Joel 2:28-32             I Will Pour Out My Spirit Upon All Flesh             5/19/2002    

 

 

 

#1.       The Former Rain and the Latter Rain at the First (Joel 2:23-27)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#2.       I Will Show Wonders in the Heavens and on the Earth (Joel 2:30-31, Ezek 18:4, Gal 3:13)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#3.       Signs of the Outpouring of God the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:41-47, Rom 8:9, II Thess 3:10)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please open your Bibles to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2. (2X)

Today we commemorate the Feast of Pentecost, which is the N.T. name for the O.T. Feast of Weeks. According to Lev 23 seven weeks after the Feast of First Fruits, which coincides with our N. T. Feast of Easter, seven weeks later is the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Pentecost. That is today! We read about the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1 and following.

Acts 2:1 ¶ And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Acts 2:2  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

Acts 2:3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

Acts 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:5 ¶And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

Acts 2:6  Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

Acts 2:7  And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?

 (This tells us that it was only the 12 Apostles who spoke with other tongues.)

Acts 2:8  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

Acts 2:9  Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,

Acts 2:10  Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,

Acts 2:11  Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

 (This was truly a miracle, because these were 16 different languages spoken by 12 men)

Acts 2:12  And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

Acts 2:13  Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

Acts 2:14 ¶ But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

Acts 2:15  For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

Acts 2:16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

Acts 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

Acts 2:18  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and

they shall prophesy:

Acts 2:19  And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke:

Acts 2:20  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Let us pause here. God said in verse 16: "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel". In other words God said, "The prophecy written through the hands of Joel is here fulfilled". Whenever God makes a reference to the O.T. it behooves us to go to that O.T. passage and see for ourselves what God said. So, please turn to the Prophecy of Joel, chapter 2, and let us begin at verse 23. (2X)

#1.       The Former Rain and the Latter Rain at the First (Joel 2:23-27)

We are presently in the midst of a series of sermons on "the Latter Rain" to shed some light on the Biblical meaning of "the Latter Rain". We are not allowed to look out in today's world and guess what the Latter Rain might mean; we must derive the meaning from the context. Let us read Joel 2:23,

Joel 2:23  Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain "moderately" (Lit: "according to righteousness"), and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain at the first (month).

That is why this section is titled "The Former Rain and the Latter Rain at the First". The natural phenomena of the Former Rains are the rains in the fall season, and the Latter Rains are the rains in the spring season. What is the spiritual meaning of the Former Rain and the Latter Rain? We must keep an eye on the context. Verse 28 begins the announcement of Pentecost in the year AD 33. That really was the watershed that initiated the N.T. church, and then the entire N.T. began to rain down on the faithful children of God. Therefore the rain represents the water of the Gospel, or the Word of God. The preaching of the Word of God in the N.T. time is the Latter Rain, which did not come down in the first month of the Hebrew calendar, but it began to pour down when Christ was preaching and when the Apostles were preaching at the birth of the N.T. church, as we read it in our N.T. Scriptures. God was using the natural phenomena of the rains as a picture of the bringing of the Word of God in the O.T. time and in the N.T. time. The Word of God came down in spurts, separated by a period of draught of about 400 years. That is the meaning of The Former Rain and the Latter Rain at the First. Then God continues to expand on the spiritual meaning of this verse in Joel 2:24-27,

Joel 2:24  And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

Joel 2:25  And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

Joel 2:26  And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

Joel 2:27  And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

And then we read the passage that Peter quoted on Pentecost in Acts, chapter 2.

Joel 2:28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

Remember that in Acts 2:17 this verse begins with: "And it shall come to pass in the last days". Here in Joel 2:28 it begins with: "And it shall come to pass afterward". What is the meaning of "afterward"? After what? Here God touches again on the natural phenomena of the spring rains. Think of the weather in Southern California, which is very much like the weather in the nation of Israel. In verse 23 God used the physical occurrence of the spring rains, and what God says in verse 28 is this: "After those spring rains comes the Feast of Pentecost; then and there I will pour out My Spirit". This must be the interpretation, because God identified this word "afterward" with "in the last days" in Acts 2. It means that the word "afterward" is pointing to Pentecost. When are "the last days"? The last days are from Pentecost in AD 33 all the way to the end of time. That is the definition given of "the last days" in the N.T. And there will be no more last days after these "last days". And remember: the later revelation carries the greater weight. Therefore, here in Joel 2:28 God is speaking about a timing shortly after Christ went to the cross. "Afterward" here means: "After the spring rains comes the Feast of Pentecost".

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh". Does God refer to all flesh? Does God refer to all the people in the world? Does God say anywhere that all the people in he world shall become saved, or that each and every person in the world shall prophesy? Of course not! Rarely does the word "all" refer to each and every person in the world. This verse is a splendid example that the word "all" does not mean "all the people in the world". What then do these words mean here in Joel 2:28? It means that the Spirit shall be poured out not only upon the Jews, but also upon the Gentiles. It means that in Christ there is now no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, or between male and female, or between slaves and free men (Gal 3:28). It means that the Spirit of Christ shall be poured out upon all those who have received a new soul from God the Holy Spirit. It means that the Spirit of God comes to take up residence in all those who have been "born again", or "born from above". It means: "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Rom 8:9).

"And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions". The Spirit of God shall be poured out upon males as well as females. The Spirit of God shall be poured out upon old and young people. Therefore the Spirit of God shall be poured out regardless how much we know, or regardless of our rank on the social ladder, or

regardless how young our children may be. Even babies can be saved.

But what shall we say about the:

These are not ordinary dreams. God is speaking here of messages from God coming in dreams and visions, and these dreams and visions are mentioned both in Joel 2:28 and in Acts 2:17. We read

Joel 2:28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

Joel 2:29  And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

They shall interpret Scripture and speak of secret things in the Scriptures, and they shall speak of things that are still in the distant future. These were all messages coming from God to the people of the church in the first century AD. By these extraordinary gifts the Christian church was first founded and set up, and the N.T. Scriptures were written and the ministry was settled. They needed that additional information from God, because the N.T. church in the first century AD had only the O.T. as their Bible, their Word of God. Please turn to the last page in your Bible. When the Apostle John received and wrote the Revelation of Jesus Christ, God wrote on the last page, in Rev 22:18-19,

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Now, we must harmonize this passage with that written in Acts 2:17. Revelation was written in about AD 95. Again: The later revelation carries the greater weight. From that time forward God was not going to add any more to His Word. God declared that the Bible was complete. Today no one should claim to have received additional revelations from God, because God promised that He would not give any more Divine revelations. From AD 33 to about AD 95 people could still receive Divine revelations from God, But after that date anyone claiming another message from God is a deceiver, and shows by his actions that he is still under the wrath of God, and is on the way to Hell.

Why is that so? Why would God place such stiff penalty on such a seemingly minor infraction? Well, that is understandable. The Bible alone circumscribes the God that we know from the Bible. The moment we take away from the Bible, or we add to the Bible, we have created another image of God. If we worship a god who is described by the Bible plus some other revelation, then we have another gospel and another god, but he is not the God of the Bible.

Therefore, if anyone tells you that he has seen a vision from God, or had a dream from God, or has experienced an angel visitation, or has a message in a tongue that he does not even understand,

that person was sent to you by Satan to deceive you, and lure you away from the only true God.

Dreams, and visions, and angel visitations, and tongues were in the past ways in which God gave messages, but after Rev 22:18-19 God is finished giving messages. After the church was settled through these extraordinary means, it was to be maintained and kept up with the ordinary operations and influences of the Spirit. Let us return to Joel, chapter 2. We have come to verse 30.

#2.       I Will Show Wonders in the Heavens and on the Earth (Joel 2:30-31, Ezek 18:4, Gal 3:13)

Jo 2:30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

Joel 2:31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

We read in the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that the crucifixion and the death of Jesus were accompanied by wonders in the heavens and on the earth. On the afternoon of that Friday, April 3, in the year AD 33, there was darkness over all the land from about 12 Noon to about 3 O'clock. And when the Lord Jesus Christ died that afternoon at about 3 O'clock there was a great earthquake. And much blood was shed. But where were the "fire, and pillars of smoke"?

We must not interpret this verse as if God suddenly switches to end time events. We must keep the context in mind. These verses are also quoted in Acts 2:19-20. There the sermon brought by the Apostle Peter has only one goal: Christ was crucified and now in this Pentecost sermon men are called to repent and be saved from their sins of crucifying Christ. End time events are not in view. How do the "fire and pillars of smoke" relate to the crucifixion of Christ?

We must keep in mind what the Bible reveals about the Atonement of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save all those whom the Father had given Him, His elect. They all were dirty rotten sinners. Everyone came into the world as dirty rotten sinners, on the way to Hell, and unable to save themselves from slavery to Sin and Satan. Only because God had mercy on them, will they be saved from their slippery slide into Hell. Therefore God placed all these chosen ones in Christ, and Christ so identified with His elect that He could take upon Himself all the sins of all the elect. In the Garden of Gethsemane spiritually Christ stood before the Judgment throne of God. That was when His Atonement started. He was declared guilty and condemned to Hell to pay the penalty for all the sins He was carrying. There was no substitute for Him. Christ had to pay the full payment, which was the equivalent of an eternity in Hell. Even Satan did not believe that Christ could make such an enormous payment. Satan indwelt Judas Iscariot to betray Christ and to bring Christ to the cross, because Satan believed that this would destroy Christ in body and Soul. Why did Christ have to make such an enormous payment? God's righteousness demanded a full satisfaction for all these sins. God said in the Bible: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek 18:4), and the death that God had in view was not physical death, but the eternal death of dying continuously in the Lake of Fire. Christ had to endure the torment of Hell while He was hanging on the cross. "Christ was made a curse for us: For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree" (Gal 3:13) Therefore, in a spiritual sense, the fire of Hell was there, and the pillars of the smoke of Hell were there when Christ hung on the cross. In a real sense, these were the wonders that were shown in the heavens and on the earth. But because Christ endured the full payment, satisfying the righteousness of God, therefore all those who were in Christ when He was crucified and died and rose again from the grave, will never have to go to Hell the second time, because they already went through Hell with Christ and came out the other end. Then we read:

Is that what your KJV Bible reads? We read in verse 31,

Joel 2:31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

We know that there was darkness from 12 till about 3 PM. We read that in Matt 27:45. But was this before the great and terrible Day of the Lord? What was this great and terrible Day of the Lord? This could not have been Good Friday, because the 3 hours of darkness occurred within Good Friday and God is very precise in His writings of Scripture. But those who know the Hebrew language say that it should not have been translated terrible, but awesome. It was "the great and awesome Day of the Lord". Can we have some confirmation of that? Yes! In Acts 2:20 this same day is called "the great and notable Day of the Lord", or a better translation is "the great and illustrious Day of the Lord". The Greek word in Acts 2:20 is the word "Epiphanes" (pronounce: 'ep-if-an-ace'), which means illustrious. What is "the great and illustrious Day of the Lord"? It is the day of Easter. It is the day the Lord Jesus Christ bodily rose from the grave. The 3 hours of darkness occurred before the great and illustrious Day of the Lord. And the color of the moon turned to blood, indicating that there must have been a moon eclipse on that evening of Friday April 3, AD 33, when the body of the Lord Jesus rested in the grave. Indeed there was a moon eclipse on that same evening of the Passover.

That Sunday was an awesome Day of the Lord, because on that day God finalized the 3 days and 3 nights Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of all those whom the Father had given Him, and He passed by everyone else in the human race. Not one soul could be added to the list, and not one soul on the list could be forgotten and go to Hell. And then we read in verse 32,

Joel 2:32  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

God cannot lie, and therefore God cannot contradict Himself in this verse. We cannot isolate the first half of this verse from the last half. Many people would like to do that. They say: "You see that we have to accept the Lord Jesus; we have to call on His name, and then we shall be saved". But that is not in agreement with the last half of this verse. The Last half of this verse says: "and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call". Who is the remnant? The remnant is known in the Bible as "the remnant chosen by grace". For example God used the same Hebrew word in Isa 1:9. Just listen as I read,

Isaiah 1:9  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

We all came into the world as wicked as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were. Only because the Lord had left us a very small remnant of saved people in the world are we not destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed after Lot and his two daughters left. It is the Lord who chose that remnant. Repeatedly God says in the Bible that only a small fraction of the people is going to be saved. That should strike fear in everyone who know what the statistics mean. What is the probability that you or I are among those saved people? That probability is very small. Be patient. I will say some more about this in a few minutes.

And so, in Joel 2:32, it is the remnant chosen by grace whom the Lord shall call. Therefore, the words "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord" does not refer to just anyone who of his own volition might want to call on the name of the Lord. The number of people whose sins have been paid at the cross cannot be increased, nor can it be decreased. Listen again at the words of John 6:65,

John 6:65  And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

No one of his own volition will call on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only those whose sins have been paid at the cross will be drawn by the Father to call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus. His Name is the Word of God. Only those who have been drawn by the Father will believe the entire Word of God and will be drawn to call on this Lord Jesus Christ. The BIG question is: How can we know if we belong to that remnant chosen by grace? We should take the Christian church in the first century AD as our example. Please turn again to Acts chapter 2.

#3.       Signs of the Outpouring of God the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:41-47, Rom 8:9, II Thess 3:10)

In Acts chapter 2, on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached one sermon and about 3000 people became saved. What signs did God give to indicate that these 3000 were saved people? They were the signs of the outpouring of God the Holy Spirit. Of course, these must be the signs, because "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Rom 8:9). What then were the signs of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Well, let us read the conclusion of this chapter and see for ourselves:

Acts 2:41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added (unto them) about three thousand souls.

Acts 2:42 ¶ And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Acts 2:43  And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

Acts 2:44  And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

Act 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Acts 2:46  And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

Acts 2:47  Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Can you see that these people were filled with the Holy Spirit? Absolutely! ”They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers". Does this mean that they took no time to sleep? Yes, of course they had to sleep, and to eat, and to wash themselves, and they had to go to work, because God says in II Thess 3:10 that "if any would not work, neither should he eat". But they were back every day learning under the Apostle's teaching, and they were enjoying each other's fellowship, and they were remembering the Lord's suffering by eating the Lord's Supper, and they were daily in prayer either individually or as a group together. My, they had a zeal that far exceeds the zeal that you find in any church today. They were in church every day. Why? What has gotten into them? God the Holy Spirit has gotten into them, and He made them hungry for the Word, and hungry for fellowship, and hungry for the Lord's Supper, and eager to send up their prayers to God. You ask: "How do I know if I belong to the remnant chosen by grace?" Well, these Christians in the first century certainly did not have to ask this question. It was obvious that their lives had been turned around. They had no longer an interest in pleasing themselves. All they lived for was pleasing the Lord. They were not occupied fellowshipping with their unsaved family members, but their entire life revolved around their fellow believers. We can certainly take these first century Christians as our example. This was not something that was legislated by the church. No, it came from within them, because they had been saved. They were the remnant saved by grace.

Let us begin examining the first one of these four activities and see how well we do.

It means that they were in the Word of God every day. How do we stack up compared to their example? Well, I cannot legislate that we must read and study our Bibles every day. This is an urgent need that must well up from within ourselves. Are you saved? That is the first requirement. If you are not saved, then you will loathe all these activities that are suggested here in this passage of Acts 2:42. But if we find that we have an urgent need welling up from within to read and study the Bible, then it means that the Spirit of God is pushing us to know His Word. It means that we belong to the remnant chosen by grace. It means that we have become the Bride of Christ and we are eager to hear the voice of the Bridegroom. It means that we love to be His servants and we want to hear the Master's commands. It means that we love Him so much, we want to do everything in our power to please Him. It means that we want to find out what the attributes are of our Bridegroom whom we

adore above all, even above our own family. Do we have this urgent need?

If the answer is yes, then I wonder: Where everyone is during the Sunday morning Bible Study? And where is everyone during the Sunday evening Bible Study, which has now been moved up to 3 O'clock in the afternoon? And where is everybody during the Bible Study on Tuesday evenings? Have we become so soft to ourselves, and so pampered that all these activities are beyond our reach? Or have other activities taken the place of these, and are we giving the Lord our leftover time? I know that some of you are not able to come for personal reasons. But that applies only to a few.

If we doubt our salvation because we are not in the Word, then we have a good reason to doubt our salvation. The remedy is to dig into the Word and find out if we are saved or not saved. We need to know that, and we need to do something to get to know that. We cannot just let it slide, as if it were not important. This is something that would keep me awake tonight if I was not sure.

The Christians in the First Christian Church of Jerusalem were under the teaching of the Apostles. What did they learn? They learned what salvation is. It is my job to teach you what salvation is and to teach you how to read the Bible. It is my job to bring this to you in a way that keeps you interested. If you listen carefully you can hear that every Sunday, in the sermon, I am teaching you what salvation is. How can I teach you how to read the Bible? You begin to take each one of the verses that I list in the sermon outlines, inserted in your Bulletins, and review them at home. If you cannot remember what I said about these verses then you have to write more notes during the sermons, or you get together on any or all these Bible Studies and ask questions. Begin to reserve a time slot of 15 minutes a day. But please do not give God your leftover time. That is an insult to Him. For example, if your TV is on but your Bible reading or Bible Study is not done for the day, then you are giving God your leftover time. The second activity in verse 42 is:

They loved one another that much. My, we can take that church as our example. Long ago our church decided that we should have lunch jointly and Open Forum afterwards. But where is everybody? Do we prefer to fellowship with other people who do not belong to this church rather than to fellowship with the believers in this church? My, that is a lopsided view of loving one another. Every week I extend an invitation to the visitors to stay for lunch, but actually I should extend an invitation to the members to stay for lunch. Let me stress again that I am not legislating fellowship. This is something that must well up from within, because God the Holy Spirit dwells within us. God commands us to love one another. That does not mean we love one another at a distance. I know that many of us came from churches where you meet for one hour every Sunday, and that is it. But don't you realize that those are watered down churches where you were fed watered down gospels at best. Forget what you did there. Don't let those watered down practices become your traditions. The church in the first century AD should be our example because that was written in the Bible to be our example. They brought their visitors to church and had them stay for lunch and for all the other activities. Those visitors were witnesses that they loved one another. What will our actions be? Do we believe the Bible, or do we believe our traditions? I have much more to say about Fellowship, but I will reserve that for another time. Presently we are running out of time.                

Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.