Act 2:16-21 “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
We hear a lot being said about us living in the last days. Many think the end of time cannot be very far off. However, Peter identified the time they were living in as the last days. On the day of Pentecost, Peter declared that they were seeing the manifestation of the prophesy of Joel.
Instead of these men being drunk on new wine (as some accused them of), Peter replied that this was the effect of God pouring out the power of His Spirit. This pouring out was not a random thing. The word translated as “pour out” meant to bestow. When something is bestowed, it is done with focus and purpose.
God was manifesting the truth of the things Jesus has told them. He was bestowing upon them another Comforter. This was not a Comforter that the world would understand. The Holy Spirit would abide forever with us, and He is the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17).
It is easy for us to begin to think of the Holy Spirit as a replacement for Jesus. We need to be focused on the fact that the Holy Spirit is how we see Jesus today. Jesus told us He would send the Comforter (the Holy Spirit), and then He said, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you (John 14:18).” The Holy Spirit is the manifestation of the promise of Jesus.
We live in a wonderful time in God’s kingdom, but we must take our focus off the world to realize that. He shows us wonderful things in His kingdom. We have fellowship with each other because our fellowship is first with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ (1John 1:3). The preaching of the gospel tells us of what God has done and assures us the His promises are still true. We can have full confidence in what He is doing today and will continue to do with His children.
The scripture tells us to rightly divide the word of truth. Since there is no falsehood in the scripture, we understand we are not being taught to separate truth from fiction here. Rather, we are to seek the Spirit of truth in understanding those things that might seem to be contradictory on the surface. One such contradiction is the notion that I took the shedding of Jesus blood to save us, but that was not sufficient.
Those that can call on the name of the Lord are those who have the Comforter. It is through the Spirit of truth that we can call on His name. We experience deliverance (saving) in resting on the authority of His word that He has overcome the world. We can be of good cheer because He has poured out of His Spirit on us, and we see wonders in heaven (God’s kingdom here) and evidence (signs) of His love for us in our lives (in the earth).
May God bless us to rest in the promise of Jesus that He will never leave us comfortless, but that He will come to us in the person of the Holy Spirit!
