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Monday, 4 June 2018

Joel 2:29-32 - Wonders on the earth

2:29
“Even on my servants, both men and women”. The outpouring of the Spirit is universal. It covers both male and female, and includes servants. Specifically, “my servants”, ie anyone who is devoted to serving the Lord. The Spirit is not a gift for the special ones, but for all who follow the Lord. So, taking these two verses together with the preceding section we see that there is both a restoration of the old things together with a walking into a new life. The Spirit had not been given in such abundance before. At Pentecost this happened. When we come to Christ we walk into a new life.

2:30,31
The language used here is using lunar and solar eclipses as portents of disaster. Mesopotamian kings would even abdicate their thrones for a time, intending to resume their rule once the eclipse had taken place. We should note the mixture of judgement and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit does not mean partytime! Rather it means work or battle time. In Acts the Spirit was poured out so that the church could bear witness to the risen Christ. The same is true today. We live in a godless society, a rebellious society, but in the midst of that rebellion we are equipped by the Spirit in order to do God’s work.

2:32

So we have had he outpouring of the Spirit, then we have judgement. Now we have the promise, indeed the purpose, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And note that Peter quoted all five verses here in his sermon in Acts 2. Jesus died and rose again for our salvation.

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