You Talking to Me? The Holy Spirit

The pentecostal coming of the Holy Spirit was prophesied in the OT. I’d like to take some time here. Rather than citing a bunch of scattered verses here and there, let’s take a quality moment to read through the context of one of these prophesies.

• Joel 2:28a, “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.”

There is the all important word to consider, “afterward.” To find out what the prophet, Joel, is talking about we’ll have to rewind a bit. Chapter 1 talks about desolation, “Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men” (Vs 12). He says that everyone should assemble and cry out to the Lord because “the Day of the Lord is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty” (Vs 15).

Then, the first part of chapter 2 describes the army of God. It’s a pretty fearsome army, but doesn’t sound like anything human eyes have ever witnessed, rather it seems he is describing a heavenly army, a supernatural one. They are the kind of people “the like of whom has never been” and will never be reproduced (Vs. 2), which implies they are eternal beings. Fire goes before them and behind them (Vs. 3), their appearance is like that of horses (Vs.4), the sun, moon and stars all grow dark with their coming (Vs. 10), so we can only assume they are either blocking the view to the heavens, or overpowering it with their heavenly fire. Finally the verse that announces it outright:

• Joel 2:11, “The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?

The “One who executes His word” can only be one Man, and not just because the “O” is capitalized. Jesus came and executed the prophecies (the word) of the Old Testament. Side note: speculation continues about the term “Day of the Lord." I believe that there are more than one Day of the Lord, and when the term is used in Scripture, usually it is accompanied by "watch out." In this case, I believe the battle, this Day, coincides with the resurrection and what will happen in the spiritual realm at that time. Since this heavenly army is leaving a path of destruction in their wake, we can only assume the enemy is spiritual and horrendous - this is confirmed in later verses.

Then God speaks up, calling everyone to repentance, declaring He is merciful, slow to anger, and He “relents from doing harm” (Vs. 13). Then the bridegroom, who is the NT Christ, and the bride, who is the NT church, are called from their chambers, and the priests weep for God to spare His people (Vs. 16,17). God pities them and answers,

• Joel 2:19 “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.”

In Jewish culture the “grain offering” did not consist of raw grain. In this context it most probably refers to the grain used, finely ground into flour, mixed with oil, and then made into unleavened bread for this pleasing offering. Wine, in the New Testament, is best known as the unmistakable representation of His saving blood. Oil is used for anointing, which is directly associated with the Holy Spirit. God will send grain, the pleasing offering, Christ’s body, new wine, the blood of Christ, and oil, the anointing of the Spirit of God.

Grain

• Leviticus 2:4-6, “And if you bring as an offering a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. But if your offering is a grain offering baked in a pan, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil. You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering.”

Wine

• Matthew 26:28,29, “Then He took the cup [the traditional Seder drink is wine], and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Oil / The Holy Spirit

• I Samuel 16:13a, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.”

• Luke 4:18a, “And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He has anointed Me” (written in Isaiah 61:1,2)

• I John 2:27,"But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

• John 14:26, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

Getting back to our passage in Joel chapter 2, we’ve established that there will come a great day of judgment, but that God was merciful toward His people. He goes on to say that He will remove us far from the enemy, drive him away into a desolate land, “And his foul odor will rise, because he has done monstrous things” ( (Vs. 20).

• John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”

He saves us, declares we will always be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord. (Vs 26). After the coming of the Christ, and the rescue that the Hebrew people have been waiting for since they first heard of a coming Messiah, yet there is more. Much more.

• Joel 2:28-32, “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. "

The coming of the Holy Spirit who was prophesied in the OT came to “all flesh” in Acts chapter two. The Holy Spirit fell on the Apostles assembled and they began to speak in tongues. I’d like to point out briefly that I was not previously aware that it was the exact prophesy of Joel that was quoted by Peter in his first sermon to the witnesses (Acts 2:17-21). I went to bed last night a little dejected when I read the last lines about the moon turning to blood. That sounds a lot like the end of days, no? The moon never turned to blood in the gospels... I prayed last night, asking Him what my next step should be, and if this study of Joel was moot. I left it up to Him, trusting Him, and this morning I sensed the Holy Spirit had led me to read through the Pentecost again before scratching the whole thing. That was when I found, glaringly obvious, that Peter spoke of the Holy Spirit’s Pentecostal outpouring by quoting the exact Scripture we are going through today. Small point, maybe will awaken the critic in some, but to me, a huge encouragement.

The bit about the moon turning to blood, maybe it’s figurative, or maybe it will really happen before the Second Coming. I’m comfortable with that mystery, and I’ve stated before that this interpretation will focus on the facts.

The facts are these: Joel said the Spirit would pour out on all flesh, and Peter confirmed that this was indeed what had happened at Pentecost. Which brings us to our final blow.

What does it have to do with you or me? I think there’s more. Realigning the focus now, begins with the original descent of the Holy Spirit in Acts. After Peter declares all of what Joel said concerning the outpouring, including “that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved,” he goes on to discuss what it all means to you and me.

• Acts 2:32-33, “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.”

• Acts 2:38-39, “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

I may as well end this surmise here. The witnesses of the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit saw that they were preaching, and the foreigners were hearing them speak “each in their own tongue,” They also re-heard the prophecy of Joel promising that this outpouring would lead to dreams and visions. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit, that is what they heard and saw, and that is what is promised to “as many as the Lord our God will call.”

• Romans 8:28, "28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

If you love God, you are called.