Experiencing the Promise

MEMORY SELECTION: “The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” —Acts 2:39

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Acts 2:1-4, 36-42

THE above text of scripture is taken from Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. He was especially blessed of God on this occasion as the leader of the apostles and the mouthpiece of the Lord in the opening work of the new Christian dispensation. It was a most significant event in the dawning of the new era, for it witnessed the Holy Spirit of God coming upon the apostles as a transforming power.

Because the Jews failed to recognize the true meaning of Pentecost, they found significance in the fact that the Law was given fifty days after their deliverance from Egypt. It therefore became a tradition among them to celebrate their deliverance on this day. It was a time of rejoicing and the giving of gifts.

Peter used the occasion of Pentecost and the baptism of the apostles by the Holy Spirit to testify to the Jews of the special favor they as a people had received from God. He recognized this as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. “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 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 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 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 2:16-21

This outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the members of the Early Church enabled them to grasp the deep and hidden meaning in the plan of God and its relation to their spiritual calling. And this has continued throughout the Gospel Age. There have been those who have responded to that call and have willingly set aside the transitory pleasures of this life to gain a place in the heavenly kingdom. In the future, when the present call to joint-heirship with our Lord Jesus will have been fully accomplished, God will pour out his spirit upon all flesh. At that time the whole groaning creation will have ample opportunity to receive the blessings available from Messiah’s kingdom.

Peter was glad also to testify to the mighty works and deeds of the Messiah who had come to them and yet had been so cruelly rejected. He told them (2:22,23): “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: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.”

The Pentecostal sermon drew attention to David’s prophecy in connection with the great events that were transpiring. David, himself a type of Christ, had foretold the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Peter, quoting from that prophecy, said (vs. 27), “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [sheol, hades—the grave], neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” There was little difficulty in convincing the Jews that the passage was prophetic of Jesus, inasmuch as David had already died.

Peter then said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit]. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”—vss. 38-42

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