Joel 2:28 – 29, “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.”
At the time of this writing by the Prophet Joel, the Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out upon all of mankind. Up until this point in time the Holy Spirit had only operated upon a select few prophets of God.
Can you just imagine what it must have felt like to have such revelations from God to give to the whole world? What if he revealed them to people in his day? What do you think they would have said? No doubt they probably would have laughed and made fun of Joel for predicting such a wild idea. I mean, just imagine, God's going to pour out His Spirit on the “whole” world? Who ever heard of such a ridiculous idea! Surely nothing like that will ever happen! Or, would it?
Well, wouldn't you know it...one day while I was reading my Bible I came across something that wowed me! I came to a Book in the New Testament called the Book of Acts. And I came to a very peculiar chapter...what was that chapter again? Oh yea, it was chapter 2! That was it. And as I read it, I came to verse 4, where it said, “And they were ALL filled with the Holy Ghost!” So I said to myself, “Self, this sure is interesting. I think I will read a little bit more.” Well, you know what? I'll just read it to you so you can see what I saw.
Acts 2: 1-18 says: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”
Did you see it? Did you catch what Peter said in that message on the Day of Pentecost? He said in verse 16, “THIS IS THAT which was spoken by the Prophet Joel!” Well, glory to God! I guess God knew what He was doing all along.
I want you to do something for me. I want you to go back with me about 2,000 years ago. I want us to go back to the Day of Pentecost that we just read about in our Bibles.
The city is Jerusalem. The day is the first day of the festival of Shavuot (the Day of Pentecost), which is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover. The time is about 9:00 in the morning. We are standing outside a building, which we know as the upper room. Thousands of people from about 16 different parts of the world are buzzing through the streets. Those who were from there locally had noticed that the followers of Jesus had been locked away behind closed doors for several days. It is estimated that about 120 people are still huddled in that room, for reasons the people did not care.
All of a sudden, at 9:00 Jerusalem time, the routine preparation for the day came to an abrupt halt, as the air was filled with a new and strange sound. The doors to that upper room burst open as 120 came out speaking in other tongues, speaking in the languages of all the people there that day.
Some marveled, but others mocked. Scripture tells us their reaction and what they said in Acts 2:13; “Others mocking said these men are full of new wine.” Oh, they were drunk alright, but not drunk on fermented wine of men! They were drunk on the New Wine of heaven's sweet Holy Ghost! They had been drinking from heaven's vineyard. It was wine from heaven's presses. And the giver of this new wine was the Holy Ghost!
As we stand there watching this scene unfold, I want you to hear the crowd as they shout up to Peter asking what was going on. I can hear them now, “What is this? Hey, you up there....what is this?” And then Peter says back to them, “This is THAT!”
I can just imagine somebody now saying, “This is that? Well what is this? Sir, I don't understand. If this is that, then what is that?” I can almost hear Peter now saying back to them, “Well, if you want to know what “that” is, I can tell you what “that” is!
Jeremiah would say, “Oh, I know what THAT is! When THAT got a hold of me it felt like fire shut up in my bones. Oh, I know what THAT is!”
Samson would have said, “Oh, I know what THAT is! Let me tell you about THAT! There was a donkey that died one time and nobody buried it. Well one day I came across that ole donkey and picked up his jawbone, and all of a sudden THAT got a hold on me and I slew a thousand of my enemies. Oh, I can tell you what THAT is. THAT came on me another day and I picked up a set of city gates. One other time THAT got all over me and I pushed down the pillars of an idolatrous temple and killed everyone there. Oh I know what THAT is!”
Ezekiel would say, “Oh yea, I can tell you what THAT is! THAT picked me up and carried me away in the Spirit. THAT was what I saw sitting upon an eternal throne. Yea, I know what THAT is!
Oh church, this morning I could go to Isaiah and Isaiah would say, “When THAT came on me, it told me to write.”
Amos would say, “When THAT spoke to me, it said go prophesy to the nations.”
David would tell you, “When THAT hit me, I could run through a troop and leap over a wall. When THAT got a hold of me, I could dance like never before!”
Elizabeth would say, “Well, you know, one day Mary came to the house and started talking about Jesus, and THAT got a hold of the baby I was carrying, and my baby John was filled with THAT in my womb!”
Elisha would say, “Well THAT got a hold of me so much that it got down into my bones. And even after I had died, THAT was still on my bones, so much so that one day a dead man was thrown on my bones and when his body touched my bones THAT raised him back from the dead!”
Then church, I hear Peter again as he says, “What I'm trying to tell you folks is THIS IS THAT! And THAT just got a hold of 120 believers up there in that upper room just a few minutes ago. And these men are not drunk as you suppose. They're not drunk on the wine of men. They are drunk on THAT!!!
You see folks, the Spirit of God is fermenting a New Wine to break through the wine skins of our old ways. God is tired of Christians acting like wine connoisseurs. You see, a wine connoisseur looks back and chooses great years of vintage. The same is true of the majority of the church world today. People look back and remember the outpourings of the Holy Ghost in years gone by. They talk about the services they used to have. About the revivals they used to see. Then they go on and ask the question, “Why don't we see the power of God like we used to?” Well, it ain't because God has lost His power! Maybe it's because our old wine skins can't hold the New Wine of the Spirit! Christ Himself said that you can't put New Wine in old bottles. We must be ready to receive THAT!
Dear Lord church, do you hear what I am saying to you this morning? Do you understand what I'm trying to show you? I've got a pretty good feeling that this church is right smack-dab in the middle of a THIS IS THAT Moment!
Joel said through the inspiration of God Himself that in the last days God was going to pour out His Spirit upon ALL flesh! And that outpouring is here, right now, in this church!
THAT is the third person of the triune Godhead! THAT is heaven's own sweet Holy Ghost! THAT is the anointing of the Spirit that is available for everyone here this morning!
Oh church....I'm here to tell you that THIS IS THAT! And because THIS IS THAT, you can have as much of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit that you want! It is time for the Church to arise in the power of the Holy Ghost! It's time to move deeper than we've ever known! It's time to allow the Holy Spirit to do as He wills. THIS IS THAT! THIS IS THAT!!!