Joel (Part 2)

Richard Belcher dives into the prophetic book of Joel. He emphasizes the themes of repentance and divine judgment, discussing the significance of these themes in understanding God’s mercy and justice.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

This audio lecture is brought to you by RTS on iTunesu at the virtual campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. To listen to other lectures and to access additional resources, please visit us at itunes rts.edu. For additional information on how to take distance education courses for credit towards a fully accredited Master of Arts in Religion degree, please visit our website at virtual rts.edu.

There are two other issues, though, in the book of Joel that it’s sort of good to at least make some comments on.

We’ll at least be able, I think, to get through the first issue today, and that’s about as far as we need to get to for the exam. We might be able to get to the second issue today as well, but let’s at least try to get through this first issue and then we’ll stop and talk about exam number two. Joel mentions the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and prophecy. Let’s talk about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit first.

And in this regard, I have you read an article by Warfield on the Spirit of God in the old testament, and he talks about the Spirit of God in the Old Testament in three ways. He talks about the Spirit of God in relationship to creation as the source of order, life and light, and I’ll not comment on that anymore, just have you read that? But then he talks about the Spirit of God in relationship to the theocracy or the people of God.

And he mentions that the Spirit gives kingdom gifts to chosen leaders so that they can serve his people. And you’ll read in the book of judges, and you will read in other places in the Old Testament where the Spirit of God will come upon somebody, and the Spirit of God comes upon that person in order to empower that person to do what God wants them to do. the Spirit of God comes on a judge and raises up that judge, and that judge delivers God’s people.

Or the Spirit of God may come upon Saul early on so that Saul will be agreeable to be king and to lead God’s people in that way. And the Spirit of God comes on David. And in many of these situations, the Spirit of God comes on a person to enable them to accomplish what God wants them to accomplish. Many times the Spirit of God coming on a person in these situations has little to do with the spiritual condition of that person. Think of Balaam, the diviner.

the Spirit of God comes on Balaam so that Balaam will accomplish what God wants him to accomplish. And so, there is a level in the Old Testament where the Spirit of God comes on leaders, individuals who are leaders of God’s people or other individuals. The purpose of the Spirit of God coming on the individual is to ensure that the individual will be empowered to accomplish what God wants them to accomplish, empowered to serve God’s people, empowered to serve God.

And you can’t always draw connections between the Spirit of God coming upon someone and that particular person’s spiritual condition at the time. And when we go through judges to Esther, we bring that out a little more clearer, because you can see in situations where this happens, you can sort of get a better picture of that. But God’s spirit empowering individuals to accomplish his purpose, mainly leaders within the context of the theocracy of Israel and God wanting these leaders to accomplish his purposes.

So that would be, we’ve got creation and then we’ve got the Spirit of God in these situations. But then there’s also, I do believe in the Old Testament, although it’s not as emphasized as much, the work of the Spirit in an individual’s life related to regeneration and sanctification. I do believe you can argue, and most conservatives are agreed on the main point here. There is some difference on one of the details, which I’ll point out. But you have statements in the Old Testament, like Genesis 15:6, in relationship to Abraham. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness.

³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3, ESV)

⁶ And he believed the Lord , and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6, ESV)

That’s basically justification by faith, isn’t it? Paul uses Abraham as an example in Romans 4 to argue for justification by faith. If there’s justification by faith in the Old Testament, then you also can legitimately argue that there is regeneration. Regeneration, the change of a dead heart and being given a heart that is alive unto God, the change of a dead nature, so that a person is able to exercise faith.

And so, most conservatives, all the ones that I just say most, agree with regeneration, justification, and sanctification, that there is the work of the Spirit in the Old Testament related to sanctification. Abraham is called righteous because he keeps the law, the evidence of sanctification in his life, that he has the power to a practical righteousness. He has the power to keep God’s law. Now, not perfectly obviously, but there are statements in the Old Testament that would support regeneration, justification by faith, and sanctification.

So the Spirit must have been at work in the lives of God’s people in the Old Testament, those who were true believers. There were a lot in the covenant community who were not true believers. In the lives of the true believers, the Holy Spirit was at work in this way. And I would argue that you could substantiate this from Psalm 51, where David says, take not your holy spirit from me. Now you might say that David is there asking God not to take his spirit from him so that he would be empowered for service.

And there’s some truth to that. But when Psalm 51 becomes a part of the Psalter, now you’ve got all of God’s people praying Psalm 51, take not your Holy Spirit from me, and you’ve got all of God’s people singing Psalm 51, take not your Holy Spirit from me. So it becomes more than just for the leaders; it becomes for all of God’s people. And so there is a level here of the work of the Spirit in the individual believer’s life.

Now the difference of opinion comes as to whether or not the Old Testament believers were indwelt by the Spirit. And that’s where the differences of opinion come, whether we can say that the Holy Spirit indwelt believers. And if you’re interested in pursuing this topic further, there are a couple of articles by James Hamilton, fairly recent articles in the last two or three years. James Hamilton has an article in the Trinity Journal, 24 NS. NS is the new series. There’s a new series of the Trinity Journal, pages 37 through 54.

And he lays out the various views connected to this whole issue of whether the Old Testament believers are indwelt by the Spirit or not. And he identifies those who argue the different viewpoints. Let me just lay out, and I don’t know if I have a strong preference, here’s what I would say related to this issue, and then we’ll stop and talk about the exam. I want to affirm that there is something new in the New Testament, at Pentecost in relationship to the work of the spirit, something that was not there in the Old Testament.

Now, I believe there is regeneration. I believe there is justification by faith. I believe there is sanctification. I believe the Spirit was at work in individual believers.

But I want to argue that the Old Testament was preparatory and the work of the Spirit was preparatory, and that there is a fuller outpouring of the Spirit that has a tremendous impact not only for the mission of God’s people, but has a tremendous impact in the lives of God’s people as well, that there is a power dynamic going on that begins at Pentecost related to the work of Jesus Christ and his ascension into heaven that was not present in the Old Testament.

Now, whether you want to say that they were not indwelt and now we are indwelt, or I don’t know what terminology you want to use, but you have to affirm that something powerful takes place at Pentecost to enable God’s people to accomplish the mission that God has given to us. What is the difference between the two? Well, I would put it this way: There is a fuller outpouring of the Spirit in terms of the inclusion of the nations.

The extent of the spirit’s activity in the Old Testament is primarily confined to the nation of Israel. Now, there are obviously some exceptions to that, but now the extent of the spirit’s activity is worldwide. As the good news of the gospel goes forth into all the world, there is a fuller outpouring of the Spirit in terms of the power in the lives of believers. You might call an intensification of sanctification a greater power. We have now to do what God has called us to do related to our mission and related to sanctification.

So I think that’s significant. the Spirit has been poured out in a way that the Spirit was not present in the Old Testament, and that relates to our individual lives as believers. It relates to the mission that God has given to us. I would also say that kingdom gifts are now not just given to leaders, but because of the outpouring of the spirit, these gifts are given to all of God’s people. So every one of us is equipped to minister. And that’s part of the point of 1 Corinthians 12:14.

We all have gifts of the Spirit that we can use. The body of Christ needs all of those gifts to function, not just leaders. Now, in the Old Testament, the outpouring or the coming of the Spirit upon someone was primarily upon leaders to empower them for service. Now the Spirit comes on all, every believer, and empowers every believer for service and gives us gifts in order to accomplish that. I would also say that although the Old Testament emphasizes more the corporate aspect, I think the individual aspect is there.

I would then also say that the New Testament emphasizes more the individual aspect, although the corporate aspect is there. But you do have more of an emphasis in the New Testament on the work of the Spirit in the individual life of a believer. Now, part of the difference certainly is related to the mediator Jesus Christ and what he has done. Part of the difference might also be that the Spirit or God’s presence, put it that way, was manifested in Israel, in the temple.

God’s presence in light of the coming of Jesus Christ is manifested corporately in the church and individually in our lives. And all that takes place because of the coming of Jesus Christ. So whatever terminology you want to use, you have to affirm. I think that with the outpouring of the Spirit of Pentecost, something great and powerful is taking place to help us in our mission to do what God wants us to do.

And you can debate whether we should use indwelling or not, but maybe without getting caught up in a term, those differences, I think, are significant. Let me talk. I don’t know if we have. Let me talk about the exam for a few minutes, and then if you have questions after that, your second exam will cover Isaiah through Joel. So start with the book of Isaiah, and then we covered. What have we covered? We covered Isaiah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Joel, and Nahum. So those are the major, those are the books that we’ve covered.

The exam is very similar to the first exam. This exam is very similar to the first exam. So, you don’t have as many identifications. You have one short essay and you have one long essay. So, your third exam will include a key date section as well. Any other questions on Joel before we stop? Yes, sir. That is sung by all Christians and it’s put in softer than. How do we interpret that if we don’t hold the view that it’s special giftedness that they received or the kingship? Well, in Psalm 51, the issues are sanctification oriented.

So around that verse in Psalm 51 are issues of sanctification. So I would say, I would use that to sort of emphasize that that’s not just David as a leader, but that there are sanctification issues. And I would relate that as a parallel to our situation. We are to pray for the filling of the Spirit. And there are times in our lives when the presence of the Spirit is withdrawn for whatever reason, and sin is one of the reasons that God withdraws the Spirit and takes his spirit away from us.

So I would connect Psalm 51 in our situation after the coming of Christ with those concepts and the fact that we are to pray to be filled with the Spirit. So that’s the connection that I would draw. Alright, we have one more thing to do in Joel, and you have a lot of notes on this in your syllabus that we’re not going to cover. But I want to give you a broad overview of the various views, and then you can sort of look at the notes, if you’re interested.

The notes that I’ve given to you sort of interact with Grudem’s views. So that’s what the notes focus on, lay out his views and then respond to his views. So what I’m going to put up on the board, you don’t have in your notes, but I want to give you the big picture related to prophecy, and then we’ll keep moving toward Ezekiel. But over here you have the view that says prophecy continues today, and the church today is very much like the apostolic church.

So there’s not much difference between the apostolic church and the church today. There are apostles today. This view would say we have revelation today, and that revelation in some groups would be considered on the same level as scripture. So there’s not much difference between the apostolic church and what was going on in the apostolic church and the church today. A lot of people who hold this view don’t write about it. I’m sure you could find some examples of this if you went to some Internet sites.

But basically this view says that there are apostles today. They function very much like they did in the early church, and there’s not much difference between the early church and the church today. That view is different than the other three views I’m going to put up on the board. The other three views I’m going to put up on the board acknowledge a difference between the apostolic church and the church today. That there is something different in the apostolic church related to the apostles primarily versus the church today.

There is a view, and this is basically Grudem’s view, that prophecy continues. However, there are no apostles today. The apostles of the New Testament equal the Old Testament prophets. They’re part of the foundation. So we don’t have apostles today, but we do have. Grudem would say, we do have prophets, we have prophecy. It does continue, however, it’s not on the same level as scripture. It is revelational. So that a prophet may receive revelation, but you can’t always tell when he speaks it that it is infallible.

Paul says to judge the prophets, so prophets continue, prophecy continues. It’s more situation specific. And he says a bunch of other things. Grudem says a bunch of other things about prophets and prophecy, but it’s not on the same level as scripture because there is a difference between the apostolic church, who had apostles, and the church today. We don’t have apostles now. He gets to that view by identifying in Ephesians 2:20, apostles and prophets. He says, apostles who are prophets.

And I interact with that, I think a little bit in your notes, but there are some things different from the apostolic church. There are no apostles today. The revelation we have in scripture is our authority. The continuing prophecy that we may still have today is not on the same level as scripture, which sort of takes the bite out of it to some degree. If it’s not on that same level of scripture, alright, then there’s two other views. Both of them would fit under what we call a cessationist approach to this issue.

But within the cessationist category, there are two ways to nuance cessationism. One way to nuance cessationism is to say that prophecy has ceased because it is special revelation. If you look within the context of the New Testament and that there is no new revelation, period. O. Palmer Robertson argues this view in the final word, fairly standard cessationist position. However, there’s another view within the cessationist camp that basically argues the same thing. Prophecy has ceased. No new revelation. Except there’s a qualification.

The qualification is that in times of crisis, like persecution, extraordinary things may occur, but this is not the ordinary way God works. The ordinary way God works is through his word, the Holy Spirit through his word. And that’s what we should expect. But there may be situations in church history because of the crisis nature of what the church is facing, that extraordinary things happen, not a normal expectation. That’s why you call them extraordinary. Those who would argue this position, and you have a bibliography in your notes that you can read through.

Poitras has an article and there’s a brief summary of his article where he basically is coming at it from this perspective. And then there’s an article listed in there by, I think it’s Dean Smith who sort of shows some examples in church history related to John Knox. So those are the major positions on this issue of prophecy. That sort of arises through what Joel says. And everybody to the right of this line recognizes that the apostolic Church is foundational. And once the foundation is laid, you move forward to build on top of the foundations.

So therefore the apostolic Church is foundational, the apostles are foundational. So there’s a difference between the apostolic church and the church today. Then the question is, where do you begin to draw lines? What is the difference between the apostolic church and the church today? Grudem says that there’s no apostles today, but there are prophets. The cessationist view would basically say there are no prophets, there is no prophecy. There is a prophetic function connected to the word of God, but that’s not what’s being talked about here. And that basically prophets and prophecy have ceased.

God works through His word. Except this position here says in extreme cases, there may be extraordinary events. So, those are the major views, and we just don’t have time to go through and flesh these things out. But if you’re interested in further reading, you have a bibliography that can help you with this. Okay. Anybody have a question, quick comment, or question? Well, I’m over here. I would be a cessationist.

There are some things about Poitras’ article that I appreciate, and there does seem to be something in church history, even those who the background of the Westminster confession at times might recognize extraordinary activity of God’s spirit. So I’m open to that. But I’m very much on the cessationist side of things. Yes, sir. You read the article by Smith. He talks about John Knox.

He talks about George Wissart being considered a prophet who, at his death, at his burning of the state, pointed to some official in the window and said such and such about his death. And that’s exactly the way he died. So, there are some examples from church history where it seems like some of the major players were willing to recognize that there were some extraordinary things taking place. But it’s not what you would expect ordinarily. So, you shouldn’t get caught up in looking for these things, these things.

Sovereign God may do these things at certain times, but we should focus on the way he normally works through his word, the Holy Spirit, using his word to work in the lives of his people and to bring people to himself. So if you want to pursue that Poitras article and then the article by Dean Smith. Okay. Yes, sir. Was that a hand? To what extent does Grudem attribute current prophecy? You said situational, but I mean, is this prophesying again times or I mean period prophecy? Well, situation specific.

Normally, prophecy, he would say, relates to a particular situation a congregation might be going through. And so you have a particular church facing a particular situation, not knowing what direction to go, and someone may stand and have a word from the Lord to give direction, to give help to a particular congregation. So it’s not as if it’s for all the church necessarily. That’s what the apostles deal with. Sufficiency of scripture issues with what? Well, he would say on the broad level, scripture is sufficient and that it’s our final authority, and we don’t.

These situation-specific prophets are not infallible, which, again, takes away a little bit of the punch. But they may have a word from the Lord that the church needs to hear, so they need to be taken seriously.

This audio lecture is brought to you by RTS on iTunesU at the virtual campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. To listen to other lectures and to access additional resources, please visit us at itunes.rts.edu.

For additional information on how to take distance education courses for credits towards a fully accredited Master of Arts in religion degree, please visit our website at virtual rts.edu.