Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

The Transition from Old to New

Joshua, overly conscious of discipline and proper protocol, reacted as if he had been struck with a hot coal: "Moses, my lord, restrain them" (verse 28). Moses, excited and much more perceptive, replied with a wishful state ment of classic proportions: "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!" (verse 29}. 1 The hopeful longing of Moses became actual prediction with later prophets. Joel foretold that the spirit of prophecy will indeed be given to everyone, from the least to the greatest, not just to a select group of prophets. Young and old, male and female, slave and free, Jew and Gen tile-all will come under the prophetic canopy: "It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days" (Joel 2:28-29). These astounding words found fulfillment on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) when the Holy Spirit era was inaugurated. The apostle Peter explained the grand happenings of that day-the phenomena of miracle language, strange behavior and supernatural signs-as the beginning of Joel's outpouring of the Spirit. He declared that "this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel" (verse 16), 2 thereby confirming that prophetic activity would characterize the Church age. Other prophets also foretold this era of the Holy Spirit: Isaiah (2:2-4), Jeremiah (31:31-34) and Ezekiel (36:26-28). Wonderful predictions about the Messiah and the Spirit were given by Isaiah (11:2; 42:1-4; 48:16; 61:1-3). The combined expectation of the coming Spirit and the Spirit endowed Messiah-the dual emphasis of the messianic age-brought great comfort and hope to the exiled Jewish people. The years between Malachi, last of the writing prophets, and the begin ning of the Christian era was supposedly a time of prophetic silence. Dur ing this intertestamental period no canonical prophets existed in the Hebrew nation. Some say it was as though the prophets were dead or asleep. The prophetic voice, which had been very active in Israel, seemed to fall silent about 400 B.C., its last representatives being Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The rabbinic tradition believed the Holy Spirit had with drawn from Israel after the deaths of these last three prophets. 3 A. A. MacRae says: "There was no declaration that prophecy was ending, nor • 130 The Four Hundred Silent Years