PROCLAIM HIS PROPHECY
The church of today has lost its hold on the youth of today. In so much as Satan is aware of his time running out, he is also aware of the instrument which God will use in bringing about his final downfall. But – there is a prophecy in the New Testament that has as yet not been fulfilled. Not many church leaders pay attention to this prophecy, so that it is seldom referred to. The Lord revealed it to me in November 1984 while I was held in prison for dealing in drugs. After conversion and restoration in His service, He sent me out with the command that I should proclaim this prophecy over the country as stated in Acts 2:17-21:
“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.”
THE UNFULFILLED PROPHECY
Many students of the Scriptures will argue that this prophecy has already been fulfilled with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the day on which the apostle Peter quoted it. Truth is however that only the first part was fulfilled on that day. The following points will explain:
- On the day that Peter quoted the prophecy from Joel, the Spirit descended only on the disciples and not on “all mankind.”
- None of the “sons and daughters” on that day started prophesying, and nobody on that day saw visions or dreamt dreams that were reported or interpreted.
- Neither was the next part of the prophecy on that day fulfilled: “wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth beneath, blood and fire and smoking vapour.”
- Nor has any of these phenomena been realised during the past two millennia.
- We know that “that great and notable day of the Lord” refers to the second coming of Christ in all His glory, to put an end to this ungodly era in which we find ourselves.
THE DOWNPOUR OF THE SPIRIT
St Peter’s quoting that prophecy was meant to confirm once again the beginning of what was (and is) to come. God expects us, as in this case, to delve deeper into His Word, to discover the full meaning of that what He wants to reveal to us.
It is amazing how God uses illustrations from His creation to explain spiritual truths. If we look deeper at this prophecy from Joel, we see that with the “downpour” of the Holy Spirit He refers to rain. From verse 28 the final downpour of the Spirit is referred to as two seasons, namely the early and the late rains. This reference appears in several other Bible parts, such as in Deuteronomy 11:14
“That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.”
“In the light of the king’s countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.”
and in Jerimiah 5:24
“Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
POURING OUT ON ALL
Some Scripture students will try to persuade us with two other explanations, namely
- that these texts point to rain as such, and to prosperity for the historical Jews of that period, or
- that they point to the progress and restoration of the ethnic Israel in a prophetic sense.
These arguments can easily be disputed, as the prophecy refers to a pouring out on “all people”, which means all nations on earth. The same theme is addressed in James 5:7:
“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.“
CHRIS THE TSUNAMI
This text gives even more clarity, as the theme is in context with the second coming of Jesus Christ. The Joel prophecy reflects the following:
The spring rains prepare the soil for ploughing and planting. These early rains depict that day on which the first congregation were christened with the Holy Spirit. The summer (late) rains are there to see to the plants sprout and grow to give a good harvest. Therefore we are expecting a second outpouring of the Spirit, which will bring in the harvest worldwide, before Christ’s second coming. All over the world God’s children are praying for a mighty revival – which will come, to sweep over mankind almost like a tsunami!
DR KRIGE AND HOUSE REGENERATION
This adapted content was extracted from A Biblical Approach to Psychotherapy authored by Dr Ado Krige, the Founding Director of House Regeneration, a South African drug rehabilitation centre offering a comprehensive discipleship training program. By applying principles of Biblical Therapy, using the Scriptures to teach, rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness, House Regeneration counsellors show anyone who has suffered from addiction how to fully understand why they do what they do and how to bring their belief systems in line with the Word of God.
