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The Disciples Acted Like the End was Near
Consider the book of Acts. In Acts 2, after the crowd made comments about the disciples appearing drunk, Peter preaches and quotes from the prophet Joel:
“For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'” Acts 2:15-21.
I heard a message on this passage about 33 years ago, and the preacher was attempting to explain that part of the passage didn’t apply. He took the phrase “this is that which” and said that because “this” was applied to “that” meant the passage wasn’t referring to this event. And this, no pun intended, was a charismatic preacher, so you’d think he’d try to show it did apply – Peter and the disciples were speaking in tongues. It was a very hard to follow sermon, and I never did figure out how he concluded that part of the passage didn’t apply. Maybe Peter just quoted too much. You know how excited he could get and just do something. Maybe he should have just quoted the first part about prophesying and visions. No, that would not give the Holy Spirit the due respect He deserves as the author of the words used by Peter and by Joel.
You may do the same thing, I bet, when you read it. You say, “Hmm, some parts apply and some parts don’t seem to.” Or you say, “It all applies, but some parts are delayed . . . for about 2,000 years.” But does this thinking really satisfy you as giving justice to the inspired, inerrant word of God? If the apostle Peter interpreted this event in Acts 2 was “that which was spoken by the prophet Joel,” and if the prophet Joel put all these events – prophesying and blood and fire and the moon turning into blood – into one event, why do we have such a problem with it?
It’s the strange signs that trouble us. Are they literal happenings or symbols?
Again, the timing of the decisive event of history – Christ’s first coming. Peter explains the culminating event of the process of changing from the old to the new – Christ’s coronation on the right hand of God.
“Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool.” Acts 2:33-5.
The sitting of Christ at the right hand of God, the most powerful seat in the universe (Psalm 110), and as a result, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit so that the kingdom of Christ may advance on earth – that has and will change history, that made assured the victory of Christ on earth and in heaven. Yet, there are those who are jealous to have the world end in our day, who say that God is planning on giving His Son a throne in Jerusalem, and this will be the culmination. This interpretation of the throne of David being the culminating event is like saying that the Queen of England is looking forward to going to sit on a throne in the Falklands, that she cannot rule the Falklands from Buckingham Palace, and that Christ cannot rule the earth from heaven’s throne. This is stupid, this is a denial of Christ’s victory over the key enemy, His victory in time and on earth since His victory over His enemy, and it is a going backwards from the change from the old to the new, something that can never happen.
The throne of David, like the land (earth) promised to Abraham, is much more than a physical throne in Jerusalem. The right hand of God’s throne is above all thrones and includes the throne of David, the throne that God chose for His chosen King. Again, the literal is not in view; it is the symbolism of David’s throne. The scripture never makes much of any physical throne that David sat on when he was king of Israel. It’s the anointed position that counts, and can anyone allege that Christ’s position is less than that of David’s. Great David’s Greater Son is the phrase. Mark 12:35-6.
At the end of his message in Acts 2, what does Peter exhort his hearers to do? “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” Acts 2:40. During that generation, not just repentance in general, but specifically that time of history needed special attention from the Jewish people that they might escape the coming judgment upon the old.