Restoration and Spirit
Is it actually possible to recover the years we feel we've wasted or lost?
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Joel 2:18-3:21
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18Then the LORD was jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.
19The LORD answered his people, “Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied with them; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.
20But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its bad smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things.
21Land, don’t be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things.
22Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
23“Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD, your God; for he gives you the early rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the early rain and the latter rain, as before.
24The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
25I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you.
26You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied, and will praise the name of the LORD, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed.
27You will know that I am among Israel, and that I am the LORD, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed.
28“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.
29And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.
30I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.
31The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.
32It will happen that whoever will call on the LORD’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the remnant, those whom the LORD calls.
1“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,
3and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
4“Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.
5Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,
6and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.
7Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;
8and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for the LORD has spoken it.”
9Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up.
10Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’
11Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, LORD.
12“Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
13Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”
14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
16The LORD will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but the LORD will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.
17“So you will know that I am the LORD, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.
18It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters; and a fountain will flow out from the LORD’s house, and will water the valley of Shittim.
19Egypt will be a desolation and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for the LORD dwells in Zion.”