Acts 2.14-21. Peter Explains the Meaning of the Commotion at Pentecost
Jesus had told his disciples in advance, that when Holy Spirit came, he would make Christ known. The gifts of the Spirit are for just that purpose. Peter preaches Christ to the crowd, using Spirit-supplied speaking gifts to make him known. Peter’s message is as much a miraculous phenomenon as the fire, wind and tongues. In fact, the word Peter speaks accomplishes more than those three. The fire, wind and tongues caused the people to say, “What IS that!” But the preached Word cuts them to the heart and results in mass conversion.
The 12 disciples stand together and Peter speaks for them all. Like the Spirit-revived army of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones (Ez 37) this team stands and steps forward - called and equipped by Jesus; ready to continue his work in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Peter goes to the Scriptures for his explanation of what his audience had witnessed. Peter says that Joel’s prophecy explains these events. This tells us that it is God who acts and then he helps us to talk about it from the Bible. Keeping in step with the Spirit includes speaking up to explain what God is doing. God initiates the actions; they are not stirred up with human energy. He prompts, ignites and sends; then he enables us to give reasons, explanations and exhortations from the Bible to make his purpose clear.
Peter points out that Joel’s prophecy describes the ‘last days’. It puts brackets around the last days: the first bracket that announces the opening of the last days is the pouring out of the Spirit (17,18). The closing bracket, describing the end of the age, is the upheavals in nature (19,20). And what occupies the period between is God’s purpose for that time, which is to gather into his kingdom all who will call on the name of the Lord (21).
Joel announced that God would pour out his Spirit on all kinds of people in the last days and Peter is chiming in to assert that those last days have arrived with that day of Pentecost. From this we can work out that the last days are not just a couple of literal days before the end of history; rather the term refers to a period of time, an epoch. The period between Jesus’ first and second comings is the ‘last days’. It is variously referred to as the Church Period, the Gospel Age, or the Age of Grace. It is the time when the gospel goes out to every corner of the world over a period of centuries. So far that period has extended for 30 or so generations (from around 34AD to 2011AD). Other passages in the New Testament confirm that these are the last days: Hebrews 1.1,2; 1 Peter 1.20; 1 Cor 10.11.
You and I live in the last days. The Spirit has been given and our task is the populating of God’s Kingdom by witnessing to the good news that all who call on the name of the Lord may be saved. The book of Acts shows how this work proceeds from place to place, from community to community and from individual to individual. Planting and growing churches is clearly the strategy.
Joel’s prophecy announced that there is no limit to the kinds of people who may receive the Holy Spirit (V17,18) The Spirit is poured out on all peoples.
- Men and women will prophesy (that is, speak the messages of God)
- Youths will see visions.
- The elderly will dream dreams.
- Even those with menial jobs in the world’s eyes (servants) God owns has his, and they too will prophesy.
This describes a body of people that cuts right across the categories that the world hardens into. The Spirit breaks down those walls. These people are inundated with the works, the mind and the character of Christ.
According to Joel’s prophecy, these centuries of outpouring, generation upon generation, nation upon nation, will culminate in the shaking of nature itself:
- Wonders will be shown in the heavens.
- Signs will be given on earth.
- Those signs will include blood, fire and smoke, the sun darkened, the moon reddened.
- This describes wars (blood), destruction and upheavals in nature.
- All this will be the precursor to a great and magnificent day.
This describes a chain of events with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit as the start of it all. The Pentecost event is the beginning of the ‘Last Days’. Human history is accelerating towards its conclusion, as decreed by God. A calamity is coming for those who remain on the wrong side of God’s judgements.
2 Timothy 3.1-3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
Luke 21.9-11 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.” Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
But these are great days! These are the days of the good news, the days of building the church, the days when the church expands against the very gates of hell and flattens them to release captives into the kingdom of God. (Matthew 16.18; Mark 3.27). It is a tremendous privilege to live in these times.
The book of Acts introduces us to the danger, challenge, excitement and victory as the church is built. It requires sacrifice and perseverance, and the Holy Spirit is equal to the task!
Matthew 24:9–14 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
John the Baptist had announced the arrival of the Kingdom of God and Jesus confirmed that it had arrived with him. It was no longer hidden and it continues to assert itself and expand during the gospel age until it edges out, then throws down and grinds into fine dust the kingdoms of this world inspired by Satan. (Daniel 2.44,45)
The promise of what was to come during the gospel age is disclosed at the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is available for people of all classes, races, gender and age. And the primary evidence of the Spirit’s presence will be prophecy – that is, people of all kinds speaking God’s messages.
The strongest evidence of God’s work going ahead is people speaking God’s word. The church that is rich with people at all ages and stages talking about the Bible and applying it to their lives, is the church where God is working. The prophecy of Joel offers other evidences too:
Vision. The Holy Spirit communicates the next opportunities and future developments to the church. Youth catch a vision of how to use up their lives for Christ’s service. Older people begin to see the scope of the kingdom of heaven. Perhaps the difference between visions and dreams in this context is that visions are action plans and dreams are perceptions about the final state (the fulfilment) of things.
Another evidence of the Spirit’s strong work in the church is that human hierarchies and categories that hold people in a fixed spot in society are obliterated. A community of equality develops where all may be involved in the expansion of the kingdom. Believers associate with the lowly. Everyone is reaching out to pull others up to a better place and safer understandings of the promises of God in Christ.
At the very end of the period of the Last Days, the kingdom of God will disturb the solar system itself. More is foretold about these astonishing events is found in Revelation. These events may punctuate the gospel age, but will intensify and usher in the return of Christ with massive upheavals. The great and magnificent day is when Christ returns in glory.
And throughout this period in which we are now living, all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved! Peter locates us in God’s great plan for humanity. This is the Church Age, the time to unleash the good news; the time for all believers to find their tongues and prophesy. It is the time to declare that the name of the Lord has been revealed. He is the Christ. There is rescue and a place in an eternal kingdom for those who call upon his name.
(Next, having laid out the explanation of the commotion caused by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, Peter goes on to announce that Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord on whom they must call).
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