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A SERMON ON …
JOEL,
ROBOTS and REALITY
1. JOEL’s DAY held a
PLAGUE
In a little, we shall plan
to survey the newspaper report of recent military, robotic technology, and what
it is planned to do. Meanwhile let us see the prophecy of Joel in this connection.
Joel deals at first
with a locust plague, in Ch. 1. It is dramatised, but our own mouse plague of
some years ago, reminds us that drama has little need of invention in such
cases: it is openly self-declared. There is to be a progressive devastation
from this locust source (Joel 1:4). To a fast, they are exhorted to turn, for a
“fire has devoured the open pastures” (
As Joel opens, we are
in the midst of this rank series of (relatively) minor, but still ravaging
judgments (they are not destroyed as a nation, though greatly impoverished),
and then told of the day of the Lord. It is not A day; it is THE day of the
Lord. It is “a day of darkness and gloominess, a day
of clouds and thick darkness”. We are therefore reminded of the epochal
judgment on
Now however a clearly
new element enters. We are reminded of Daniel 12:1 which imparts in the name of
the Lord, that
“there
shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation… and at
that time, your people shall be delivered.”
In context, this is the end of the prophecy of Daniel,
and is in conjunction with the realm of the general resurrection and eternal judgments,
for its dramatic topography!
What then is this new element in Joel 2 ? It
is this, in words close to those of Daniel, somewhat in form and mightily in
force. The famous translator and commentator Keil, in his commentary on the Old
Testament with Delitzsch, renders verse two here as follows.
·
“A
day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and cloudy night: like morning
dawn spread over the mountains, a people great and strong: there has not been
the like from all eternity, nor will there be after it to the years of
generation and generation. Before it burns fire, and behind it flames flame:
the land before it as the garden of Eden, and behind it like a desolate
wilderness; and even that which escaped did not remain to it.”
From eternity backwards,
history has known nothing like this, which is to come. Afterwards, you could
not find the like to the years as long as you wish. It is unique in all
history.
Of this climacteric
time, we read in a passage taken from Joel 2:6-10.
·
“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,
They run
on the wall;
They climb
into the houses,
They enter
at the windows like a thief.
The earth
quakes before them …”
Keil’s rendering of
verses 7-8 will help, in that it is graphic:
·
“They run like heroes, like warriors they
climb the wall; every one goes on its way, and they do not change their paths.
And they do not press one another, they go every one in his path; and they fall
headlong through weapons, and do not cut themselves in pieces. They run about
in the city, they run upon the wall, they climb into the houses, they come
through the windows like a thief.”
It appears that in
some way this action is serving God, but as we reflect on what He had to say
about Egypt, and His own work in securing these downfalls in due time, perhaps
after generations of patience, we must realise that by no means does this mean
that they are specifically in alliance with God.
In view of this
coming judgment, this unique thing from all eternity which is scheduled for
appearance in its time, this “day of the Lord.” we
do well to realise the end of that day (Joel 2:11), for the Lord gives His
voice before His great army, “for strong is He who
executes His word.” As to the phrase itself, it is necessary to consider
Joel 2:31, quoted by Peter at Pentecost, where “the
day of the Lord” refers to the actual end-of-Age judgment before which
dread hour for the ungodly, people are to call upon the name of the Lord.
Thus the term found
in the earlier part of Joel 2 is paralleled later in the same chapter, and in
the same tenor, style and sense of ultimacy for the flesh which loiters in this
world. It is the “great and terrible” day,
out of which and the environments of its terror, those who “call on the name of the Lord”, who is one Lord and
not another! (cf. Exodus 20), will be saved. Never from eternity, we recall,
was there one like this, nor does one arrive like it from generation to
generation.
v
What then are
the dramatically, though tersely described devices in view, as noted in Joel
2:6-10 ?
v
These are precisely
robotic.
They act in some ways
with an address and determination, a specific targeting of victims and the
like, as if men; but their appearance is not that of men, and their
vulnerability is not that of men.
That is just what
robotic devices are.
These are to be
instruments of terror, of judgment and of overwhelming force as the final
judgment scene comes into focus, and before the Lord actually sits in judgment.
Locusts remind one of these things, in their smothering numbers, their
ceaseless insistence, their devastating thoroughness; but these devices are not susceptible to death, like locusts, being
merely engines of devastation, without life, but with plan and purpose in some
way bent upon them.
This, is it not the way with robots! But what is
happening NOW to forward such things,
as a preliminary ? Why what would be more appropriate than this: TO MAKE THEM!
2.
THE NATURE OF THE CURRENT
MILITARY PREPARATION FOR LOCUST-LIKE NUMBERS OF OSTENSIBLY INVULNERABLE DEVASTATORS
We
turn now to the report in The Advertiser,
Let
us take for illustration of the trend and preparation, the Stryker of General Dynamics, and consider some of its capacities; but first we
need to realise that its size is that of a small sports utility vehicle. It can
SCOUT, and with this, SEARCH and DESTROY. It takes, we read, robotics to a new
level.
It
can detect enemy targets to 3 km. distant, and on receiving orders from the
command post in its remote fastness, can launch Javelin anti-tank missiles. For
eminently dangerous missions, its role is to replace … people!
Thus
it is equipped “with an array of
sophisticated sensors, infra-red cameras and images gathered by satellites
updated by a highpower computerised mission planner 10 times a second.”
Referrring
back to Joel, this gives the sense which we have already seen in this prophecy
here, of directness, protectedness and zealous, purposeful continuance!
Satellite reinforcement to the data bank ten times per second is rather quick,
even for a man, and facilitates the element of surprise, the sense of the
overpowering as in Joel! A quotation from Arniss Mangolds of Foster-Miller’s
military robot division is so apt to our present point that it seems best to
cite it as given in The Advertiser’s
report:
Ø
‘When you see a robot coming down (on the
battlefield), it’s interesting and even if it has a weapon on it, maybe it’s a
little scary and you give it a little respect. But if you’re standing somewhere
and see 10 robots coming at you, it’s scary.’
This
is precisely the feeling evoked as one reads Joel: that it is a terrifying, a
remorseless, and an inveterate foe that is coming, as insensitive to fear as
locusts are, and as determined, yet without feeling the emotion, merely
fulfilling the purpose for some reason. The reason, in this robotic case, would
be clear. It would be the reason of the controller in his safe stronghold, well
away from exposure to the easiest forms of retaliation. If you were in trench
warfare and a group of 10 charged at you, then you could at least duck and
weave, destroying their advancing forces in measure, and if others were with
you, in concert; and however unlikely it might be that you would succeed, it
would not necessarily be emotionally draining. You just do it.
In
the robotic case however, their flanks are not open, their disposition is not
easily deterred; their ‘intelligence’ is hidden from you, and not near!
With
the Stryker, there is planned to be an assortment of other vehicles, from land
or air, all unmanned. This provides the sense of overpowering multitude
exhibited in Joel’s prophecy for the “day of the Lord”, yes that same “day of
the Lord” noted later in this very chapter, as the finale and terminator for
the history of our Age!
This
technology has been rapidly developed since the
Why
kill the innocent if you do not have to, in hunting people down with the
appearance of blood megalomania, which instead of prizing dollars (a vain
pursuit), prizes death. In so doing, however, whatever the reason, and in this
case without rationality (cf. More Marvels … Ch.
4, SMR pp. 986ff, 1080ff., 809, 1078, 625ff.), there is simultaneously,
fulfilment of Revelation 6, where we find various crusades in the days leading
up to the end of the Age, and two of them have these characteristics.
1)
There is installed a dynamic of death. One mission is
sent with stated purpose: “to take peace form the earth, and that people should kill
one another, and there was given to him a great sword.” This is in Rev. 6:4.
2)
Another messenger is sent. The vocation in judgment ?
It is “over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword,
with hunger, with death and by the beasts of the earth.” The morbidity
of this assault on mortality becomes clear in the killing with death, a spreading
thrust of lethality. ‘Death’ possibly by
metonymy signifies just such a scope and frenzy, indulgence and inveterate
consistency.
3)
As noted earlier, the term translated here as
‘beasts’ is in form ‘little beasts’ and can include insects. (See Deliverance
from Disorientation Ch 11, *1 where
the Greek Lexicon’s contribution is noted for the term in view, namely fhrion.) The spread of these "little beasts" in
the form of destructive insect attacks, has also been noted before (Licence
for Liberty Ch. 5, in which Revelation 6 is
being considered). See also News 84, and with it, Regal
Rays of Revelation Ch. 5, where some of the
current developments in our present Age and contemporary world are related to
the prophecy. The heating process helps these insects to transfer themselves to
higher mountains, and over them, and to threaten new plagues; and this is now,
as things are merely what Christ has called “the
beginning of sorrows”.
There
is, then, the multiple prophetic background on the one hand, and the time for
its fulfilment on the other. Here we find the present and the correlation in
intimate parallel, developing apace, with the presentation prophetically made.
What of the feasibility in operation for these new robotics ? It was claimed
that operation of a Stryker would be possible for those concerned, with one
week of training deemed sufficient -
presumably on a relevant educational basis, though not a highly
technical specialisation. In the defence sector, golf-cart sized robots would
soon, the report proceeded, be available to patrol sensitive
At
the organisational level, we learn that Boeing is also involved in further
troop-replacement technological systems, called Future Combat Systems, with a
two billion dollar contract out for 2010 deployment.
2. What you DO about it!
We turn back to Joel. It
gave the contemporary crisis and foretold that in our day, at the end of the
Age of the Messiah, before His return. What did THEY have to do? Look at Joel
2:11-17. See it in our terms, but in the same spirit, and consider!
·
“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?
·
‘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?
·
“Blow the
trumpet in
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.
“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?’ ”
God has done very
wonderful things in Israel, fulfilling His word in Zechariah 12 with precision.
Now there is a challenge, and we should seek the Lord. Power has failed in
frontal assaults on
God will have His way
with the armies, eventually to be set against His very self! (Revelation
19:19). Even now the predicted weaponry is being forged! However, it is for
each one of us to see that He has His way in our hearts, lives and spirits,
conduct and motivation, that we glorify Him with all He has given, and abide in
the Lord, and obey Him out of love, a sweet fragrance to Him!
Recall finally, the
prayer in Acts 4:24ff. and seek to emulate it. Remember there is NO GLORY to be
found except in the Cross of Christ (Galatians
If you would like to
further this thought, consult The
Living God.
For more again, see Question and Answer 2.