Promise Fulfilled

Intro: When I was a kid, Transformers were a very popular toy and I really wanted the leader of the good guys.  So I did what ever kid does at Christmas time; I wrote a letter to Santa asking him “Optimus Prime”.  Now, just before Christmas, we ended up moving from our house to another house in the city.  So we moved and the big day came.  I woke up and found a nicely wrapped gift that was labelled: “To Noel, From Santa”.  I opened up the wrapping to discover that Optimus Prime was not in the wrapping; it was another Transformer, and actually, it was one of the bad guys.  Now, my mom had taught me to be thankful, and I was happy for my gift, but still somewhat disappointed that I did not receive what I had asked for.  Actually, I had gone as far to reason that what had happened was that Santa had not gotten our change of address in time, and I had gotten the toy that the little boy who had lived there before us had asked for.  Years later, Mom and I were talking, and she told me she had wanted to get me the toy I had asked for, but they were sold out (Thankfully no one had trampled Mom as she was looking).  Sometimes when we are expecting something, something totally different happens.  Many times the difference leaves us disappointed.  Last week, we ended our meeting singing “Standing on the Promises”, and we this week we began our meeting singing the same song.  Last week we talked about God’s faithfulness to keep this promises.  Today, we will be looking at Acts 2, and God fulfilling His promises to Israel, but certainly not in ways they had expected.

Context: This week we are in the book of Acts.  Acts tells the story of the birth of the church, starting from the Twelve apostles and Jesus other followers to the expansion to the ends of the earth.  Acts 1:8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  This seems to be the table of contents for the book.  We also have the disciples still misunderstanding the Kingdom, asking when Jesus was going to restore Israel.  Jesus reminds them again that this is not what they should be worried about.  Jesus tells His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit and ascends into Heaven.  The Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost, which was a Jewish festival that occurred 50 days after the Feast of firstfruits.  As the Spirit falls on the disciples, they begin to speak in other human languages, but ones they do not know, which causes a comotion.  People begin wondering what is going on, and some even go as far as to accuse the disciples of being drunk early in the morning.  That brings us to today’s text.

1st Point: Fulfilled Promise 1: The Holy Spirit

Peter begins his message by explaining what is going on.  He first debunks the idea that they are drunk, pointing out the time of day.  In Jewish culture, it would have been wrong to have had wine this early in the morning.  He goes on to quote the prophecy in Joel, which we read last week.  Peter quotes this text, proclaiming fulfillment.  He mentions the parts pertaining to the Spirit falling on all people and a filling of God’s people with His Spirit.  Earlier in the chapter, Luke describes the coming of the Holy Spirit as like a rushing wind and tongues of fire (Acts 2:1-3).  Joel uses the images of smoke, blood and fire (Joel 2:28-32).  Notice though that Peter does not finish the passage.  He stops a third of the way through verse 32; this portion speaks of the physical Mount Zion and Jerusalem.  It is likely that is referring to a later fulfillment of the text, much like when Jesus, when quoting the Prophet Isaiah in Luke 4:16-21 leaves out the second half of verse 2 of chapter 61 (Isa 61:1-2), which talks about the Lord’s wrath.  Peter is pointing out that God has kept his promise: the Holy Spirit has come upon God’s people.  However, it is not what they had expected; later in Acts, the church struggles with Gentiles coming to faith and repentance beginning in Acts 10, which God gives His seal by His Spirit.  God keeps His promise to give His people His Spirit, which now includes all people.

2nd Point: Fulfilled Promise 2: Jesus’ Resurrection

Peter then moves on the explain Jesus’ death and resurrection to crowd.  Notice that Peter breaks a lot of the so-called rules for evangelism.  He tells the crowd they are responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion.  This should remind us that our sin is some sort of light, minor "oops" thing.  It cost Jesus His life, because our sin deserves righteous judgement, which Jesus took upon himself on the cross.  Remember, the Jewish expectation for the Messiah, even the disciples, up to Pentecost was that the Messiah was going to usher in an era where Israel was the prominent political nation.  The Messiah was not supposed to die.  But that is not the kind of Messiah Jesus is.  He died for our sins to save us from our sins, not set up a political entity.  But His death is not the end.  He is risen.  There are some who would say that whether Jesus did physically resurrect is not important.  However, it is important.  Peter points the Psalm 16 as a prophetic word that the Messiah would not stay dead.  Peter rightly points out that David could not be talking about himself because he did die and was buried and remained buried in Jerusalem.  Paul echoes the sentiment about the necessity of Jesus’ physical resurrection in 1 Cor 15, where he points out that unless Jesus has been physically resurrected, we are doomed, because nothing has been accomplished.  And because Jesus has been brought back from the grave, we who believe will also physically resurrected one day.

3rd Point: Fulfilled Promise 3: Salvation

The people, upon hearing Peter’s message, ask what they need to do to be saved. Then Peter makes the declaration of the need to repent and become part of the community of believers.  Now, there is some confusion about the how baptism relates to salvation.  The word “for” may be a better literal translation, but the Greek seems to express the idea that baptism is meant to be done as a result of God’s saving grace, not that baptism is essential for salvation.   God’s promise of salvation is fulfilled.  Again, remember that Peter is speaking to an audience of Jews, who really believe that God is only concerned about the Jewish nation.  Any idea that God would save non-Jews was a foreign concept.  But that is what God has done.  Salvation is for the whosoever.  The early church struggled with this.  In Acts 10, it takes a vision from the Lord to convince him that God has called the Gentiles as well as the Jews.  Even after that, the church has to have a conference in Jerusalem in Acts 15 to really accept the idea that Gentiles could become Christians without being Jews.  There are many stories of people Whom we would consider the last people on earth to accept Jesus, but who come to Christ.  People like C.S. Lewis, who set out to disprove Christianity, yet becomes one of the most prolific Christian writers of the 20th century.  God saves His people, but His people now include people of every tribe and race.

Application:

1)      Obey His Word: We can do what God has called us to because of He has given us His presence in the Holy Spirit.  We can obey God’s Word because He dwells in us by the Holy Spirit.  Jerry Bridges writes, “Faith and holiness are inextricably linked. Obeying the commands of God usually involves believing the promises of God.” We can obey because we know God is faithful.

2)      Trust His Will: While we know God keeps His promises, we should be mindful God is not going to do things our way.  God’s will is not ours.  We may pray in earnest for something or someone, but God’s answer may not be what we expected.

3)      Share God’s Word: Because we have God’s Spirit, we can share God’s Word with people.  We can be sure Peter did not have his message tucked away in a pocket somewhere, just waiting for this time.  He was inspired by the Spirit with the words the people needed to hear.  If God asks to share with someone, He will give us the words we need to share with them.

Conclusion:

God is faithful and true.  Whenever He makes a promise, He will keep His Word.  What God promised Israel in Joel is fulfilled in Acts, but 1) not all the way, and 2) not in the way Israel expected.  Jesus died for our sins providing salvation for all people.  He also raised Jesus from the dead, which further confirms Jesus’ identity.  Finally, He gave us His Spirit, for all who believer, whether they are Jew or Gentile, bringing us God’s very presence in us.  Because we have God’s Spirit in us, we should be truly be fired up to do His will.