Well, we're at the last day of our reflections on the day of Pentecost, and there's certainly

still a lot more to say to answer the question everybody was asking on that day, namely,

what does all this mean?

So I want to point out just one more dimension to Peter's answer to that question.

Remember he quotes Joel chapter 2 verses 28 and 29, God is going to pour out His Spirit

on all flesh, so that your sons and daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see visions,

your old men dream dreams, even on my male servants and my female servants in those days,

I will pour out my Spirit and they shall all prophesy.

Now is Peter saying that the real indication that the Spirit has come in somebody is that

he or she prophesies?

Is the answer yes or is the answer no?

Well, in a way it's a kind of yes and no.

Let me explain.

What Joel is saying is that in the last days something will be different from his present

day.

But in the last days of the new covenant, things will be different from the days of the old

covenant.

In the old covenant, prophesying, seeing visions, dreaming dreams, were typical ways in which

God revealed Himself and His will to His people.

But you'll notice from your Old Testament that that immediate first hand knowledge was

not something everybody had.

In fact it came in different forms, mediated through three specific roles or offices in

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