Peter's Pentecost Message: Joel's Prophecy Unpacked

On the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost fell on those one hundred and twenty believers gathered in the upper room, the crowd that witnessed it was bewildered. Some were amazed. Some were mocking, saying these people were drunk with new wine. It was in that charged atmosphere that Peter stood up and preached one of the most important sermons in human history. And the text he chose was not a New Testament passage. He reached back into the Old Testament prophet Joel and declared, 'This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.'

Let us read what Peter actually said, because the details matter enormously. Acts 2:16-21 records: '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.'

Now, the first thing I want you to notice is the phrase 'in the last days.' Peter was not describing something that would happen thousands of years in the future. He was saying, 'This is happening right now, today, on this day of Pentecost.' But here is where careful interpretation becomes critical: the last days are not a single moment. They are a period of time. Specifically, the last days represent the final two thousand years of humanity's history on this earth. We are living in the last days right now. We have been living in the last days since the Day of Pentecost. But there are specific events within that period that we need to understand and locate ourselves within.

The outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh began at Pentecost and has continued throughout church history. Sons and daughters prophesying, young men seeing visions, old men dreaming dreams, servants and handmaidens receiving the Spirit and prophesying, this has been the ongoing experience of the Church. And notice something remarkable: God did not leave the women out. The text specifically mentions handmaidens, female servants, receiving the Spirit and prophesying. This was radical in the first century, and it remains a testimony to the inclusive nature of God's Spirit.

But now I want to draw your attention to something that most readers pass over without noticing: the grammatical structure of the text. Look at verse 18 again: 'And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.' After that phrase 'and they shall prophesy,' there is a colon. A colon in biblical text functions as a pivot point. It signals that what follows is directly connected to and flows from what preceded it. So what follows the colon? Verse 19: 'And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.'

This is not a separate prophecy. This is a continuation. The outpouring of the Spirit and the prophesying of God's people is connected, by that colon, to the cosmic signs and wonders that follow. The Spirit is poured out in the early part of the last days. The signs and wonders occur in the latter part of the last days, specifically in the period leading up to what Joel and Peter both call 'that great and notable day of the Lord.'

This means that the same Church that has been experiencing the outpouring of the Spirit will also be present to witness, and in some cases endure, the signs and wonders described in verses 19 and 20. This is not a comfortable doctrine, but it is a biblical one, and understanding it is essential for navigating what lies ahead. The Church is not destined for a quiet, comfortable exit before things get difficult. The Church is destined to be present, active, Spirit-filled, and fruitful right up to the moment when the Lord appears in the clouds.