How does God restore the years that the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25)?

The preceding remarks have dealt more with how the years are lost than how they are restored. The latter is not easily put into words because much of the process is unintelligible. As a physical asset the years are gone for ever. Hezekiah could by earnest prayer have fifteen years added or restored to his life, but we cannot by any action of our own add a minute to our days. However, the spiritual substance is of far greater moment than the mere interval of time in which it is developed. It is this spiritual substance to which the restoration applies. Mere longevity is nothing if it does not lead us to a greater enjoyment of eternal life. It is better that we should spend one hour under the power of the Spirit of God than a century under the soul-destroying influences of the world, because the results of the former will come out in the glorious life of the beloved city which will come down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband spoken of in the 21st chapter of the Revelation. The soul, open towards God, gets flooded with the sense of the love of Christ which so permeates the moral being that it filters through and shines in every nook of the physical being. Christian fellowship is most wonderful, far surpassing the wonders of wireless telegraphy. If a fibre in the moral being vibrates heavenwards the resultant wave runs throughout heaven, then is deflected to earth and passes through the people of God, causing great joy wherever it goes.

"I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm and the caterpiller and the palmer-worm." (Joel 2:25).

As we stand on the threshold of a new year, the word "year" has a peculiar significance. What are the lessons which, in the past year, have been impressed upon our souls by God's gracious dealings? How much time has been spent in following the bent of our own wills, and how much in seeking the glory of God, are very searching questions for everyone who bears the name of Christ. In the thousand pages of the Bible there is no passage of greater encouragement to the man or the woman who has been a backslider than this single verse in the prophecy of Joel. There are some lessons which may be drawn from a consideration of the verse which cannot fail to be helpful to those who have turned to God from idols. It is well not to limit this turning to the all essential turning-round which commenced our spiritual life history with God. We need frequent restoration. Every one is liable to have an idol, although in this enlightened age they are not of "stock and stone." They are ideals or creatures of our own imagination. Christians generally appear to have little conception of what constitutes an idol. The heathen must have some material object on which to concentrate his mind, but everything which is outside the sphere of eternal life is material for the formation of an idol. In all cases of spiritual declension and the subsequent restoration we must go right back in our soul's consideration to the very spot where the declension began, and judge the root of the evil. In Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" the pilgrim had to go back to where he lost his roll before communion was restored. When a Christian slips back into the world we are too apt to lose sight of the possibility of restoration. In writing to the Galatian believers, the apostle says that where a man is overtaken in a fault it is those who are spiritual, not those who are merely intelligent in the Scriptures, who are able to restore such, and they must do so in the spirit of meekness, considering their own liability to temptation or testing. (Gal. 6:1). Looking at the verse a little in detail the following points are worthy of note.

The humiliation, we perceive, was to be universal and complete, for the priests themselves are called to stand outside the sanctuary, to cry with the people unto Jehovah, appealing to His faithfulness, that the heathen might not say, "Where is their God?" as the Jews said to Jesus. Jehovah would hear His people thus humbled. He would fill their land with plenty, and they should no longer be a reproach among the heathen; the northern army, which had devoured the land like locusts, should be driven out by the way of the east, judged on account of their pride, because they magnified themselves to do great things. But it should be Jehovah who would do great things, delivering them thus from all their fears. A full and abundant blessing should be poured upon the land of Israel; the children of Zion should rejoice in Jehovah their God; the people of Jehovah should never again be ashamed. They should receive the abundance of all the years which had failed. They should know assuredly that Jehovah was among them — He, Jehovah, their God, and not another; and they should never be ashamed. The blessing, and He who bestowed the blessing, should thus secure them from being a reproach among the nations.

But it is God who will really do great things. "Fear not, O land" (remark this as definitely the hope of the Jewish nation); "be glad and rejoice: for Jehovah will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field." They are called to undergo renovation, instead of drooping for want even of common sustenance. The millennial day of joy for the earth and all creation is before us here. Hence "the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree bears her fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength." All is reversed. It is not Christianity with its spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and with scorn and suffering on earth for the faithful, but earthly blessing and reward, as well as divine and saving mercy, as we shall see. "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God for he has given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you." Thus God will more than undo the mischief. He will restore what He took not away. He will efface by the fulness of His blessing all their past sorrows and shame. "And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of Jehovah your God, that has dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed."

Then all the harm done by the locusts, the army the Lord used in judging His people, will be restored. "And My people shall never be ashamed" (verse 27). This again is sufficient proof that all this remains unfulfilled.

The occasion of the book and prophecy of Joel was a dreadful scourge which swept over the land of Israel. Locusts swarms had fallen upon the land and stripped it of everything green. There was also a great drought. All was a chastisement from the Lord. Hence we see in the first chapter the penitential lamentations of old and young, priests and people. Then the vision widens in the second chapter. The locusts appear no longer as a scourge of literal insects; they become typical of an invading army. This hostile army invades the land from the North and makes the land a wilderness. The alarm is sounded in Zion ; the repentance of the people follows. Then comes the great change in this picture of desolation and despair. The day of the Lord is announced. He acts in behalf of His people. He delivers them from the northern Army; He restores what the locusts had devoured; the land is restored and the latter rain is given. At the close of the second chapter stands the prophecy which predicts spiritual blessings through the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all flesh, a prophecy which has not yet been completely fulfilled, which is not now in process of fulfillment, but which will be accomplished in the day of the Lord. The last chapter is the great finale of this symphony of prophecy. Here the judgment of the nations is vividly portrayed; what the day of the Lord will bring, and what will follow in blessing is the final theme.

It seems to me that this chapter is, in the Hebrew, a true division. First, there is a general statement that the ravages of the nations, prefigured by the insect-caused famine, are set aside by mercies, and the deliverance of God, closing in chapter 2:27. It is temporal deliverance. He removes the Northern army, the Land is not to fear, blessing is there on repentance, no more reproach of famine, etc. But this is not all. On the repentance of His people, and accompanying this intervention of Jehovah in favour of His people, when He returns to dwell among them, 'afterward' (akhare-ken, 'thereafter') He will pour out His Spirit. Verses 30-32 are also apart, describing the signs that accompany it, ushering in the day of the Lord, a day of judgment and terror, but in which the Remnant, called of the Lord, will be delivered. For the Lord will 'roar out of Zion,' but be the Hope of His people. Verses 28, 29 of chapter 2 (in the Hebrew, chapter 3:1-2) are consequent on the Lord's intervention, introduced by their repentance, only the temporal deliverance is pursued to the end previously, to the end of verse 27.

As already seen the drink offering was to be of strong wine (Num.28:7), there was no command to use anything else. It was to the nation’s shame that during the times of the prophet Joel they were unable to offer the meal and drink offerings demanded by the law because of a plague of locusts which had destroyed the harvest (Joel 1:9,13). This was a direct consequence of the disobedience of the nation (Deut.28:33) and only by repenting and throwing themselves on the mercy of Jehovah could the nation hope for deliverance and a return of the meal and drink offerings (Joel 2:14). There can be no joy for God in disobedience although with the corresponding call for repentance and the promise of deliverance there would be joy for God should they repent (Luke 15:7).

Joel thus speaks, under the type of what was, no doubt, an actual locust-judgment, of the northern enemy of the latter days. But he is but a rod in the hands of God for endless blessing to the people, and in turning to Him, calling on the name of the Lord, they are saved. Then the Lord recompenses their enemies, Egypt is a desolation, and Edom a desolate wilderness, because of their violence against the children of Judah; and Jehovah dwelling in Zion, no foot of stranger desecrates her any more.

Take Joel. There it is not to be doubted that a famine through locusts and insect ravages is the occasion referred to. But do you or I believe, or any reasonable person, to say no more, that He whose words are to be interpreted as the words of One with whom a thousand years are as one day has written a book for all ages to determine the result at that time of an inroad of caterpillars, the effect of whose ravages, however trying, would disappear in a few years? Could any one read the book and not see that God's present judgments and mercies are made the occasion of drawing the attention of Israel to their state, and lead the awakened conscience to God's judgment of evil, and full deliverance for those who repented and called upon the name of the Lord, when the people should never be ashamed, the Spirit poured out on all flesh, and Judah dwell for ever, and every temporal blessing be theirs; and, finally, the harvest and vintage of the whole earth be reaped and trodden — God dwelling there in Zion? The famine connected the present circumstances with this promise of plenty and blessing, but no one can but see that the prophet is rapt into future times. Now if this is meant by a double meaning, it is true. That is, that the Lord does give what is a present comfort, yet clothes it in language which leads on to His ultimate plans, so as to keep the godly hope of His people up, and often passes entirely into that with which the present is not linked at all. The point of transition may be sometimes obscure. But the general principle is undeniable, and such a character of prophecy worthy of God, and indeed alone worthy of Him. In Jeremiah and in Isaiah it is in vain to deny that, with encouragement suited to the occasion, the prophet refers to the coming of Messiah, and a time of unparalleled and continued blessing. It is incredible to suppose that God had not His own plans in view, and the great result of His government of the world when man had been fully tried on the ground of responsibility.