Scripture Reading: Joel 2:27-30
27 You will know that I am present in Israel and that I am Yahweh your God, and there is no other. My people will never again be put to shame. 28 After this I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.29 I will even pour out My Spirit on the male and female slaves in those days. 30 I will display wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, fire, and columns of smoke. Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Key Verse: And afterwards I will pour out my Spirit on flesh... (Joel 2:28a).
Meditation: We are impressed as we read Joel’s prophecy at the awesome liberality with which God bestows His Holy Spirit. He is no longer given to a select few for certain duration or task, but He poured out on all people. The original Hebrew text suggests not mere drops or sprinkling, but the “pouring out” in great abundance. Unlike the Old Testament dispensation, the Holy Spirit would no longer be restricted in the number of recipients or in the quantity of His working.
The promised effusion and diffusion of the Spirit would reach all mankind. Sons and daughters, without regard to gender, would experience the abundant fullness of the Spirit. Old men and you men, without reference to age, would experience the boundlessness of the Holy Spirit. Servants, both men and women, without regard to social station, would be equal heirs of the bountifulness of the Holy Spirit. The blessing of the Holy Spirit would be as wide as the world and offered to the entire world without any national or ethnic distinctions.
Another important distinctive mark of the New Covenant would be the continuity of the Spirit’s power and working. Since the Spirit was given to inaugurate the last days, we can count on His ministry right Ur to the very last of the last days. So from Pentecost onwards to the final consummation of human history when Christ returns for the church, we can rely on the Holy Spirit’s sovereign work both in the world and in the church.
Thought for the Day: The sparse individual “drops” of the Spirit in the Old Testament have given way to the “outpouring” of the Spirit in the New Testament.
With the Holy Spirit in us, we have nothing to fear. God is with us. There are more words of prophesy in Joel.
No comments:
Post a Comment