Spiritual Gifts
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shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my
Spirit,” &C.
The prophecy of Joel applies to the Christian age. And we do not
object to applying the term, “last days,” here used by Peter, to this
entire age, though it may have a more limited meaning. But let this
fact be borne in mind, that the great events of the prophecy are in
close connection with, and are signs of, the great and notable day of
the Lord. The Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost; hence Peter,
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pointing to its influence upon believers on that occasion, could say,
“This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” That was the
Early Rain. Believers have ever since enjoyed a degree of the Holy
Spirit, and from time to time God has wonderfully manifested his
power. But, for the close of the dispensation, is reserved the Latter
Rain, the pouring out of the Spirit. Here is the fulfillment of the burden
of the prophecy of Joel.
We object to that stupid blindness which has the entire prophecy
fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, and hence, the “last days” were past
more than eighteen hundred years ago. We find in the record only the
exercise of the gift of tongues. There is no account of dreams or visions
on that day. Certainly the outsiders might well have been amazed on
beholding old men asleep, dreaming in the midst of the excitement
and uproar of the occasion. And well might they have supposed such
to be stone drunk. Again, was the sun turned into darkness, and the
moon into blood, on the day of Pentecost? And was that the great and
terrible day of the Lord? No! No! The “last days” must embrace the
last day. Should we say that the leaves of the New Testament were
the last leaves of our Bible, we should speak correctly; yet they would
embrace the last leaf. It would be equally correct to call the book of
Revelation, or the two last leaves of the Bible, the last leaves. But in
each case, the last leaves embrace the very last leaf. So with the last
days. If we call the whole Christian age, or the last century, or the last
thirty years, the last days, in each case the last days must embrace the
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very last day. With this view of the subject we read with delight the
prophetic description,
Joel 2:28-32
, of the termination of the present
age with gracious blessings upon the people of God. The Christian
age will terminate with glory to the righteous; yet a severe conflict
with the dragon host is just ahead.