The Spirit of Prophecy for the Last Days — Zac Poonen

Pentecost and the Beginning of the Last Days

In the New Testament, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost is the most significant and most important thing that happened to the disciples, and that's what launched the church. And when the people asked the Apostles, what is this?

We read in Acts chapter 2 that Peter got up and said in verse 16, this is what was spoken through the Prophet Joel, that in the last days I will pour forth my spirit on all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

And on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour out my spirit, and they will prophesy. And I will set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billowing smoke.

The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I don't know whether you noticed that when we speak about the last days, Peter spoke about the last days beginning on the day of Pentecost.

When they asked him, what is this thing that's happening? He said, this is what the Prophet prophesied that in the last days I will pour out my spirit. And he said, here what you see around here is the fulfillment of that in the last days, God pouring out his spirit.

And then he speaks about wonders in the sky above, verse 19, and signs on the earth and blood and fire and smoke. The sun turned into darkness and moon into blood and before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come.

You see there, there's a combination of what's going to happen when Jesus comes again. And I'm certain that Peter himself did not know that there's going to be 2 ,000 years there between that first outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the last days and the return of the Lord.

Jesus said that he himself when he was on earth did not know the date of his second coming. So it's quite amusing to me when I see Christians who predict the date. There are different Christians through the years who have predicted different days when they said Christ would come.

In 1080 somebody said he'll come and in 1841, 1844, 1994, different times people said he's going to come. And it's almost as though they know more than Jesus himself who when he was on earth said no one knows the day or the hour when he's coming.

So Peter didn't know when Christ would come and he must have thought this is just going to be maybe a few days or a year or so and then Christ would come back. And there'll be this great and terrible glorious day of the Lord shall come and between that period before that day comes, verse 21, everyone who calls the name of the Lord will be saved.

So in that prophecy and Joel also who prophesied this did not know that these two events, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the great and glorious day of the Lord, Joel speaks of it all in one paragraph.

But what's mentioned in verse 17 and what's mentioned in verse 20, there's a gap of 2 ,000 years. It's something like you know when you climb a mountain, you go up into the mountains and you see a great peak there and then behind that you see another peak and you think that the distance between those two peaks is probably a hundred yards.

But when you come there, you realize it's miles and miles and miles before you see to the other peak. It's something like that. The prophets when they looked into the future, they saw the first coming of Christ like one mountain peak and behind that they saw the second coming of Christ like another mountain peak and it looked to them as if it's pretty close by.

But we know now that is a period of 2 ,000 years. And so if we look at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in verse 17 and verse 20 and 21, verse 20 the great and glorious day of the Lord when he's going to come again.

Verse 19 also speaks about that final time when there'll be signs and wonders in the sky and all those things haven't yet happened but they're going to happen when the sun will be darkened and the moon will be turned into blood.

Between these two events, the first coming and the second coming of Christ, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in verse 17 and coming of the Lord in verse 19 and 20, what is mentioned here? What are we supposed to be doing?

Prophecy as the Church's Spiritual Inheritance

Look at this passage like that. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I will pour out my spirit on all flesh in the last days. So the last days began on the day of Pentecost. That's very clear. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and he's explaining what's happening right now is the beginning of the last days and God is pouring out his spirit and the last days are going to end with signs in the sun and the moon and the sky and the Lord will come.

And in between is the period we are in. You know what you and I are supposed to do during this period? It's written there. We are to prophesy. Look at it like that. Verse 17 is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 19 and 20 is the coming of the Lord. In between, twice it says, when I pour out my spirit on all flesh, your sons and your daughters will prophesy. And there is to be no difference in that. You know there are many things that the Bible says which we can claim as ours only if we see.

This is our inheritance. It's something like if your father was a multi-millionaire and wrote a will, you know, leaving a whole lot of property for you. You don't claim it. Somebody else will take it.

But it's yours. But if you're too lazy or sluggish to find out what your inheritance is, then you can live in poverty when you could live in wealth. But when it concerns earthly wealth and inheritance from our parents, I tell you every Christian is pretty shrewd.

I've never met a Christian who's not shrewd when it comes to getting one's father's inheritance, even fighting for it. But when it comes to their spiritual inheritance, I find the vast majority, more than 90 of Christians, they don't claim it.

They're not bothered. And the thing is, when we stand before the Lord in the final day, we will discover that all that inheritance you got from your father and your uncle and all your relatives will all perish and go.

It won't be worth anything. All the things you fought for and were so eager to get. And you will discover that the spiritual inheritance which you're supposed to get, which you didn't claim, is the thing that's going to bring loss, and let me mention this, eternal loss to you, even if you go to heaven.

I feel sorry for the Christians whose only aim in life is to go to heaven. In fact, I seriously question whether such people are even born again. Shall I surprise you by saying that from the time I was born again, nearly 50 years ago, I've never been interested in going to heaven.

Never. Not when I was converted, and never in all these 50 years, and I'm in no hurry to go there either, because I see that's not my goal. Never. I don't, I'm not taken up with these songs of mansions of there and streets of gold and all that.

To me, heaven is that Jesus is there. I want to be with him, and before I get there, I want to be saved from all the sin that I inherited from Adam. That's what I'm more interested in than I'm going to heaven, and that's why my life's become very happy.

I see a lot of people who are waiting to go to heaven. They're pretty miserable and gloomy. They're waiting to go to heaven. That's not why we're saved. There is an inheritance for you, my brother, sister.

Are you a son or a daughter of God? If you're not born again, of course, forget it. Then you need to be born again first. There is an inheritance written in God's will for his sons and his daughters. You know, when a father, before he dies, he writes a will, not for every Tom, Dick, and Harry in town, but for his sons and his daughters.

So here is what God has willed for his sons and his daughters, which was not available before the day of Pentecost because nobody was a son or a daughter of God. Do you know that Abraham was not a son of God?

He was a friend of God, the Bible says. Not David, not even Daniel, not even John the Baptist. And even on the day before Jesus went to the cross, before he died on the cross, the day before, the night before, less than 24 hours before he died, he told his disciples in John 15, till now you have been my servants, but now I call you my friends.

They were still not his brothers, no. They were his friends. In a general way, but once before when somebody asked him, told him his mother is waiting outside, who's my mother and my brothers? He said, these who hear the word of God and do it.

He said in a general way, but he never called his disciples his brothers, not even once. Because they were not his brothers. He was Lord and they were his servants. Then just before he went to the cross, he said, I give you a promotion.

I'll call you friends. That's great, when a servant becomes a friend. But three days later, when he rose up from the dead, that was the greatest promotion of all. And he told Mary Magdalene at the tomb, go and tell my brothers.

See what happened? Go and tell my brothers that I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. Suddenly something had happened. Now they had become his brothers and sisters and so they'd become sons and daughters of God, which nobody from the time of Abel right up until the day of Pentecost could be.

That's why it says in the Old Covenant, even though they experienced wonderful things, the last verse of Hebrews 11 says God has provided something better for us. So what has God said for his sons and daughters?

They shall prophesy. That's my inheritance. And just in case we miss it, he goes on to say, even my bondservants, men and women, just in case you miss out on that emphasis, sons and daughters, men and women, I will pour out my spirit and once again they shall prophesy.

Prophecy Greater Than Miracles

We're living in a day when a lot of people want to do miracles. If God were to appear to you in the middle of the night like he appeared to Solomon and said to you, out of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which one do you want?

My guess is that 99 of believers would say, give me the gift of miracles or healing. I'm absolutely sure. What would you say? I know what I'll say. I'll say, Lord give me the gift of prophecy. You will discover in the final day when Christ comes back that a million times more were accomplished, was accomplished through the gift of prophecy than through healings and miracles.

You know how many miracles Jesus did? And at the end of it all, you know what they shouted? Crucify him! Do you think among those who shouted crucify him, nobody was healed? I'm sure some of those people who shouted crucify him were people who were healed but experienced miracles.

Do you know that Jesus did not defeat Satan by the miracles he did? It was when he died on the cross that Satan was defeated. The greatest gift that God has given to the church in our day is the gift of prophecy and I'll explain in a moment what that means.

But the first thing I want to say is if you're a son or a daughter, that's your inheritance. Now you can let the devil take your inheritance if you want, that's up to you. But I'm not gonna let the devil take my inheritance.

I see lots of Christians around me who just let the devil take their inheritance. Go ahead. You who would fight for earthly property, you who will not allow a neighbor to encroach two feet into your compound, how much you allow the devil to take away what God wants you to have.

And don't say you're a woman. On my men, both men and women, sons and daughters, they shall prophesy and that is the way that the church is going to fulfill its ministry until verse 19, the day and 20 when the sun will be turned to darkness and the great and terrible day of the Lord will come.

So right from the time the Holy Spirit's poured out, right up until the time of the second coming of Christ, the church is supposed to be prophesying. Now this was another thing which is not possible in the Old Testament.

Under the Old Covenant, occasionally a prophet would arise. I mean there were hundreds of false prophets who studied in the Bible schools of those days and got their certificates and called themselves prophets.

But the true prophets of God in the Old Testament never came from a Bible school. There's never a prophet in the history of humanity who ever came from a Bible school. Not in the Old Testament, not in the New Testament.

They lived before God and came forth from God's presence filled with the Holy Spirit, anointed with the gift of prophecy from Him. And so these prophets would arise. Enoch was a prophet. You read about his prophesying in the book of Jude.

Enoch and the Prophecy of the Second Coming

And you know what he prophesied? He prophesied about the second coming of Christ, the first person in the Old Testament who is a prophet. Turn for a moment to the book of Jude, the last second last book of the Bible.

It says in the book of Jude, towards the end of that letter, small letter, it says in verse 14, Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied. He was a prophet and the first prophet never did any miracles.

The first prophet in the Old Testament never did miracles. What did he do? He walked with God. That's a lesson for us. The greatest gift that we need immediately before the second coming of Christ, my brothers and sisters, is the gift of prophecy which all of us must have because it's our birthright, it's our inheritance.

Enoch prophesied. He prophesied saying the Lord came with many thousands of his saints. That's not the first coming of Christ. First coming he came in a cow shed. There were no saints there when he came.

It's talking about his second coming. Enoch spoke about the second coming of Christ when Christ hadn't even come the first time. The first prophecy in the Bible was by Enoch. He prophesied about the second coming of Christ.

Imagine a man who lived more than 4 ,000 years ago, 4 ,500 or something years ago. What was he looking forward? He was looking forward to the second coming of Christ. Oh the Lord is going to come with thousands of saints.

Here are people who are living just a few days before the second coming of Christ and they're not prophesying about it. Isn't that a shame? And he said he's going to come to execute judgment. Oh he was a prophet who spoke against sin.

He didn't do miracles but he spoke against sin to convict all ungodly people of their ungodly actions and deeds and also the things which they have done in an ungodly way and their ungodly speech. It's our actions and our speech that's going to be judged and the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken.

Yeah he spoke against sin. That was his prophecy. He warned people that God would judge sin. Be ready the Lord will come and he's going to judge sin so turn from sin and Noah was another man like that.

Noah, Righteousness, and Judgment

Noah never saw Enoch. Jesus said the last days would be like the days of Noah which means you know you read in Genesis 6 that there's a tremendous amount of sexual evil and tremendous amount of violence in the days of Noah.

Men were evil. It says all the thoughts of their mind was evil. That's how it was in the days of Noah. So and we know around us today the last days are exactly like that. I remember a time when I was much younger when believers would never go to a cinema theater, would not watch movies.

But it's all different today. The filthy movies that believers see. I tell you we are in the days of Noah. There's no doubt about it. And it's infiltrated people who think they are born again. It doesn't seem to disturb them.

Those images that they see that provoke them to lust and that they remember later on months after they have finished seeing the movie. It comes back to their mind in their dreams. And you think they'll stop?

No. They go and see and watch another one. Enoch spoke about such people who didn't have any fear of God, who didn't have any interest in holiness. And Noah spoke about such warned them but nobody listened.

In Noah's day nobody listened to what he said. But he saved his family and they're going to be very few who are saved. I'll tell you that. Just make sure you saved everyone in your own family. Take that seriously.

Noah took it seriously. I've got three sons, three daughters-in-law. They must all be saved. And I don't think they were just saved automatically. He must have really prophesied to them, shared God's Word with them.

I believe the reason why we have so many believers today whose children are not born again, who are on their way to hell, who are marrying people who are also unbelievers is because the parents have not taken their responsibilities seriously.

We're in the days of Noah. They're like Lot who couldn't care less. They are busy making money. And so the daughters go and marry some unbelievers and the wife is interested in the things of Sodom. Those are the days we're living in.

You can be like Lot or you can be like Noah. The Lord said there'll be two types of people in the last days. The last days will be like the days of Lot and the last days will be like the days of Noah.

Some people will be like Noah and some people will be like Lot. Some people will be like Noah who got everyone in their family saved. And some people will be like Lot who God loses his wife and loses daughters and loses sons-in-law, loses everyone.

These are warnings you got to take seriously. But prophecy. Noah prophesied. He was a preacher of righteousness the Bible says. Let me show you that verse. It says about Noah in Hebrews in chapter 11, by faith Noah being warned by God prepared an ark by which he condemned the world.

He lived that life and then we are told in 2nd Peter and chapter 2 that he was a preacher of righteousness. In verse 5 2nd Peter 2 5. Noah a preacher of righteousness when God brought a flood of judgment of the ungodly.

So they prophesied in relation to the judgment is coming. That's what Noah said. What did Enoch say? Judgment is coming. Turn from your sin. What Noah preached it's called here a preacher of righteousness.

Noah never did any miracles but he prophesied. He prophesied means he preached righteousness. He preached about the coming judgment. That's what prophecy is. That's what we are supposed to do. That's what we are supposed to proclaim.

Righteousness. To turn people to God. Now the reason why we look at them is because that's what our ministry is supposed to be. Every brother and sister. In those days it was one man Enoch. One man Noah and through the years there's been you know one Elijah, one John the Baptist, one Jeremiah.

To be one lone man and then there'd be a hundred years before another prophet turned up. But it's all gonna be different after the day of Pentecost. Where if 3 ,000 people were born again 3 ,000 people were to be baptized in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Nobody was to be left out. It's not that 3 ,000 were born again and about 50 of them got baptized in the Holy Spirit. That was never God's will. If 3 ,000 were saved on the day of Pentecost 3 ,000 had to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

That's how God wanted in a church. If there are a hundred people in a church who are born again then all hundred must be baptized in the Holy Spirit and all hundred must prophesy. Prophesy doesn't necessarily mean you got to stand up in a pulpit.

That may be a special gift to be a prophet or an apostle teacher which God gives to some people mostly men. But prophesying men and women I want to encourage you my brothers and sisters to take that seriously.

Don't let a sense of shyness and being reserved and all that type of thing hinder you from taking hold of your inheritance. So this is the thing that's important. Now I want to explain what prophecy is in the New Testament.

New Testament Prophecy: Repentance and Edification

In the Old Testament if you read that many people their understanding of prophecy comes from the dictionary. Now I've said many times that if you get the definition of a word from the dictionary a biblical word you may get it wrong.

For example if you want to understand humility you go to the dictionary you'll get the wrong definition. Jesus said learn from me for I am humble. My dictionary is Jesus. It's not Oxford dictionary or Chambers dictionary.

It's Jesus. He's the dictionary and if I want to understand what humility is I don't have to go to a dictionary. I look at Jesus. So when you want to understand prophecy you got to go to the Bible and if you read the if you see the Old Testament and in the dictionary the earthly dictionary definition of prophecy is foretelling the future.

Prophesy means you say this is going to happen that's going to happen and the multitudes of false prophets like this even in Christendom today particularly in Pentecostal charismatic circles who prophesied this that and the other about other people and collect their fees deceive people.

That's not what prophecy is about. In the Old Testament there were a few prophets who prophesied about the future but do you know the greatest prophet of all in the Old Testament? Who was the greatest prophet up to the time of Christ?

Who was it? John the Baptist. Jesus said that. He said he's the greatest prophet that's ever been in the history of mankind. In fact he said in Matthew chapter 11 he was not only the greatest prophet he was the greatest human being.

He was the verse Matthew chapter 11 there is no one who is arisen born of women or Matthew 11 11 until today until the time of Jesus other than John the Baptist. He was the greatest prophet of all and what was significant about him he preached repentance.

He was a prophet of repentance and you know there another thing about John the Baptist John chapter 10 and verse 41. I don't know whether you know this. John chapter 10 verse 41 the last part it says John did not do any miracles but whatever he said about Jesus was true.

Listen to this John the greatest prophet from the time of Adam till Christ never did a single miracle but everything he said about Jesus was true. So what do we learn? The greatest prophets at the beginning of the Old Testament Enoch and Noah they never did any miracles but they proclaimed holiness they preached righteousness and prepared people to be ready to meet with God to escape the judgment.

We saw that in Enoch's prophecy we saw that in Noah preaching for 120 years but nobody listened to hardly anybody listened to Enoch and hardly anybody listened to Noah it's outside his own family. When you hear of men like this what do you find in your heart?

I remember when I read as a young man and I read about John the Baptist I said Lord this is the type of person you need in the last days. You find a challenge comes up in your heart like that when you read of these men they never did a single miracle.

John never healed a sick person he never opened a blind eye he didn't even heal a man of a headache but everything he said about Jesus was true. He preached repentance. Listen to this this was his message.

Let me show it to you in Luke's gospel chapter 3 John came verse chapter 3 verse 3. Luke chapter 3 verse 3 John came preaching a baptism of repentance. Now why is John the Baptist a great example for us.

I told you Enoch is a great example for us in these days because he preached about the second coming of Christ. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He's a great example for us because he preached about a coming judgment and the ark would be the only way to be saved.

And the ark is a picture of Christ in the church. And Jesus said the last days would be like the days of Noah. That's why Noah is an example. Why is John the Baptist an example. I mentioned to Enoch and Noah and they've got some connection with the last days.

John the Baptist he prepared people for the coming of Christ. And we've got to prepare people for the coming of Christ. That's why he's an example for us. He prepared people for the first coming. We got to prepare people for the second coming.

Today the John the Baptist is not one person. It's the whole body of Christ the whole church every brother and sister here I tell you in the name of Jesus if you're a son or a daughter of God in the times in which we live you need the spirit of John the Baptist.

And if you haven't got it seek God for it. It says here in Luke chapter 3 that he came to all the district round Jordan. Luke 3 verse 3 preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. His message was repent turn around 180 degrees turn from sin.

That's just like Enoch just like Noah. So the greatest prophets right at the beginning of the Old Testament and the last one at the end of the Old Testament they never did any miracles. Why is it. I mean our human logic says listen if you do a few miracles don't you think thousands will get converted after all the thousands of miracles that Jesus did.

How many people were waiting for the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost 120 the greatest preacher that ever walked on this earth Jesus Christ who did the maximum number of miracles. Amazing miracles.

Walking on the water turning water into wine and raising people who are dead for three days and feeding 10 ,000 people at five loaves of fish is imagine if a man who did all this today and thousands are healed everybody in a meeting gets healed.

Jesus healing was not like a 1 getting healed or somebody who was partially deaf. Here's a little more on. No no no no no they were absolute miracles. And at the end of it all how many people turned away.

It turned to turn to the Lord. You know when 10 lepers were healed once only one of them came back even to give thanks and they're not interested in anything further. It's like that today a lot of people are healed.

That's all they get their healing and they go on. But prophecy that's what turns people. God has decided to save people through the foolishness of preaching and not through miracles. And that's why the greatest prophets that we see in the Old Testament they never did miracles.

But they prophesied. They preached repentance. And all the great prophets in the Old Testament they never did any miracles. Jeremiah he didn't do any miracles. Habakkuk may whom Haggai Zechariah Malachi they didn't do miracles.

They preached holiness. They preached holiness. We mustn't forget that they preached to Israel about their sin to turn them from sin. Now in the last days your sons and daughters will prophesy. It says here that he preached this repentance as it is written verse 4 in the book of Isaiah the Prophet the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

That's one of the things about these Old Testament prophets. They were not interested in people knowing them. They couldn't care less whether you even knew their name. They were a voice a voice from God.

Yeah. And if you ever heard one of those Old Testament prophets you'd remember them all your life. You'd never forget it. Think of it my brothers and sisters that you and I can be like that that people who come across us they may oppose us they may criticize us but they'll never forget us.

I believe that God's Spirit when it's poured out upon you. The most important requirement for you to be ready for the coming of Christ is to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire and to remain filled with the Holy Spirit.

And to prophesy to share the word so that you can prepare people for the coming of Christ. Please take it seriously. And what shall we say. This is our message today also make ready the way of the Lord.

Verse 4. Make your path straight. You crooked people all type. Get rid of the crookedness from your life. There's no time to be depressed. Every valley has got to be lifted up. There's no time to be proud.

Every mountain has to be brought low. All the crooked is going to become be made straight. And all the roughness in your life has to be removed and made smooth. And then Christ will come. Then we'll be ready for the coming of the Lord.

That is what we are to preach today. I want to spend all my days only being in a church where that message is preached. Because then I know I will be ready for the coming of Christ. I'll tell you honestly I'm not interested in being in a church that's doing miracles and allowing people to live in sin.

I'm not interested one bit. I want to be in the company of Enoch and Noah and John the Baptist. When I read of these men something stirs in my heart. Does it stir in your heart. As I told you you know if you read back in the Old Testament it's why sometimes it's good to see read carefully.

Enoch's Walk with God and the Warning of Judgment

It says in Genesis chapter 5 about Enoch that I did a little calculation here once it says Enoch was 65 years old. Verse 21 Genesis 5 21. And then he got a little child called Methuselah. And the meaning of the word Methuselah I believe it was a 65 years.

Enoch was not a religious man. He was just like many of us in our unconverted days ungodly. But something happened when his little son was born he got a revelation from God. Do you know that Enoch was the first person who got a revelation from God about the coming flood.

It was not Noah by the way he didn't know exactly what it would be. But God said to him name your son Methuselah which means when he dies the judgment will come. When he dies it'll come. And if you calculate there it was.

Methuselah lived for 969 years. He was the longest living human being ever in the history of man showing that God is very reluctant to judge man. There's a message in the length of his life. God didn't kill him off in 30 years.

When he dies the judgment will come. And God waits and waits and waits and waits and waits allows him to live longer than any other human being to teach us that he is long suffering. But in the year in which Methuselah died a flood came.

You can calculate that and see Noah was born when Methuselah was 369 years old. And the flood came when Noah was 600 years old. And that's the year in Methuselah died. The Methuselah died and the floods came the rain came.

But Enoch didn't know that Enoch only knew this little baby that's born. As soon as it dies judgment will come. Now imagine if you have a baby and the Lord tells you when that baby dies that's the end of the world.

I tell you it'll really make your life pretty serious. You'll start walking with God immediately. That's exactly what happened to Enoch. That's what changed his life from that day. He walked with God.

Every time his child had a little fever he became serious said everything right. Because he knew the moment the child dies the judgment is going to come. And not only that every time he called him hey when you die judgment will come come here.

When he dies judgment will come come here. Imagine saying that so many times a day when he dies judgment will come. That's his name. He lived. Enoch lived in the reality the judgment was going to come and he walked with God.

And God told Noah that the flood is going to come. He never told him when it was going to come but he knew it was coming. How many of you know that this world is going to be wiped out just like Noah's day.