I Will Pour Out My Spirit (Joel 2-3)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Many people think “the only good bug is a dead bug.” But if you can get over the “ick” factor, insects turn out to be amazing and even beneficial creatures. Here are some fun facts: A flea leaps 200x its length. A man would have to jump a 120-story building to equal this proportionately. An ant lifts a load many times its own weight. A man would have to lift a diesel locomotive and carry it on his back to compare. The spider is so well-supplied with the silky thread that a scientist once drew out of the body of one specimen a thread almost two miles long. I’m not quite sure what the benefit of locusts is, other than they can provide a rich protein source for other animals, and they could keep some invasive weeds under control. But in Joel, God uses a dreaded plague of locusts to teach Israel an important lesson about judgment.
Review
Review
A. Last month, we looked at the first two chapters of the Book of Joel and learned its major theme is “The Day of the Lord.” This time of judgment at the end of human history will be filled with curses and plagues, and was foreshadowed in Joel’s own time by a devastating locust plague (1:4; 2:2; etc.). It would not be an exaggeration to say disasters in our own time, including earthquakes, wildfires, and the COVID-19 pandemic are also a foreshadowing of the Day of the Lord. They give us a glimpse at the panic, disruption, and death that will occur at the end of the age.
B. The phrase “Day of the Lord” appears 19 times in the prophets.
See chart from the MacArthur Study Bible
C. The term usually carries a negative meaning, though it can also spill over into the season of blessing that will result. Just as the thought of the Second Coming should produce dread in the heart of the wicked, but great hope and anticipation for the believer, so the Day of the Lord should evoke a similar response. It speaks of a season when there will be intense divine judgment, immediately followed by God’s healing presence.
Key Verses in the Book of Joel
Key Verses in the Book of Joel
A. Joel 2:14-15 “Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly…for the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.”
B. Joel 2:28-32 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…” In Acts 2, Peter said this prophecy had its initial fulfillment at Pentecost.
C. Joel 3:16 “…the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.”
Peter Says at Pentecost, “This is What Was Uttered Through the Prophet Joel”
Peter Says at Pentecost, “This is What Was Uttered Through the Prophet Joel”
A. What were some of the unusual events that took place on Pentecost?
B. Peter connects this to Joel’s prophecy. Acts 2:16-21 || Joel 2:28-32a. This is one of the longest OT quotes in all the NT.
C. Several questions arise. How does Pentecost fulfill Joel’s prophecy of the Day of the Lord? Should we expect any other future fulfillment? Joel says the sun will darken, and the moon will turn to blood. What does this mean? Should we expect even more signs, wonders, dreams, and visions as we get closer to the second coming? Some thoughts…
D. The coming of Messiah and the Holy Spirit mark the beginning of the “end of the age,” or the “last days,” and we continue to live in that time now (Heb. 1:1-2; 1 Cor. 10:11; 1 Jn. 2:18). Note the “already-not yet” of 1 Pet. 1:20; 4:7; and 2 Pet. 3:3.
E. Many prophecies have more than one fulfillment. Partial fulfillment is not uncommon and simply means the rest of the prophecy is still waiting to be fulfilled.
1. Think of prophecy like a jug of water. God will fill, but not necessarily all at once.
2. My seminary professor Dr. Larry Pettegrew said, “If the New Testament fulfillment does not use up the Old Testament prophecy (especially leaving out Israel), we must expect another fulfillment (referent). For example: We don’t have to deny that Acts 2 is an inaugural fulfillment of Joel 2, a referent. But there will be a further referent when the Joel prophecy is exhaustively fulfilled with Israel.”
3. Dwight Pentecost: “The fact that part of the prophecy has been fulfilled without the fulfillment of the rest of it does not argue for a figurative or non-literal method of fulfillment of that unfulfilled portion, but such a partial fulfillment does promise a complete, literal, future fulfillment of the whole” (Things to Come, pp. 63-64).
4. Walt Kaiser: “All interpreters know that Pentecost took care of only the first two verses in that prophecy, and that only to an initial degree. Where were the ‘wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke’? ‘The sun will be turned to darkness,’ promised Joel, ‘and the moon to blood.’ These events yet await the consummation of history” (Back Toward the Future, 43).
F. I believe Peter’s emphasis and reason for using this quote is the arrival of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28, 29). He is saying, “Don’t be surprised by these signs and wonders, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. What’s happening today was explicitly prophesied by God’s prophet Joel. He already told you the Spirit would one day come in.” Up to this point, the Holy Spirit had exercised what we could call, “selective indwelling.” For example, Moses, David, and others of God’s anointed had received the Spirit. There was little hope the average “Joe Israelite” would ever have the Spirit dwelling inside of him. But here, we are told that “God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh.” (Wayne Grudem notes this was also a fulfillment of Moses’ wish that the Lord would put his Spirit on all his people in Num. 11:29). This provides the perfect segue into the gospel to “call upon the name of the Lord” (Joel 2:32).
Application
Application
A. Pause to thank the Lord for the gift of his Holy Spirit.
B. Should we expect signs, wonders, dreams, and miracles today? Why or why not?
C. What difference, practically speaking, should it make that the Holy Spirit now dwells in each and every believer? See Rom. 5:1-5; Eph. 4:30-32; Gal. 5:22-25;