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Reemerge: Returning What the Locusts Have Eaten
Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher
Focus: We will reemerge with Christ when we understand him as the God of restoration.
What the Locusts Have Eaten
Restored Years
Restored Dreams
What the Locusts Have Eaten
God wants to restore for his people what the locusts have eaten.
Joel 2:18-27
Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.
“I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into the eastern sea, and his rear guard into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things.
“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
“Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before.
“The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
“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 again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
At its core, restoration means:
Turning pain into victory, loss into strength.
“The reality is, the modern church created an entire culture around Bible McNuggets and assumed they were nutritious.”
-Phillip Yancey
Restored Years
God is able to turn years of loss into greater strength as we learn the lessons of the cross.
Restoring the year(s) the locusts have eaten means:
Returning to the health and fruitfulness that you had prior to the time of trial with greater strength and lessons learned.
If you are hearing this simply as a means to gratify the desire for personal blessing, you are off and have missed the message of the cross.
In Jesus, those who want to save their lives (in the mere pursuit of pleasure, wealth, worldly security, etc.) will lose them, while those who lose their lives for his sake and the gospel will find life.
Mark 8:34-38
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Restored Dreams
The dreams that the old men dream in the following passage are not self-centered, but God-centered dreams, and therefore re-emerge with the backing of Heaven.
“There is nothing more irreligious than self-absorbed religion.”
-J.I. Packer, Knowing God
Joel 2:28-32
“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, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
This is all gospel language that the apostle Peter would reiterate on the day of Pentecost.
After Jesus’ suffering, burial and resurrection, he would exhort the church to re-emerge in the power of the Holy Spirit for the purposes of God.
If God is so good and wants all people to come into this restoration, why won’t everyone be saved?
“If you were to force people to do something against their free choice, you would be dehumanizing them. The option of forcing everyone to go to heaven is immoral, because it's dehumanizing; it strips them of the dignity of making their own decision; it denies them their freedom of choice; and it treats them as a means to an end. When God allows people to say 'no' to him, he actually respects and dignifies them.”
-J.P. Moreland
Why the does the Scripture in Joel sound so familiar and what should we do with it?
Acts 2:37-41
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Come to Jesus for restoration.
Through your repentance from self-absorbed living, let him restore the years of damaged relationships, health and provision that the locusts have eaten.
Find resurrection life in the cross of Christ today and rejoin God’s people in the pursuit of his Kingdom purposes and blessing.
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021