Let’s review the scene here – Peter and the other disciples have just had the Holy Spirit dropped on them from above, and they immediately start praising and prophesying. The scene was so crazy, that some of the people watching assumed they must be drunk!
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: (Acts 2:14-16)
Peter directly proclaims that an Old Testament prophecy is taking place right in front of their eyes! And he then proceeds to quote the prophet:
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.’ (Acts 2:17-21)
What’s interesting here is that Peter takes ownership of this prophecy, which is clearly referencing "the Last Days". So, you might ask, how could the last days have been way back in Peter’s time, if we are all still here waiting today?
You see, some of these signs happened at Pentecost: God poured His Spirit out; the people who received the Spirit were prophesying – these both came true that day. The rest of the events, however, are still in the future: The sun turned to darkness; the blood moon; the great day of the Lord – these are all yet to come.
The 2000 years that have passed since the day Peter said this are mere grains of sand in the great hourglass of our God. We are in the last days now, and have been since that day - or more likely from the moment Jesus ascended and left this earth to prepare our Home.
We must remember that God doesn’t work on our timeline – after all, it was also the very same Apostle Peter who wrote this:
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (2 Peter 3:8)
Whether the last days started 2000 years ago or not; and whether it all comes to a climax in our generation or not; we can surely take comfort from what we read in verse 21 of Peter’s great testimony, quoting the prophet Joel: "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved".
It is not too late to call on the Name of the Lord – do it today!
#LoveMatters