Clearly, the Old Testament saints had a degree of the Holy Spirit’s work in them; otherwise they would have not exercised faith in God. We can say they were regenerated as we are. But not all received the infilling of the Spirit. Joel was speaking of a day when all saints would have a measure of the Spirit poured out upon them. This “outpouring of the Holy Spirit” is another term for the infilling of the Spirit, as is the term “baptism into the Spirit.”

Again these terms are defined as the Holy Spirit coming upon a person in greater measure than just indwelling them. It is an experiencing of the power of the Holy Spirit in an extraordinary way. In the Old Testament, this outpouring of the Spirit did not happen for all believers. In fact, only a few experienced it. It happened only on certain individuals that God ordained for special mediatorial roles such as prophets, judges, and kings.

The Old Covenant was established on a system of mediation, as is the New Covenant. However, unlike the New Covenant, which has only one mediator, Christ the Lord, the Old Covenant had several. The mediators were prophets, priests, and kings.

It was the responsibility of the mediators to teach the people the law and ways of God. However, not all were godly men, so only those who were faithful mediators experienced this help of the Holy Spirit. When Israel had godly men who were filled with the Spirit, Israel followed the Lord and was blessed. But when the leaders were ungodly, the people followed in their footsteps and Israel was cursed. As went the mediators, so went the people. That is why Moses was not envious of those men who were prophesying. He truly meant when he said, “Would God that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29).