
Acts: We Are the Church
“In the Last Days”
Acts 2.14-41 (NIV)
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!
16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17“ ‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
25 David said about him:
“ ‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’ e
29 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
35 until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.” ’
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.
Peter explained what the events really meant. His speech takes up much of the remainder of this chapter. He made a powerful and courageous witness to Christ as the promised Messiah. Just a few weeks earlier, this same Peter had denied his Savior with oaths and curses (Matthew 26:72, 74). “Woman, I don’t know him,” Peter had insisted to a servant girl who recognized him as a disciple (Luke 22:57). Yet now, Peter was the first to shout aloud that he not only knew this man, he was a witness to all that Jesus had said and done. The Holy Spirit had breathed new courage into a once disheartened and discouraged disciple (Luke 24:21).
V. 17 “In the last days” means from now on
All the days between the first and second coming.
When the gathered crowds recognized that something supernatural was taking place, they naturally wanted explanations and answers. At this point Peter stepped forward and explained the truth about God. This should be the pattern in our lives as well. Hopefully we are living in such a way that people will see Christ in us.
In Luke’s history of the church, there is always a close connection between the activity of God’s Spirit and the proclamation of the gospel. Time and again those who experience the baptism or filling of the Spirit begin immediately speaking with others concerning the truth about God and his Son, Jesus Christ
Peter stood up in an atmosphere of confusion and boldly pointed everyone to Jesus!
Peter explained to the people why they should listen to the testimony of the believers, because the Old Testament prophecies had been entirely fulfilled in Jesus** (2:14–21), because Jesus is the Messiah **(2:25–36), and because Jesus could change their lives (2:37–40).
Peter had been an unstable leader during Jesus’ ministry, he had even denied that he knew Jesus (John 18:15–18, 25–27). But Christ had forgiven and restored him (John 21:15–19). This was a new
Simon Peter, humble but bold. His confidence came from the Holy Spirit, who made him a powerful and dynamic speaker.
The “prophesying” mentioned by Peter is likely not only prediction of the future but also declaration of the nature and will of God. The visions and the dreams were common means that God used to reveal himself to all people. The point was that the insight into these visions and dreams would be the product of the Spirit’s work.
At Pentecost the Holy Spirit was released throughout the entire world men, women, Jews, and Gentiles. Everyone can receive the Spirit. This was a revolutionary thought for first century Jews. Pentecost was designed to be a clear indicationto Jew and Gentile alike that the messianic age had arrived. The Messiah had come.
Quoting the prophet Joel, Peter announced that “anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” According to this verse (quoted also in** Romans 10:13**), the issue in salvation isn’t who a person is or what he or she has done, the issue is simple trust and humility. Anyone who looks to the Lord for forgiveness will find it. That person will be saved. What a fantastic promise!
Any person who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. God’s special relationship with Israel will continue, but it has been broadened to include everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.
Not everything mentioned in Joel 2:28–32 was happening that particular morning. This part of Joel’s prophecy probably refers to the future period surrounding the second coming of Christ, placing the period of the church age (between Christ’s ascension and his return) between verses 18 and 19 (see Revelation 6:12). These events bear more resemblance to the phenomena of the Tribulation period as spelled out by many other Old Testament prophets, as well as Jesus himself (see Matthew 24:14, 21, 29–30 and the judgments of Revelation 8, 9, and 16).
The call to repent (2:37-38)
Many of Peter’s listeners had a deep emotional reaction. The responsive Jewish listeners were “cut to the heart” (2:37). The enormity of what had happened crashed into their consciousness. The man they had spit on and crucified was their Messiah, and he was now sitting in power at God’s right hand. Moved by the Holy Spirit and their own participation in the persecution and death of Jesus, they were humbled and teachable. It was natural for them to ask, in wonderment and fear “What shall we do?” (2:37).
Peter’s speech ends with the wonderful promise that his listeners would receive God’s Spirit and become part of the people of God. Luke summarizes Peter’s plea with a sentence, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation”
The thought of verse 40 (“be saved”) picks up the sense of Joel’s prophecy mentioned in verse 21, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Peter is not telling his listeners to “do” something, except to respond to what God has already done. He is telling them to take advantage of the promise offered to them by accepting Jesus as the promised Messiah. They were to “be saved” from a corrupt generation in Jerusalem and Judea by becoming part of a remnant people accepted by God.