Prophecies in Acts 2

David

The prophecy from David explains the importance of the gospel. Death overcome, Jesus raised incorrupted.

Psalm 16

“ ‘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.’

Psalm 110

“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand,

35  until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’

What is it that we need to know?

We need to know what is important about Jesus death and resurrection:

It was completely God’s plan that it would take place in this way

Jesus was completely perfect and without sin.

He had to rise from the dead, unmarred by death but in resurrection body

God is making His enemies the foot stool of Jesus (not us!)

Jesus is Lord and Christ

We need to know our response:

Walk faithfully with Jesus day by day since He is the way, the truth and the life.

If we do, He will make us full of gladness with His presence.

Seek to follow Him in obedience.

We are in the last days

Joel’s prophecy

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,

and 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.’

Joel’s prophecy points to a time when people will turn back to the Lord, the Lord will have pity, and then His Spirit will be outpoured. This is in the last days.

As John and then Jesus proclaimed the coming Kingdom, people were rallied to turn back to God. God acted and poured out His Spirit once the work of God’s pity (the cross) was complete, and His people (the disciples) were ready to be obedient. Jesus prepared His disciples for this.

Are we ready to be obedient to God’s call in our day? If the answer to this is truly yes, then I believe that God will do the same for us, equipping us with the Holy Spirit outpoured upon us afresh.

The Spirit Today

The Spirit isn’t poured out in power for our enjoyment, instead He is poured out for our witnessing to Jesus.

The outpouring of the Spirit has nothing to do with our ethnicity, our race, our good-enough-ness, our education, how we feel about ourselves, how many people we’ve given money to, but is instead entirely dependent upon our willingness to be witnesses to the work of Jesus Christ.

Consider the 12, there were zealouts and tax collectors, Essenes and fishermen.

Background has nothing to do with it. We can all be filled with the Holy Spirit and be used to edify the church and to witness to the work of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is a great blessing to us, and like Peter, we should be excited to share with others about the work of Jesus, but also the joy that the Spirit brings.

Pray

Let’s pray for ourselves, that we might seek to be obedient to the Word and to the leading of the Spirit, according to the same Word

Let’s pray for each other to see and seek out opportunities to witness to the work of Jesus and how He has changed our lives; and for the boldness and faith to step out and act.

Let’s pray for our witnessing opportunites that come through our social action.