6.17.25 ~ Pour, Pour, Pour

Good morning!

On this 17th day of counting towards the first fruit of the wine, I have a significant twist waiting for you. Look at the following verses and see if you can recognize a specific theme :-)

Therefore he hath poured/sapak upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. (Isa. 42:25)

But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and played the harlot because of thy renown, and poured/sapak out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. (Eze. 16:25)

Neither did she leave her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured/sapak their whoredom upon her. (Eze. 23:8)

And it shall happen afterward: I will pour/sapak My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.  Your elders shall dream dreams, your young men see visions.  And even upon male slaves and slavegirls in those days will I pour My Spirit.  (Joel 2:28)

Did you see it? The majority of times that Scripture uses the word sapak/pour it's commonly used in its metaphorical and religious sense of only one thing: wrath!  Huh? Yeppers. When God uses this term it's, more than not, used as punishment. And if we look at the pictographic meaning of the word it carries just as much knee quaking action:  Sheen – the teeth that consume and destroy, Pey – the spoken word, and Kaf – to cover or to open.  For the individual that obeys, sapak is a word that opens the giving palm.  For the disobedient, sapak closes the fist, destroying one's life in judgment...I choose the open hand!

The question that enquiring minds want to know is, 'how did Joel use this word'? Is God about to pour out more judgment? Fortunately, Hebrew is a beautiful language of contranyms (a single word can mean opposite things, depending on the context). Joel takes a word about wrath and turns it into blessing. The calamity is overturned. God's goodness is revealed.

From previous messages through the prophets, we know His holiness; we know His heavy hand; we know His rod of judgment and/or discipline; we know the hard times He can bring to 'wake us up' and choose to turn back to Him. But now, all that painful action allows me to dream without fear. My kids can envision visions of God's calling and purpose in their lives. All of creation can sing His praise! All of His goodness brings about a wonderful change in men's hearts, lives and conditions. 

And I will pour/sapak upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zech. 12:10)

Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured/sapak out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. (Eze. 39:29)

When Peter gives His Pentecost sermon it's within the framework of blessing; where God comes with an open hand. Never forget the three most important words in studying your bible: 

Context
Context
Context

It took Peter ten years to learn how to apply Joel’s words to his own life (Acts 10).  You and I, nearly 2,000 years later, with all the GMO of God's Word, may take a little longer to arrive at the pouring out of all flesh. Peter thought this good news was only for the Jews of His day. He didn't realize that 'all flesh' included the Gentile people. On the flipside, many in today's religious world have reversed that mindset making the Jews the outsiders. 

In this reversal mindset, many Christins still view Sapak as a source of wrath for all those who haven’t come to their view of Jesus.  Maybe these individuals need, like Peter, their own rooftop experience too.  Maybe we could all use some 'tweaking' on our Joel 2:28, Acts 2:16-28 understanding :-)

Shalom!
Alan

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