquakes, but they are there.  “…the sun and moon grow dark…”   The truth of God has been darkened because it cannot reach the Church.  God does not want to reach the Church in this condition until we start to beg Him for help and let Him put eye salve on for us.  “…and the stars diminish their brightness.”  The moon goes dark, which is the Church.

Verse 11:  “The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word.  For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can endure it?”  Satan is what God uses to chastise.  This is an army that He has unleashed.  This was done, not because He wanted to, but because He had to.  We know that in the long run all things work for good.  God will bring great goodness out of this, because enough people will beg God for mercy and will clean up to finish the work put before the Church two thousand years ago.

WHAT TO DO NOW
What do we do about this situation?  Continuing in verse 12  “‘Now, therefore,’ says the Lord, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’  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.  Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?”

Verse 15:  “Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room.”  Get the bride ready for Jesus Christ’s coming.

Verse 17:  “Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar [that is of the temple]; 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?”’”

Verse 18:   “Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people, the Lord will answer and say to His people, ‘Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations. But I will remove far from you the northern army, and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, with his face toward the eastern sea and his back toward the western sea; his stench will come up, and his foul odor will rise, because he has done monstrous things.’”

Verse 21:  “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things! Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; for the open pastures are springing up, and the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their strength.”  That is why when Christ said in Matthew 24:30-33 when you see the fig tree begin to bud, you know that Christ is at the door.  It is almost over!  I believe we are beginning to bud, brethren!

Verse 23 of Joel 2:  “Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.  The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.  ‘So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.  You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame.’”

We are beginning to eat again, and we are beginning to drink again, if we allow God to clean us up.  If we ask Him to anoint our eyes and if we ask Him to give us clean clothes, God’s garden will be fruitful.  He will come out a great victor.  We have to make sure our little portion of His overall garden is bearing fruit.

I want to conclude with the Scriptures in Matthew chapter 13.  It is the Parable of the Sower.  Read verses 1-9.

To answer their questions, He explained the parable.  Drop down to verse 18 of Matthew 13 and read verses 18-22.  That is what we have been reading about.

Continue reading Matthew 13:23-30.