The Good News of Christ

The Holy Spirit

Acts 2:14–21 (NIV)

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. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“ ‘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.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

And everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

It is a temptation for us to read this text and assume of ourselves that we would have been one of the “good guys” and heard Peter speak in tongues and believed the words that he had to say, but, our response to the things of God more often mirrors that of the unbeliever. When calamity arises and when the miraculous is brought forth, we give ourselves over to the popular opinion of the day. When we recognize the Lord’s authority over all, then we will begin to see our everyday in light of His movements and believe His reasoning for our days over the ridiculous reasonings of the created order.

Peter opens correcting the misconception of the Holy Spirit. While some stood in amazement as they heard the men of Galilee speak in their native tongues, others heard just jibberish and wrote off the miraculous as an act of drunkeness. There will always be those whose hearts are hard and they will explain away the miraculous as foolish. But the promise of God always remains true that those who seek will find him. Our role in this world is to be the bold testifiers of the miraculous and we surrender to the Lord the responsibility of softening hearts of those who hear.

Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, Peter looks back to the words of the prophet Joel who prophesies of the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord throughout the Old Testament was used to speak of the day when the Lord would divinely intervene to raise Israel to glory.

In the New Testament, the Day of the Lord is brought into clear understanding as the Second Coming of the Messiah, also known as the Day of Judgment. Peter draws the hearers attention to Joel’s proclamation of the events leading up to the Day of the Lord. With the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter saw this prophesy being fulfilled right before their eyes. According to Peter’s view of this prophesy, we are currently living in the time directly preceeding the Day of the Lord.

The Risen Messiah

Acts 2:22–36 (NIV)

“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. 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. 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. David said about him:

“ ‘I saw the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand,

I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest in hope,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

you will not let your holy one see decay.

You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 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. 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. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 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. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies

a footstool for your feet.” ’

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

The Spirit testifies of Christ always just as Jesus always testified of the Father. The role of the Son and the Spirit is to testify of the One who has sent them.

Peter once again reasons with his hearers. Jesus of Nazareth’s claims to be God were backed by the miracles that He accomplished. Even more than meeting the immediate needs of individuals out of compassion and love for them, the miracles of Christ were done as proclamation and evidence of who He is. Even in light of these divine displays, the hardness of our hearts caused us to explain away the evidence of our eyes and pick up the ridiculous explanations of the created order. We crucified Christ in the face of the irrefutable proof of His divinity.

The very hope that we crucified Him for blaspheming is the same prophesies that He fulfilled in fullness. The resurrection was the final and ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy that was foretold of the Messiah. Peter points his hearers to the words of David found in the Psalms. In Psalm 16:8-11, David speaks of the Messiah, not himself. David’s bones are still found in his tomb, but in Jesus’ tomb, you will find no remains. He is the fulfillment of David’s hopes.

This fulfillment is seen in its fullness as Peter testifies that the David’s words in Psalm 110:1 were made full as His Lord was raised up by God and every enemy, even sin and death were placed under his feet.

Our Response

Acts 2:37–41 (NIV)

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

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. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

What if this is true? What is Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah? In the face of all the evidence, it does not take much to see that Jesus is the truth. It is the hardness of our hearts, the very hearts that crucified Him in the face of repeated prophetic fulfillment. That hardness is only softened by the power of the Holy Spirit and the eroding power of forgiveness. Repent and receive true forgiveness. Repent and take hold of the truth. Repent and follow in the footsteps of our Risen King.