Acts: Peter's Sermon
Peter’s sermon of fulfilled prophecy | Acts 2:14-37: “14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon 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 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
After Peter told the brethren that there was no possibility that they could be drunk with new wine due to how early it was in the day – for this was not happy hour – he explains the vitality – the importance – of this ministry for Jesus Christ.
Peter then recites the prophecy from Joel (the minor prophet), which was from Joel 2:28-32. The context of this prophecy from Joel represents that people may readily turn to God (accept God) during times of hardship; however, many of them may just forget God as quickly as they came unto Him. Some people, when prosperity occurs, they feel as if they have no need of help from God, because they have the delusion of self-sufficiency. The core of the prophecy is that they would be more obedient to God when understand His Will (including being in better devotion unto Him). God once only gave His Spirit to people to do certain tasks, but the time is coming one day where He will place His Spirit within each believer of any diversity, and it will occur before the final great day of the Lord. One of the signs of the great day of the Lord is the phenomenal locust plague, in which on that day, believers would be saved; however, sinners would perish.
Jesus came to do signs, wonders, and miracles, as Jesus does what He sees His Father (God) doing (John 5:19). The point stricken unto the apostles and disciples along with the other brethren, was that the Jews took and killed Jesus. But God… He raised Him, thus breaking the chains of death – for nothing could hold Jesus down any longer. Not only that, but He suffered to fulfill the Will of God (Psalm 22:1). Believers, just like Christ, will be raised the same way He was after death (1 Corinthians 6:14; Philippians 3:10; Romans 6:5).
King David spoke about Jesus’ first advent (His First Coming), in that he saw Jesus as Lord on the right hand of God, and this coming man would keep believers’ souls from Hell, and finally that Jesus would be without corruption (Jesus would be sinless). Jesus would guide people on the proper path, and His Presence in believers’ lives would bring great joy.
The spirit of David lives on, because Jesus inherited David’s throne, and had sat there after dying and rising again in His Resurrection (see 1 Kings 2:10; 2 Samuel 7:12; Psalm 16:10). David was not one whom had ascended into Heaven; whereas Jesus did ascend. The apostles and some disciples bore witness that Jesus lived, ministered, died sacrificially, resurrected, appeared to them again, and then ascended into Heaven (at Bethany).
Isaiah also had a prophecy that was fulfilled in these days noted in the book of Acts. In Isaiah 44:1-5, we see that not only is God willing to forgive His People, but that He also wants to give His Spirit unto each believer, in which new life will spring up inside of them, which shall enable them to evangelize to Jews and Gentiles.
