Skip to main content

340. Pentecost The Promise Fulfilled

This Was Worth Waiting For!  

Acts 2:1-41
Key Verse:  "Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."  Acts 2:36  

When Jesus was crucified, Pilate had a sign placed above the cross, written in Latin, Greek and Aramaic, proclaiming His crime: "King of the Jews!" (John 19:19-22) Now, at Pentecost, Babble was undone and each heard in his own language, "God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." (Acts 2:36B) In other words, Pilate had been correct. Now, the whole world knew it.  

What a sermon Peter preached! He does not hold back from the truth of who Jesus was and is. He also states boldly who is responsible for what was done to Him. He lays out the sin of the Jewish people in terms that cannot be denied.  Yet, Peter's sermon is not simply a gloom and doom, wringing of the hands type sermon without hope. No, he also proclaims the assurance to the people that, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, now the time we have been waiting for, the time predicted by Joel has come! A new way is dawning.

What the locusts of sin and man devoured through greed, power and selfishness is being restored through the Holy Spirit of God. "In the latter days," says God, "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." (Acts 2:17-18 & Joel 2:28-29)

That is what is being fulfilled at that very moment. Imagine living in a moment when you are certain that an ancient prophesy is being fulfilled! Is it one of those moments that make you wish that you could stop time and drink it all in? Would it be one of those moments that you wish you could engrave upon your memory and never forget? Yet, those moments had been happening since Jesus was born. Everything He did fulfilled prophesy, but no one saw those moments for what they were.

Peter continues from Joel: "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." (Acts 2:19-21 & Joel 2:30-31) The sun turned dark at the crucifixion, but even the disciples didn't make the connection that prophecy was being fulfilled.  

Then, Peter holds out the hope of a loving god. Even though you missed it then and may not understand it completely now, "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Acts 2:22) What a loving God. He does not condemn us because we didn't get it before. He does not require years of study with salvation as the diploma for our efforts. All that He requires is that we call to Him and believe in Him and repent from going the wrong way and He has promised to save us because He has already redeemed us. It's our turn to reach out to Him.  


Hymn: "The Holy Spirit Came At Pentecost"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 27 Save the Glaze for the Bunny

Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips of an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips. But in his heart, he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. ~Proverbs 26:23-28 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. T...
Post a Comment
Read more

July 16 Thick Skinned Love

Whoever covers over an offence promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. ~Proverbs 17:9 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ~Matthew 18:15  The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ~1 Peter 4:7-8  Being offended seems to be the battle cry of the day. Instead of freedom of speech, everyone has the right not to be offended. If one is offended, then one has the right to exact vengeance on the offender because, of course, the offender KNEW that he or she was being offensive and just didn’t care. Is that how you see much of society behaving today?  There seems to be all of this offending and finger pointing that just keeps growing and growing. Nothing is being resolved, just more blame that grows louder a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Surprise!

Luke 24:14-35 Listen link is a video: https://www.facebook.com/gregory.dubois.547/posts/10157923265761195 For today’s message we are going to backtrack on the Scriptures a bit. Last week I talked about what happened in the evening of Easter day. Today’s story happened in the midday or afternoon of that day. But I wanted to save it for our Communion Sunday because Jesus breaks the bread for them at the end of this story and that is what we will be doing today at the end of the message when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. We’re talking about two of Jesus’ disciples who left Jerusalem to walk to Emmaus, perhaps the home of one or both of them. But Jesus walked with them and once they realized Jesus was alive, these two disciples hurried back to the rest of the disciples to alert them to the wonderful news. They arrived Just before Jesus showed up in the upper room. But before I go back and get into the story of the journey to Emmaus, I think it’s fun to notice that the ...
Post a Comment
Read more