Today's Devotion

November 15, 2010

The Last Days

Today we look at a passage that requires some clear thought. It’s important to let the passage have its simple meaning. This will not be difficult if you can keep your systematic theology from dictating your thoughts. Even if you do allow for those theologies to expand your understand, I hope you don’t miss the obvious.

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is [only] the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD’” (Acts 2:14-20 NKJV).

The Holy Spirit had just announced His arrival in a big way (see Tongues). Those who stood by thought that the men speaking with other tongues must have been drunk because they did not understand. Then Peter takes charge of the situation and tells them what is happening.

He explains that what they were witnessing was not the influence of a spirit, i.e., intoxicating drink, but really the influence of the Holy Spirit. The proof he offers for this is the prophecy of Joel.

Whatever your view of eschatology, please understand that Peter has declared, by the use of Joel’s prophecy, that these are the last days. What they were seeing was a fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy.

The dominating theme of Joel’s prophecy is the influence of the Holy Spirit. “I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” Nothing quoted by Peter needs to be pushed into a distant future, except the second advent. Only, dare I use the term, dispensational theology forces people to view this passage beyond what is obvious.

Those of you who have read this devotion for any length of time know that I have no axe to grind or soapbox to stand on as it related to eschatology. In fact, I don’t remember ever dealing with the subject before. So, please, give me a little latitude to say what I believe is important here.

For I believe forcing a future fulfillment on this passage, and others, opens the door to the deception of the hyper-charismatic movement. Many find themselves shaken by testimonies of extra-biblical revelation because they believe the time right before the Lord returns will be characterized by such things as visions, dreams, and other gifts of the Spirit.

So, let’s look at this passage to see if there is any need to look for a future fulfillment. We will just list out the items below.

1. I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh: There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit is available to all who will be saved as whoever does not have the Spirit is not Christ’s (Romans 8:9)
2. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: Philip the evangelist had four daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:9)
3. Your young men shall see visions: Ananias is told in a vision to go to Paul (Acts 9:10)
4. Your old men shall dream dreams: Paul when he was encouraged in the ship (Acts 27:23)
5. I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath:  The veil in the temple was torn from the top to the bottom, the earth quaked and the rocks split, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised (Matthew 27:51-53) Darkness over all the earth and then the sun darkened (Luke 23:44-45)

It is easy to see that all of these things could be interpreted as having been fulfilled already in the first century. The prophecy does include a reference to the Day of the Lord which does have a future fulfillment in Christ second advent, but there is no reason to push what has already been fulfilled to that later reference seeing that the epistles indicate that those kinds of things would cease (1 Corinthians 13:8). The passage says these things will happen before that day, not right before that day. Peter’s point is that it is happening now, the Holy Spirit is here! How would talking about things that were to happen sometime in the future help his argument? It doesn’t. Therefore, we can be sure Joel’s prophecy covers the time of the Holy Spirit’s ministry and culminates with the Lord’s return.

Some might argue that I defeat my own argument. If Joel’s prophecy covers all the time until the Lord’s second advent, then that whole time must be characterized by miraculous sign gifts. However, the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit is not to provide believers with sign gifts, but to indwell them with the life-changing, sin-conquering fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). The miraculous gifts were given as a sign to unbelievers to validate the message (1 Corinthians 14:22). We no longer need to validate the message with sign gifts because we have the complete canon of Scripture. The Scriptures are self-validating.

How about passages which speak of signs relating to the second advent of Christ? It’s true that there will be a repeat of the terrestrial signs immediately before or associated with the Lord’s return, like those at Christ death (Matthew 24:29), signs associated with judgment, however, the other signs mentioned are lying signs. Signs done to deceive For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24 NKJV) And their primary lie will be the impersonation of Christ (Matthew 24:23).

Notice, “The coming of the [lawless one] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9 NKJV). The man of sin will seek to replace Christ and call himself god (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

So, the beginning of this age was brought in by signs given by the Holy Spirit, but the end of this age will be ushered out by signs given by the unholy spirit. Again, the main purpose of those signs will be to promote a great deception which is primarily the impersonation of Christ by antichrists.

The hyper-charismatic movement is a fertile ground for this kind of deception. People involved with this movement often testify of great things done as a result of a personal encounter with Christ. Not personal in the sense of a personal relationship, a spiritual encounter; but an actual personal visitation from Christ in bodily form, or in a dream/vision. Because the rest of their testimony seems biblical, many accept what they say even though the Scriptures warn of such encounters.

The Bible says, "Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here [is] the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe [it]. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; [or] ‘Look, [He is] in the inner rooms!’ do not believe [it]. "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:23-27 NKJV)

But you say, “That passage is talking about the second coming of Christ so it doesn’t fit the context.” However, let me ask you this, Is the antichrist coming to set up a heavenly kingdom or an earthly kingdom? He is coming to set up an earthly kingdom.

For Satan’s deception to work, he must sow seeds to this end. Once people buy into the lie that Christ is visiting the earth here and there, to this person and that person, then he will be able to present himself as god. This is Satan’s agenda; he wants you to worship him and not God.

Notice: “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for [that Day will not come] unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 NKJV)

Beloved stand firm in your faith. Test everything by the Word of God. A little leaven will eventually leaven the whole. Don’t let wild testimonies cause you to doubt the veracity of Scripture. Let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:1-4).

The days are coming and are already upon us when lies will abound. “For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore [it is] no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15 NKJV)