Our recent study of Acts 2:14-36 has provided us with a wonderful teachable moment for those who are interested in Bible prophecy. But it may not be the lesson you think it is. Because there are so many who try to fit "square" current events into "round" prophetic Scriptures, it seemed a good idea to address this using a recent example from our Shabbat service.

Let’s recap: the Ruach HaKodesh (i.e., Holy Spirit) has made a grand showing on Shavuot (i.e., Pentecost). As Doug described in a recent message covering Acts 2:1-13, the 120 disciples were filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and began to speak in other languages. These languages were (miraculously) understood by Jews from around the world who had gathered for the Shavuot festival in Jerusalem. These Jews visiting Jerusalem were surprised, with some making the accusation of the 120 being drunk.

Now to the present: Peter/Luke cites a passage from Joel 2:28-32 (3:1-5 in a Hebrew Bible) that the event just prior was really a fulfillment of prophecy that the Lord would pour out His Ruach. It is an amazing prophecy: young men, women, slaves will all receive His Ruach. It is no small thing that all social classes are receiving the Ruach HaKodesh; this would not have gone unnoticed by ancient hearers. It is a great reminder of oneness we have in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) through the Gospel (Galatians 3:28).

Now I am perfectly willing to accept this event on Shavuot as a viable fulfillment of the cited Scripture in Joel. The content makes sense, and I am not going to argue with Peter or Luke and say they are wrong. But I just have to ask the question: how did they know these verses from Joel were in view at Pentecost?

If you read the Joel verses in context (prior to knowing about the events of Acts 2), I’m pretty sure that you would not have predicted Acts 2 was the answer. Sure there is an outpouring of the Ruach in both Joel and Acts, but the Joel passage does not make it obvious as to how or when this will occur. In other words, there is nothing in the text of Joel that you can use to predict the events of Acts. It is only because we have seen Acts 2 that we can look back at Joel 2 and say they are related. Well, that and the revelation of God, but this is another story.

Let me make this a little harder to wiggle out of before I explain why this is so important. In the beginning of Joel 2:28 God says:

“After this (HCSB)”

“And it shall come to pass afterwards (ESV)”

“It will come about after this (NASB)”

“And it shall come to pass afterwards (KJV)”

I’ve included several translations so you can see that they all basically agree that in the local context the events of Joel 2:28 are strongly linked with a prior event. That begs the question: what is this prior event (i.e., the “it/this”)?

In Joel 2:18-27 the context is quite clear: God restores His people. This restoration comes after God calls His people to repentance (Joel 2:12) – a fact that fits nicely with Acts 2:38. But there are an awful lot of things “missing” in the Acts citation. What about the “driving out of the northerner” (Joel 2:20), the “green pastures” (Joel 2:22), “repayment for the years the swarming locust ate” (Joel 2:25)? Did these events occur exactly that way? Commentators of Acts tend to be rather silent on this issue. We could certainly argue in a sense that God did restore Israel through the Messiah (and of course He will not forget His people). But did it happen literally as described in Joel 2? Once again, I am unconvinced that reading Joel 2 you would have guessed Acts 2 was the intended target for fulfillment.

Why is this important? Because some Bible teachers are adamant about their particular prophetic view “predicting the future”, and yet cannot accept the simple fact I just presented above. And I am not solely referring to the “date setting” nuts out there on YouTube and so forth (i.e., those who predict the return of the Lord on a specific or even somewhat specific date). I’m talking about Pastors, Bible teachers, Seminary professors, really believers in general who cling to a particular “this must happen” mentality based upon a prophetic interpretation. After all, the predictive value of Joel 2 is rather hard to see. But after the events of Acts, it is clear that Acts 2 and Joel 2 are linked. You can look back, but it is not easy to look forward.

And yet some still do look forward (or at least try) with scientific precision. Sometimes prophecies have literal fulfillments and sometimes not so literal (see this article for more details). Despite this, some claim to “know the future” based upon a specific prophetic reading of one Bible verse. Their hermeneutic (i.e., interpretation) is blind to the fact that you cannot read prophecy the same way you read a poem or a narrative. And they teach and write books, and claim the rapture is going to happen in 1988 (or is it 2012 … I forget) because of a “key” verse tucked away somewhere. Craig Bloomberg makes a fascinating point in this book: 6 of the 10 bestselling Christian books in 1999 confidently predicted that Y2K was the beginning of a pretribulational rapture. Well, we are still waiting … but don’t hold your breath too long or you will turn blue. How many people’s faith was damaged because of those irresponsible teachers? (someone should study this … )

My point remains that you had better be careful when you try to “predict the future” with any prophetic Scripture. There are many divisions in the body of Messiah over eschatology/prophecy. I get very frustrated by the arrogance of some authors/teachers who push a particular point of view with prophecy because they comment “all prophecy is literal” or “all prophecy is allegorical.”

That hermeneutic simply won’t fly. After all, it apparently is not what the apostles did, and I think I am going to believe them over anyone else today.