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Introduction
147
natural connection in the order in which they stand. The person who
quenches the spirit will be left to despise prophesyings, which are
the legitimate fruit of the spirit. “I will pour out my spirit upon all
flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall
[142]
prophesy.”
Joel 2:28
. The expression, “Prove all things,” is
limited to the subject of discourse, prophesyings, and we are to try
the spirits by the tests which God has given us in his word. Spiritual
deceptions and false prophesyings abound at the present time; and
doubtless this text has a special application here. But mark, the
apostle does not say, reject all things; but, prove all things;
Hold
Fast
that which is
Good
.
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your
old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and
also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will
I pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and
in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be
turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and
the terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: For
in mount zion and in jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath
said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”
Joel 2:28-32
.
This prophecy of Joel, which speaks of the outpouring of the
holy spirit in the last days, was not all fulfilled at the beginning of
the gospel dispensation. This is evident from the wonders in heaven
and in earth, introduced in this text, which were to be precursors
of “The great and terrible day of the Lord.” though we have had
the signs, that terrible day is still in the future. The whole gospel
dispensation may be called the last days, but to say that the
Last
Days are all 1800 years in the past, is absurd. They reach to the day
of the Lord and to the deliverance of the remnant of God’s people:
“For in mount zion and in jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord
hath said, and in the
Remnant
whom the Lord shall call.”
[143]
This remnant, existing amid the signs and wonders that usher
in the great and terrible day of the Lord, is doubtless the remnant
of the seed of the woman spoken of in
Revelation 12:17
—The last
generation of the Church on Earth. “And the dragon was wroth with
the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,