POUR PROMISE Part 1

"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, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 'And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, BEFORE the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD SHALL BE SAVED' " (Joel 2:28-32) Joel's prophecy, given approximately 800 years before the birth of Jesus, is one of far-reaching meanings and consequences. The first chapter and half of the second of this Old Testament book describe the coming trouble, devastation of the Land of Israel and plight of the Jewish people. These future calamities are foretold in the first part of the second chapter. In the midst of that coming reality, Joel urges the people to repent of their sin, rebellion and disobedience to God. " 'Yet even now,' declares the LORD, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend (tear) your hearts and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. . .' " (Joel 2:12-13) Upon reading these verses, can you believe that some people accuse God of being cruel, filled with a spirit of vengeance, anger and wrath, unfair, and bent on punishing people? Yes, God will exercise judgment and wrath upon His enemies in due time, and yet we know from His Word, He also is not prone to anger, wrath or vengeance. Rather, He is very merciful, gracious, always ready to forgive the repentant and abounds in steadfast love! The fact that this world still exists attests to that truth!

The Prophet Joel then turns his attention to a more distant FUTURE DAY OF THE LORD! He describes a far-future time when God will bring ultimate and final judgment on the wickedness of the nations, vindication for the nation of Israel, and the ushering in of the Messianic Age of Peace.

This is where God reveals to Joel His promise of an unusual Out-Pouring of God's Holy Spirit in the End Times, available to all flesh. Here we have the promise in God's Word that this pouring out of His Holy Spirit will indeed come. Only God Himself knows when, how and to what extent it will take place. But we do know that we ought to be living in full expectation of the fulfillment of His promise as prophesied by Joel! It could now take place at any time! Within the recorded pages of Joel's prophesy, we do have several very definitive certainties.

First, we have CERTAINTY OF A TIME PERIOD! It is clearly stated to be "afterward!" While there was a miraculous out-pouring of God's Spirit at Pentecost, it was a partial fulfillment. (Acts 2:16-21) This was like the "EARLY RAIN"! In this passage of Scripture, the Apostle Peter pointed directly to, and quoted word for word Joel's entire prophecy when he preached to the great crowd of people gathered at Pentecost. But there is a deeper significance and meaning than what was revealed then. The "afterward" is yet to come. Note that on the Day of Pentecost, there were no wonders in the heavens or on the earth, of blood, fire and columns of smoke; the sun was not darkened and the moon was not turned to blood. These characteristics will only be present before the DAY OF THE LORD (End Times)! "Be glad, O children of Zion (Israel), and rejoice in the LORD your God, for He has given the EARLY RAIN for your vindication; He has poured down for you the abundant rain. . .the threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten. . .You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you." (Joel 2:23-26) The Out-Pouring of the Spirit of God is closely associated with God's blessing, provision, restoration and vindication of Israel! "Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and there is no other; and my people will never be put to shame." (Joel 2:27)

Second, there is the CERTAINTY OF PROMISE! Joel's prophecy declares, "it shall come to pass." (Joel 2:28) There is no question or debate; God promises that the Spirit's out-pouring shall indeed be carried out as God plans! The phrase "it shall come to pass" is used 453 times in the Bible. It means that one event is currently happening and that event will pass into another event. The phrase signifies that a promise made by God WILL be fulfilled in its season or at the appointed time. This Out-Pouring will be like the "LATTER RAIN"! This promise is actually a two-pronged one. Besides "it shall come to pass" it includes "I will pour out my Spirit." Again, this is the intentional promise of God and it is more certain than it is that I am writing these words. It is the promise of the God who cannot and thus will not lie. ". . .which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began. . . ." (Titus 1:2) This coming Out-Pouring of God's Holy Spirit is certainly a precious, reassuring and comforting promise made by the promise-making, promise-keeping God!

Third, these two certainties lead to the CERTAINTY OF THE AUTHOR of the promise! The eternal God, the One and Only God is alone the author of the promise to pour out His Spirit. God alone bestows His Spirit; the Spirit of God cannot be poured out by man, by organizations, by pastors, priests, popes, churches, or fellow Christians. We must go directly to God Himself; He alone is the ONE who pours out His Spirit upon His people. There are no short-cuts, alternatives, options or negotiations.

Fourth, Joel prophesies the CERTAINTY OF THE EXTENT of this promised out-pouring! The prophet quotes God saying, "all flesh." I believe we take this literally, not figuratively or metaphorically. "All flesh" is not used to stand for or symbolize something else. The phrase refers to all people, encompassing every individual regardless of age, gender, nationality, social or religious status. It signifies a time when this great out-pouring of God's Spirit will be available to everyone, not just a select few, and that ALL people will experience God's revelation. The Spirit of God will be poured out upon everyone who will accept; not everyone will. We know from Scripture that while all people will have the opportunity to respond to God's revelation, to the out-pouring of His Spirit, His loving kindness, grace, mercy, and to His salvation, not all people do or will; many will reject God. Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who enter it are few." (Matthew 7:13-14)

We might ask, to what degree is the Holy Spirit poured out? Because Joel quoted God saying, "I will POUR" we expect the greatest, most abundant degree. The term "POUR" means to flow rapidly in a steady stream and in large quantites. The supply of His Holy Spirit is abundant, inexhaustible, unlimited, infinite, endless and supernatural!

"All People" have a significant and personal responsibility to fulfill in order for the Holy Spirit to be poured-out upon them.

• Their first responsibility is their amenability. This means the person must be willing, agreeable, eager to comply with God's commands, wishes, plan and purpose. Their hunger must be for His righteousness and their priority must be God in first place in everything.

• Another responsibility has to do with capacity. By this I mean how much of ourselves are we ready and willing to give to God. We must not hold any part of ourselves apart; we must give Him our all. Only an empty vessel can hold the out-pouring! God has given us His All; we must give Him our All!

• Receptivity must be our response. This means we are welcoming, favorably accessible, and sensitively obedient and ready to receive.

  It is so encouraging to hear reports through CBN News, Pastor Greg Laurie, Rev. Franklin Graham, Charlie Kirk, and others of the thousands of young persons and older who are receiving Jesus as their Savior and Lord all over our country and indeed in the world. They tell of students packed shoulder-to-shoulder on campuses to hear and learn more about faith in Jesus Christ. Pastor Laurie speaks of 5,000 who recently responded to the call to salvation in Jesus Christ. A new Barna research and study shows that belief in Jesus is on the rise, fueled by younger adults. Two-thirds of all US adults say "they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life today." There is a strong indication of meaningful spiritual renewal in the United States. The sales of Bibles rose by 22 percent last year with Bible reading, study and Scripture engagement on major increase!

  As I close this blog, I want to say that there is also a CERTAINTY OF PURPOSE regarding the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit! God wants a holy people, fully devoted to loving, honoring, worshiping and adoring Him. The second purpose is so that His mission of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to lost people is fulfilled by His people. Consider this: We must BE Good News before we can proclaim the Good News!

  Please join me next week for the second part of this two-part blog!