Peter’s Bold Witness to Jerusalem — Acts 2:14-21 Daily Word

The coming of the Holy Spirit filled many people with astonishment.

The 120 disciples who directly experienced His presence were amazed, and so were the diaspora Jews who heard the mighty works of God proclaimed in their own languages through the gift of tongues. Yet there were also those who refused to believe what had happened and mocked the disciples, saying they were drunk on new wine. In response to their ridicule, Peter stood up together with the eleven apostles and began to explain the events of Pentecost.

First, Peter asserts that these men are not drunk, as the mockers claimed. His reason is straightforward: it was only the third hour of the day. The third hour refers to nine o’clock in the morning. Common sense alone tells us that so many people could not possibly be drunk so early in the morning.

The reason they appeared to be in this state is that, as seen in verse 16, it was the fulfillment of the prophecy given through the prophet Joel. The period during which Joel delivered his message was a time of desolation caused by a plague of locusts. Joel understood these events as a warning from God and urged the people to repent. He declared that if the people repented, they would be forgiven, and the land would receive rain again and the crops would be abundant. He then prophesied that afterward God would pour out His Spirit upon all people. These things would occur before the great and terrible day of the Lord. (Joel 2:31)

How this would unfold is described in verses 17 through 20, as follows: [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. (Acts 2:17-20, ESV)

Peter masterfully connects the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost with the prophecy given through Joel. Since God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is an event that takes place in the last days, the Pentecost event marks the beginning of the new age that God has inaugurated.

It is worth noting that the prophecy in Joel does not correspond exactly word-for-word to Peter’s sermon. As Peter quotes from Joel, he reinterprets the passage to fit the immediate context. Nevertheless, he does not lose sight of the original intent of the Old Testament text, but interprets it faithfully in light of the present situation.

In particular, the phrase “in the last days” in verse 17 is rendered as “afterward” in the book of Joel. Additionally, the closing phrase of verse 18, “and they shall prophesy,” does not appear in Joel but was added by Luke as he wrote the book of Acts. Furthermore, Luke adapts Joel’s original prophecy — “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth” — into “wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below.” The language of wonders and signs is an expression frequently used in the Old Testament in connection with Moses and the Exodus. This same language of wonders and signs continues to appear throughout the book of Acts, because Luke was foreshadowing the works that the apostles and disciples were about to perform.

The signs and wonders that continued to appear through the apostles signal a new era being ushered in by God. Yet in verse 20, it speaks of “before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.” This tells us that the age has not yet been brought to completion. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the opening shot of a new era, but the end has not yet come. The completion of this last days will occur when Jesus returns. Therefore, until the Lord comes again, verse 21 declares that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Salvation comes to those who actively trust in God.

Regardless of knowledge, wealth, reputation, gender, or age, all who hold a confident faith in God will surely be saved. Yet it is not something that just anyone and everyone automatically receives. This is because salvation comes to those who call on the name of the Lord through a faith that genuinely trusts in Him.

After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, some people believed only after seeing what God was doing, while others, on the contrary, refused to acknowledge the disciples and persecuted them because of the very phenomena that had taken place. These kinds of things will continue to occur throughout our lives of faith. Those who live as witnesses of the gospel will keep experiencing them, while those who believe with their lips alone will not.

We must trust in every work that God brings about, and we must call upon the name of the Lord in faith. It is my earnest prayer that each of us would believe that God’s saving hand will surely move in that moment — and that we would continue to live as those who have personally experienced His grace, as those who bear testimony to it, and as witnesses who proclaim the living God to the world.