The Spirit’s gift restored the office of prophet as when Moses led Israel out of Egypt by the miraculous hand of God and led them through the wilderness by a cloud in the day and pillar of fire by night. This served as a testimony that God was with his people. Similarly, His presence in the last days, with all His mighty power, working in conjunction with His revelation, gave powerful testimony that (1) the last days of old covenant Israel had come (2) the Christ is about to establish His rule (3) and the great and terrible day of the Lord is soon.
It is significant to note that in all of Luke’s work (Luke and Acts), we will not find a reference to one non-miraculous indwelling. Since the Holy Spirit was promised to everyone who believed (Acts 2:38, 5:32, Mark 16:20), and Joel’s prophecy was being fulfilled on that day in Acts 2, the promise that they could receive Him in verse 38 was a miraculous outpouring. The context supports this conclusion.
Luke often used the phrase “full of the Holy Spirit” in his work. This marks a clear and undeniable change that could not go unnoticed. However, to take these miraculous events away from the context of this time and apply it today destroys the purpose and plan of God and leaves the world in confusion. God is a God that cannot lie and He purposed to fulfill his promises in the last days and to usher in a new and glorious era of spiritual realities unknown by the physical and carnal. To continue the claim of the miraculous after the plan is accomplished calls into question whether God fulfilled His promised. Further, to claim the gift of the Holy Spirit today by making it non-miraculous is equally disturbing and destroys the time of His work and purpose of His coming.
- During the Birth Announcements
Following Luke’s work, he starts, before the introduction of Jesus of Nazareth as the lamb of God, to cite a few isolated occasions when someone introduces, by the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the unborn children of John and Jesus. First, he tells us that Elizabeth, mother of John, was filled with the Holy Spirit when Mary came to visit (1:41). The message that centered around the child in Mary’s womb can only be explained by the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit.
Similarly, Zecharias, the husband of Elizabeth, prophesies concerning the birth of his son, John (Luke 1:67). This prophecy was the fulfillment of the sign promised Zecharias in a vision announcing John’s conception (1:19-20). It is clear from the description of this event that Zecharias was endowed with a prophetic utterance that identified John as the “prophet of the Highest” who would go “before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways” (Luke 1:76). There were two others in Simeon and Anna at the temple who spoke under inspiration. All of these seemed to be focused on confirming the truth for the sake of the parents.
2. John, the Forerunner
The power of John was in his preaching because he is never said to perform miracles. As noted in the announcement of his birth, the angel reports that “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15, cf. Sir 48:10).
John’s work as a prophet had broken a period of 400 years without prophetic activity (cf. Isa. 29:10). This may explain why he was such a novelty, as “all the region around the Jordan, Jerusalem and all Judea went to see him (Matthew 3:5, Mark 2:5). Some were baptized of him, confessing their sins, while others were just spectators (Mat. 3:7). His work was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi who wrote in Malachi 4:6,
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Jesus tells his disciples that John is the Elijah who was to come (Matt. 11:14). John’s parents knew that he “would go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17) to prepare a people ready for the Lord and escape his day of wrath. Jesus asks, “But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft raiment are in kings’ houses. But wherefore went ye out? to see a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, Who shall prepare thy way before thee.’ … And if ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, that is to come (Matthew 11:11:8-10, 14; cf. Matt. 17:10-12). Luke gives the meaning when he explains, “And he shall go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.” This was no reincarnation, according to Luke.
Several similarities can be found between John and Elijah that explains the similarity.
(1) Elijah wore a garment of haircloth, with a leather belt about his loins (2 Kings 1:7-8). It is said of John that he wore a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle around his waist (Matt. 1:4). (2) Ahab and his wife Jezebel compares to Herod, Herodias, and her daughter, who asked for his head on a platter. Elijah fights against one, while John confronts the other (Matthew 14:1-12). (3) Both are on the periphery of society, even though due to different circumstances.
The Jews who came to John’s baptism exemplified the kind of heart in the people who would experience a dreadful day of God’s wrath. Matthew 3:8-12 reads,
Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And the ax is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
From this text, we learn that (1) John was preaching to a nation that needed to repent and to change their lives in keeping with that repentance. (2) It was nothing for God to raise up children to Abraham from any source he wanted. (3) Already, Israel was being “axed” and the tree was about to be burned. (4) John baptized with a baptism of repentance (for the remission of sins, making ready a people prepared for the Lord but (5) the one “Mightier than he” was about to baptize with the Holy Spirit, or with fire, a reference to both a harvest (of the good) and burning up of the chaff (wicked, see Malachi 4) with fire that would not be put out.