Joel 2:25

‘“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten”’
(Joel 2:25)

Locust plagues are a blight that most of us will likely never suffer, but we all know the equivalent of locusts in our lives. Joel’s prophesy appears to have been written in response to a literal ‘locust’(Joel 1:4) plague, which had ‘laid waste’(Joel 1:10) his world, although possibly he had in mind a real marauding ‘army’(Joel 2:11) too. Beyond that, he begins to see how such things can foreshadow an ultimate ‘“great and terrible day”’(Joel 2:31ff.) – a reckoning that will be either ‘great’ or ‘terrible’ for us all.

In this verse we have the promise of restoration, a pointer to how we might experience that day, all eternity, and even our lives leading up to it, as ‘“a fountain”’(Joel 3:18) of ‘life’(Revelation 22:1ff., cf. John 4:14) rather than ‘“a desolation”’(Joel 3:19, cf. Revelation 18:1-24).

So what are our locusts?

Just like real locust plagues, these can be simple calamities, like ‘“the tower in Siloam”’(Luke 13:4) falling on us, or less dramatic events, all part of our collective experience of being ‘“born to trouble, as… sparks fly upward”’(Job 5:7) to live through relatively ‘“few days… full of trouble”’(Job 14:1). Even Jesus knew this, ‘a man of suffering’(Isaiah 53:3), as the prophets had foretold, and who ‘wept’(John 11:35) with us.

Obviously Jesus was without ‘sin’(1 Peter 2:22) and suffered for a planned purpose, ‘on our behalf’(2 Corinthians 5:21). We might suffer for similar reasons, through no specific fault of our own, that ‘“God might be revealed”’(John 9:3) in our lives. However, locusts can be self-inflicted too, the natural result of our own sin, including things like the consequences of being a ‘trouble’(Psalm 7:16) maker, or filled with various forms of ‘lust’(Romans 1:27), a ‘drunkard… glutton’(Proverbs 23:21) or ‘sluggard’(Proverbs 24:30ff.) etc. Our troubles can even be direct judgement from God, including literal ‘locusts’(Deuteronomy 28:42, cf. v15) – ultimately true of all trouble in this ‘“thorns and thistles”’(Genesis 3:18, cf. Romans 5:12) world of ours.

Nevertheless, the restoration promised here can begin its work in any of us, even now, and with ultimate certain efficacy. Our troubles can even provide the first step to a cure, as with Joel’s locust plague here, a wake-up call, leading to repentance, which is where we must begin on this path to restoration.

So first the repentance, a heartfelt return to God and His ways. That’s the response called for here: ‘“turn to me with all your heart”’(Joel 2:12), because ultimately everyone who calls on His ‘name shall be saved’(Joel 2:32). Peter quoted this passage from ‘“Joel”’(Acts 2:16ff.) at ‘Pentecost’(Acts 2:1ff.), his key action points being “Repent…”(Acts 2:38ff.) whilst calling ‘“‘on the name of the Lord’”’(Acts 2:21). David’s earlier psalm can help: ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me… Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit’(Psalm 51:10-12).

And so to the restoration. At its simplest level this might involve things like ‘“threshing floors… full of wheat”’(Joel 2:24) after a literal locust plague, like when God blessed Job in the wake of his troubles, interestingly with even ‘more than’(Job 42:12) before. God can and does graciously bless like that. In fact, He often uses our personal reformation to bring such ‘good’(Ephesians 4:28) things about. However, the restoration that scripture progressively brings into view is more spiritual in nature, with an increasingly eternal perspective, revealing how it can be that although ‘our outward person is decaying… our inward person is renewed’(2 Corinthians 4:16). David knew this, the work of God’s ‘Holy Spirit’(Psalm 51:11) within, and Joel foresaw how God would ‘“pour out”’(Joel 2:28, cf. Acts 2:17) such blessings all the more after Pentecost, ‘through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit’(Titus 3:5).

Even so, our restoration for now remains ‘partial’(1 Corinthians 13:10ff.), as we ‘press on’(Philippians 3:12), ‘waiting’(Romans 8:23). Interestingly, God actually uses such ‘endurance’(James 1:3&4) and ‘perseverance’(Romans 5:3&4) through locusts to ‘“prune”’(John 15:2) and restore His ‘children’(Hebrews 12:5ff.). Nevertheless, in His gracious economy, and through His sovereign power, our restoration can be surprisingly rapid and full. Even if ravaged by the most destructive locusts, over many apparently lost ‘“years”’ (self-inflicted or otherwise), God can say ‘“I will restore”’ you. That might be Job-like, in this life, but certainly will be the case in ‘“Paradise”’(Luke 23:43). Indeed, ‘“the last”’(Matthew 20:16) can be first. There’s always hope.

Then one great day we’ll find ourselves restored to perfection, resting by the ‘“fountain”’(Joel 3:18) that flows from ‘the throne of God’(Revelation 22:1ff.) in His perfect ‘new heaven and… earth… the holy city, New Jerusalem’(Revelation 21:1-2ff.) ‘“forever”’(Joel 3:20; Revelation 22:5).

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