Intro
If you’ve been around me for a bit of time, you’ll probably know that one of my biggest areas of interest and passion is the history of God’s work in the church. Particularly when it comes to these fresh movements of the Holy Spirit that lead to the salvation of many people. Those are what we call revivals. We talked about this last week, because Acts 2 is the first of these. It’s the genesis of the church. It’s our origin story. It’s the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the early church at Pentecost, ultimately leading to the baptism of thousands and thousands of people. Every revival period since is in some ways a re-enactment of Acts 2.
One of the movements I heard about when I was just beginning to dig into this history was the Welsh revival in the early 20th century. It was a movement prompted by prayer, initiated by a young pastor named Evan Roberts. This group of teens and young adults sought God’s presence desperately through prayer and worship, and it happened. The Spirit came in power and revival spread across the land. Within a year, 100,000 Welsh had come to a saving faith in Jesus. 100,000, and it started with a small group on their knees!
The result was a massive societal change. Taverns went bankrupt because nobody frequented them anymore. Courts were empty and police had nothing to do because crime screeched to a halt. Soccer matches were postponed for lack of interest. In my favourite detail, horses in the coal mines apparently stopped responding to their owners because their language and behaviour had been so dramatically transformed. Some of you are thinking, this sounds terrible! No crime, no drama, no sports, what would you watch on TV anymore? That’s most of Netflix! People just wanted to be in God’s presence, that’s it. People didn’t have a desire for superficial entertainment, all they wanted was supernatural presence as they worshipped together.
Learning about that stuff is fascinating to me. But what’s also really interesting, and I think equally as important, is understanding why revivals die. Why do they putter out? Why do they go off the rails into strange excesses? It’s what happened with the Welsh revival. The stories spread and sparked other revivals all around the world, but in Wales itself, the effects were short-lived. Evan Roberts, maybe the foremost leader, went into seclusion and indulged in debatable theological obsessions. And according to church historians, one of the main reasons for the decline of the Welsh revival was the lack of a grounding in Scripture. There was very little preaching in their meetings, very little emphasis given to being rooted in the Bible. It was all experience, which meant that when some of the emotions faded, so did the consecration and commitment.
Remember what we said last week, if you were with us. The point is not the power. Neither is it the experience. The point is who the power, and the experience, points to. The point is to create an opening for Jesus to be made known, and Scripture is the authoritative revelation about who Jesus is. Which is exactly what we see in Acts 2. There is an outpouring of the Spirit and all of these followers of Jesus begin speaking in a wide assortment of dialects and languages. They’re blue-collar rural Galileans, but in a moment they become PhD multi-linguists. The crowds in Jerusalem are absolutely astounded. They can’t understand it. And it creates an opening. Now, a few accuse the disciples of being drunk. They’re just boozehounds! But many are asking, what does this mean?
And so Peter stands up and grounds the whole thing in Scripture. This is what needed to happen, and perhaps didn’t, in the Welsh revival. This moment of the Spirit’s outpouring is an opportunity to make Jesus known to the people, to show them how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures and the fulfillment of all that they seek. It’s not about an emotional experience. It’s about an enduring relationship grounded in God’s word. Let’s look at how this plays out.
1. Acts 2:14-21: The Spirit as fulfillment
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
Acts 2:14-21
The first thing Peter does is quickly dismiss the alcohol accusation. It’s 9am! We haven’t had enough time to get intoxicated! Boom, truth bomb! But then he goes, this is actually what you’ve read about and dreamed about and been promised for ages. And in the first of three Old Testament quotations in his explanation, he shows how the Scriptures had promised exactly this outpouring of the Spirit that the crowds have witnessed.
We need to understand something here. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just pop onto the scene in the book of Acts, or even in the Gospels. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three and yet one, God from eternity past to eternity future. The Spirit has always been. We do read about the Spirit in the Old Testament, only usually as a temporary empowerment for a particular act. Samson, the macho strong man, had this happen a few times. One time, he’s walking down the road and a lion charges at him. We were at the zoo the other day, and I taunted the cheetah a little bit, you know, to entertain my kids. It did not like that! The beast started snarling at me and getting ready to pounce. It was a bit terrifying and he was behind a fence! Samson has a lion charging at him full speed, the Spirit of God comes on him, and he tears the lion apart with his bare hands. Amazing stuff. But there wasn’t this habitation of the Spirit in God’s people. There wasn’t this baptism and indwelling. That’s the thing the prophet Joel looked forward to in the Old Testament.
Interestingly, Joel says it will happen in the “last days”. Did you know that we are now living in the last days? I’ve calculated it, and the end of the world will take place next Friday at 2pm, so sell all your property and let’s go wait on top of Mt. Seymour. Not really! But we are living in the last days! That’s because according to the Bible, everything that happens after the resurrection of Jesus, including the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, is part of the “last days”. We are in the final stage of history, we have been since the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and the filling of God’s people is one of the markers.
Joel, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said that the outpouring of the Spirit would result in all kinds of dramatic signs and wonders. Like what took place at the crucifixion of Jesus, when the skies grew dark in the middle of the day. Like what has just taken place in Acts 2 through tongues of fire resting on the disciples. Joel also said that the outpouring would result in prophecy, visions, and dreams from the Lord.
I think we experienced it last week! After the morning service, a woman came to me and shared two images she had received from the Lord during worship. They were immensely encouraging and related to what I had preached about. Then, in the evening service, after the sermon and during the final song, another woman approached me and shared something she had heard from the Lord. Again, a specific message that was immensely encouraging and directly related to what I had preached. That’s what prophecy is, by the way. It isn’t primarily telling the future, though it can involve that, and actually did in the case of this message this woman delivered. Fundamentally, though, prophecy is about communicating a message from God in a particular situation. Dreams, visions, prophecy, given to the Lord’s people. Is this Scriptural promise not also a more widespread desire in the human heart? To have God communicate with us, to speak to us? That’s what our hearts long for!
And this gift is not just given to a few people. Not just given to leaders, or to men, or to the experienced. There’s a story in Numbers 11 related to this. The Israelites are in the wilderness, times are getting tough, but the Spirit of the Lord rests on the 70 elders of the Israelites. They begin prophesying- speaking words from the Lord. There are two guys named Medad and Eldad who aren’t elders but begin prophesying as well. Joshua, who would later become the leader of the Israelites, rushes to Moses and begs him to shut this down. Moses’ response?
“Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
Numbers 11:29
That’s Moses’ desire: for the Spirit to rest on all the Lord’s people, and for this prophesying to become commonplace. It’s a desire that comes from the Lord, because the Lord promises it through prophets like Joel who lived a thousand years after Moses. The Spirit poured out on young and old, men and women alike.
There is a radical inclusivity in the outpouring of the Spirit. But I’ve got to clarify that, because that word, inclusivity, means something different in our world. The Holy Spirit is not poured out regardless of belief or lifestyle. A lot of people in our world think the only kind of inclusivity that matters is one that affirms everything, even stuff that is in total opposition to God’s revealed will. Actually, it’s exactly those things- willfully living in wrong beliefs and immoral decisions- that quenches the fire of the Holy Spirit. Instead, it’s an inclusivity regardless of age, sex, ethnic background, language, all of that.
There is something incredibly appealing about that. There’s something about that, as well, that satisfies the longings of the human heart. Your worldly status has zero relationship to the gift of the Holy Spirit. You could reside on the top rung of the social ladder or the lowest rung, it’s irrelevant. Actually, you might be more likely to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit if you’re on the bottom rung, because you’re more likely to make space for His power instead of relying on your own! So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a bunch of blue-collar nobodies get to go first! Because, in accordance with the promises of the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit is for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.
2. Acts 2:22-32: the resurrection as fulfillment
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25 David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’ 29 “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it
Acts 2:22-32
So Peter quotes Joel about anyone calling on the name of the Lord being saved, and then immediately talks about Jesus. He quotes Joel referring to Yahweh, God Almighty, and then speaks as though that same Lord is Jesus. But I’m sure that’s nothing important. (Right?)
We’ll come back to that. Peter reminds the crowds of the events of Jesus’ life and death. He moves pretty quickly here. He doesn’t need to prove any of this, the crowds already know it. The stories of miracles followed Jesus everywhere he went. Besides that, he had been crucified only two months or so before Pentecost. This is all review for the crowds. The real groundbreaking stuff starts in verse 24, where Peter proclaims the resurrection of Jesus. And he says that just like the outpouring of the Spirit, this is the fulfillment of God’s ancient promises.
Specifically, Peter goes to a Psalm written by King David where David announces that God will not abandon him to the realm of the dead and will not allow God’s holy one to see decay. Most people would have understood this being about David, as God’s anointed king. Maybe there was a situation where David faced death, and God preserved him. That actually happened often for David! Some of you have experienced that. There was a time when you might have said sayonara to life in this world and somehow, even miraculously, you were delivered. God didn’t let you see decay. He didn’t abandon you to the realm of the dead.
But here’s Peter’s point. While it might have originally been about David and made some sense in relation to him, David couldn’t be the fulfillment of Psalm 16. Because eventually, he did die! God did allow his body to decay. Peter says, you know this, guys! We can walk over to David’s tomb right now! Graveyard field trip! If you think this Psalm is fulfilled by David, you are settling for something so much lesser than the real deal.
Anytime people look for fulfillment in created things, including people, it’s the same situation. There might be an element of fulfillment. A marriage really does provide love and stability. Money can lead to experiences that create joy. Spending time in creation does give a sense of peace. But it’s a partial fulfillment. It’s not the real deal. That can only come through something eternal, something lasting, something those partial fulfilments point to.
Back to Psalm 16, Peter says the promise isn’t fulfilled by David, who did die, but it was fulfilled by Jesus. And here’s what he says about Jesus: that God raised him from the dead. Later on, Peter says that they were witnesses to this. Just quickly, this is one of the pieces of evidence for the historical truth of the resurrection. The disciples testified to the resurrection of Jesus in Jerusalem, the early church exploded on the basis of the resurrection in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, where people could have pointed to Jesus’ tomb, like they did with David’s. It was an easy rebuttal. Not only that, but the disciples were boldly proclaiming the bodily resurrection of Jesus in the city where Jesus had just been killed, in a city filled with those who would have happily lined the disciples up next on the hit list. In fact, many of them did die for this belief, and yet none of them recanted. They were convinced of it. Jesus beat death.
Peter uses even more vivid imagery. He says Jesus was freed from the agony of death, “because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” I absolutely LOVE that! Death couldn’t keep its hold on him. Death gets every single person in the end. Nobody escapes from its clutches, no matter how hard they try. Did you know Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, the guys from Google, and a bunch of other filthy rich people are investing billions of dollars in trying to figure out how they can beat death? I don’t like their chances. With all their money and power and influence, this is the one thing they can’t overcome. But it speaks to a universal phenomenon, doesn’t it? We fear death. Most of us do whatever we can to avoid it. You could say that a lot of the response to the pandemic over the last two years is a product of our fear of death. I think we almost all have a longing to be free of its grip, it’s just that Jeff Bezos has the money to mount some kind of defense. We all want life, abundant life.
This is where Jesus fulfills not only the Scriptures, but the desire of humanity for the defeat of death. For the first time, you could say about a human being: death couldn’t hold him! Jesus was too strong for it! It’s like putting on an extra small size kids’ shirt on the Incredible Hulk, it can’t hold him! He tears it apart at the seams! For the first time, there is a human being who defeats death and bursts through it on the other side in a resurrected body that will never decay or die.
And not only does Jesus fulfill the Scriptures and the longing of humanity for the freedom from death’s grip, but he fulfills it in us. Here’s what I mean, and some of you have heard me say this often. The Bible says that if our faith is in Jesus, his victory becomes our victory (most notably, 1 Corinthians 15). We will share in his resurrection. He was resurrected in the midst of history, but all who belong to him will be physically, bodily resurrected at the end. His resurrection is the promise of that. Listen, being a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean you never hit the lows. You’ll be rejected, you’ll suffer loss, you’ll have stuff killed and stripped away from you. And most likely, you will die. But death will not be able to hold you, because it couldn’t hold Him! It won’t be able to hold you, because it couldn’t hold the One whose Holy Spirit now dwells on you! This isn’t about you or your abilities. On your own, you’d be crushed in life, you’d be obliterated by death. It’s about HIM!
Just like with the Spirit, Jesus fulfills the Scriptures in terms of the promise of the resurrection. He fulfills the longing in humanity for resurrection. He fulfills it for all who trust in him. But that’s not all he fulfills.
3. Acts 2:33-35: the ascension as fulfillment
33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand 35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
Acts 2:33-35
In the story of Jesus’ ministry in the flesh, this is the big finale. It’s what we talked about the first week in this sermon series on Acts. The ascension. The resurrected Jesus glorified in heaven, the control room of the universe, where he rules as king. And Peter tells the crowds, yep. The ascension of Jesus was a fulfillment of the Scriptures as well.
The passage he goes to here is from the most quoted Old Testament chapter in the New Testament, Psalm 110. King David is the author, and in a seemingly strange choice of words, David says “The Lord”- meaning, Yahweh, God Almighty- says to “my lord”. The question is, who is David’s lord? He’s the king! He’s the anointed one! Ain’t nobody higher than the king!
This is why many Jews believed that this Psalm was a messianic Psalm, that it was predictive of a future king, a messiah, a savior. But a human king, no matter how great, can’t ascend and sit at the right hand of God! And that’s Peter’s point. That the promise of the Scriptures of a king who would rule from God’s right hand can’t be fulfilled by David. Especially since David himself called this king his own lord! But Jesus had fulfilled it. Jesus had ascended to heaven, he had received authority over heaven and earth, and he had shown it by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which the crowds had just become witness of.
Here, too, Jesus not only fulfills the promises of the Scripture but the longings of humanity. Every democratic election is an attempt, a longing, to install a righteous, wise leader. Every social movement is an attempt to create a better world, governed by better principles. From Black Lives Matter protests to protests against vaccine mandates, the desire is the same. You may agree with one or both of those, but participants are yearning for a better world, governed by more righteous principles. Countless tales and heroic epics speak to this desire for the same. But as we all know, every human leader, every movement, every government falls short, no matter how hard they try. Jesus alone has this authority. He doesn’t impose it. He offers it freely, and you are free to reject it. But if you live under His rule, these longings for a righteous Kingdom will find their fulfillment.
And, as with the resurrection and with the Holy Spirit, Jesus doesn’t only fulfill the Scriptures, and He doesn’t only fulfill the desires of humanity in himself. He fulfills the desires of humanity in us through faith in him. Because the promise of the Bible is that all who trust in Jesus will reign with him. Revelation 22, the last chapter of the Bible, says that the people of Jesus will see the face of God throughout eternity and “they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:4-5). All our enemies, everything that opposes God’s purposes for us, under our feet. Because of Jesus.
4. Acts 2:36: The conclusion
So, to recap. The Holy Spirit is poured out, signs and wonders take place, people want to know what this is about, and Peter launches into an epic sermon showing how all of this is a fulfillment of the Scriptures and the long held hopes and desires of the people in Jerusalem. It’s powerful stuff! But Peter’s got one more thing to say. This is the drop-the-mic, seal-the-deal moment. As the sports announcer Kevin Harlan asked a moment before Kawhi Leonard hit the most clutch Game 7 winner in basketball history, “could this be the dagger?”
Peter says: “therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah” (Acts 2:36).
This is what it all boils down to. This is the question. It is the biggest question you will ever face in your life, and it is a question that you need to answer over and over again whenever you come up against something. It is the question that will determine if you will know the true fulfillment of your deepest desires, or if you will settle for things that are second best at best. I know that sounds crazy. In a world that seems so complicated and frenzied, how could it boil down to one question? But I believe it does. Ready for it? Here it is: who do you stand with when it comes to Jesus?
Peter says there are basically two sides. There is the human side. Humans crucified Jesus. They determined that he was a threat. That he was a fraud. That he wasn’t who he said he was. That he needed to be put away. And you might think, most humans don’t think that about Jesus. They wouldn’t have crucified him. They think that he was a good guy! I get that. But if that’s all you think he is, you’ve dismissed his own claims too (claims, for example, like John 8:12, 8:58, 11:25, 14:6). You may think he was a good guy, but you have actually deemed him a liar. The determination that he isn’t who he said he was is just a nicer way of sweeping him under the rug.
The other side according to Peter, and he’s not pulling any punches here, is God’s side. Peter says that God vindicated Jesus through the resurrection, the ascension, and the outpouring of the Spirit. God declared that Jesus is the long-awaited, long-hoped for Messiah. God declared that Jesus is Lord. He couldn’t have been clearer about that.
So here it is: will you stand with humans, who crucified Jesus, or with God, who raised him from the dead? Will you seek fulfillment in lesser things or in the one who is eternal life? Will you bow the knee to created things, or will you follow Jesus as Lord of your life and Lord of creation itself? I want to share with you a story of someone at The Bridge Church who wrestled with this question.
Again, this is the one overarching question: who do you stand with when it comes to Jesus? And if you want to experience the fulfillment of your deepest desires and the promises of Scripture, I believe you need to stand with God. I believe you need to trust His declaration of Jesus as Lord and Messiah. I believe you need to commit your own life to Jesus as Lord and Messiah.
