Joel 2:28-32 (ESV)
28“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.
29 Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Acts 2:17-21 (ESV)
But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
The power of God’s words declared generations ago, however long it seems to be shall not return void. The words delivered by Prophet Joel hundreds of years ago before the gathering in the upper room in the Book of Acts were proven to come to pass as Peter presented those words quoting Prophet Joel. What Joel saw in his spiritual vision then has a few parts of fulfillment.
I am highlighting these two passages – in Joel (Old Testament – OT) and Acts (New Testament -NT) which are commonly cited for comparison to reinforce that the OT and NT are held together. The pages in OT are filled with prophecies. In this portion of Joel, there are gaps in time/years in
between these verses. Nevertheless, Peter was defending the disciples who broke out in tongues and created a scene. The commotion led the onlookers to mock them saying, “They are filled with new wine.” (Acts 2:13) Peter addressed the crowd, “For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.” (Acts 2:15) He stood for the authenticity of that prophecy in Joel to bring the awareness of that realization of the prophecy. These people were not simply drunk in wine, but they were filled with new spiritual wine.
Watch the word of the Lord. Every word God declares – “it shall come to pass afterward” and “in the last days it shall be…”
What has God spoken to you, but yet to come to pass?
Revisit those prophecies and promises.
What must you do to “watch the word”?
Pray for the tenacity to wait and seize the actualization of it.
© Pr Selina Khoo Lim, Gateway City Church, Penang. 11 May 2020.