Acts 2:14-41 | God's Rescue MissionSample

“What does this mean” – all this wind and noise with people speaking God’s words in languages that they’ve never learned? It’s the question Acts 2:14-41 is answering.

Peter stands up. Peter, the one who once pulled back, denying Jesus in fear, now raises his voice to proclaim King Jesus to thousands. That’s what the Spirit does.

His answer is this. We’re not drunk! No. And despite what you think and how this may look, the sobriety of this message is evidence enough that something else is going on instead.

He quotes the prophet Joel. This is what God had promised so long ago. Here it is! God’s Spirit is being poured out. It is a sign of the last days, Peter says. That long awaited hope of the people of God when God would come to change the hearts of his people and empower them with his presence.

They will prophesy. “Look,” he says. That’s what we’re doing. This is what prophets do. They speak a message from God to the people God wants so desperately to reach.

Don’t underestimate the power of this. Jesus says if you ask God in faith, you can tell a mountain to move, and it will move. But a human heart can be more insurmountable than a mountain. Acts 2 shows it is not too much for the Spirit of God.

There’s more. Joel says there will be signs in the heavens above and on the earth below. People sometimes get tripped up on the language. Because on Pentecost there’s no record that the sun turned to darkness, nor the moon to blood. Is that still going to happen? Maybe. Or maybe it’s Peter’s way of saying that when God pours out his Spirit, it alters the very universe itself. The heavens will shake and the earth will quake. God’s dramatic work is always an earth-shattering event. Nothing is ever the same when it comes into contact with the Spirit of God.

Today, read what Joel said would one day come, and how Peter applies it to the people on Pentecost. Don’t just look at the what. Pay attention to the why. Why is God doing this? What does he want? How is God going about rescuing this world? Let Joel and Peter guide you.