Pastor Jeremy M. Thomas
Fredericksburg Bible Church
107 East Austin
Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
830-997-8834      jthomas@fbgbible.org
A0809 – March 2, 2008 – Acts 2:14-36 – The Explanation Of Tongues

Acts 2:14-36 Σταθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος σὺν τοῖς ἕνδεκα ἐπῆρεν τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπεφθέγξατο αὐτοῖς· ἄνδρες Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἰερουσαλὴμ πάντες, τοῦτο ὑμῖν γνωστὸν ἔστω καὶ ἐνωτίσασθε τὰ ῥήματά μου. 15οὐ γὰρ ὡς ὑμεῖς ὑπολαμβάνετε οὗτοι μεθύουσιν, ἔστιν γὰρ ὥρα τρίτη τῆς ἡμέρας, 16ἀλλὰ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ εἰρημένον διὰ τοῦ προφήτου Ἰωήλ· 17καὶ ἔσται ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις, λέγει ὁ θεός, ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν καὶ οἱ νεανίσκοι ὑμῶν ὁράσεις ὄψονται καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ὑμῶν ἐνυπνίοις ἐνυπνιασθήσονται· 18καί γε ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν. 19καὶ δώσω τέρατα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ σημεῖα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω, αἷμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ. 20ὁ ἥλιος μεταστραφήσεται εἰς σκότος καὶ ἡ σελήνη εἰς αἷμα, πρὶν ἐλθεῖν ἡμέραν κυρίου τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἐπιφανῆ. 21καὶ ἔσται πᾶς ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου σωθήσεται. 22Ἄνδρες Ἰσραηλῖται, ἀκούσατε τοὺς λόγους τούτους· Ἰησοῦν τὸν Ναζωραῖον, ἄνδρα ἀποδεδειγμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς ὑμᾶς δυνάμεσι καὶ τέρασι καὶ σημείοις οἷς ἐποίησεν διʼ αὐτοῦ ὁ θεὸς ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν καθὼς αὐτοὶ οἴδατε, 23τοῦτον τῇ ὡρισμένῃ βουλῇ καὶ προγνώσει τοῦ θεοῦ ἔκδοτον διὰ χειρὸς ἀνόμων προσπήξαντες ἀνείλατε, 24ὃν ὁ θεὸς ἀνέστησεν λύσας τὰς ὠδῖνας τοῦ θανάτου, καθότι οὐκ ἦν δυνατὸν κρατεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ. 25Δαυὶδ γὰρ λέγει εἰς αὐτόν· προορώμην τὸν κύριον ἐνώπιόν μου διὰ παντός, ὅτι ἐκ δεξιῶν μού ἐστιν ἵνα μὴ σαλευθῶ. 26διὰ τοῦτο ηὐφράνθη ἡ καρδία μου καὶ ἠγαλλιάσατο ἡ γλῶσσά μου, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡ σάρξ μου κατασκηνώσει ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι, 27ὅτι οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς ᾅδην οὐδὲ δώσεις τὸν ὅσιόν σου ἰδεῖν διαφθοράν. 28ἐγνώρισάς μοι ὁδοὺς ζωῆς, πληρώσεις με εὐφροσύνης μετὰ τοῦ προσώπου σου. 29Ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί, ἐξὸν εἰπεῖν μετὰ παρρησίας πρὸς ὑμᾶς περὶ τοῦ πατριάρχου Δαυὶδ ὅτι καὶ ἐτελεύτησεν καὶ ἐτάφη, καὶ τὸ μνῆμα αὐτοῦ ἔστιν ἐν ἡμῖν ἄχρι τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης. 30προφήτης οὖν ὑπάρχων καὶ εἰδὼς ὅτι ὅρκῳ ὤμοσεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς ἐκ καρποῦ τῆς ὀσφύος αὐτοῦ καθίσαι ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ, 31προϊδὼν ἐλάλησεν περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὅτι οὔτε ἐγκατελείφθη εἰς ᾅδην οὔτε ἡ σὰρξ αὐτοῦ εἶδεν διαφθοράν. 32τοῦτον τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀνέστησεν ὁ θεός, οὗ πάντες ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν μάρτυρες· 33τῇ δεξιᾷ οὖν τοῦ θεοῦ ὑψωθείς, τήν τε ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου λαβὼν παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, ἐξέχεεν τοῦτο ὃ ὑμεῖς [καὶ] βλέπετε καὶ ἀκούετε. 34οὐ γὰρ Δαυὶδ ἀνέβη εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς, λέγει δὲ αὐτός· εἶπεν [ὁ] κύριος τῷ κυρίῳ μου· κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, 35ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου. 36ἀσφαλῶς οὖν γινωσκέτω πᾶς οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ ὅτι καὶ κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ χριστὸν ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός, τοῦτον τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε. (NA27)

Acts 2:14-36 But Peter standing with the eleven lifted up (3SAAI) his voice and declared to them, “Men of Judea and all dwellers in Jerusalem, let this be (3SPAImp) known to you and pay attention (2PAAImp) to my words. 15For these are not drunk as you suppose (2PPAI), for it is (3SPAI) nine A.M. 16But this is (3SPAI) what was said (PerfPassPart) through the prophet Joel, 17“And in the last days it will be (3SFAI), declares (3SPAI) God, that I will pour (1SFAI) out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophecy (3PFAI), and your young men will see (3PFAI) visions and your old men will dream (3PFAI) dreams, 18and even upon my servants and upon my female servants in those days I will pour out (1SFAI) my Spirit and they will prophesy (3PFAI). 19 And I will produce (1SFAI) wonders in the heaven above and signs upon the earth below, blood and fire and steaming smoke; 20the sun will be changed into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and splendid day of the Lord comes (AAInf). 21And it will be (3SFAI) that everyone who calls upon (3SASubjM) the name of the Lord will be saved (3SFPI). 22Israelite men, [you] listen to (2PAAImp) these words, “Jesus the Nazarene, a man having been shown (PerfPassPart) to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs that God did (3SAAI) through Him [voluntary submission of divine attributes] in your midst as you yourselves know (2PPAI or 2PPerfAI)—23this man, delivered up by the fixed (PerfPassPart) plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross and executed (2PAAI) by the hand of Gentiles [anomos, people without the Law]. [misappropriation of justice DI#4; review capital punishment). 24God raised Him up, releasing the pains of death, because it was (3SImpAI) not possible for Him to be held (PPassInf) by it. 25For David says (3SPAI) of Him, “I set the Lord before me always, for He is (3SPAI) at My right side that I may not be shaken (1SAPSubj); 26therefore My heart was glad (3SAPI), and My tongue rejoiced (3SAMI); My flesh also added to that which is already at hand and will live in hope. 27 For You will (3SFAI) not abandon My soul to Hades, or allow Your Holy One [one without fault adhering to the standard of God] to see (AAInf) decay. 28You made known (2SAAI) to Me the ways of life (zoe); You will fill (2SFAI) Me with gladness in your presence.” 29Men brethren, it is proper to say to you with confidence concerning the patriarch David, that he both died (3SAAI) and was buried (3SAPI), and his tomb is with us until this day. 30Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn (3SAAI) an oath to him to seat (AAInf) of the fruit of his loins upon his throne, 31he foresaw and spoke (3SAAI) about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see (3SAAI) decay. 32This Jesus, God raised up (3SAAI), and of that we all are (1PPAI) witnesses. 33Being exalted therefore, at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out (3SAAI) this which you yourselves both see (2PPAI) and hear (2PPAI). (filioque clause) (Author’s Translation)

Acts 2:14-36 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15“For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; 18Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. 19‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 20‘The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 21‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ 22“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25“For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. 26‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; 27Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. 28‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ 29“Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30“And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, 31he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. 32“This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33“Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34“For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ 36“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” (NASB95)

Alright, last time we took a break from the verse by verse to deal with the doctrine of tongues. And we looked at the origin of tongues at Pentecost, the character of tongues, that they were known languages both in Acts and Corinthians, you can’t make the argument that something else was going on at Corinth in the legitimate cases, in both books they were known human languages not gibberish, not some kind of bla, blu, bla, blu, blu, blah, blau, these were known human languages that had never been studied by the speaker, we looked at the purpose of tongues and this is key because it goes back to Isa 28 which shows that tongues was not a blessing but it was a curse, a curse on the nation of Israel for unbelief. They had reached such a state of spiritual immaturity that when the Messiah came and did the great and mighty works of God they didn’t recognize Him so God said fine, I’m going to give you baby talk and that’s what tongues were, baby talk. You can’t talk to babies with all the advanced lingo, you have to talk to babies with baby talk. So the tongues were a warning to unbelieving Jews that their time was almost up and if they didn’t repent then God was going to send divine discipline. So, we can deduce from this purpose that tongues were operational during Israel’s first forty years from 30AD when Jesus began His ministry until 70AD when the judgment came and Jerusalem was razed to the ground by the Romans. And this view is confirmed by the fact that the second generation of Jews in the Book of Hebrews did not see signs and miracles and wonders. That was all fading out so they had to have it confirmed to those older men from the previous generation who did see the signs. Then we looked at the end of tongues and we said every indication is that tongues ceased away before knowledge and prophecy, those were the two revelatory gifts, the two gifts used in the writing of the NT, and before they were done away the gift of tongues ceased ~AD70. The gift was given to certain members of that first generation and when those members died the gift died. Finally we looked at the history of tongues and we said it’s real sketchy, every once in awhile there’s been an outbreak of so-called tongues but in every case it’s been accompanied by certain biographical information that violates the Scriptural tongues, for example, some of these people were seized uncontrollably or they spoke in gibberish and all this is contrary to the word of God and unfortunately it’s become a dominant movement in our day when people are looking for a mystical experience rather than truth. So we exalt our experience over the word of God and interpret the word to fit our experience rather than the other way around. That’s the challenge believer face in our day. Is the word of God the authority or is my experience the authority. And Satan loves believers who locate authority in their experience because he can manipulate them into thinking all this hoopla is of God and that keeps believers from becoming stable in doctrine. Satan hates mature believers because he can’t get at them easily. They become immoveable rocks, not because of who they are but because of years and years and years of taking in the word of God, taking in the word of God, taking in the word of God so that the word of God takes root deep down in the conscience, in the mind, it controls the thought patterns of a believer. Now, that’s what Satan hates and that’s why we take a stance on the tongues issue. Because what’s passing today for tongues is out of kilter with the purpose of tongues, it’s out of step with passages related to the end of tongues and it’s never been a bona fide movement of God in church history. It was a bona fide sign gift given to that first generation to convince unbelieving Jews to repent before the judgment came. But after that, no more. And that’s where we are in Acts 2. 

We’ve looked at the Day of Pentecost and we said the Israel’s calendar was being fulfilled. You had the fulfillment of Passover in the death of Christ, then you had fulfillment of Firstfruits in the resurrection of Christ and then you have Pentecost and the Spirit comes and the question is, “Are we going to have fulfillment of this feast too? So the Spirit has come but the problem is the nation isn’t ready, spiritually speaking. The nation is out of it, spiritually inept, so here comes the baby talk in fulfillment of Isa 28, short snippets of the great works of God done through Jesus Christ in all these foreign languages. And this boggled the minds of these spiritual idiots so you had half of them just asking “What does this mean?” and the other half saying, “These guys are drunk, they can’t put a full sentence together.” They should have all know what this was but they were so out of it spiritually they couldn’t put 2 and 2 together. 

So Peter, v 14 takes a stand to give the explanation. But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, and notice who he’s standing with. It’s not ten, it’s eleven, that means Matthias has been counted among them, that Matthias also spoke in tongues and that’s an authentication of his apostleship. You can’t get around it because chapter 1 concluded with the last operation before the church began, the final phase of preparation for the Spirit to come because God wanted to have the apostolic foundation of the Church poured on the day of Pentecost. He didn’t want to pur the foundation 2 years later when Paul comes in the picture. So the twelve are standing there and Peter takes the lead and raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. Now that’s an authoritative command, Peter is taking the liberty of exercising authority over these men and this is the first sign that something radical has taken place to Peter. Before he was a scaredy cat now he’s out in the open boldly proclaiming the truth 15“For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; that is, it’s only nine A.M. It’s too early for these people to be drunk, give them a little time to get drunk. 16but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: Now we have a quote from Joel 2 set forth as the explanation. And if you look further in Peter’s sermon you find other OT quotes in vv 25-28, the end of 30, the end of 31 and vv 34-35. There’s a whole lot of OT quotes and every time you find a sermon in Acts you get all these quotations from the OT and it just goes to show how important the OT is, that it furnishes the background. So that means we have to go back, spend time in the OT, I know it’s a drudgery to all the NT Christians who all they want to do is just stay in the NT and harp on John 3:16, nothing wrong with the NT but it’s built on the OT. And trying to be a NT Christian is nothing but a sign of immaturity and it’s going to do nothing but cause confusion because the background of these NT passages is the OT and if you dispense of the time it takes to go back to the OT you misinterpret the NT. So you don’t get anything out of it. So what we want to do here is break off for a few minutes and talk about how the NT authors quote the OT. This is a controversial area because everyone wants a lot of freedom here; want to be able to use these quotes to support their theology. But it’s not left up to us, there are rules passed down from the days of Jesus and the apostles that control how we handle them. This is all in the literature, you can study Emil Shuer’s definitive work The History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ where he shows that the rabbi’s of Jesus’ day quoted the OT in four different ways and that the NT authors were using these same four methods except with one difference. The NT authors writings were superintended by the Holy Spirit. “Our view of verbal plenary inspiration teaches that the Holy Spirit superintended the biblical writers so that without violating the writer's personality, style of writing, or vocabulary, they produced exactly what God wanted them to produce down to the very words. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit’s practice of not overwhelming the writer's background explains why the New Testament authors used the same four ways of quoting the Old Testament as the rabbis did. On the other hand, the superintending by the Holy Spirit kept them from going into the rabbinic extremes.” So turn to Matt 2, in this chapter you have all four ways used. Matt 2:6. This is what we call a literal prophecy + literal fulfillment. Very straightforward. ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ Where’s the quote from in your margin? Micah 5:2, a literal prophecy of the birthplace of the Messiah, He will be born in Bethlehem and here in Matt we have the literal fulfillment, Christ was born in Bethlehem. That’s the first category, literal prophecy + literal fulfillment. Second category is what we call literal + typology. Look at v 15. Remember, Joseph and Mary took Jesus down to Egypt and here Matthew says, “This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” Now, that’s a quote of Hos 11:1 and it’s not a prophecy at all. It’s a historical statement about Israel being called out of Egypt at the Exodus. But Peter quotes it as a fulfillment. But clearly it’s not the fulfillment of a prophecy. The Old Testament literal event becomes a type of a New Testament event. So, Hos 11 is a literal passage about the historical event of Israel being called out of Egypt at the Exodus and Peter is saying, just as Israel was called out of Egypt so Jesus Christ was called out of Egypt. We’re not abandoning the original literal reading of the OT passage, we’re just saying that Matthew picks it up and quotes it as typology. So, the second category is literal + typology. The third category is what we call literal + application. In this category drop down to vv 16-18. This is the account when Herod sent to have all the baby boys 2 years old and under murdered around Bethlehem. Can you imagine all the mothers weeping? And then in v 17 Matthew says that what Jeremiah had said was fulfilled, “A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; And she refused to be comforted, Because they were no more.” That’s a quote from where in Jeremiah? 31:15. Now, is Jer 31:15 a prophecy? No. Jeremiah was prophesying about a current event happening in his own time, the beginnings of the Babylonian Captivity. As the Jewish young men were being taken into captivity, they went by the town of Ramah, a town not far from where Rachel was buried. Rachel had become the symbol of Jewish motherhood. As the young men were marched toward Babylon, the Jewish mothers of Ramah came out weeping for sons they would never see again.” When Matthew reflects on the baby boys being murdered in Jerusalem he picks up that event from Jeremiah’s day and makes application to what happened in Bethlehem. The point of this third category is that there is one point of similarity between what happened at the Babylonian Captivity and what happened in Bethlehem. Because of the similarity Matthew makes an application of Jeremiah. The one point of similarity here is that once again there are Jewish mothers weeping for sons they will never see again. The fourth category is called summarization. This is when a NT author doesn’t quote any one passage from the OT but rather a summary of an OT teaching. For example, v 23, “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.” But you will not find that anywhere in the OT. That’s not a direct quote. What then is Matthew doing? He’s summarizing an OT teaching not found in any one place but taught by many of the prophets. A Nazarene was highly despised and rejected. That the Messiah was highly despised and rejected is a common teaching in the OT. So he’s summarizing the OT teaching in this quotation. So, we can say that Matt 2 contains four examples of the four ways rabbi’s quoted the OT. Since the writers of the Bible were Jewish and they wrote like Jews wrote they used these same four methods of quoting the OT. The only difference is that their quotations of the OT were superintended by the Holy Spirit while the rabbi’s were not. So, in Matt 2:6 we have literal prophecy + literal fulfillment, in Matt 2:15 we have literal + typology, in Matt 2:18 literal + application and Matt 2:23 summarization. Every time a NT author quotes the OT it will fit into one of these four categories that were common to the Jews of that day. So, what I’ve just given you is the rules for interpreting quotes from the OT. And you have to apply these rules or you’re not interpreting Scripture according to the literal method. It’s a violation of sound hermeneutics, the rules for interpreting this literature, to not follow these four categories. So now we want to go back to Acts 2 and ask, “How is Peter quoting Joel?” “Which of the four categories is Peter using?” And before we read ask yourself this question? “What happened on the Day of Pentecost?” Anyone? What was the main event? Tongues speaking. Now, as we read this quote from Joel ask yourself, “Does Joel mention tongues speaking?” 

‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; 18Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. 19‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 20‘The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 21‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Now, did you find any tongues? If you did you’ve got a better lens prescription than I do. There’s no mention by Joel of tongues speaking. Now, did any of the things that Joel mention happen on Pentecost? Did Jewish sons and daughters prophesy? Did Jewish young men see visions? Did Jewish old men dream dreams? Was there blood and fire and vapor of smoke? Was the sun blacked out and the moon reddened? No, the answer is no. Not one thing Joel prophesied happened on the day of Pentecost. Therefore what Joel said cannot have been fulfilled on Pentecost. Why in the world then is Peter quoting Joel as an explanation for tongues? Because there is one point of similarity? Anyone see the point of similarity? Does anyone see even one phrase in Joel that is similar to what happened on Pentecost? If you don’t drop down to v 33 and you’ll get the answer. “He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.” There has been a pouring out of the Spirit. It wasn’t the pouring out of the Spirit that Joel was talking about because Joel says it’s going to be poured out on all classes of Jewish society, sons, daughters, young men, old men, male slaves, female slaves but in Acts 2 it was only poured out on the 12. It can’t be what Joel predicted because Joel predicted that when His pouring out of the Spirit occurs it will manifest dreams and visions and prophecy but what the pouring out of the Spirit manifested in Acts 2 was tongues. So, there is only one point of similarity and that similarity is that a pouring out of the Spirit has occurred that resulted in some visible phenomena. That means this fits into our third category; literal + application. Peter picks up the literal prophecy of Joel and because of one point of similarity makes application to Pentecost. Joel actually prophesies of events that will happen just before and just after the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. And his whole point is this, if you don’t get anything else out of today get this; that for the Holy Spirit to have come the Messiah must have already died, resurrected and ascended to heaven because He’s the one who sends the Spirit from heaven. You can’t have the Spirit come until the Christ has risen and ascended. And that’s exactly what the sermon is about, the life, the death, the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. Verse 22 deals with His life, what He did, who He was, verse 23 deals with His death on the cross, verses 24-32 deal with His resurrection and verses 33-35 deal with His ascension. All these are evidences from Scripture that Jesus is the Messiah. So he moves very logically, very smoothly and it’s very persuasive because He’s using the OT text and showing the fulfillment in Jesus Christ over and over and over and over again and the final evidence that closes the door is the pouring out of the Spirit because only the ascended Messiah could send the Spirit.

Verse 22, “Men of Israel, please notice that his remarks are being addressed to Israel, not Gentiles, in the context.  So when we get down to Acts 2:38 and so on you’ll understand it is in the context of this accusation of a national sin. Men of Israel, listen to these words: How does faith come? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It is not built on your experience, my experience or even the apostle’s experience. Experience is not the issue on the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost we have confirmation of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Jesus. And Christians who insist upon replacing God’s gospel with human experience, even Christian testimony are basically rebelling against God’s Word. Now Christian testimony and Christian experience have their place but they are not the gospel. The gospel is what God has spoken into history and recorded in Scripture. So listen to these words: and here he begins to indict the nation for rejecting the Messiahship of Jesus. Jesus the Nazarene, Notice they don’t say Jesus Christ. That would thrown the whole crowd into an uproar, to claim outright someone was the Messiah without any evidence. So Peter says Jesus the Nazarene, that’s not to confirm the Nazarene Church or something, that’s an apologetic title used to confirm that Jesus was the Messiah (cf 3:6; 4:10; 6:14). It doesn’t prove that to you because you’re a Gentile but it was confirmation to the Jews because a Nazarene was someone who was despised and rejected (John 1:46) and the OT taught that the Messiah would be despised and rejected (Isa 53:3). So, Peter’s saying, Jesus fits the bill. Jesus is the Messiah. Everything in Peter’s sermon is an apologetic based on Scripture set out to prove to the nation of Israel that Jesus is the Christ because he fulfilled OT Messianic prophecy. Further, this Nazarene is a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—And the participle attested means “shown, “shown to you by God.” God made it very clear that Jesus was the Messiah by way of the miracles and wonders and signs. You had to b a moron to miss it. These people knew about this, it didn’t happen in a corner, the whole Mediterranean world knew about this and it was still going on according to the perfect tense of that participle. The perfect tense means what you had was Jesus Christ starting his miraculous works in the past, long before Pentecost. And we know he began after his baptism by John and the point of the perfect is that the results continue up to the present. The facts remain, these are the facts Peter is telling them just as you yourselves know. There has been a clear attestation of Jesus’ Messiahship through the miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him and don’t get caught here by someone trying to say, “Well, if Jesus were God then Jesus would have done the miracles, not God.” Uh, uh, Jesus Christ is God but in the incarnation He gave up the independent use of His divine attributes. We’re not saying He gave up His deity. Jesus never gave up His deity for a second. What He did do was give up the independent use of His divinity, He only tapped into his divine resources when the Father said, “Alright, go for it.” So, verse 22 shows that in the Life of Jesus He was proven to be the Messiah. But it’s more than that and to catch it I want you to read verse 22 with me and we’ll count the number of times Peter uses you or you all. It starts off, “Men of Israel,” (1), “you hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, (2) a man attested to you by God” (3), “with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through Him in your midst,” (4), “just as you yourselves know.”  So, four times in one sentence; you, you, you, you.  Why does Peter do that?  Because Peter is driving home the point of guilt, you are guilty Israel; you are guilty of rejecting what God has done for you. And so he gets very personal here, he uses the second person plural to get personal and to drive home the point of conviction. What have you done to God’s Son? That’s the issue. Now, verse 23 is going to continue the guilt trip by showing their responsibility for executing the Messiah. this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Alright, now this is one of the greatest verses on the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. 24“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25“For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. 26‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; 27Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. 28‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ 29“Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30“And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, 31he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. 32“This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33“Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34“For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ 36“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” (NASB95)

Acts 2:14-36 But Peter standing with the eleven lifted up (3SAAI) his voice and declared to them, “Men of Judea and all dwellers in Jerusalem, let this be (3SPAImp) known to you and pay attention (2PAAImp) to my words. 15For these are not drunk as you suppose (2PPAI), for it is (3SPAI) nine A.M. 16But this is (3SPAI) what was said (PerfPassPart) through the prophet Joel, 17“And in the last days it will be (3SFAI), declares (3SPAI) God, that I will pour (1SFAI) out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophecy (3PFAI), and your young men will see (3PFAI) visions and your old men will dream (3PFAI) dreams, 18and even upon my servants and upon my female servants in those days I will pour out (1SFAI) my Spirit and they will prophesy (3PFAI). 19 And I will produce (1SFAI) wonders in the heaven above and signs upon the earth below, blood and fire and steaming smoke; 20the sun will be changed into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and splendid day of the Lord comes (AAInf). 21And it will be (3SFAI) that everyone who calls upon (3SASubjM) the name of the Lord will be saved (3SFPI). 22Israelite men, [you] listen to (2PAAImp) these words, “Jesus the Nazarene, a man having been shown (PerfPassPart) to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs that God did (3SAAI) through Him [voluntary submission of divine attributes] in your midst as you yourselves know (2PPAI or 2PPerfAI)—23this man, delivered up by the fixed (PerfPassPart) plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross and executed (2PAAI) by the hand of Gentiles [anomos, people without the Law]. [misappropriation of justice DI#4; review capital punishment). 24God raised Him up, releasing the pains of death, because it was (3SImpAI) not possible for Him to be held (PPassInf) by it. 25For David says (3SPAI) of Him, “I set the Lord before me always, for He is (3SPAI) at My right side that I may not be shaken (1SAPSubj); 26therefore My heart was glad (3SAPI), and My tongue rejoiced (3SAMI); My flesh also added to that which is already at hand and will live in hope. 27 For You will (3SFAI) not abandon My soul to Hades, or allow Your Holy One [one without fault adhering to the standard of God] to see (AAInf) decay. 28You made known (2SAAI) to Me the ways of life (zoe); You will fill (2SFAI) Me with gladness in your presence.” 29Men brethren, it is proper to say to you with confidence concerning the patriarch David, that he both died (3SAAI) and was buried (3SAPI), and his tomb is with us until this day. 30Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn (3SAAI) an oath to him to seat (AAInf) of the fruit of his loins upon his throne, 31he foresaw and spoke (3SAAI) about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see (3SAAI) decay. 32This Jesus, God raised up (3SAAI), and of that we all are (1PPAI) witnesses. 33Being exalted therefore, at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out (3SAAI) this which you yourselves both see (2PPAI) and hear (2PPAI). (filioque clause) (Author’s Translation)