Citing the prophet Joel, Peter says the Spirit of Pentecost is a Spirit of dreams and visions (Acts 2:17).

That’s the Spirit who directs the mission of the apostles. All through Acts, the Spirit prompts, nudges, initiates, steers, pilots, and shepherds the church.

By the Spirit, Peter uncovers the deception of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:3, 9). The Spirit tells Philip to run up to the Ethiopian eunuch’s chariot (Acts 8:29), then snatches him away to another place (Acts 8:39).

After Peter sees the vision of the sheet, the Spirit informs him that Cornelius’s servants are coming to see him (Acts 10:19), then instructs Peter to go with them to Caesarea (Acts 11:12).

By the Spirit, Agabus prophesies a famine (Acts 11:28), which inspires Gentiles in Antioch to send food to brothers in Jerusalem (Acts 11:29-30).

The Spirit says the saints at Antioch should set apart Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:2) and the Spirit sends them out (Acts 13:4).

The decision of the Council of Jerusalem comes from the Spirit (Acts 15:28). The Spirit prevents Paul from going to Asia (Acts 16:16) and sends him to Jerusalem instead (Acts 19:21).

From the Spirit, Ananias receives a vision telling him to receive Saul the persecutor (Acts 9:10, 12), and a vision of the Spirit tells Peter to receive Cornelius (Acts 10:17-18).

After his plan to revisit the churches of Asia is frustrated, Paul dreams of a man calling him to cross the Dardanelles to help the Macedonians (Acts 16:9-10). Paul’s night vision at Corinth assures him that Jesus has “many people in this city” (Acts 18:9-11).

So what do we – that is, we non-charismatics – do with all that?

I suggest: We recognize the church has always raced to keep pace with her Spirit-mad dreamers and wild visionaries – her Constantines and Charlemagnes, her Gregories and Patricks and Bonifaces, her Benedicts and Francises, her Thomases and Luthers and Wesleys and Hudson Taylors.

The church will always be pulled along in the wake of the Spirit. He’s still the Spirit of prophecy, who inspires dreams and visions in old and young, men and women. He’ll keep doing it until the end of the world.

– Peter Leithart