I am trying to decide if I should break up Acts 2:14-41 into smaller sections as it is a very long piece. The fact that half of it is poetic seems to beg me to not do that. But it just seems like a very long piece to work through in the course of one week. In the ESV bible that I am using this section is entitled “Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost” which also begs me to leave it as one section. I guess time will tell eh? 🙂
I must apologize. Through busyness with other things, the start of life group, and not making this a priority in my life, my progress stalled for a bit.
In the meantime this section reads as such:
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
And the passage continues….
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,
“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
My Initial Thoughts
We left last week with some people expressing skepticism at what was occurring with the apostles. So Peter speaks up, giving explanation for what is going on. They aren’t drunk! He tend used the scriptures they were well familiar with to explain what was going on. He also went on to speak about who Christ was, and again, used scripture to prove his points.
A combination of busyness, the length of the passage feeling daunting, and not putting this first in my life has led to a delay in posting this. 🙂
Verses 14-21
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
So Peter took the leadership role, standing with the eleven and speaking out. He boldly addressed the scoffers saying listen up! The apostles were not drunkards (after all it was only the third hour of the day). And rather gives them the words of Joel to heed.
See these words from Joel 2
“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
There are some differences, but overall they are the same.
The prophetic
I have to admit to feeling a bit uncomfortable with this passage. Paul brings the past directly into the future saying these things will still happen. Young women and men prophesying, older men having dreams and young men seeing visions. It’s like… what do I DO with this?
I know from reading that sometimes Arab people come to faith because God talks to them and gives them visions and dreams. He shows them who he is in ways they can’t deny. Is that part of this? Is that part of how the Spirit moves in people?
I struggled in a church I previously attended when people claimed they had a prophetic vision and it just didn’t make sense to me when honestly it’s just God being God calling his people to faith and repentance and action. Does it take a dream to be prophetic to know that’s God’s call upon our lives? It’s just plain scriptural! So these words make me wonder if there is something I’m missing.
Physical Signs
The whole smoke, fire, clouds and natural wonders….. that to me is more tangible than prophetic words and easier to grasp. I can see God so clearly in nature and that things that happen around us. Through nature and the unexplained actions of people I can see God at work and his saving power upon us. It’s like it calls to my very soul.
But the whole prophetic… I don’t get it. I just don’t know and I don’t really know where to go with it from here.
verses 22-28
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,
“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
Peter speaks to who Jesus is. A man that God provided clear evidence of was raised up by him. How did God provide clear evidence of who Jesus was?
- mighty works
- wonders
- signs
God does all these things!
All these things God did through Christ. And this Jesus who them crucified and killed. GOD raised him up. God loosed the hold that death had on him. BECAUSE… get this…. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Jesus could NOT be held by death. This is the Jesus that David testified to.
So now we have hope we can dwell in, and live with glad hearts, and are able to speak with joy. You need to think about what the means deep down. Jesus couldn’t be contained by death and so was raised up. God did this for us. And now we have a way of living that no one truly had before. Can you imagine the difference hope has on a person?
Verses 29-35
29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
Peter keeps reminding their listeners what God did and what they KNOW God did. They know that David was a prophet. David died, and was buried and is STILL buried. BUT HE talked about Jesus and how he wouldn’t be left in the grave.
I love how Peter walks his audience through their own history and promised future. King David was much beloved and well-known so his words would be heeded. David knew that one of his offspring would sit on the throne and that his descendent would be greater than he was. He also foreknew that Jesus would not be stuck in the ground. He would sit on the right hand of God!
Verses 36-42
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Paul’s words were convicting.
Jesus was crucified and buried, by the very people listening to him. Jesus their Lord and Messiah.
Wanting to know what to do about this feeling of conviction, the listeners turned to Peter with questions of “Brothers, what shall we do?“
Peter doesn’t leave them hanging. He tells them plainly what they are to do. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Do you see it? This promise wasn’t just for the believers of the day, but for future generations as well. Repentance and baptism, it’s what we are told to do. But not just any type of baptism, but one done in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness. Do this: receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter continued to talk with them, pleading with them, warning them. The end result was 3000 people coming to faith. Can you imagine it?
You see I have this picture in my mind of the disciples suddenly speaking in tongues and a crowd of about one to two hundred is gathered round. But 3000!?!?!? Where did these 3000 come from? How did Peter get them all to hear him? This folks, this is God at work!
Thoughts raised for me
What does it mean to me that because of what God did, I can dwell in hope, have a glad heart and a tongue that rejoices? Does it truly change anything in my life? (at least in a tangible way that others can see?). Do I truly understand what God did in providing his people hope?
How do I explain the 3000 people being able to hear what Peter said amidst the noise and confusion of that day? The apostles speaking in tongues, folks questioning why, and yet 3000 souls turned to the Lord. 3000 people who originally scoffed, or questioned what was going on, and Peter used scripture and the Lord’s prompting to let them be convicted and change the course of their life. God can just make it happen you know? City streets and homes are not the same as hilltops that can be natural amphitheaters (like when Jesus taught 1000’s on the hilltops). People heard and lives where changed. Do I let my life be changed by what God teaches and shows me?
The Rest of This Series
- Acts 1:1-5
- Acts 1:6-11
- Acts 1:12-26
- Acts 2:1-13
- Acts 2:14-41
