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in this dispensation nor in the days just prior to the Lord's return. Such a position cannot
be justified from Scripture.
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Some may now be thinking that Joel's prophecy was thus totally fulfilled in the Acts
period but that cannot be. Joel 2: 28 has "it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour
out My Spirit upon all flesh". Certainly this was not the case in the Acts. Only some
enjoyed the benefits of the Spirit and the "afterwards" shows us that it is to be fulfilled
after many events--the most significant of which is the return of Christ. If this is the
case we may well ask why did Peter quote from Joel on the day of Pentecost? How is
Pentecost related to Joel's prophecy? What really happened on that day? First let us look
at the events leading up to Acts 2:
The Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, had been born. His death was for the world but
His life was kept, in the main, to the people of Israel. He was their Prophet, Priest and
King but . . . . . they crucified Him. Scripture put the responsibility upon the shoulders of
the Jewish people (Matt. 27: 24, 25; Acts 5: 21; 10: 39). Was that the end of that
nation? Was that the end of their hopes for their kingdom? No! The ever gracious One
even as He was suffering prayed "Father forgive them for they know not what they do"
(Luke 23: 34). That was not a prayer for the Romans for they were not held
responsible. That was a prayer for His earthly people and that prayer was obviously
answered. They were not cut off at the cross. After His resurrection He taught them all
things from the Scripture (Luke 24: 44-48) and their first question was . . . . .
"Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1: 6).
The Acts period, the book of the Acts and the epistle written during it are all about the
possible restoration of the kingdom to Israel and to deny this and to imply that the
disciples "got it wrong" or "misunderstood" is a gross insult to their Teacher. Would
Israel be restore? They wanted to know but He declined to answer. From Acts 3: 19-21
we see that the return of Christ and thus the restoration, was dependent upon the
repentance of the people of Israel. This call to repent was a feature of Joel (2: 12, 13) and
his prophecy was about the setting up of this kingdom. No doubt in His post resurrection
teaching the Lord had given Peter and company perfect understanding of this prophecy.
Would this nation now respond? Would they repent? Would Christ return? God in all
His graciousness, having forgiven them the iniquity of crucifying Christ, leaned over
backwards in an attempt to put things clearly before this people. Heb. 6: 5 describes
them as those:
"who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the coming age"
(N.I.V.).
To those Acts period Jews, God had given a taste of "the powers of the coming age".
What is the "coming age" to which Hebrews refers? It can only be the Millennium and
the powers must refer to the outpouring of the Spirit and the ensuing miracles. Thus God
was allowing the Jews of the Acts period a foretaste of the great blessings of the
Millennium. He was imploring them, so to speak, to repent and accept Christ as their