welcome home.

Joel 2:23-29:

23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath 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.

24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

The one word I would like to draw your attention to is in verse 28: “afterward.” Afterward. After what? Something previously occurred that the prophet was referencing. Now, he is prophetically stating what will occur, following what had previously occurred. You see, we are coming out of a global pandemic. It has been devastating. Now what? Are all we are left with is to try to pick up the pieces, or, does the Lord have a post-COVID Word for us?

Three words I would like for you to note: Devastation; Restoration; Manifestation.  

When the prophet says, “It shall come to pass afterward. . .” to what is he referring that had previously occurred?

Joel 1:4-12:

1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.

5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.

7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord's ministers, mourn.

10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

Notice the progressive devastation Joel the prophet outlines:

1.  Palmerworm(gnawing locust): Slowly they eat, little by little, until the leaves are no more. Where there are no leaves, there can be no photosynthesis (the exchange of CO2 for oxygen, fostered by chlorophyll in the leaves exposed to sunlight). Where there is no photosynthesis, there is death. If all we do is to be exposed to harmful elements, and do not have a mechanism to change that into something beneficial, we will eventually cease to live. What the pandemic has done to many, is to destroy the ability to photosynthesize. We have, over the last year and a half, been inundated with the destructive effects of COVID. The palmerworm has devoured the leaves. Many have received the bad, but not been able to process it into something beneficial.

2. Locust (swarming locust): They block out the sun. Their sound drowns out any other sound. Light equates to revelation. Many have been sequestered in darkness. The only sound heard has been the drowning sound of continual, distressing COVID news and updates.

3. Cankerworm(creeping locust): They cover everything. Nothing else is visible but these little insects. No matter the direction we have looked, we have been dominated by the cankerworm of the pandemic.

4. Caterpillar(stripping locust): This is the larva state. This means the process starts over again and again. There seemed to be no end in sight of the devastation.

It is a constant cycle of carnivorous destruction, until everything is laid waste. Sounds bad? Actually, it sounds like a good place for God to begin again! Always remember, when we are down to nothing, God is up to something! In the beginning, Genesis records there was nothing. Then God started with nothing, and spoke the cosmos into creation. Never forget, God does not have to have something to begin creating. He can take nothing, and create something new! The Lord would have us to know, that no matter what has been lost, He is going to begin a new creative work in our lives!

But there’s more left than what appears. The successive stages of devastation affected the leaves and the limbs of the trees and crops. But the roots were still intact. Here’s another Word from the Lord for you. The leaves may be gone, but the roots still remain!

Verse 5 talks about the “new wine” being cut off. “New wine” speaks of new revelation. Verse 10 says the “new wine is dried up.” New wine moves and changes the vessel it is poured into because of the fermentation process. The enemy of our souls wants to get us to the place where there is no fresh revelation. Old wine may intoxicate, but it does not change the wine skin. I not only want to be intoxicated by revelation, but I want to be changed! When there is no change, no more moving and shaping of our character, we will grow stale and stagnant. I am weary of hearing the old wine that has been poured out during this pandemic. Many voices have said this pandemic is some sort of judgment from God, or an apocalyptic preview of the end. I’ve heard everything from the Mark of the Beast to God punishing us for a myriad of sins. We need a fresh Word with some fresh wine that will enable us to see the greater work of restoration the Lord will do in a post-COVID world. I came to tell you, THERE IS AN AFTERWARD!

Joel 2:23-29:

23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath 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.

24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

THERE IS AN AFTERWARD!

God has a plan of restoration. Because after the devastation, there is restoration!

He said He would give us the former rain and the latter rain in the first month! In Israel, the former or early rains began in October. The latter rains began in March or April. The Lord said you have been through a long, dry season, so I am going to compress my restoration, and pour it all out on you at once! To that I say: get ready for a deluge!

Look at verse 25: “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” What it took a long time to destroy, the Lord says I will restore back in a short timeframe.

Here’s what else the Lord would say: There have been some that have had loved ones pass during the pandemic, and that has left a void in their life. Although those loved ones can never be replaced, the Lord will restore to you new relationships that will help fill the void in your life.

There is an AFTERWARD! Look at how he concludes. After the devastation and the restoration, will come the manifestation. Look in verses 28, and 29:

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

There will be a fresh outpouring of the Spirit! The fresh winds of the Spirit of the Lord will blow! There will be fresh dreams and visions! Not just the reconditioning of the old! God’s people who haven’t had new dreams and visions in years are going to begin envisioning new plans, new projects, and new initiatives for the kingdom!

Give thanks unto the Lord, because there is an AFTERWARD!