"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls. ~Joel 2:28-32
Joel clearly viewed the outpouring of the Spirit accompanied by visible extraordinary and supernatural signs. “your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions” and “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” This probably should be viewed as stock terminology of Joel’s day and from Israel’s past as a point of reference to the covenant relationship. The Day of the Lord will be a culminating of the Lord judging and then restoring His people, Jew and Gentile, thereby pertaining to their deliverance also. Now we see the broader perspective and now we can see the association: Pentecost.
As mentioned at the very end of the last post Joel 2:28-32 is a direct correlation Peter’s delivery of the speech/sermon to the people on the day of Pentecost. Joel in these oracles had seen the day when the Holy Spirit. From Joel’s point of view they are predictions concerning future circumstances. The crowd had accused those indwelt by the Holy Spirit of being drunk when they had begun speaking in tongues (glossolalia) and prophesy. They had also manifested other gifts but the most visible being “tongues”. Peter clearly viewed Joel’s prophecy as being applicable to Pentacost. As such he begins to unravel what is mostly a riddle to those in the crowd in Acts 2.
The very end of these statements/verses both in Joel and being repeated in Acts are the most profound, “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Joel understood, as did Peter later that those who accepted or called on the name of the Lord would be saved from their sin and by grace be given eternal life. The Book of Acts being the culmination and exemplification of this then does the best job of explaining it for a Christian why this was of such significance. (v. 22-24: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” Peter intertwines Joel 2 and his sermon (Acts 2) to show the undeniable connection between Pentecost and Joel’s prophecy. Joel’s words “and they will prophesy” [Greek: kai propheteusousin] is understood to be the same as Peter’s words in Acts 2:18 and they are Spirit empowered. So two prophecies are fulfilled: Joel and Jesus Christ’s promise to send a Helper.Another interesting use of words “afterward/after” is in Joel 2:28 “It will come about after this, that I will pour out My Spirit” After this/afterword is understood as [en tais eschatais hemerais] or as Acts 2:17 states it “in the last days”. It means Pentecost must be the initiation of the Church Age. In other words what Peter is trying to tell this crowd is that “these“ are the “last days” that will culminate in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sweet!
Longman, Tremper, and David Garland. "The Outpoured Spirit." Daniel-Malachi (Expositor's Bible Commentary, The). New Rev ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009. 235-239. Print.
1 comment:
I feel that this was put together through a lot of prayer that went in to this i beleive that if we go to God in prayer we would see the Holy Spirit moving more powerfuler in the body of Christ. Our country is going through a time of testing right now and we need to step up to the chalenge that God has, but only the word of God cane make us victorious praise His name God bless you guys.
Post a Comment