Joel 2:28-32--The LORD Will Pour Out His Spirit

Joel 2:28-32
English Standard Version

The LORD Will Pour Out His Spirit
28 “And it shall come to pass afterward,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your old men shall dream dreams,
    and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

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How do we know we are living in the last days and that the day of the LORD is quickly approaching? One of the ways is fulfillment of Scriptures like this one which was partially fulfilled in Acts 2 at the day of Pentecost.  This exact passage was quoted as being fulfilled when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon men and women from every nation and tongue, and many spoke in tongues and prophesied on that day.  There was no distinction between male and female, servant and master, slave or free.  All were one in the Spirit and one in the Lord.

Verses 30 through 32 are still to be fulfilled in the very end of days.  There will be great miracles done (great plagues will be sent to judge the wicked, but the righteous will be saved), and the sun will become dark and the moon will turn to blood.  Then another verse that was quoted at Pentecost, "And all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."  Joel sees all of the future compressed together like looking at a mountain range and two different mountains appear to be one in the distance.  It's not until you get closer, possibly even start claiming the first mountain that you start to see the depth and realize the other mountain is still some distance away.

As the land of Goshen was the place of protection for the LORD's people in the time of the Exodus, so the city of Jerusalem will be a place of protection for the people of the Lord during the time of Jacob's Trouble (the Great Tribulation) and those who call on the name of the LORD will be saved.  Only those whom the LORD calls as His own will be saved from the plagues and destruction that is to come upon the wicked in the great Day of the LORD.