A Final Outpouring?

Has the gift of tongues resumed in the twentieth century? Pentecostals and charismatics treat that question in one of two ways. Some claim that the gift never ceased -- it just declined -- and therefore the groups who claim to speak in tongues were forerunners of those contemporary Pentecostal and charismatic movements. In taking that position they put themselves in a heretical tradition.

On the other hand, many charismatics concede that tongues did cease after the apostolic era, but they believe the contemporary manifestations of the charismata are a final outpouring of the Spirit and His gifts for the last days.

A key text for Pentecostals and charismatics who take this second view is Joel 2:28: "It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy and your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions."

According to Joel 2:19-32, before the final Day of the Lord, God's Spirit will be poured out in such a way that there will be wonders in the sky, and on the earth -- blood, fire, and columns of smoke; "The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes" (v. 31). That is obviously a prophecy of the coming millennial kingdom and cannot refer to anything earlier. The context of the Joel passage makes this the only plausible interpretation.

For example, Joel 2:20 refers to the defeat of "the northern army" that will attack Israel in the end-time apocalypse. Verse 27 of Joel 2 speaks of the great revival that will bring Israel back to God. That is another feature of the Great Tribulation and is not yet fulfilled. Joel 3 (vv.2, 12, 14) describes the judgment of the nations, an event that comes after Armageddon and in connection with the establishment of the earthly, millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Later in Chapter 3, Joel gives a beautiful description of the millennial kingdom (v. 18). Clearly, Joel 2 is a kingdom prophecy, which was not completely fulfilled at Pentecost. (Acts 2) or on any occasion since. It must refer to an era that is still future.

There is still, however, the question of what Peter meant when he quoted Joel 2:28-32 on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17-21). Some Bible teachers say that Peter was pointing to Pentecost as a fulfillment of Joel 2:28. But on the day of Pentecost there were no wonders in the heavens and signs in the earth; no blood and fire and vapours of smoke; the sun did not turn to darkness and the moon to blood and the great and terrible day of the Lord did not come. The prophecy was not fully realized; Pentecost was only a partial fulfillment, or better, a preview of the prophecy's ultimate culmination. The parallel to that is the Transfiguration, in which our Lord's glory was briefly revealed as it will be seen fully throughout the millennial kingdom.

Peter was simply telling those present at Pentecost that they were getting a preliminary glimpse, a projection of the kind of power that the Spirit would release in the millennial kingdom. What they were seeing in Jerusalem among a handful of people was a sign of what God's Spirit would someday do on a world-wide basis.

One of the fine Bible scholars of the nineteenth century, George N. H. Peters, wrote, "The Baptism of Pentecost is a pledge of fulfillment in the future, evidencing what the Holy Ghost will yet perform in the coming age." The miracles that began on the day of Pentecost are light on the horizon, heralding the coming earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Some charismatics spiritualize "the former rain and the latter rain" of Joel 2:23 (KJV). They argue that the former rain refers to Pentecost, when the Spirit came, and the latter rain to His outpouring in the twentieth century.

Throughout the Old Testament, "the former rain" refers to the autumn rains "the latter rain" to the spring rains. Joel was actually saying in the millennial kingdom both rains will come "as before" (v.23). His point was that God will make crops grow profusely in the kingdom. Joel 2:24-26 makes that abundantly clear: "And the threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil. Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you. And you shall have plenty to eat and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; then My people will never be put to shame."

The "former and latter rain", then, have nothing to do with Pentecost, the twentieth century, or the Holy Spirit. Pentecostals and charismatics cannot use Joel 2:28 as a basis for saying tongues have been poured out a second time. In the first place, Joel did not even mention tongues. In the second place, the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost was not the ultimate fulfillment of Joel's prophecy.

Thomas Edgar makes this significant observation:

There is no Biblical evidence that there will be a reoccurrence in the church of the sign gifts or that believers will work miracles near the end of the Church age. However, there is ample evidence that near the end of the age there will be false prophets who perform miracles, prophesy and cast out demons in Jesus' name (cf. Matthew 7:22-23; 24:11, 24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

We do well to be on guard.

(from Charismatic Chaos by John F. MacArthur, Jr.)

John's book is available through http://www.gtycanada.org/ or http://www.amazon.com/ if you are interested.

Two More Reasons The World Hates Us!

Because It Hates Christ

If the religious leaders hated Jesus so much, can believers today expect things to be easier for them? Jesus answers that in John 15:30 "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word they will keep yours also." If as Christians we are in Christ, and Christ is in us (Galations 2:20; Colossians 2:10-12), the world will hate us even as it hated Christ.

This second aspect of why the world hates us should actually bring us happiness. If we receive suffering and persecution from the world, because we represent Jesus, we experience the fellowship of His sufferings. The disciples in Acts 5:41, after being flogged by the religious authorities for continuing to teach in Jesus' name, displayed this attitude of joy: "So they went on their way from the presence of the Council rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name."

Paul spoke of that fellowship of sufferings in Philippians 3:10 and he knew quite well what that meant (see 2 Corinthians 4:7-18). Scripture attests to the fact that Paul lived out what he taught and wrote.

Because It Does Not Know God

A third reason the world hates Christians is that it does not know God. In John 15 Jesus says, "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me" (v. 21 emphasis added). Such ignorance of God has contributed greatly to horrible spiritual and moral degradation, unawareness of truth, and hostility to what is right. In many ways modern society reflects the first century conditions in which Paul ministered. When he preached in Athens he saw how misplaced the people's religion was: "And Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens, I observe that you are religious in every respect. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD."

Paul uncovered an apathy and ignorance toward the true God and superstition regarding false gods. Without Paul's commentary we could easily infer that many unbelievers are sincerely moral and religious people not really affected that much by sin. But such a perception can lead us to downplay opposition from the world. We need to take Romans 1:18-2:2 more seriously in its picture of the world's natural sinfulness and wilful rejection of God's revelation. The world system does not know God, no matter how tolerant or accepting it might seem when it works through false religion. It still hates believers, still opposes us and therefore, whatever persecution and pain we receive should not catch us off guard.

Many believers act as if they have beaten the problem of hatred from the world, thinking they are friends of the world. But they forget John's warning "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15), or James' strong statement, "Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4). Satan tempts us subtly to be comfortable in the world to feel at home within the system and to make the world around us feel at ease. We seek not to offend anyone, but that is not what Jesus had in mind. Nor was that Paul's approach:

'For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:21-25).

(from The Power of Suffering by John MacArthur, Jr.)