Acts 2:14-21 – Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 “‘In the last days, God says, 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. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
“I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.” Here Peter is still quoting from Joel 2:28-32 concerning the Last Days. Daniel 6:27 notes that God performs signs and wonders in the heavens. Why does God do that? He performs these signs and wonders to speak to the inhabitants of the earth. To the currently loss, it is a warning sign to cause them to wonder and to consider what is the meaning of what they are seeing. If they are not so blind that they will not see, but will consider what the signs mean, they will seek out what the meaning is. All who have come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord should consider this time in the Last Days a time to witness. When the hearts of men become fearful and, or, curious, it is a time to point to scripture and speak to them about Jesus Christ, and God Almighty. We can point them to verses such as Revelation 6:12-17 and reveal to them that God had warned of these events over two thousand years ago. That these signs are signs to get the attention of mankind. Those who don’t know the Lord will be in fear. Those who do will rejoice because they will know that their redemption is close (Luke 21:28). Two very different reactions for very good reason.
“The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.” Remembering that the Last Days are being spoken of, the sun turning dark is prophesied not only here in Acts and Joel, but also other places, such as Isaiah 13:10. Here it speaks not only of the sun being darkened, but also that the stars will not shine and also the moon will not give its light. (The moon will not have light to give because the moon has no light unless the sun shines on it and the moon reflects the sun’s light. Another science fact that was written over twenty five hundred years ago, long before the world understood.) Also see Joel 2:20, Joel 3:15, Revelation 6:12, Luke 21:25). God gives powerful signs on earth and in the sky when He wants to communicate something strongly to us, as at the crucifixion of Jesus (Luke 23:44-45).
“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The message of the Word of God is that God saves through Jesus His Son. God will do whatever He needs to communicate that He loves and saves men and women. God has been consistent with His message to the world. Acts 2:21 also states “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Likewise, Romans 10:13 “for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”” This message of the forgiveness of sin through Messiah God has not only been expressed in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 22:1-31 (V5), Isaiah 61:1-2, Isaiah 7:14 (Immanuel – God with us), Zechariah 12:10, Zechariah 9:9, Psalm 2:12, Psalm 118:25-29, Ruth 4:4-9. There are so many more scriptures that speak of the Messiah, pinpointing Him to be Jesus, saying where He would be born, where He would live, what He would do, what He would endure, that He would be betrayed, how He would die, and even that people would gamble over the clothes that He wore at His death. God gave all we needed to know in His Word. It’s only a matter of honestly wanting to know. God desires to save everyone (2 Peter 3:9). God does not condemn any man to hell. Every person has a choice whether to be saved by God or to spend eternity in “hell.” Family, let us pray that all may love and serve the Lord. It is the heart of God that lives within us that the world be saved through the only Messiah Jesus (John 3:16) and so it burns in our heart that all would know and receive God’s grace and love that He freely offers. Our God is good all the time and He loves us. Praise God! With all that we are, praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.