Join us for our upcoming Passion Week services: Good Friday (3/29) @ 7pm and Easter Sunday (3/31) @ 10:30am.

Book of Acts graphic

When we think back on God’s plan to redeem his people, it started back in Genesis 3:15. He promised a Savior would, one day, save a human race who had fallen into sin, through the first people, Adam and Eve. This continued to unfold through the Old Testament. The plan all centered around God sending Jesus to die on that small hill outside Jerusalem, called Calvary. There the son of God, fully God and fully man, gave his life for the sins of the world. After he rose from the dead and conquered sin forever, He promised to send His Holy Spirit soon.

This was a time of new beginnings. Here we see the beginning of a new covenant God makes with His people. Jesus put all this in motion right before his death and resurrection.

The New Covenant is the relationship God established with his church through the death and resurrection of Christ. The blood of Christ initiated it. Through this covenant, this unbreakable promise, God promises to bring his salvation to every tribe, tongue, and nation; to the ends of the earth. He promises to pour out his spirit, who presence will be on-going and everlasting.

In chapter 1 of Acts, the Savior ascended, in chapter 2 the Holy Spirit descended. God’s promises are coming just as he said.

When the Holy Spirit came down, God brought His kingdom to earth in a mighty way, showing us that His promises never fail, and our future is secure in Him.

Acts 2:14-21 helps us answer two questions: 

What is the meaning of the Day of Pentecost?  

How should we react to this message?

Peter attempts to correct their misunderstanding and point them to a right understanding of what is happening in front of their eyes. He speaks with confidence and conviction. Peter had spoken with confidence before, maybe more like cockiness when Jesus was walking the earth. But that was the old Peter. The Holy Spirit had come and indwelt his people, and Peter was speaking like a man being led and empowered by God. 

Notice Peter responded respectfully, yet clearly and firmly. Even though he knew these people were dead wrong to think alcohol played a part in their excitement, he didn’t fly off the handle. This is much different than the Peter who pulled out his sword to strike a soldier’s ear back on the night Jesus was arrested.

Peter sets the record straight and proclaims that this event is not some pointless excitement, but is, in fact, the fulfillment of a promise long foretold.

Peter proclaims in verse 16 that In fact this magnificent event points back to the words of the prophet Joel. Joel was an OT prophet who wrote these words nearly 800 years before Christ. With these words, the prophet tells God’s people in Israel that He will send his Spirit to indwell and empower them. Because of Jesus’ work, we now have the Holy Spirit.

God said through Joel, now communicated by Peter that these things will take place "in the last days." “In the last days” is a common OT expression that pointed forward to the time when the Messiah would set up His kingdom.

The first coming of Christ ushered in the last days. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, and the arrival of the Holy Spirit, Christ established His kingdom.  

But we know that last days aren’t the end, but the start of the new era of God’s kingdom. The New Testament writers also pick up this language. “Children, it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18); Peter writes that Christ has appeared "in these last times for your sake.” (1 Peter 1:20).

So then the last days have lasted more than 2000 years. What do we see happening during these last days here in this passage? We see that:

  • God is near to each of us, so that we can proclaim Him faithfully.

God’s presence with his people looks much different in this New Covenant era than it did before. In the OT, under the Old Covenant, there was no promise of an abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of those who followed God then. This is why King David prayed: “Take not your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:11).

The coming of the HS changed all of that. In the OT, the Spirit would empower His people, but he didn’t indwell His people. This is part of God’s kingdom work, to permanently empower AND indwell his people, to fill them, to convict us of sin, so that we can seek forgiveness, to seal and secure our inheritance as God’s children.

In Acts 2:19-20, Peter shifts to God’s activity in the world. The key phrase here are the words: “the day of the Lord.” This show us that this specific work will correspond and signal the Day of the Lord, “before the Day of the Lord comes.”

This phrase is used in other places in the NT. In 1-2 Thessalonians Paul connects this phrase with the second coming of Jesus.

So, two phrases in this passage are very important when it comes to the timing of these events:

“the last days”-which we are in now and have been since Peter made this speech.

“the Day of the Lord”– when Christ returns, the second coming of Christ.

This shows us:

  • God’s kingdom is here; but will come in all its glory when God fully displays His justice for all to see.

When we think about the kingdom of God, a good phrase to use is Already and Not Yet. When Jesus rose from the dead and went back to Heaven, he sat on the throne with his father. He is sitting on his throne now. His kingdom has been set in motion, and he is ruling it now. But, he will enact his kingdom in all it’s glory in the future when he returns to earth.

Acts 2:19-20 show us a sign of things to come. Activities that will signal the return of Jesus. These signs also show the power and justice of God. Blood and fire are often associated with God’s judgment on the world which will take place in the end times.

Our God is gracious, loving, and merciful to the highest degree, But God is also just and holy and doesn’t turn a blind eye to sin. Our God is tender and loving—he is near to us in the midst of pain. But God is also the perfect judge, who will rid the earth of sin, He will punish evil.

When we think of what our world is going through right now, when we think of what the future will bring, whenever that is, it should get our attention. Humanity, this world is fragile, it’s fading away because of sin.

One day, God will execute his perfect justice, his holiness will be on display.

Verse 21 offers the perfect response for anyone who hears these words, whether 800 years before Christ, 2000+ years ago in Jerusalem or here in the year 2020:

Acts 2:21- "Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

When we think about God’s power, God’s justice, it should lead us to cry out to Him. We call to Him because we know that He is the only one who is in complete controlof all things. He is full of power, his justice and holiness are perfect, yet:

  • God is so gracious that he saves lost people from the judgement we all deserve.

After hearing Peter proclaim this terrifying description of the day of the Lord, the crowd would naturally want to know the question we would all ask: What does this mean for us? We aren’t perfect, we are born into sin, we are nowhere near God and his standard in our own power.  

Here we see the beauty and grace of our God. He doesn’t leave us to own devices, hoping that we can save ourselves from the judgement that will one day come. He knows that only He can save us, only through the work of his Son Jesus Christ, do we have hope beyond the shadow of a doubt, hope that overcomes the judgement we all deserve. For those who call out to God, for those in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation.

And for those of us in Christ: the day is coming when we will be set free from its bondage to disease and disaster and death, and inherit the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We will have a new body, we will sit with Christ as he rules his everlasting kingdom.

How should we react when we read these powerful words today?

Relish His Gift

All in all, the fulfillment of this OT passage, shows us that God is near to his people. The plans he set to do, he has and will accomplish them to the letter. We also see that when God draws near, it results in a transformed life. We are equipped, so that we can proclaim his truth, his hope to others.

Over the next few weeks and even now, we will continue to be stretched, trials will continue to come our way. Our faith will be tested. Our daily lives already feel much different than they were even a few weeks ago. We must continue to develop our relationship with God, we must continue to cling to His Word, and trust in His promises. Sometimes our growth in Christ feel much like metal being refined by fire.

The news seems to swing in different directions every day. The right course of action to combat this virus seems to be ever changing. Are we flattening the curve of this virus, will it continue to spread, what does this mean in the coming weeks and months?

Right now, it can feel like we are living in the dark. But we know that God is in control. We know that He is faithful. We know that His promises are sure. His promises bring clarity in the midst of confusion.

If he can keep promises he made thousands of years ago, to the letter, than we know that He will be faithful to care for us. We must rely on God’s character and remember all the ways he has worked in the past to show us how he will continue to work in the future.

Revere His Power

What our world is going through right now should show us how dependent we must be on God. These last few weeks show us just how fragile life is, how fragile our society around is. In a matter of a few days, our economic stability, the assumption that we have control in this world, all of that is fleeting. Even though, that’s always been true, we are seeing it play out right in front of us.

We’ve seen what happens when an outside force, the threat of Covid-19, does to our nation and our world. Can you imagine what would happen if God removed his sovereign hand from ruling our world? 

What a powerful and holy God we serve? We must respect His power; we must respect his perfection. Without Him we have no hope to survive a fallen world and utterly hopeless when that Day of the Lord finally comes.

We should be on our knees praising God every day because he chooses to sustain our lives. Because of his grace, he made a way for us:

Respond to His Mercy

As verse 21, he saves those who call out to Him for salvation. But, the plan he chose to keep us from devastation, hurt him greatly. He sent his Son Jesus to stand in our place, to take on himself the sin we commit, to take on himself the wrath from a holy God we all deserve. We must remember that. It might sound harsh to some, but it’s the best news we could ever hear. It makes his mercy that much sweeter.

God calls us to respond. We are called to turn from a way of life that says we have it under control, to a life that realizes He is the only way we have hope. 

You must realize that each day you must respond to His power and presence in your life. We all need to realize that our success, even our survival in this life is all because he sustains us. Without him, our lives lack its ultimate purpose. Without him, the trials, the anxiety and fear of this world will crush us. We need to respond to his grace and mercy in our lives each day.

Let’s cling to Him, let’s point others to his mercy. May we never lose sight that our God is faithful, his promises are true, and his plan perfect for our lives.

Pastor Sam