Joel 2:28-32 - Homiletics

The dispensation of the gospel.

The prophet had exhibited the wisdom and mercy of the Divine dispensations—God's pity for penitents, and the happiness of all who seek and serve him. "He will be jealous for them, and have compassion on them; he will plead their cause, avert his judgments, drive away their enemies, answer their prayers, and supply their wants; and the greatness of those things that have been done against them shall only enhance their gratitude for the still greater things that he will do for them." Accordingly, he now passes from temporal benefits to spiritual blessings.

I. THE DISPENSATION OF THE GOSPEL IS A SPIRITUAL DISPENSATION . To a sorely chastened people such temporal mercies as are promised in the preceding verses must have been very delightful, and the great change of their condition consequent on repentance must have been as marvellous as it was merciful. But the prophet, looking away forward into the future, foretells the coming of a far more eventful era—an era marked by the bestowal of far richer and more abundant blessings.

1 . The period referred to was to be subsequent to the calamities already endured, and the comforting compensations that followed. Long after the storm of adversity then present would be overpast, and after the state of peace and prosperity that would succeed, there would come a time of unparalleled blessing. The fulfilment of this prophecy began at the Day of Pentecost.

2 . The plenitude of blessing. Then the droppings of the Spirit, that had been vouchsafed to patriarchs and prophets and the people of God under the old economy, would give place to a downpouring of the Spirit without stint and without restriction. This outpouring of the Spirit, in his gifts and graces and consolations, would extend to all nationalities, Gentile as well as Jew; and to both sexes, daughters and sons alike; and to all ages, both young and old; and to all classes, bond as well as free, servants and handmaids together. Not to the seed of Abraham, nor to the land of Israel, would the blessing be confined, but all flesh would be permitted to see the glory of the Lord, and the inhabitants of all lands would be privileged to come and worship before him. Peter himself scarcely comprehended the full extent of the blessing until he was specially commissioned to open the door of faith to the Gentiles.

3 . Particular instances of the fulfilment present themselves—in the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Gentile Cornelius, the Roman centurion, and his friends; in the prophesying of the four daughters of Philip the evangelist, as in that of Agabus; in the vision of Peter in Joppa, and in that of Cornelius in Caesarea some short space previously, as also in those wonderful visions and revelations vouchsafed to Paul when he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words.

4 . Prolongation of the blessing. If we consider the effects produced, we shall find that the blessing did not cease at the Day of Pentecost. By the outpouring of the Spirit, no doubt, apostles and evangelists received such discoveries of Divine things as fully fitted them for writing the New Testament Scriptures, for declaring things secret, distant, and future, for founding the Christian Church, and ordering all things aright therein. These extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were confined to apostolic times, and in part to sub-apostolic times, and perhaps a generation after; but the ordinary operations and influences of the Spirit have never ceased from then till now. The extraordinary manifestations of the Divine will produced by the outpouring of the Spirit were only a partial accomplishment of the promise, and meant as a means for the full accomplishment of the same. Besides, it was not intended that all who receive the Spirit, and thereby learn the mysteries of the gospel and attain to the knowledge of salvation, should assume the power of prophesying, or exercise the function of the gospel ministry; for Paul, speaking of spiritual gifts, says, in relation to persons possessing such gifts, "Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers?" Nor are the revelations vouchsafed something without the Word of God, or beside it, or any way independent of it; for in the most solemn and signal fulfilment of this promise, when the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, Peter all along appeals to Scripture, and directs his audience thereto in order to justify the change wrought on them, and vindicate the doctrines he addressed to them. By "prophesy" and "visions" and "dreams," we may understand the prophet as speaking of "gospel times and mercies, in terms borrowed from the times of the Old Testament; and the meaning is that, as of old, the excellent way and measure of the knowledge of God was by prophecy, vision, and dreams ( Numbers 12:6 ); so, under the New Testament, beside what was extraordinary, all who get the Spirit of God may, for knowing the mysteries of salvation, be compared with these ancient prophets. And as of old, by these ways of manifestation, men attained to the knowledge of the mysteries of God, so should they by the Spirit of God in the use of ordinary means."

5 . Perfect fulfilment of the promise. Wonderful as the Pentecostal period was for the outpouring of the Spirit in such power and plenty, and superior in energy and extent as the Divine influences then were to those enjoyed during the ages that had preceded, yet they were but droppings to the full flood of gospel light and gospel holiness that shall bless our earth in the glory of the latter day, when all that "see the light or feel the sun" shall know the Lord, and walk before him in the beauty of holiness. Thus the blessing commenced at Pentecost, continuing ever since, shall be consummated in that day when "the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea."

II. DAYS OF TRIAL FREQUENTLY FOLLOW TIMES OF SPIRITUAL BLESSING . The people had experienced a merciful relief after the plague of locusts or prostration of their enemies; bat they are warned against carnal security, or the vain supposition that all troubles shall be for ever henceforth banished from their borders.

1 . Even after the great outpouring of the Spirit in Messianic times, and specially on the Day of Pentecost, there would be great commotions and terrible convulsions. These took place, as we know, before the dreadful day of the destruction of Jerusalem; and similar catastrophes, whether literal or figurative, shall occur before the still greater and more terrible day of the second coming of Christ to judgment. Through all the interval, times of special spiritual blessing hate been in the past, and shall be in the future, followed by severe testing-times; "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord" shall not exempt us from such; even God's own dear children are not to look for a continuance of halcyon days on earth.

2 . Many causes contribute to this. After a time of reformation, or religious revival and refreshing, Satan will seek to sift them like wheat, and stir up all his rage against them. Opposed to the progress of the truth, he will array all the power he possesses and all the agents he can command against the Church. God himself will permit such a winnowing-time as will separate the wheat from the chaff, try the faith, and prove the graces of his people. We never know cur real strength or points of weakness till the day of trial comes. But God will also manifest the greatness of his displeasure against sin by humbling on the one hand those who, during a time of rich spiritual blessing, refuse the offers of his grace and resist his Spirit, and by punishing on the other hand all the enemies, public or secret, of himself and of his people.

3 . The coming of Christ to judgment. Whether the wonders in the heaven and in the earth, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke, with eclipses of the sun and moon, be understood literally of the precursors and presages of on-coming calamities, or figuratively of the calamities and catastrophes themselves, the second coming of the Lord at the general judgment, of which his coming to the destruction of Jerusalem was a sort of dim foreshadow, shall abound with comfort to the saint. as it shall be fraught with terror to the sinner. To the one his coming shall be a day greatly desired, to the other it shall be a day of distress and despair; for while he shall come to take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of his grace, he will come to be glorified in the saints, and admired in all them that believe.

III. DELIVERANCE FOR THE SERVANTS OF GOD .

1 . The persons delivered are

2 . The place of deliverance. This was Mount Zion and Jerusalem literally, but in a very limited sense, if the reference be to those who escaped from the miseries and calamities of the final and fearful siege of the holy city, as also from its ruin and destruction; such as believed in Christ and were in the city having escaped to Pella, and thus survived the common calamity. It is rather Zion and Jerusalem in the spiritual sense of the Church of Christ where the Deliverer is found, whence salvation proceeds, or rather where, according to the alternative rendering, the delivered, or such as have escaped, are found.

3 . The privileges of such are manifold. They have experienced tokens of God's love upon them, teachings of God's Spirit within them, the usefulness of God's Word and ordinances to them; they are favoured with a spiritual frame of soul, and spread the savour of godliness around them.