Mon.’s Devo - Restoration and Healing

Read: Joel 1:1-3:21; Revelation 1:1-20; Psalm 128:1-6; Proverbs 29:18
No one knows when Joel lived but his name means “Yahweh is God”. He spoke of fours stages of locusts that would come upon the land. The first stage was the gnawing locust, or palmer worm and it represented the Assyrians and the Babylonians who came and took the people out of their land. The second stage was the swarming locust or the caterpillar which referred to the Medo-Persian kingdom. The third was the consuming locust or the caterpillar which referred to the Greeks under Antiocus Epiphanes and the fourth was the consuming locust which referred to the Romans. These were the four kingdoms of the earth that would rule over time.
These nations would come through the land robbing her of her fruit and her harvests.
Joel called the nation to fast and pray for God’s mercy. When they do that, God will restore their land. He will drive their enemies from them and send them grain, new wine and oil. He will take their sorrow and pain from them and pour down showers of rain and blessing. He will repay them for what the locusts had destroyed. He lists the locusts in backwards order showing that his restoration will start from where they were and restore all the way to their past generations. This is a picture of how God will restore us, from where we are now back through our generations.
God will pour his Spirit out on his people and the Gentiles. The prophets will start prophesying again. The seers will dream dreams again. God will speak from his creation in the skies and show wonders that will point to what he is doing. A harvest of people will come into the kingdom. Then God will gather the nations to the Valley of Jehoshaphat and cause judgement to fall on them. They will be judged for how they treated God’s people. God will call his people to fight because the world’s wickedness will have reached its full measure. God will restore the beauty of Jerusalem and bless his holy land. The lands of her enemies will become a desert wasteland. But God’s people will be pardoned for all their sins.
In Revelation, John is called to reveal what Daniel was called to seal. It is the revelation of who Jesus is and what was shortly to come to pass. He pronounces a blessing on everyone who reads this book. It was to be the Gentile history of the Church from its beginning to the end.
God proclaims that we are now his priests with Jesus as our High Priest. Jesus is coming as he left - in the clouds and every eye will see him, even the unsaved and they will mourn.
John was on the Isle of Patmos when he had these visions. He heard a loud voice like a trumpet and was told to write down what he saw and send the message to each of the seven churches he named. These seven churches were to stand for the culmination of all God’s redeemed.
When John turned to look at the voice, he saw Jesus in all his splendor and glory standing among the lamp stands. He held seven stars in his right hand and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword.
John fell down in worship and weakness. Jesus placed his right hand on him and told him not to be afraid because He was the First and the Last, the Living One. He had come out of the grave with the keys to death and Hades. The seven stars he held were the seven messengers and the seven lamp stands stood for the seven churches.
Lord, give us understanding in what you are saying to us through your Word.