What Joel’s Last Days Prophecy Didn’t See

While the Old Testament system allowed only a select few to be priests, Peter wrote to multiple congregations of believers and told them all—every one of them—that they were “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people” (1 Peter 2:9 NKJV).

It is difficult to overstate the radical, revolutionary transformation that took place with the coming of the Holy Spirit, but Joel had prophesied centuries before what would happen (see Joel 2:28–29). Recognizing the monumental nature of the moment, Peter quoted Joel, the Old Testament prophet, in his message following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

This is the fulfillment of what was prophesied through the prophet Joel, for God says: ‘This is what I will do in the last days—I will pour out my Spirit on everybody and cause your sons and daughters to prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will experience dreams from God. The Holy Spirit will come upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy (Acts 2:16–18 TPT).

Many modern Christians have heard Joel’s prophecy and Peter’s reiteration of it so frequently that they simply take it for granted, but this marked an extreme shift among those who heard it on the streets of Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago. No longer would it be only the prophet, priest, and king who were anointed by the Spirit. The veil of the Temple had been torn right down the middle at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion (see Matthew 27:51), and we all beheld a new “great High Priest” (Hebrews 4:14 NKJV) through whom we approach God. Paul taught that “there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5 NKJV). No longer would Aaron and his male descendants be the mediators between God and his people.

When Peter quoted Joel, the outpouring of the Spirit that Peter referenced had just occurred at the beginning of the same chapter—Acts 2. Luke, the author of Acts, went out of his way to emphasize that this experience—the infilling of the Holy Spirit—was for every believer.

All the believers [120 in number] were meeting together in one place (Acts 2:1 NLT).

What looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them (Acts 2:3 NLT).

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4 NKJV).

Did you notice the inclusivity of this experience? “All the believers”; “each of them”; “they were all filled.” This was not just for the twelve or some exceptional, holy, particular priestly class. It was for every believer. God excluded none of those that were trusting in him.

When we examine Joel’s prophecy (which Peter quoted), we see this emphasis upon every believer’s participation and involvement; no one is omitted. Consider again these phrases from Acts 2:17–18:

…I will pour out my Spirit on everybody and cause your sons and daughters to prophesy… (Acts 2:17 TPT).

…Your young men will see visions, and your old men will experience dreams from God (Acts 2:17 TPT).

The Holy Spirit will come upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy (Acts 2:18 TPT).

If you have ever felt that the ministry was someone else’s responsibility, please think again! We are not all called to be preachers in the traditional sense, but it is God’s plan that we all be impacted by and give an expression of his Spirit to others. The time for believers to be mere spectators and observers concerning the things of God ended two thousand years ago.

The resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit broke all of the barriers and all of the walls that separated his covenant people. Today’s word is everybody! If you are young or old, a son or daughter, a man or a woman, God has a plan and a purpose for your life. You—along with every other believer—comprise the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul asked believers, “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16 NLT). We are all a part, and we are all vitally connected to God and to one another through the New Birth and the communion of the Holy Spirit.

Influence and Expression

In addition to the theme of everybody in Acts 2:17–18, we should recognize the idea of God’s influence—that God pours out his Spirit upon all of his children, not just on a select few or a special class as it had been under the previous covenant. This influence of God’s Spirit comes to produce an expression. For example, Joel and Peter both said that when the Spirit came upon God’s servants, they would prophesy. In other words, God would put something on the inside of them so that something could come forth on the outside.

Please don’t fail to recognize the radical and revolutionary significance of Joel’s prophecy, as well as its fulfillment on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. An absolutely new paradigm was established. Barriers that had existed for centuries were demolished. People no longer had to go through an earthly mediator to access God. It was no longer just the prophet, priest, and king who would be empowered by the Holy Spirit. It was no longer just the wise, old sage who could speak on God’s behalf. God’s Spirit was now to be poured out upon all flesh—young and old, male and female. Receiving and expressing God’s influence was no longer a spectator sport for the vast majority. Everyone was invited on the field to play!

What Joel Did Not See

As powerful as Joel’s prophesy was, it was limited in its scope. Prophets are not omniscient, and they only know what the Lord specifically reveals to them. Usually that is quite partial in nature. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!” (1 Corinthians 13:9 NLT). What we will soon discover is that while Joel’s prophecy was one hundred percent accurate, it would later be amplified and expanded upon, especially as the era of the church began.

This brings us to the term progressive revelation, which is very important when it comes to properly interpreting the Bible. This means that God typically reveals things to humanity piece by piece and part by part. Its natural correlation would be that when an elementary student is introduced to math, the teacher doesn’t start with algebra and calculus. Rather, the teacher will start by teaching the student what the numbers are, and then move to addition, subtraction, and so forth. A wise teacher knows that learning must be progressive, that building blocks of understanding must be laid before they can be built upon.

Likewise, God reveals truth to humanity gradually and progressively. In the Old Testament, for example, certain foundational truths are hinted at and partially revealed, and as time progresses, more is revealed. For example, in the early part of Genesis, God’s ultimate redemptive plan is suggested through the promised seed (offspring) of the woman, who would crush the head of the serpent (see Genesis 3:15), and through the shedding of blood when God made coats of skin and covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve (see Genesis 3:21). However, these early projections were significantly amplified and clarified throughout time. Not only did later Old Testament prophecies provide more details (looking forward), but much greater clarity emerged when Jesus came as the Ultimate Sacrifice, and his redemptive work was further expounded upon through New Testament writings such as Romans and Hebrews (looking back at the cross).

Another way to illustrate progressive revelation is to imagine being in a dark room. If the door is opened just a few inches and the light is on in the hallway, some of that light comes in and begins to illuminate objects in the room. You may not be able to make them out distinctly because the door is only open a couple of inches. However, as the door progressively opens wider and wider, and more light floods into the room, the objects become clear and distinct, and colors become more vibrant and distinguishable.

Even though Jesus acknowledged the veracity and the authority of the Old Testament prophets, he also acknowledged their limitations when he said to his own disciples:

But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it (Matthew 13:16–17 NLT).

Likewise, Peter wrote,

This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward. They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen (1 Peter 1:10–12 NLT).

All of this illustrates the idea that God does not tell everything he knows all at once. Throughout the ages, God has revealed more and more of his plan to successive generations, and Jesus is the ultimate pinnacle of God’s revelation.

This helps us understand how Joel could prophesy a powerful truth more than eight hundred years before Jesus was born, and that Peter would recognize its fulfillment when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost. It is easy to understand how Joel would foresee people prophesying when the Spirit came upon them (though he also mentioned visions and dreams). He was a prophet, and when the Spirit came upon him and other prophets in his era, prophesying is what they typically did.

What Joel did not see (or at least, that he did not articulate) is that the coming of the Spirit under the new covenant would also produce numerous additional expressions of the Holy Spirit working through the lives of believers. He accurately saw that all of God’s covenant people—young and old, male and female—would experience and express prophecy, visions, and dreams, but he did not necessarily envision the seven grace gifts listed in Romans 12 or the nine manifestations of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12 or the fivefold ministry offices listed in Ephesians 4. Likewise, he probably did not anticipate the vast number of one another scriptures articulated in the New Testament where love, comfort, encouragement, and grace would flow from one believer to another.

Joel may not have known of all of the specifics that would come to the surface as the Church Age got underway, but he got us all pointed in the right direction, and for that we are thankful. He both saw and spoke of a day that was coming when the working of the Spirit would not be limited to a few select people. He foresaw God’s Spirit being poured out upon all of his covenant people in such a way that holy expressions would rise from within them and flow through them.

What Joel saw is that there would be a remarkable distinction between the way ministry had taken place under the old covenant and the way it takes place now under the new covenant. Thank God that we are living in this day and age when all believers can experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the privilege of having God’s goodness expressed through us by means of heavenly gifts and graces.

As we will discover later in this book, many kinds of expressions can come from a child of God who is under the Holy Spirit’s influence, but for now, just remember that one of the reasons God puts something in you is so that he can get something out of you. I don’t mean for that to sound so transactional, because it’s really something that God intends to be transformational. Think in terms of what Jesus said, “…Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8 NKJV). God is inviting us to discover the fullness of who he has made us to be and what he has invested in our lives. As a result, we can see the fullness of God’s life displayed through all of our lives as well—both vertically (unto him) and horizontally (unto others).