Tag Archives: day of the Lord

Acts 2: Temporary markers of a new reality

OK, I’ll wrap up this analysis of Acts 2 (check the posts from the last two weeks if you’ve missed them).

For now, I’m leaning toward seeing the destruction of Jerusalem as the “day of the Lord” being discussed. New Testament writers felt a freedom to use Old Testament passages in ways that the original writers didn’t use them; I write that off to an inspiration that I don’t possess. The Holy Spirit could lead them to reuse words outside of their original intent; I don’t feel good doing the same.

I don’t think Joel necessarily had the destruction of Jerusalem in mind. I think Peter was talking about just that, though I agree with Nick’s comment yesterday that he would have seen that as a type of the final judgment. (Much like Jesus’ discourse in Matthew 24)

The dreams, visions, and prophecy described in the Joel don’t seem to be ongoing aspects of the new age of the Spirit any more than the apocalyptic signs of verses 19-20 were expected to be permanent realities. There was an outpouring of the Spirit, accompanied by special signs. All of that was a warning about the coming judgment.

Does the fact that God included women in the signs point to a new approval for women taking leadership roles in the church? I just can’t see that, not if we’re going to be fair with this passage. We take a whole list of things and pick one of them to be an ongoing part of the church age, while seeing everything else as temporary? Doesn’t make sense to me.

I see the miraculous signs listed in Acts 2 as temporary signs marking a new age and warning of coming judgment. I don’t see any of them as permanent aspects of the Christian era.

Save yourself from this generation

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Verse 39 is a reference back to this quote from Joel. Is verse 40 referring to the day of the Lord when Peter says to “save yourself from this corrupt generation”?

This was the last of the questions I wanted to look at from Acts 2. I’ll be honest; I almost always skip verse 40 when talking about Acts 2. And I rarely hear anyone else discuss it.

This could mean to come out from the group of Jews who still opposed and rejected the message of Jesus. This would be something like “escape from this generation.” Albert Barnes describes it as “preserve yourselves from the influence, opinions, and fate of this generation.” (Found on StudyLight.org)

McGarvey specifically rejects the idea that this is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem, arguing that most would die of natural causes before that time. He says that the idea is to escape the fate that awaited the unbelieving Jews, that is, eternal condemnation. (Also found on StudyLight)

If that’s the thought here, then the day of the Lord in this chapter is probably the final judgment. I’m still not sure, but will continue to study it. I still see a real possibility that Peter is referring to the same thing that made Jesus weep over Jerusalem, the terrible siege that was awaiting the rebellious Jews.

What do you think?

Dark sun and bloody moon… should we be waiting for these?

I’m still working through these questions on Acts 2. I’ll go ahead and post them again:

Verses 17-20 describe signs that will occur “before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.” What is that great and glorious day? Is it the final judgment? Is it the destruction of Jerusalem? Doesn’t seem to be Pentecost itself, in my view, since these things were supposed to happen before that event.
Do you take verses 19-20 literally? When do you think those happened or will happen?
Why do we view verses 17-18 as ongoing while viewing verses 19-20 as one-time events? Or do you interpret verses 19-20 in a way that they could be seen as ongoing?
Verse 39 is a reference back to this quote from Joel. Is verse 40 referring to the day of the Lord when Peter says to “save yourself from this corrupt generation”? That would fit if he’s talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. How else can we read these words?

When I started working on the questions, I accidentally skipped the second one, which would have been very appropriate with the solar eclipse last week. The question is about how we view these verses:

I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

Were these literal signs that were/are to occur before the day of the Lord? If so, what was/is the timing on that? Were there celestial signs before Pentecost? (Like what happened at the crucifixion?) Were there such signs before the destruction of Jerusalem? Should we expect such before the final judgment?

Or is this apocalyptic language that doesn’t need a literal fulfillment?

What is Peter talking about here?