Pouring

“I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind.” Joel 2: 28

“And I will pour out … the Spirit of grace and of supplication.” Zechariah 12: 10

“I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel.” Ezekiel 39: 29

Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on High. Isaiah 32: 15

I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring. Isaiah 44: 3

Father God started promising the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon us long, long ago. Here are some quotes from the Old Testament where God made this promise to us. The people of the Old Testament did not really know a lot about the Holy Spirit. In fact, there are only about twenty-nine references to Him in the Old Testament. Of these twenty-nine, a fair number of them dealt with the day that God would pour out His Spirit on all mankind. Previously, the Spirit would come upon someone and he or she would enjoy anointed success from the Lord or they would prophesy in the Lord’s name.

But God was looking forward into the future to a time when He would pour out His Spirit upon all of us and the Spirit would stay with us rather than just resting with us for a short time. He knew when this pouring out would occur for it was fixed in time. Father promised to send us His son and He did. He also promised to send to us the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, and God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23: 19).

The Promise of the Spirit

Joel 2: 28 – 29

It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

This is the leading Old Testament verse which told about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Here God promises to, not only send the Spirit, but to pour out the Spirit on all humanity, even those of no rank or position. Even the servants and those of the lowliest station are entitled to this special gift from God.

There is so much rich text and meaning in this verse that we could mine from it for a week. However, there is one word in it that I want to bring to your attention. It is the word “pour.” God has promised not a trickle, not a drip but rather a continuous pouring out of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is represented in Scripture as a river or flowing waters. John 7: 37 – 39 is a good example of this, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit.’” The flowing river of living water is the Holy Spirit. Thus, it is apropos that God should pour out this living water upon us.”

The anointing in the Holy Spirit is reflective of the Old Testament anointing which was accompanied by oil being poured over the anointed. Again, this spiritual gifting is represented by a pouring out.
The Old Testament saints did not know the Spirit as the poured out one as New Testament believers do. They knew him as a promise. In fact, few people knew anything about him other than him being a promise from God. Interestingly, of the 248 or so scriptures about the Holy Spirit, only about 44 are from the Old Testament. However, God was speaking to His prophets about this pouring out. It may interest you to discover that there are six more Old Testament scriptures which specifically address the pouring out of the Holy Spirit (See list below).

The significance of this pouring is distinguishable from a onetime gift or offering. God doesn’t just give us the Spirit one time. He continually pours out to those who continually seek Him. Don’t forget too, that we can seek more of the Spirit just as we seek the Father because they are both God.

Every person has a measure of the Spirit of God. When God breathed life into us, a piece of His Spirit was deposited within us. We are able to receive much more than that now, however. The Spirit is no longer a promise. He has been poured out. What the Old Testament prophets foretold, we now behold. The initial pouring out is described in Acts 2: 1 – 4, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” This is the fulfillment of that which was promised in Joel 2: 28 -29. Everyone who wishes can now be filled by the never ending pouring out. It can be compared to a water fall. The water continually pours over and onto anyone who chooses to stand in the flow. You can stay in that flow just as long as you wish. It is God’s delight to give you more and more. He is pouring. Are you receiving?

See Also: Isaiah 32: 15, Isaiah 44: 3, Ezekiel 36: 27, Ezekiel 39: 29, Proverb 1: 23, Zechariah 12: 10).

Seek and Find

Ezekiel 39: 29

“And I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,” declares the Lord.

Wow! You have God’s promise that He will show you His face. Isn’t that what He says? As you think on this verse, don’t get hung up on the language “the house of Israel” because we have seen in Joel 2: 28 that God said he was going to pour out His Spirit on all mankind. Besides, if you want to know the whole truth, you have been adopted into the family of Abraham so this definitely applies to you.

I really love how God had this all planned and how He was anticipating the pouring out of His Spirit. I can almost sense His eager anticipation. The sending of the Holy Spirit really was a huge deal. I often think that the modern church does not understand what a major event this really was. I have said it before – I believe we are living in the age of the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament was mostly about Yahweh, God the Father. It looked forward to the coming of the Messiah and foretold that happy event. The New Testament is mostly about Jesus and the effect of His coming. Jesus foretells of the coming of another. He is looking forward and telling us of the new age to come. In fact he said, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you but if I go, I will send Him to you (John 16: 7). I can well imagine myself disagreeing with Jesus if he told me it was to my advantage that he go away. None the less, Jesus understood these things and knew the huge effect sending the Holy Spirit into the world would and could have.

This, then, is the age of the Holy Spirit. There is so little we know about him, so much we can learn. We don’t teach, preach or talk about him nearly as much as we should and there is such huge revelation just awaiting those who will seek it. God said He wouldn’t have to hide His face from us anymore because of the poured out Spirit. How huge is that? It is bigger than I can teach because I certainly have not grasped the enormity of God’s statement and the truths behind it.

I want to encourage you to seek the Spirit of God. He is the third person of the trinity so he is God. You can pray to him, you should talk to him. Invite him to fill your home and your body. Invite him to permeate your workplace. Let’s all invite him to be with us and to teach us. There is a great awakening, a mammoth revelation just waiting for us. Seek and find.