The Book Of Joel. Day 9, The Day Of The Lord, Part One

The remainder of Chapter 2 deals with a prophecy that was not fulfilled within Joel's lifetime or within the lifetime of his listeners. Today we are going to look at the first half of this prophecy which began to be fulfilled in the book of Acts and which is still being fulfilled and will continue to be fulfilled until the time known as "the day of the Lord" or "the great tribulation" has passed.

We previously spoke about how many prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament are two-fold prophecies. These two-fold prophecies contain something that will happen in the very new future and something that will happen in the far off future. Often these prophecies are run together in one sentence or in one paragraph or in one chapter. Earlier in Chapter 2 the Lord promised to remove the plague of locusts and to restore the prosperity of the nation of Judah because the people repented of the sins that had brought the calamity about. This restoration happened during the lifetime of Joel and his listeners. But the rest of the chapter deals with a prophecy of the Messianic age---something that would not happen until the advent of Christ.

The Lord says: "And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days." (Joel 2:28-29) 

Usually when we see the term "in those days" in the Bible it is a reference to the last days. We often think of the last days just as the great tribulation era but technically we have been in the last days ever since Christ ascended to heaven. In our current era nothing in the Scriptures remains to be fulfilled before the last last days can begin to take place. The Lord Jesus Christ could call His church out of the world at any moment. The events that set the stage for the great tribulation could begin at any moment. As soon as Christ ascended to heaven, the countdown began, and we don't know how much time is left on the clock.

The pouring out of the Holy Spirit "on all people" began on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit was at work in the lives of men and women since the Lord first created the human race, but He did not continually indwell believers in the way that He does in the church age. The Lord Jesus promised His disciples that after His ascension to heaven He would send the Comforter (the Holy Spirit) to continually be with and guide those who believe on Him. (John 16:7-15) It was to our advantage that Jesus would go to be with the Father and that the Holy Spirit would come to indwell us, for in the flesh He could only be in one place at one time but the Holy Spirit is able to be with each of us all the time. 

On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the believers in Christ and enabled them to speak the gospel message in the various languages of all the pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the holiday, the Apostle Peter said this was the fulfillment of the prophecy spoken by Joel. (Acts 2:16-18) Peter quotes word for word the text we are studying today from the book of Joel. The Holy Spirit began indwelling believers on Pentecost in Acts 2 and He continues performing this same ministry in our day. In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit enabled believers to speak in languages they did not know as proof to those foreigners visiting Jerusalem (who had converted to the God of Israel) that the message about Christ was true. At least three thousand people in Jerusalem accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior on that day. The book of Acts states that "about three thousand" were saved but since in those times it was common to count only the male heads of households when numbering people, this number may not include women or teenagers or children who were old enough to understand the gospel. The number of people saved on that first Pentecost after the resurrection and ascension of Christ may have been far greater than three thousand.

On that day the prophecy from the book of Joel began to come true. It is still coming true because the Holy Spirit is still coming to indwell everyone who accepts Christ. The Holy Spirit will still continue coming to indwell everyone who accepts Christ from now on. He is still leading people to believe the gospel message and He is still comforting and instructing everyone who believes the gospel message.

Furthermore, other aspects of the prophecy from Joel 2 will continue taking place up to "the day of the Lord"---the great tribulation---and until the day when the Lord establishes His eternal kingdom on earth. We will study these other aspects as we take a look at the remainder of Chapter 2 in our next study session.