The Fourth of an On-going
Series
4. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit – Acts
2:17)
4. The
Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a foremost and basic
sign of the "last days."
On the day of Pentecost, Peter quoted Joel 2:28, and translated the word
"afterward" in Joel to
"last days," "And it shall come to pass in the last
days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flash…" (Acts
2:17).
Peter was answering the
query posed by the amazed and bewildered observers of heaven’s outpouring of
the Holy Spirit: "What meaneth this?" The answer: The "last
days" – signified by the coming of the Spirit – had now begun!
Peter proclaimed that the new
significant moment was really a fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy: "And I
will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars
of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the
Lord come" (Joel 2:30,31).
Thereby we see a vital
connection between the outpouring of the Spirit and "the day of the
Lord": both belong to the "last days." Peter proclaimed that the outpouring of the
Spirit at Pentecost was but the beginning of a spreading movement of the Spirit
(cf. Acts 8:14-17, 10:44-47), and that accompanying the gospel’s
proclamation, forthwith there
would be "signs and wonders…[with] divers [various]
miracles, and gifts of the Holy ghost" (Heb. 2:4). [Note carefully
the early church’s Gentile mission as the fulfillment of the promise of Amos
9:11, 12, cited at the council at Jerusalem in Acts 15:15-17.]
Several commentators have
noted that the more fully the Holy Spirit is known and experienced among
believers, the greater is their sense of expectancy of the Lord Jesus’
return. It is not the absence of the
Lord, but His presence intensified – that is preparation for His
return. Hence, the apostle Paul could
say, "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear" (Col. 3:4).
Thus, to live by the Spirit is to so live in Christ’s presence (in the
Spirit’s power) that a deep note of inner-joy, love, and expectancy calls
out for His return. He was so real to the early church that it could hardly
wait for His full appearance, So may it be with us: let His life I us increase
our expectancy.
This expectancy extends to
beget a hope for triumph over evil today! We are not escapists because we are
looking for the Lord to return. Rather,
our participation in the latter-day outpoiuring of the Holy Spirit provides as
adequate fortification against and dynamic to retaliate against the assaults of
evil. Such faith challenges all theologies of fatalism in the face of evil. The
church is enabled to deal effectively with history’s problems in the here and
now. We must feed the hungry, clothe the
naked, deal with drug addiction, and other addictions. We must alleviate suffering and misery. We must struggle against injustice. And these things we must do we are enabled to
do in the Spirit’s present power.
Our witness and works
evidence we are not "running from reality" as we look for our
Lord to return! Faith and good works
cannot be eliminated from this faith, as the presence of Christ in the Holy
Spirit keeps us expecting His literal, physical return.
Be prepared,
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/President/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts
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