"And It Shall Come To Pass In The Last Days..."

Acts 2:17-21

  1. 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:
  2. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
  3. And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
  4. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
  5. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Commentary

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter quoted this prophecy of Joel to explain the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Visions, dreams, signs, and wonders were all foretold. The prophecy also revealed the purpose of all these things, found in the last line: "...whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

It's quite right that we should want to see the Holy Spirit moving in the Church today as He did in the Book of Acts. It's important to remember, however, that the power was given for a purpose, and that purpose was not to make our lives more comfortable and satisfying. The purpose was to bring lost souls to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Wherever miracles were done in Jesus' name, the Gospel was preached and people believed. But for the Apostles themselves, the result was most often persecution and even death.

The same men who deserted Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane would eventually lay down their lives, one by one, for the sake of the Gospel. Just as Jesus promised, they received power in that upper room – power to be his witnesses, power to preach, to pray, to heal, and deliver, and power to be faithful to the end (Acts 1:8). This is the kind of power we should be seeking, not for our own blessings or comfort, but for the salvation of souls to the glory of God.


All Scripture references from KJV. Commentary ©2013 Hitchcock Family Ministry. Unaltered text may be reproduced freely without financial gain. Original commentary and Scripture song available at http://www.freescripturesongs.org/and-it-shall-come-to-pass-in-the-last-days.