Joel 2:28, 29
²⁸It will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
²⁹Even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
Again it speaks about the day of the Lord.
But this time the tone of Joel’s words is different.
This time he will draw that day as a day of salvation and redemption for the people of the Lord; for the people who have learned to walk in the way of repentance and conversion to the Lord his God.
The Lord will do great things.
And yet these things will only be a sign, a prophecy, and a promise of what comes next.
Didn’t Peter turn to Joel’s words on Pentecost and said, “They’re fulfilled now?”
“O, how great is Thy good that Thou hast reserved for them that fear thee!”
My friends, do not ignore this, for would the Christ have died for you in vain?
This lesser-known prophet, who has only a small book to his name, has become the great prophet of Pentecost. For centuries later, on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, Peter said: “This is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel!”
The prophet’s gaze focuses on the distant future and then he sees it happening: The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit Who will make people speak of the great works of God.
It will happen, he says.
There is no doubt about it, for the One who promised it is faithful.
Nor will the Lord be careful with His Spirit. He will pour Him out, by streams.
Streams of blessing are coming!
How bad it would be, to stay dry in such a mild rain …
Don’t miss out on it, for the Christ has earned the fullness of the Spirit through His bitter suffering and death.
God pours out His Spirit. The sign of the new life.
After all, it is the Spirit that makes alive.
There is a ripening in this world of people who have been won for God.
People who learn to crucify their sinful lives daily, and walk in newness of the Spirit. And all this in the light of Christ’s return. Because that day is coming!
The Lord returns to His own word.
Everything He ever promised will exist.
Would He surrender His people, His inheritance to destruction: to pull His hands off His own? Would He do that now? By no means.
In the last part of Joel 2, we see a new future opening up: your sons and your daughters will prophesy. What does that mean? They will mention the abundant praise of the Lord. They will magnify his Name; the Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This word is fulfilled on Pentecost; And it will be fulfilled fully when the first things are gone and God will be all and in all.
The Lord’s community is moving toward that future.
To that future, acquired by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you also a part of that?
In the following verses we hear again of the signs: blood, fire and pillars of smoke.
The sun is turned into darkness and the moon into blood.
But for all who expect Christ for salvation, these are the signs of their redemption.
Joel 2:30-31
³⁰I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire and columns of smoke.
³¹The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood
Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
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