Sunday PM Service- Richard Sutton
Teachers
Lesson Summary
During the Sunday evening session, the teacher opened with a vivid recounting of a historic 1915 locust infestation that devastated Palestine and Syria, detailing the insects' life cycle, massive breeding numbers, and the complete destruction they caused to crops and trees. He used this modern illustration to introduce the biblical motif of locusts as instruments of divine judgment, noting how Scripture repeatedly portrays them as God’s army sent against unrepentant nations. He then turned to the Scriptures, reading from Exodus 10, where God threatened Pharaoh with a locust swarm that would cover the land and devour every green thing. The teacher linked this to the prophetic warnings in Joel chapters 1 and 2, highlighting the graphic descriptions of gnawing, swarming, and creeping locusts that symbolize Israel’s sin and the coming Day of the Lord. He emphasized verses that call for repentance and promise deliverance, such as Joel 2:20, where God declares He will remove the northern army. The central message encouraged believers to recognize the seriousness of God’s warnings, to turn from sin, and to trust in His restorative power.
Key Scriptures
Then the Lord said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart in the heart of his servants that they may perform these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell them in the hearing of your son and your grandson how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them that they may know that I am Lord. And Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, into your territory, and they shall cover the surface of the land so that no one shall be able to see the land.