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(Eph. 1: 13 and 4: 30), and who have been strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man
(Eph. 3: 11), and who are filled by the Spirit (Eph. 5: 18), to appreciate that the
Comforter has not always been available to all people for all the time. The work of the
Holy Spirit is another massive subject and those who wish to look further into it may care
to read The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit by Stuart Allen, published by the Berean
Publishing Trust. However suffice it to say that in those O.T. times the Holy Spirit was
generally given to only a few people and then for only a short time. It was to enable them
to carry out God's will--whatever that may have been.
During the building of the Temple some craftsmen were endowed with special skills
and abilities thus producing extremely beautiful work but . . . . . whatever that work was,
when it had been completed, the Holy Spirit left them. Again God could remove His
Holy Spirit if the person sinned badly and He did this to Saul, and David was afraid God
might do the same to him. Hence David's great plea in Psa. 51: 11 "Take not Thy Holy
Spirit from me!" Thus the promise that God's Holy Spirit was to be poured out "upon all
flesh" was of great significance to those alive in Joel's time.
There is little more to say on these two verses other than to point out that to prophecy
does not necessarily mean to foretell the future. To prophesy means to speak things
about God--His character, His being, His past activities, His present purpose and, if
necessary, His future plans.
Joel 2: 30, 31. Joel 2: 28-31 contain two groups of seven items and it may be
profitable to display them:
"It shall come to pass AFTERWARD that
/ all flesh
/ your sons shall prophesy
/ your daughters shall prophesy
I will pour out My spirit upon {
your old men shall dream dreams
\
your young men shall see visions
\ your servants
\ your handmaidens
/ in the heavens
/ in the earth
/
blood
and I will show wonders
{
fire
\
pillars of smoke
\ sun into darkness
\ moon into blood
BEFORE the great and terrible day of the Lord."
To miss the "before" in verse 31 can cause much confusion. Some seem to think that
the wonders in heaven etc. come after the pouring out of the Spirit but that is to misread
Joel. The pouring out of the Spirit comes "afterwards" and although it may not be clear
to us exactly how long "after" the Lord's return that pouring out will be, none the less we
do know it is "after" that great event. Similarly we may not know for how long "before"
the Lord's return this Day of the Lord will last but we do know that that age is brought to