Joel 2:29-32 - Wonders on the earth

2:29

“Even on my servants, both men and women”. The outpouring of the Spirit is universal. It covers both male and female, and includes servants. Specifically, “my servants”, ie anyone who is devoted to serving the Lord. The Spirit is not a gift for the special ones, but for all who follow the Lord. So, taking these two verses together with the preceding section we see that there is both a restoration of the old things together with a walking into a new life. The Spirit had not been given in such abundance before. At Pentecost this happened. When we come to Christ we walk into a new life.

2:30,31

The language used here is using lunar and solar eclipses as portents of disaster. Mesopotamian kings would even abdicate their thrones for a time, intending to resume their rule once the eclipse had taken place. We should note the mixture of judgement and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit does not mean partytime! Rather it means work or battle time. In Acts the Spirit was poured out so that the church could bear witness to the risen Christ. The same is true today. We live in a godless society, a rebellious society, but in the midst of that rebellion we are equipped by the Spirit in order to do God’s work.

2:32

So we have had he outpouring of the Spirit, then we have judgement. Now we have the promise, indeed the purpose, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And note that Peter quoted all five verses here in his sermon in Acts 2. Jesus died and rose again for our salvation.

Acts 4:3,4 - Arrested

4:3,4

Peter and John were put in prison overnight. Unlike with Jesus, when the “trials” were held at all sorts of odd hours, they seemed content to conduct things according to a more normal schedule. “But many ...” With Jesus we saw the greatest example of man having his plans, but God having His own plans, and, as always, it is God’s plans that win through. Man still got to carry out his evil plans, but God’s greater and good purposes were also carried out, and He acted in a way that conquered everything man did. Here we see the same pattern, though in a less dramatic way. Men arrested Peter and John, but God added to the church, many believed the message, believed in Jesus Christ. We need to appreciate this pattern. So often we think that God needs to stop men carrying out their wicked plan, and while there is a time for this, it is not always the way that God works. He allows men to do what they want to do, but in the midst of it God is doing something greater. And in the end it is God’s plans that are fulfilled. We should focus most on what God is doing.

There are some who question the validity of Luke’s estimate of five thousand men being added to the church. However, the figure is plausible. The population of Jerusalem is estimated to have been somewhere between 25,000 and 250,000, with the actual figure probably being towards the lower end. At Pentecost the numbers were swelled by incomers because of the religious significance of Jerusalem. Moreover, we need to appreciate that religion was extremely important in society, unlike today in the West.

Joel - A prophecy of two halves (a sermon)

A sermon on the first two chapters of the prophet Joel, with the emphasis on the centrality and importance of repentance in the gospel.

http://www.gatechurch.co.uk/media/2018/6/3/joel-hell-and-salvation

Acts 4:1,2 - Greatly annoyed

4:1

Just as Jesus encountered opposition from the religious leaders, so Peter and John encountered opposition. They were doing similar things to those that Jesus did, and they were teaching that the Jews had been wrong to crucify the Lord and were guilty before God. So it is not surprising that the religious leaders took action. It is worth noting that while the Pharisees were in the vanguard in opposing Jesus, now they are very much in the background, and it is the Sadducees who are more centre stage. There may be two factors that account for this. One is the resurrection, the Pharisees believed in resurrection, the Sadducees did not. So maybe the Pharisees felt they could not be seen to be arguing against resurrection, which was the focal point of the apostles preaching. Indeed, Paul used this fact later on in Acts (23:1-11). The other is that the Sadducees were a very secular group, not believing much at all, and keeping in with Rome was a prime concern. So they wanted to quash any hint of rebellion, and while Peter’s words focused on what the Jews had done, they clearly implicated Rome as well.

4:2

There were two things that annoyed the Jewish leaders. One was that these common people were teaching the people. The religious leaders were meant to be the ones who taught the people! Religious leaders always take umbrage when they have drifted from the truth, and God raises up ordinary men or women to oppose them and teach the truth to the people. If we are in any leadership position we need to always remember that our authority rests on our allegiance to Christ and His word, not on any status we might imagine we have. The second reason for annoyance was what Peter and John were teaching, the resurrection. The Sadducees were particularly incensed by this, but it also demonstrated so clearly the futility of the Jewish leaders’ attempts to stop Jesus. The resurrection also points undeniably to the Lordship of Jesus, He is the one we should worship and follow, indeed must worship and follow.

Acts 3:24-26 - to bless you by turning you from your wicked ways

3:24,25

Samuel was considered to be the first prophet after Moses, so Peter is saying that the witness of Scripture has been consistent. All of it was pointing forward to the coming of the Messiah, who is Jesus. Verse 25 talks of the identity of the Jews. They thought their identity lay with the law and with Moses. Peter is saying that Moses and all of the Law and the Prophets declare that their identity lies with Jesus. Peter then quotes from the words spoke to Abraham, the father of the nation. Abraham too, pointed towards Jesus.

3:26

This verse is so crucial, and one we so need to get a hold of today. First, God raised up His servant. It is God, not man, who decides the way of salvation, and He has chosen His Son Jesus Christ to be the one and only way of salvation.

He was sent first to Israel. It is implicit in this that He would then become the salvation of the world. God’s plan, made clear from Abraham when He declared that all nations  on earth would be blessed through him, was that salvation would flow from Israel to the whole world.

Notice the phrase, “to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways”. All too often to preach like that today would be considered “not seeker friendly”, or even hate speech. God has not changed, and the blessing of God in Jesus Christ is to turn men and women from our wicked ways, and to turn us to ways of life.

Joel 2:23-28 - Be glad!

2:23,24

The first part of the prophecy has been all doom and gloom with the terrible effect of the locust swarm, along with the promise of worse to come. But that is the outlook only if the people continue in their rebellion against God. And note that in this case the rebellion seems to have been largely one of ignoring God. However, if the people do follow the earlier injunction to repent and turn to the Lord, then the prospects are radically different. Now instead of the prospect of disaster, the people should be glad, for the Lord will rain abundance upon them. Note again, that just is it was the Lord who sent the army (or locusts) against Israel (Joel 2:11), it is He who sends the blessing.

2:25

This verse makes it clear that it was God who sent the locusts against the people, but it is equally clear that He will “repay them for the years that the locusts have eaten”. There is complete restoration. We have great problems in our modern minds with God being in anyway responsible for disasters, and there are indeed questions that we struggle to find an answer too (as, indeed, did Job). The Bible has far less qualms about attributing these things to the Lord, and we can learn much from that. However, there is one further thing we should note. We tend to think that “the Lord did it and that is the end of the matter”, or “someone else did it, therefore the Lord was not involved”. Ie we think in terms of only one agent. The Bible does not do this. God’s involvement, including direct involvement, does not exclude human responsibility. Usually both are involved.

2:26

The people will be physically blessed, but the greater change will be a change of heart. There will be an attitude of praise within their hearts and minds. And this change of heart is based on God’s actions. We tend to think that we should praise the Lord even if He seems to do nothing. There is some virtue in this, but if we look at the Bible we find that a repeated pattern is that people praise the Lord because of what He has done. And this pattern was repeated in the New Testament.

2:27

The people would then know that the Lord is God and that He is in Israel. This mirrors the oft repeated phrase in the Old Testament of “I will be your God and you will be my people”. This is the goal. We are meant to know who the Lord is, we are to belong to Him, and we are to know that He is with us. “And there is no other”. It is not a matter of supporting the stronger God. There is only one God, Satan is not a God. “I am in Israel”. God is with us. Remember that one of the titles of Jesus is “Emmanuel, God with us”.  We need to meditate upon this. So often we feel alone, when we face trouble we act and think about the situation as if we are alone in the situation. We are not alone, and we are not meant to feel alone. We should seek the presence of the Lord.

2:28

These verses were quoted by Peter in his sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:17-21). We should also remember that the section division that you probably have in your Bible was not there in the original. So the promise here follows on from what has just been said. “And afterwards ..” ie it is after the salvation spoken of in the preceding verses. In Acts it is after the events of the cross, resurrection, resurrection appearances and the ascension. “I will pour out my Spirit on all people”. This signifies that the people belong to God, are anointed by Him. There will be obvious effects in terms of prophesying, having dreams and visions.

Acts 3:22,23 - Completely cut off

eter refers back to the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-19. He is demonstrating that what was happening was always in God’s plan, and had indeed been prophesied by Moses. The Jews tended to think that Moses was the be all and end all of their religion. Peter shows that Moses himself knew that he was not, that God had something, indeed someone, much greater than he. This “messiah” would come from “among your own people”, ie He would be born an Israelite. And they were to listen to Jesus. Remember that in Matt 28:19,20 Jesus tells us to make disciples, teaching people to obey all His commands.

3:23

The rejection of Jesus is an extremely serious matter. For anyone who does not listen to Jesus “will be completely cut off from their people”. There are many views on the current place of Israel in God’s plans. The extreme views should be rejected. On the one hand we have those who seem to think Israel can do no wrong, or that they are somehow treated differently than the rest of us (the Gentiles). Such views are deeply unbiblical. On the other hand there is replacement theology that seems to say Israel as a nation no longer has any special place in God’s plans. Such views seem equally unbiblical, requiring one to reinterpret numerous prophecies in the Old Testament, not to mention Rom 9-11. It all seems to run counter to the historical evidence, including current history regarding Israel. Israel will be saved, but it will only be by repenting believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ie she is the same as all other people, each Jew is a sinner who needs to repent and believe in Christ. Yet God has made so many promises to Israel. These will be fulfilled when and only when they repent and believe, recognising who Jesus is. There will be one people, united in Christ (Eph 2:11-22).