El Fin / The End
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Introduction
Introduction
Netflix is a place you can get lost for hours and hours.
You start watching a series and all of a sudden you find yourself hooked on the story.
You finish one episode on a real cliffhanger, it’s 11:00pm, you have to go to work tomorrow but you cannot go to sleep without knowing how things will end.
There’s something about us humans that demands resolution, we want there to be some kind of final ending where things are finally put in order - good triumphs over evil, evil doers receive their just punishment, etc.
The story of God’s creation follows a very specific plot line:
God created the heavens and the earth. There was no sin.
Adam and Eve sinned against God. This act of cosmic treason introduced pain, illness, and death into the world.
God gave a promise to our first parents that one day a redeemer would be born and would crush the serpent’s head.
God chooses Abram, out of all the people on earth, so that his descendents would be known as God’s chosen people.
Several thousand years later, in the little town of Bethlehem, the messiah would be born of a woman fulfilling that which was prophesied by God’s messengers to Israel.
Jesus Christ would live approximately 33 years. One of his own disciples would be the traitor that would deliver him to the jewish and roman authorities, where he would be tried and condemned to death.
Jesus Christ would be crucified in our place. He lived a perfect life but died in our place taking the punishment for our sin upon him.
Jesus Christ would rise from the dead after being in the tomb three days. He would appear to his disciples and ascend to the heavens where he is seated at the right hand of the Father.
We are very familiar with these pieces of the story. However, we must understand that there will eventually be an end, a final episode, a final event that will bring the story of creation to its final conclusion. Today we will consider:
Joel’s prophecy
Peter’s sermon
When will the end come?
I. La profecía de Joel / Joel’s prophecy
I. La profecía de Joel / Joel’s prophecy
The prophet Joel speaks a glorious prophecy that focuses upon, what at first glance, seems to be a single event. However, we will see that this prophecy is really two events.
The first event is prophesied in
The second event is prophesied in
- The pouring out of God’s Spirit.
“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.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
»Después de esto,
derramaré mi Espíritu sobre todo el género humano.
Los hijos y las hijas de ustedes profetizarán,
tendrán sueños los ancianos
y visiones los jóvenes.
En esos días derramaré mi Espíritu
aun sobre los siervos y las siervas.
Joel prophesies that there would come a day when God’s Spirit would be poured out over all of humanity.
Why is this important?
In the past, God’s Spirit had come upon his servant for specific purposes. God’s Spirit would come upon Samson at specific points in time. God’s Spirit would come upon the kings of Israel to fulfill a certain mission from God.
But now, God promises a time in history where his Spirit would be poured out and not just temporarily.
God’s Spirit had been given temporarily to select individuals - kings, prophets, priests, etc. However, now God’s Spirit would be poured out upon:
People of different ages: sons and daughters, old and young men.
People of different genders: men and women.
People of different socioeconomic status: even upon servants.
God would pour out his Spirit indiscriminately upon all flesh.
God’s Spirit would be poured out for specific purposes - prophesy, dreams, and visions.
God’s Spirit would not be poured out simply for the sake of being poured out but so that God’s people would be channels of God’s revelation.
God’s Spirit would come upon all of God’s people so that they would proclaim God’s message to his people.
What was God teaching?
There would come a day when God’s Spirit would be given without measure. He would not sprinkle his Spirit upon his people. It would be a generous/unlimited outpouring of his Spirit upon his people.
There would come a day when God’s Spirit would come upon all who are called God’s children and not only upon a select few.
God’s Spirit would come upon his people for the purpose receiving God’s message.
- The signs of the end
Joel then goes on to prophesy focusing upon the end, the final episode, the conclusion of all creation.
I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
En el cielo y en la tierra mostraré prodigios:
sangre, fuego y columnas de humo.
El sol se convertirá en tinieblas
y la luna en sangre
antes que llegue el día del Señor,
día grande y terrible.
I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
We know this is speaking about the end because in verse 31 Joel tells us these events will happen before the “day of the Lord”.
The day of the Lord is God’s final judgement upon the earth.
The day of the Lord refers to the final episode in humanity’s history.
The day of the Lord, God’s final judgement upon the earth, will be preceded by great and mighty signs in the heavens and earth:
Blood, fire, and smoke - We can go back into the Old Testament and see how blood, fire, and smoke is usually present during the times that God poured out his judgement upon certain people.
The sun will become darkness. The moon will become red as blood. These will be signs that will be seen by the entire world that will be alive during the end.
These events will signal that Jesus Christ is about to return to the earth to judge humanity and bring about the end.
A similar prophesy is repeated by the Lord Jesus during his earthly ministry:
Mark 2:24-
The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
“But in those days, following that distress,
“ ‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
“At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
»Pero en aquellos días, después de esa tribulación,
»“se oscurecerá el sol
y no brillará más la luna;
las estrellas caerán del cielo
y los cuerpos celestes serán sacudidos”.
»Verán entonces al Hijo del hombre venir en las nubes con gran poder y gloria.
Notice the similarity with Joel’s prophecy!
Both mention these terrifying cosmic signs.
Both mention the end.
Mark’s prophecy specifically speaks about the coming of the Son of Man.
Jesus Christ will return to earth and judge humanity.
The Apostles Creed says that Jesus Christ will come to judge the living and the dead.
There will come a day when there will be utter chaos upon the earth. People will want to die due to the outpouring of God’s judgements upon earth and yet death will flee from them.
It will be a dreadful day where all who have rejected God’s gospel will suffer the consequences of their rebellion against the Lord.
No one will be able to hide from Him who comes to judge humanity.
II. El sermón de Pedro / Peter’s sermon
II. El sermón de Pedro / Peter’s sermon
Joel’s prophecy is quoted by Peter in the book of Acts - .
records the coming of God’s Spirit upon 120 believers in Jerusalem.
120 believers were gathered in an upper room waiting upon God for the coming of God’s Spirit.
Jesus, before ascending to heaven, had told his disciples to gather and wait for the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy when God’s Spirit and power would come upon them.
One day, as the disciples were praying to God, there came a mighty rushing wind which filled the place where they were gathered and they began to speak in other languages declaring the wonders of God.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Cuando llegó el día de Pentecostés, estaban todos juntos en el mismo lugar. De repente, vino del cielo un ruido como el de una violenta ráfaga de viento y llenó toda la casa donde estaban reunidos. Se les aparecieron entonces unas lenguas como de fuego que se repartieron y se posaron sobre cada uno de ellos. Todos fueron llenos del Espíritu Santo y comenzaron a hablar en diferentes lenguas, según el Espíritu les concedía expresarse.
God’s Spirit had been poured out upon men, women, children, servants, old, and young.
They were declaring God’s wonders in unknown human languages.
They were being filled with God’s Spirit and power to declare God’s message to all humanity.
People were making fun of the disciples saying they were drunk. Peter stands up and says that the disciples were not drunk but that this was a fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy.
These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
Éstos no están borrachos, como suponen ustedes. ¡Apenas son las nueve de la mañana! En realidad lo que pasa es lo que anunció el profeta Joel:
We can see the fulfillment of the pouring out of God’s Spirit.
This means that all those who have believed in the Gospel are filled with God’s Spirit.
We are indwelt by the Spirit of God the moment that we believe in the Gospel.
God’s Spirit lives within us.
However, notice that there were no signs in the heavens and earth. The signs of blood, fire and smoke were absent in .
This means that these signs will be fulfilled at a future point in time.
III. ¿Cuándo será el fin? / When will the end come?
III. ¿Cuándo será el fin? / When will the end come?
The question then is when will we see the end?
When will the entire planet experience these terrifying signs of God’s judgement?
When will Jesus Christ return to judge the earth?
When are the last days?
Many people have made predictions about the end of the earth.
Prior to 1985 there was a book - 85 reasons why Jesus will return in 85.
A few years ago a man named Harold Camping said Jesus would return May 19, 2011. After Jesus did not return on that date he changed his prediction and said Jesus would return on October 21, 2011.
There have been many others throughout history that have attempted to predict the timing of the last days.
However, according to Peter and Joel the concept of the last days is much easier to comprehend.
Notice what Peter says:
“ ‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
»“Sucederá que en los últimos días—dice Dios—,
derramaré mi Espíritu sobre todo el género humano.
Los hijos y las hijas de ustedes profetizarán,
tendrán visiones los jóvenes
y sueños los ancianos.
When would God’s Spirit be poured out? In the last days!
The Spirit of God was poured out 2,000 years ago - on that very special day when 120 believers were gathered in that upper room as they prayed and waited upon the Lord.
This means that we are living in the last days.
The last days started on that day.
It is as if the pouring out of God’s Spirit started the time clock counting towards the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This means that the Lord Jesus Christ could return any day.
This means that the Lord Jesus Christ could begin pouring out his judgement upon humanity at any moment.
The believer’s hope is that Jesus Christ will return soon and his people will be caught up in the air with him.
However, the unbeliever’s future terror is that the same Jesus Christ that came to give up his life upon the cross is the same Jesus Christ that will pour out his judgement upon humanity.
How can men and women escape the end time judgement? Both Peter and Joel give us the answer:
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Y todo el que invoque el nombre del Señor
será salvo.”
If men and women simply humble themselves and call upon the name of the Lord, they will be saved!