Good News

We have all heard or read at some point the passage from Joel 2:28:

“And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.”

The good news for us is that we are living in those last days prophesied by Joel.

Returning to the story of Israel, although the nation had received this tremendous promise, the people ended up in exile far from their land. While they were in the midst of their bondage and brokenness, God promised the people would be cleansed from their iniquity, that He would remove their heart of stone in return for a heart of flesh, and that He would put His Spirit within them so they would follow all of His commandments (Ezekiel 36:25–27). There was hope for them — a new covenant that would come with the Holy Spirit.

We then see in Ezekiel 37 that God takes the prophet to a valley of dry bones and in the midst of captivity, God gives Israel the promise that the Holy Spirit would come upon them and bring them back to rest in their land.

Israel was waiting for the Holy Spirit!