“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.  26 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. 27 Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. God’s Spirit Poured Out 28 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. Joel 2:25-28 NKJV

The apostle Peter preached and prophesied that Jesus Christ would be retained in heaven until the times of the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21). “All things” must include not just the eschalogical events in the history of the world and mankind, but it also includes the restoration of man, the family and the church back to the image and glory of God. Restoration means bringing back to a former position or condition, where we can recognize and be restored to our true position in Christ and return to a condition of strength and power.

Joel’s prophecy in the above text is illustrative of an invading army that God uses to discipline and chasten His people for their sins. And, after repentance, God promises to restore his people completely. The swarming locust, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and chewing locusts are depictive of spiritual enemies that come to destroy the “tree” of our lives.

In the first Psalm, David pictures the life of a believer as a fruit-bearing tree. But the enemy invades the tree with locusts that swarm to destroy the fruit our spiritual growth; locusts that crawls to eat the leaves that cause our spiritual dehydration; locusts that consumes the branches that circumvents our ability to stretch wide to find “Son-light” for the leaves; and, locusts that chews the bark to destroy our trunk and cause a disruption in the flow of vital spiritual water and minerals coming up from the roots to the leaves. God promised in Joel 2:25-28 (text) that He would restore us completely including our prosperity (v. 26), our knowledge of the Lord (v. 27), and that we would never be disappointed, defeated, nor denied (vss. 26, 27); plus, He promised to pour out of Spirit upon us. Thank God for these wonderful promises. Thank God for restoration!