Acts (Part 10) – Acts 2:18-22

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Acts (Part 10) – Acts 2:18-22

Acts 2:18 – And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

1. Prophesy v. – 1. To speak by (or as by) divine inspiration, or in the name of a deity; to speak as a prophet.
2. Prophecy n. – 1. The action, function, or faculty of a prophet; divinely inspired utterance or discourse; spec. in Christian theology, utterance flowing from the revelation and impulse of the Holy Spirit.
3. Both men and women (servants and handmaidens) would prophesy in those days.
4. Philip had four daughter which prophesied (Act 21:8-9).
5. When the Lord poured out the Spirit on the church on the day of Pentecost, they had no choice but to prophesy (Num 11:25; Amo 3:7-8).

Acts 2:19-20 – And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

1. These signs and wonders in the earth and heaven happened in the time leading up to 70AD when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.
2. Jesus prophesied that immediately after the tribulation, which happened during the siege of Jerusalem, the sun and moon would be darkened, the stars would fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven would be shaken (Mat 24:29).
3. These are symbols of political upheaval and great judgments (Isa 13:1, 9-10; Eze 32:2, 7-10).
4. These great judgments and signs and wonders would happen to the apostles’ generation (Mat 24:34).

Acts 2:21 – And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

1. “Saved” is a synonym of “delivered” (Act 2:21 c/w Joe 2:32; Psa 107:6 c/w Psa 107:13).
2. Whether during the coming judgment, or at any other time, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved/delivered.
3. This promise of salvation was given to “the remnant whom the LORD shall call” (Joe 2:32) and “as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Act 2:39).
4. The “whosoever” is therefore limited to God’s elect remnant (Rom 9:27; Rom 11:5).
5. The salvation under consideration is temporal salvation, not eternal salvation. The reasons for this are as follows:
   1. There is more than one type of salvation (Psa 44:4; Psa 116:8).
   2. The elect are already saved eternally by grace (2Ti 1:9), so they could not acquire something they already have.
   3. Eternal salvation is not by works (including calling on the name of the Lord) (Tit 3:5; Rom 9:16).
   4. Therefore, the salvation that the remnant can obtain by calling on the name of the Lord is a temporal salvation.
6. The unbelieving Jews needed to be saved from their ignorance of Jesus Christ and from going about to establish their own righteousness (Rom 10:1-4, 13), and from the judgment to come on the inhabitants of Jerusalem who had rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 2:22 – Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

1. Ye men of Israel, hear these words;
   1. At this time, the gospel was sent only to the Jews (Mat 10:5-6).
   2. Later, Peter would be sent to the Gentiles to preach the gospel to them as well.
   3. Peter commanded the Jews to hear what he had to say.
2. Jesus of Nazareth,
   1. Jesus was from the small, despised town of Nazareth (Joh 1:45-46).
   2. This was part of the reason that Jesus was despised and rejected (Isa 53:3).
   3. Jesus was not ashamed of being from Nazareth, as He referred to Himself by the title of Jesus of Nazareth after He was resurrected, glorified, and seated at the right hand of God (Act 22:8).
   4. Never be ashamed of where you’re from.
3. a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
   1. Jesus was, and still is, both a man (Joh 19:5; 1Ti 2:5) and God (Joh 1:1, 14; Joh 8:58).
   2. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the prophecy of Micah which said that God would show unto Him marvelous (miraculous) things (Mic 7:15 c/w Psa 78:12, 43).
4. which God did by him in the midst of you,
   1. God the Father, the Word (Christ’s divine nature), and the Holy Ghost did miracles by the man Christ Jesus (Joh 3:2).
   2. The miracles were done in the midst of the Jews, which should have been sufficient for them to believe that He was the Messiah (Joh 10:37-38).
5. as ye yourselves also know:
   1. The unbelieving Jews to whom Peter was preaching knew that Jesus did miracles by the power of God.
   2. They had no excuse to have not believed in Him.
   3. But rather than believe in Him, they took part in His crucifixion, as the next verse declares.