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Acts 2:12-24
Jesus had poured out the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, upon His Body of believers
on Pentecost. The Spirit then empowered the members of Christ’s Body to be witnesses to Him, to the
ends of the earth. That witness began in Jerusalem, in the first moment after the disciples were endued
with power from on high (Lk 24:49).

Religious pilgrims - Jews and proselytes - were in Jerusalem from many nations intent upon keeping the
feast of Pentecost. It was the hour of morning prayer, and many were on their way up to the temple.
From their proximity to the temple, they could hear men speaking in the languages of their various nations.
When they drew near to the sound, they came upon the Galilean disciples of Jesus, speaking in the native
tongues of their many countries, speaking of the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:11).

And what was the reaction of these religious men to what they heard? They were astounded. Why?
Because they knew that it was impossible that these Galileans could speak all of their various dialects, and
so perfectly. It was impossible for men to do so - but not for God, who had given men their various
languages. This was an empowerment by the Holy Spirit, to speak with other tongues.

Not only were these religious men astounded; but they were also perplexed by what they were hearing.

v. 12-13 Now, these men marveled at what they were hearing, because they recognized that, in the
natural, it would be impossible for people to be able to speak languages they didn’t know or learn. But
further, these men were also perplexed, because they recognized that the speaking in other tongues had
some significance - some important meaning - but they didn’t know what the significance of it was.

There were also others present that tried to reject what they were hearing, as it was so astonishing,
attempting to dismiss the speaking in tongues as the utterances of drunkards. New wine refers to wine that
is still fermenting - sweet wine. It is thought to have had a strong inebriating quality, unlike fully
fermented wine, which was ordinarily diluted with water before drinking, in that day. So some listeners
jeeringly called out that what they were hearing was just alcohol talking.

I don’t think they could really have believed this themselves, as there is a great difference between the
sound of drunken rantings and foreign tongues speaking in cohesive sentences. But apparently, the
experience was completely overwhelming to the natural senses, and defied rational explanations - so, we
have an irrational jest to explain it away - a diversionary joke.

But the Lord wanted these men to know exactly what it was that they were hearing, and the significance of
it. So the Spirit prompted Peter to speak to the crowd, that they might see His purpose in this.

v. 14-15 As mentioned last week, the house that the disciples had been in was most likely in the Upper
City, near the temple, as only these homes had spacious upper rooms which would accommodate such a
large number of people (120 of them). Certainly the disciples had come out of the house after they had
been baptized in the Holy Spirit, so that the religious pilgrims arriving at the temple were able to hear the
sound of them speaking in tongues.

It is likely that Peter actually gave His testimony over at the temple, in the outer court, as a multitude had
come together to hear this marvel of speaking in other tongues (Acts 2:6). This is where Jesus Himself
had frequently addressed the Jews.
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So Peter took his stand with the other eleven apostles. Notice that the text indicates twelve apostles once
again, Matthias being included in their number, who had replaced Judas Iscariot.

We have the sense that all the members of the Body who were present in the upper room on Pentecost - 120
of them - began to speak with other tongues, but now, as the church began to carry out the ministry of
Jesus, they were represented to the Jews in Jerusalem by the Twelve - the foundation of the church, Jesus
Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone (Eph 2:20, Rev 21:14).

It was Peter, the acknowledged leader of the disciples, that was led by the Spirit to speak on this occasion -
and he did so with great boldness, and great wisdom.

What a change had been wrought in Peter! It almost seems that he was not the same person, who, less that
two months before, had been so self-confident that he had told Jesus he would die with Him, rather than
deny Him (Mt 26:35) - and then proceeded to do exactly that - deny ever knowing Jesus - out of a
consuming fear for himself (Mt 26:69-75).

But Peter had repented of his sin. If we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn 1:9). So Peter was forgiven. And Peter had learned
from his trial - he had learned not to trust in himself - but to trust only in the Lord.

Now, having learned not to depend on himself, and to submit himself to God, Peter had become a vessel of
honor, sanctified, meet for the Master’s use (2 Tim 2:21). That vessel was filled to overflowing as Jesus
poured out His Spirit on Pentecost, enabling Peter to be genuinely useful to the Lord - Peter, now a
sanctified vessel by which the Lord could offer His reconciliation to all men.

So Peter, filled with the Spirit, was filled with the wisdom of God, which he would be very much needing
as he delivered a message to this multitude of pious men, predominantly Jews, who had come to the temple
with the intent of worshiping God, by keeping the feast.

These were men who thought they knew God; who thought they were righteous, both in their ancestry as
sons of Abraham, and in their works, in keeping the Law (as well as they could). It would take the
wisdom of God for such men to see themselves as sinners, in need of a Savior - and for them to see that
Savior was Jesus.

Peter addressed the multitude, which included the Jewish pilgrims (“men of Judea”, meaning in this case,
Jews) and the residents of Jerusalem. The first thing that Peter did was to dismiss the comments of the
jokesters - for what they were witnessing was no light matter.

Peter pointed out that those speaking in tongues couldn’t be drunk - it was only the third hour of the day - 9
AM by our reckoning. People do not get drunk first thing in the morning. Not only that, but it was not the
Jewish practice to drink wine without food - and on the day of a feast, such as Pentecost, no food was
ordinarily eaten until noon. No, it was not drunks that the people were hearing.

Having told the crowd what they were not hearing, Peter then began to explain what it was - and what it
meant.
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v. 16 Peter said, “This is that”. What is what? We need to understand this before we read further.
What is the “this” to which Peter was referring? “This” is the speaking in other tongues. This is what the
multitude was amazed at, perplexed at. This is what they’re wondering about - what is this speaking in
tongues? What does it mean?

“This” - the speaking in tongues - is “that”. What is the “that” Peter is talking about? “That” is the
prophecy he is about to quote, that Joel had spoken, recorded in the Scriptures - therefore, a prophecy with
which religious Jews would be well-acquainted. The speaking in other tongues was a fulfillment of that
prophecy of Joel - specifically, a pre-fulfillment, a taste of what is to come.

Peter then quoted the prophecy.

v. 17-21 Now, in that day, it was not considered wrong for Scripture to be quoted in a less that exact
manner, that is, not word-for-word. Also, it can be regularly observed in Scriptural accounts that when
Scripture is cited, the Spirit at times inspires a person to modify the quotation slightly to apply it to the
current setting. We find this even when Jesus quoted the Scripture (eg Mt 21:13).

This is true for the Scripture that Peter quoted in his testimony to the Jews in Jerusalem, both in quoting the
prophet Joel as well as David in the psalms later on. The overall original meaning is always retained when
this was done, but certain details might be changed by the Spirit to fit the context into which the Scripture
is being spoken; it’s the Living word (Heb 4:12). We’ll refer back to the prophecy in Joel at times, but we
primarily want to see what the Spirit is saying to these Jews in Jerusalem, through Joel’s prophecy.

First we need to briefly consider the context into which Joel spoke this prophecy. Joel was a prophet to
the southern kingdom of Judah. Apparently, there was a devastating plague of locusts in Judah, which had
left the land utterly desolate - it had been stripped bare of all vegetation, so that there was nothing to eat for
either animal or human.

The LORD used this plague to communicate a prophetic warning through Joel to His people. There would
come a time of judgment that would be even more devastating that this plague of locusts. Armies would
invade, natural disasters would occur, and these would devastate Judah, even more than the locusts had.

These events would culminate in what Joel calls the “great and the terrible day of the LORD”, when the LORD
Himself returns to judge the earth and set up His kingdom (Joel 2:11, 3:16-17). Until that final moment of
judgment, whosoever calls on the name of the LORD, He will deliver from that judgment.

This prophecy had a near-fulfillment, in part, just after the time of Joel, as Judah lapsed into complete
apostasy, and the LORD sent the Babylonian armies to execute His judgment on them. The far-fulfillment
will begin during the Great Tribulation, which is yet to come on the earth.

In his message, Joel urged Judah to repent now, and turn back to the LORD (Joel 2:12-14). The book ends
with the sense of Israel’s repentance in the end, and the blessings of the LORD poured out upon her.

The part of Joel that Peter specifically quoted here has to do with the time after the judgment has come,
when the LORD will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28-32). This is when the nation Israel will
repent of their sin in rejecting their Messiah, Jesus, and the nation will become regenerate - they will be
born in a day (Is 66:8), born of the Spirit. Then they will be the nation that the LORD has always intended
for them to be, holding out the light of truth to the other nations, so that they too will know the LORD.
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So, what does this have to do with what’s happening on Pentecost? Everything. Remember Peter said,
“This is that”. This - the speaking with other tongues - is that - the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on all
flesh. With the Lord pouring out His Spirit, those who had received Him had also received the
supernatural ability to speak in other tongues.

Tongues, then was a sign that the Spirit had been poured out, as prophesied by Joel. Pentecost was just the
beginning of the pouring out of the Spirit, which will culminate in the LORD pouring out His Spirit on His
nation in the end times.

As Peter began to quote Joel’s prophecy, the Spirit makes a significant change in the wording. Whereas
Joel began, “And it shall come to pass afterward”, Peter said, “And it shall come to pass in the last days”.

Joel was looking forward to the time when the Spirit would be poured out on the nation Israel, which will
be after the Lord returns to the earth. But Peter was speaking on the day of Pentecost, when Jesus poured
out His Spirit upon the earth, and the members of His Body received that outpouring.

That occurred in the last days - the period between Christ’s first coming to the earth, when the power of
this world has been crippled, and His return, when it will be completely destroyed. The last days, then, is
roughly the period between Christ’s first and second coming.

Notice that the Spirit was poured out on all flesh. The Spirit would work through the members of Christ’s
Body to bring the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). Those who believed into Jesus as
Lord and Christ would be added to the Body, receiving the same Spirit, the same anointing, as those
members of the Body present in Jerusalem on Pentecost.

Jesus had also spoken of this outpouring of the Spirit. Turn to John chapter 7. Jesus was in Jerusalem
during the feast of Tabernacles. On the last day of the feast, He made a proclamation. I’m reading it with a
punctuation correction. In the Greek, there is no punctuation.

[John 7:37-39]

Out of the innermost being of Jesus would flow rivers of living water. What is this living water, of which
any man who comes unto Jesus may drink? The Holy Spirit - as John explains in his parenthetical
statement.

The Spirit is the living water that will flow from Jesus, to those who believe in Him - they will receive the
Spirit. But, John indicates, they had not received the Spirit as of this time in John’s record - that would
wait until Jesus was glorified, in His crucifixion and resurrection.

You can see that John is speaking of the receiving of the Holy Spirit collectively, for the Spirit had been
received by individuals. John had written his record long after it actually occurred - after the Body of
Christ had received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost - so he was able to shed light on this
statement that Jesus had made. Jesus would be the Smitten Rock, from whom would pour out rivers of
living water, to give Life everlasting to all who were willing to come to Him - and take Him in (Ex 17:1-7).

[Return to Acts] So Jesus had prophesied of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which would be upon all
flesh - to be received by any and all who would come to Him, believing.
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Peter then spoke of the effect of this outpouring of the Spirit. What would those who received the Spirit be
empowered to do? Verses 17-18 - to prophesy; to see visions; to dream dreams - and again at the end - to
prophesy. To prophesy is to declare truths through the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, whether by
prediction or not. It is to speak under divine influence - to tell forth the truth of God, as He shares it with
you.

So prophesying is something you hear, from the Lord. Dreams, and visions - waking dreams - are
something you see, from the Lord. All are divine communications. The members of Christ’s Body would
receive these divine communications - particularly, prophetic communications - and then share them as
needed with others. And that makes sense - because through the Spirit, the Body is connected to Jesus,
their Head, in heaven.

The people groups mentioned - sons and daughters; men, young and old; servants, male and female - are
used to provide a sense of the equality, the non-partiality - the freedom, the lack of class distinction - that
exists among the members of the Body. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: all are one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28). The Spirit is poured out on all
flesh, to be received by any who are willing. God does not give the Spirit by measure (Jn 3:34).

This is exactly what the Jews who were present in Jerusalem on Pentecost had seen. They had seen these
servants of God - young, old, male, female - speaking forth the words of the Spirit in languages that before,
were completely unknown to them, but were known to their listeners. They spoke by inspiration - they
prophesied - of the wonderful works of God.

These Jewish listeners were seeing this part of Joel’s prophecy fulfilled before their very eyes. Now - if
the prophecy was given to Joel by God, which it was, and these disciples of Jesus were miraculously
fulfilling the prophecy, what should that have told these Jewish listeners? That this was an act of God -
that these disciples were approved of God - that what these disciples said could therefore be believed.
This should have authenticated the disciples to these Jews as being representatives of God Himself.

The last part of the prophecy does not pertain to this time of Pentecost. Look at the things that are
mentioned - blood, fire and vapor of smoke - that is the language of warfare. The signs on the earth point
to war. The prophecy also mentions wonders in heaven above - strange appearances in the physical
heavens - the sun turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. These signs and wonders will precede
the great and notable day of the Lord.

What time is being spoken of here, in the prophecy? The Great Tribulation, the seven-year period at the
end of which Christ will return to the earth to judge the world, and establish His Kingdom - which is the
Day of the Lord. Jesus spoke in detail of this time. Turn to Matthew chapter 24. Jesus spoke of this
time in answer to questions His disciples posed to Him.

[Matthew 24:1-30]

v. 1-3 The disciples of Jesus were still thinking in terms of Israel’s Messiah coming imminently to rule
and reign. As such the destruction of the temple did not fit in with their picture, so they asked Jesus about
it. Jesus began to answer their last question first, telling of the sign of His coming, and the end of the age.
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v. 4-8 Jesus was speaking here of the early part of the Tribulation. There will be false Messiahs -
antichrists; there will be wars - contentions between nations - and natural disasters. But these are just the
early birth pangs - for the birth of the nation of Israel, which will come at the end of the seven-year
Tribulation.

v. 9-13 Jesus was speaking of the Jews here. The man of sin will have orchestrated a peace treaty with
Israel, but it will prove to be a false peace. Midway through the Tribulation, the treaty will be broken.
Then, in the later half of the Tribulation, the Jews will be persecuted with a vengeance. Within the nation
of Israel, only those who turn to the Lord will be able to persevere to the end.

v. 14 For the seven years of the Tribulation, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached. This is not just
the gospel of Christ, but also that Christ is returning - to set up His kingdom.

v. 15-20 The temple will have been rebuilt in Jerusalem. Midway through the Tribulation, the man of
sin will set up his image in the temple, in the Holy of Holies. The peace treaty he orchestrated will be
broken, and the Jews will specifically be persecuted, with the goal of obliterating them as a people. The
persecution will be swift and severe.

v. 21-22 “The elect” in this part of the passage is the Jewish remnant, that third of the nation that will
believe into Jesus as their Messiah, and will survive the Great Tribulation. For the sake of their survival,
the time of persecution is limited to 3 ½ years.

v. 23-28 The remnant will not be deceived, for they will know who they are looking for; they will see
Him through their Scriptures. Jesus will not come in secret, but will be clearly evident to all - coming as
prophesied by Daniel (Dan 7:13), and by Himself as well (Mt 26:64). When He does, He will come as the
Judge of all the earth. The last verse speaks of the divine judgment at the battle of Armageddon.

v. 29-30 Here we see the heavenly wonders spoken of in Joel’s prophecy, which immediately precede the
Second Coming of Christ.

The apostle John was given a vision of this time also. Turn to Revelation chapter 6. This was shown to
John with the opening of the sixth seal.

[Revelation 6:12-17] We can see again that these wonders precede the return of Jesus to the earth - the
Day of the Lord. Here it is called the great day of His wrath, for it will be a time of retributive justice.

[Return to Acts] We can see that this part of Joel’s prophecy, which speaks of judgment, will not be
fulfilled until the end of the last days, leading into and through the Great Tribulation, to the Day of the
Lord. So why would the Holy Spirit inspire Peter to include it on this day of Pentecost?

Because the Jewish nation was about to incur the judgment of God for their rejecting Jesus as their
Messiah, and having put Him to death. To Jews who are well-versed in their Scriptures, this prophecy sets
the tone of Peter’s testimony - that judgment is imminent, and they need to repent before it is too late.
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That was part of Joel’s prophecy as well: “And it shall come to pass, whosoever shall call on the name of
the Lord shall be delivered”. Joel used the word “delivered”, because the Jews in Joel’s prophecy will
need to be delivered from their enemies. But Peter used the word “saved”: whosoever shall call on the
name of the Lord shall be saved” - for these Jews needed to be saved from their sins. How can they be
saved? By calling on the name of the Lord.

Peter then began to tell them about the Lord, upon whose name they must call.

v. 22 Jesus of Nazareth - a name which would have been familiar to every resident of Jerusalem, and
most likely, to any visitors there, such as these pilgrims. Jesus had come up to Jerusalem for the feasts,
just as these other Jews did, and while there, He did many miracles among them - the word here means
powerful deeds.

We can think of many - Jesus restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, healing from disease and
disability, driving out demons from the possessed, even raising the dead back to life. And many miracles
caused great wonder among those who saw Jesus do them - such as Him calming the wind and the sea,
walking on water, feeding a multitude with a few loaves and fish, causing a fig tree to wither at His word.

There were also signs that Jesus did - miracles with spiritual purpose, tokens of God’s presence and
purpose. We saw seven of these signs in John’s gospel, such as the turning of water into wine, healing the
blind man, and the resurrection of Lazarus - signs which revealed Jesus as the Life Giver, the Light of the
World, the Resurrection and the Life.

All of the miracles, the wonders and the signs which God did through Jesus served to confirm that Jesus
was of God; they demonstrated that Jesus was the Father’s representative, for He came doing the Father’s
works, which proved that the Father had sent Him - the works bore witness to Him (Jn 5:36).

As Nicodemus had said early on, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no man can
do these miracles that you do, except God is with Him” (Jn 3:2). Should they then have listened to what
Jesus had to say, and believed this one who was proven to be of God? Yes. But did they? No.

v. 23 The Jews disapproved of this One, who was proved to be of God. They rejected His words; they
rejected Him. And they did more than just reject Him; they had Him put to death. “Wicked hands” in v.
23 means lawless hands, speaking of those of the Romans, Gentiles who were outside the range of the law
of Israel.

But those hands may as well have been the hands of the Jewish authorities, for they delivered over Jesus to
the Romans, trumped up false charges against Him that carried the death penalty, incited the people to ask
for His crucifixion, and blackmailed the Roman governor into issuing the judgment of death. The Jewish
authorities certainly would have done it themselves, except Roman law prohibited the Sanhedrin from
employing the death penalty. Their wicked hands overlaid the hands of the Romans, seeing the deed
through.

Peter pointed out that none of this was done outside of the will of God - in fact it was done by His
determinate counsel - that is, He had decreed it; it was His purpose that it should be so. The Lamb was
slain well before this time - before the foundation of the earth (Rev 13:8). Also, Peter indicated that God
foreknew it - He knew beforehand exactly what the Jews would do to Jesus in His first coming to the earth.
We can see this, in great detail, in many of the OT prophecies, such as Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22.
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So God ordained the circumstances of Jesus’ death. Does that in any way absolve those who murdered
Him? Not at all. God did not compel the Jewish authorities do it; He did not influence in any way their
freedom to choose. They made the decision to put Jesus to death - therefore, they were completely
responsible for their own choice - the atrocious crime of putting their own Messiah to death.

Were the Romans also responsible, as the governing authorities? Yes. Pontius Pilate, as the one who
passed the judgment of death on Jesus? Yes. Even you and I are responsible - for it is our sin that put
Jesus there. But Peter is addressing here those who were directly responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus -
by motive and action.

The Jewish authorities were the ones who made the crucifixion of Jesus happen - and the nation was guilty
as well, in asking for His death. As the people had said, “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Mt
27:25). And so it was.

The Jews disapproved of Jesus, and by lawless hands, had Him crucified and slain. But God approved of
Jesus, as was seen in what happened next.

v. 24 God raised up Jesus, of whom He perfectly approved - Jesus, who was obedient to death, even the
death of the cross (Phil 2:8). The word for “pains” refers to cords or snares. Death is seen under a
metaphor of bands that confine men, pressing closely in on them, preventing escape, producing severe
suffering.

But death could not hold on the Jesus. Why not? It was not possible. It was not possible for many
reasons. Jesus is the Prince of Life (Acts 3:15); how can death hold on to the Prince of Life? Jesus had
Life in Himself (Jn 1:4); death could not change that. Jesus declared that He had the power to lay down
His life, and to take it again (Jn 10:18) - His word is truth.

OT prophecies show that Jesus would be resurrected from the dead (Ps 16:8-11, Is 53:10, Ps 22:15-24).
Jesus came, that through death, He might destroy him that had the power of death - the devil (Heb 2:14) -
and He must fulfill the prophecy of the Seed of the woman (Gen 3:15). It was not possible that death
could hold Jesus - for He is God.

So an earthly court pronounced judgment on Jesus, and put Him to death - but that sentence was overturned
in the courts of God’s justice - and Jesus was restored to life, in a body of glory. And next time, we’ll see
how Peter demonstrates that the resurrection and ascension of Jesus proves that He is Messiah and Lord.

Next week: Read Psalm 16, 110.

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