16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2:16-21 KJV)
When Peter applied (“this is that” τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ) Joel 2:28-32 to the Pentecost outpouring, God the Holy Spirit caused him to alter the MT’s and LXX’s simple “afterwards” (אחרי־שׂשׁ, μετὰ ταῦτα) to “in the last days, says God” (ἐν ταῖς ἐσλάταις, λέγει ὁ θεός). This indicates the existence of dual fulfillment both on Pentecost, and in “the last days” when great celestial and terrestrial events would precede the Second Coming of Christ:
32 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.
3:1 “For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; They have also divided up My land. (Joel 2:32-3:2 NKJ)
In the last days I will pour out of my Spirit:
As this Second Outpouring is limited to the seven-year end-time period none of the Pentecostal phenomena prior to the seven-year period of Christ’s return can be a fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. It is something else. “Christian-like” does not make it Christian (Mat. 7:22-23; 1 John 2:19; 1 Cor. 12:1-3; 2 Thess. 2:11-12; 2 Pet. 2:14-19; Jude 1:8-13; 1 John 4:1; 1 Tim. 4:1; Isa. 8:20-22).
31 “And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.
32 “Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.
33 “And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering.
34 “Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue.
35 “And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time.
(Dan. 11:31-35 NKJ)
In the prophet Zechariah 4:1-14 the two olive trees symbolize inexhaustible outpouring of the Holy Spirit fueling the lamps symbolizing Lady Zion and the church. Therefore, the outpouring occurs at the beginning of the end time “week” with the arrival of God’s two Witnesses Moses and Elijah, the two olive trees (Zech. 4:2-3; 11-14 Compare Rev. 1:20; 11:1-4).
When God stops restraining spiritism the “mystery of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:6-12), Christendom is fully a member of Babylon the great harlot, the apostates cast out into the outer courtyard (Rev. 11:2). The true church symbolically flees Babylon (Isa. 48:20-21; 62:10-12; Zech. 2:7-11) flying into the wilderness to be nourished (Rev. 12:13-14) by God’s Holy Spirit through His two witnesses Moses and Elijah. That is the meaning of being at God’s altar in the Sanctuary of God (Rev. 11:1). The “two olive trees” inexhaustible supply of oil fuel is for the shining lamps of God: Lady Zion and the Church, for 1,260 days.
Then the Man of Sin morphs into the Son of Perdition (2 Thess. 2:3-4; Rev. 13:5), kills God’s two witnesses and persecutes the Church in earnest. Their political power being in the midst of Harlot Babylon now broken (Dan. 12:7) because the ten horns serving the Beast destroy her with fire (Rev. 17:16). The Harlot’s religious services no longer required; Adonikam the Beast is now worshipped directly.
See The Two Phases of Antichrist: Man of Sin & Son of Perdition
End Notes
3 “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. (Rev. 11:3-4 NKJ)
There is only one lampstand in Zechariah 4:2-3, 11, but two olive trees standing before the God of the earth (Zech. 4:3, 11-14). So why does John write there are two lampstands? In Revelation 11:4 “standing” (2476 ἵστημι histemi) is masculine referring to the masculine “These” (3778 οὗτος houtos), skipping over the feminine “olive trees” (1636 ἐλαία elaia) and “lampstands” (3087 λυχνία luchnia). That permits we interpret one lampstand consistent with Zechariah’s usage where Holy Spirit (oil) is the fuel that lights up the lamps shining God’s truth onto the earth. The “sons of oil” (03323 יִצְהָר yitshar) is not a reference to anointing which uses a different oil (08081 שֶׁמֶן shemen), but a Hebraism “sons of oil” meaning they function as part of the mechanism fueling the lamps. Aaron and Moses through whom God’s light established the Old Covenant with its Temple are most likely the two olive trees in Zechariah. As Elijah heralded the Christ builder of the New Temple of His body, the two witnesses in Revelation are Moses and Elijah, the two olive trees who would lay their hands upon those worshiping God at His altar so they receive Holy Spirit fueling the two lampstands shining God’s truth onto the earth in the book of Revelation. As seven lampstands are the seven churches in Revelation 1:20; 2:1 it follows the entire church can be seen as one lampstand. In Revelation 12:1 another is revealed “Lady Zion” who the mother of the church, the church is the daughter of Zion. Two lampstands shining God’s truth into the earth, in the Sanctuary of God, freshly imbued with Holy Spirit oil, all flesh of the church worshiping God at His altar now prophesying in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, not just the select Jews chosen by Christ during His earthly ministry:
17 `And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18 NKJ)
This special nourishment of the church occurs while she is in the wilderness. When seen from the perspective of Satanic persecution, Her flight into the wilderness also occurred in the Days of Noah when Satan cast his angels to earth to devour God’s child, in the “war of the seeds”. Via intermarriage the Nephilim fallen angels corrupted the human genome with the image of angels, which would render the incarnation of the Son in truly Human flesh impossible. That is why her flight into God’s protection is also mentioned twice, the latter instance occurring when Michael casts Satan and his angels out of heaven. There are two flights to safety because there are two appearances of Nephilim on the earth (Rev. 12:3-4, 7-9), separated by Christ’s ascent into heaven (Rev. 12:5) in John’s telescoped prophecy (Rev. 12:1-17).
13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.
14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 12:13-17 NKJ)
The vile tsunami of spiritism that was spewed out intended to carry away the true church into spiritism. But only those cast into the outer courtyard of the Temple were affected, “the earth” greedily swallowing up the secret power of lawlessness Paul refers to in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12. The true church protected by God in His sanctuary Revelation 11:1-2). The “antichrist’s” (1 John 2:18-22) defile the holy city for forty-two months.
After the forty two months are over, the Son of Perdition slays God’s two witnesses and begins to slaughter the church (Rev. 13:7-10). Satan hates Christianity so much, he sends his demon hoard out to destroy the third of the earth that once claimed to be Christian, even though these now had the mark of the beast (Rev. 9:1-17).
John is amazed this “betrayal” of his own followers does not concern the rest of mankind also worshiping demons etc.:
20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Rev. 9:20-21 NKJ)
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