And It Shall Come To Pass...

“And it shall come to pass afterward,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men shall see visions.

Even on the male and female servants

in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

“I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.” [1]

Even people who are only casually acquainted with the Word of God will recognise this passage of Scripture as the text Peter employed for the first sermon delivered after the Spirit of God was poured out on the members of the first Christian congregation, the New Beginnings Baptist Church of Jerusalem. Perceptive readers will have noted that Peter did cease quoting Joel in the middle of the THIRTY-SECOND VERSE: “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” [JOEL 2:32a]. There was no need for Peter to go any further than this in giving his citation. The Big Fisherman was, after all, opening the message of salvation to include Gentiles. The doors of the Faith were forever opened wide to Gentiles on that day.

The Faith of the Living God had not progressed beyond a tightly restricted enclave of those with the appropriate Jewish heritage. The first Christians were Jewish, and unsurprisingly they reflected their Jewish heritage. Despite Jesus’ instructions, these first saints struggled with accepting anyone other than a Jew becoming a worshipper of the Christ. After the sacrifice of the Son of God and His conquest of death when He rose from the dead, access to the Father has been opened for all who are willing to come.

Before His sacrifice was presented, Jesus generously offered, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” [MATTHEW 11:28-30]. When Jesus used the word “all,” it seemed as if His disciples took that to mean “all Jews.” However, “all” must include “all mankind,” or there must be an unqualified restriction on language.

The “all” that Jesus used as recorded in MATTHEW 11:28 echoes Joel’s use of “everyone” in our text. The Word of God makes it clear that though God chose Israel to be His chosen people, He invited all people to know Him and to worship Him. Jews were chosen to make God known to all the nations, a task they failed to fulfil!

More important than anything else I might say in this message, know that God has made provision for you to be forgiven of all sin. Indeed, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” [JOHN 3:16]. And this includes you. You must know that God will receive you, forgiving all your sin against Him, giving you a place among the redeemed saints of God, when you openly, voluntarily receive Jesus as Master over your life.

FRAMEWORK —

“And it shall come to pass afterward,

[JOEL 2:28a]

What was happening that the LORD was compelled to speak to Israel through the Prophet? What had preceded this message that we see recorded as our text? Let’s go back to the opening of the prophecy Joel delivered to discover what was going on as the LORD spoke. God warned of an invasion unlike anything Israel had ever witnessed. The LORD spoke of an invasion of locusts that would utterly devastate the land.

Joel responded on behalf of the nation at this revelation of pending judgement,

“Alas for the day!

For the day of the LORD is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

Is not the food cut off

before our eyes,

joy and gladness

from the house of our God?

The seed shrivels under the clods;

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are torn down

because the grain has dried up.

How the beasts groan!

The herds of cattle are perplexed

because there is no pasture for them;

even the flocks of sheep suffer.

To you, O LORD, I call.

For fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness,