In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2
‘“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Acts 2:17
We could look at Acts 2:17 and have an interesting conversation about what the pouring out of the Holy Spirit is supposed to look like in the twenty first century and whether these are indeed the last days, but I find the words “I will” much more fascinating. The phrase “I will pour out my Spirit on all people,” speaks of the initiative of God.
Most Christians understand the initiative of God in regard to saving grace but he is called, “the God of all grace.” This means that God is ready to be the initiator in all matters, not just our eternal salvation. Because God is the God of all grace he does not sit back and wait for us to make the world to be what he would like for it to be, he takes the initiative, comes down to us and finds us even in a world so sociologically messed up it can easily leave you feeling hopeless.
Since scripture says, “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years,” I believe the words “last days” began at Jesus’ ascension. According to Biblical math, we’re just starting day three. So that’s my interpretation of “the last days.” Socio-politically you couldn’t ask for much more complicated conditions than the first century had, especially for a Christ follower. Rome was crushing the world with a totalitarian regime. The Caesars were like immature children at play, but who commanded the most powerful military machine know to human kind. Oh, yeah, Julius Caesar decided he was a deity, so he created the “Imperial Cult” of ancient Rome. You could get fed to the lions for not giving up incense to the Emperor or not using the standard public greeting and response; “Caesar is Lord,” “he is Lord indeed.” To make matters even more difficult, the Jewish religious system that, when pure was the healthiest governance the world had ever experienced, had become unhealthy, corrupt and survived by becoming political bedfellows with Rome.
If I had been alive in the first century and God had asked my opinion about establishing the Church in the power of the Spirit, I would have said, “Actually the cultural conditions are not favorable for an underdeveloped religion.” In other words, I would have said, “God, you are stuck with having to respond to the initiatives of humankind.” And God, because he’s God, would have said, “no Phil, I will pour out my Spirit on all people!” Then God might have said, “I will start with sons and daughters,” to which I would have said, “very bad idea God, this is a patriarchal culture which will never respect a movement led by youth.” “And by the way, Lord, you should just stick with pouring out your favor on sons, they’re not ready for daughters to be heirs of the Kingdom” God would have replied, “your sons and daughters will prophesy.” I would have said, “God you really need to wait ‘til society is more progressive about social structures” If God didn’t hang up on me, I believe he would have raised his voice several decibels and said, “I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT ON ALL PEOPLE!”
God himself is the one who inspired Solomon to write “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.” Ecclesiastes 11:4 makes it clear that God is not a mere responder to favorable conditions. Sure, God is capable of responding, but he is more often, not responding but initiating. If God was not an initiator you wouldn’t have been created, ever think of that?
So what does this mean for us? The fact that God is the, “I will” initiator God, means you can…
- Relax from your part time job as god (whew!)
- Stop stressing out that the politicians aren’t making it easy for a national revival.
- Expect Him to do good things in your life when the odds are against it.
- Enjoy the Spirit filled life, even while it’s a stress filled life.
- Enjoy your church, because God the initiator said, “I will build my church.”
Perhaps you would like to pause right now and praise God for all the good things he’s initiating in your life, in spite your lack of preparation for such favors.
