Sermon Archives (August 26, 2001):

Spring Rain

Good afternoon Church.  As you look back on life, are there years that you wish you had back; that you would have liked to live differently?   I have God’s promise for you.   Today’s message is from the book of Joel.   The prophet tells us:  (Joel 2:25-32) "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten. … You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you;  … 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.  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. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.   And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:  Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.  The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.  And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, ’Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.’”

And again from the prophet Joel.  (Joel 2:23-24) “Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you-- The former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.“

Beloved, let us bow or heads.   Father, let every believer hear this message today and the world as well.   Years have passed, and life has devoured our being.  Father, we pray will you restore our years?  You have given us rain before.  Will you now send a Spring rain to restore our being, to restore our lives, to restore our years?  In the name of your son Jesus Christ, and all God’s children said, “Amen.”

Joel prophesies 800 years before Christ was born to Israel while the nation was in a period of decay and decline.   God had made a covenant with Israel through Moses.   God had promised a land flowing with milk and honey, blessing in the field, of the family, and upon their children.  Solomon, David’s son, had pleaded with the Lord, “If your people ever turn from you, and destitution falls on the land, will you be merciful?”  God answered, (2 Chronicles 7:14) “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin “ send rain from heaven “ and heal their land.”   Our God does not change.   The promises of mercy God has made in the past apply to us today.  

So here we see Israel having turned from God, as we may have turned from God.   Israel’s land is now barren and wasted, as some of our years have become barren and wasted.   So in this prophecy of renewal for Israel, we see a prophecy of God’s renewal for us.   Joel’s focus, which he repeats, is upon “The Day of the Lord”.   And as we now are within the “end time” of this world, this prophecy is doubly for us today.   Despite Israel’s turning away, God promised a visitation upon his people of his being.   He comes as with a two-edged sword either producing an ending for some, while freedom for others.   God says, I have “given you the former rain faithfully.”   But having turned away, Israel is consumed by drought and locus.   So God answer’s Joel’s appeal, I “will cause the rain to come down for you.   The former rain and the Spring rain.”  Even during this time of the end, God’s people  “shall have abundance in wheat, oil, and wine.”   The Spring rain represents a season of promise, insuring a bountiful future.   As to our loss, God even promises, “I will restore to you the years that the locust have eaten.”

God’s promise is three fold to Israel and to us:  Inundation, Demonstration, and Restoration.   Repeat these words after me:   “Inundation”,  “Demonstration”, and “Restoration”.    I will explain.   The inundation is God’s promise to “pour out his Spirit.”   He makes that promise twice in the verses I read to you.

This “pouring out” in its original language denotes a passionate, committed, faithful promise as from a passionate lover.   Not an excited passion, but a consuming passion.   God is not sitting back on His throne drumming His fingers impatiently saying, “If you get with the program, then I will bless you.”   Rather this is a God who sits on the edge of His throne, anxiously intending to pour out His love for us.   (Romans 5:5)  “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  God doesn’t say, “I want to”, but rather he says with demonstratively, “I will.”  “I will pour out ... My Spirit.”

The Lord speaks of wonders.  And here we see not only the “inundation”, but the “demonstration” as well.  “I will show wonders.”   Again the assertive “I will.”   The blind man came to Jesus and said, “If you will, you can make me whole.”  Jesus replied, “I will.”   The leaper said, “If you will, you can make me clean.”  Jesus answered, “I will.”   Just as God says to us, even if we have fallen away from Him, “I will show wonders.”    Here is passion.   Here is a love of unmeasured generosity.   God is saying, “I will pour out My Spirit, more than even you know what to do with.   I will to pour out the abundance of Spirit.  I have made up my mind to pour out a prodigious display, a demonstration of My goodness, and my power to you.  I’ll pour out my Spirit in love.”

And in it all, the Lord says, “I will restore to you the years”.    This is one of the most incredible statements in the Bible.   If God had said, I will restore you health that would have been great.  If He had said, I will restore your broken finances, that’s great.  If He said, I am going to restore relationships, what’s messed up in your family, or I am going to restore where your business judgment has gotten you into problems….  He could have said any one of those things.   He could have said I am going to restore Hope that you have lost.  I’m going to restore those dreams that were never fulfilled or that I’m going to put that hope and that expectancy back in your heart.  He could have said any one of those things, and that would have been great.  But God goes beyond those promises to us.  Beyond “Inundation”,   beyond “Demonstration” but here now and for us as well, he promises “Restoration”.