Peter Addresses the Crowd call on the name of the Lord (Acts 2:14-21) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Peter Addresses the Crowd call on the name of the Lord (Acts 2:14-21)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music

 

Scripture reading Acts 2:14-21

 

14Then 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. 15These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16No, 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. 18Even 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. 20The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Verses 16-21 the fulfillment of this prophecy will be in the last days, immediately preceding the return of Christ, when all the particulars (Rev.6:12) of the prophecy will come to pass. Peter reminded his hearers that, knowing Joel’s prophecy, they should have recognized what they were seeing as a work of the Spirit, not a result of drunkenness. 

Verse 17 This differs from the breathing of the Spirit into the disciples out of the mouth of Christ after His resurrection (John20:22). The pouring out of God’s Spirit was from the heavens in Christ’s ascension. The former is the essential aspect of the Spirit in His being breathed into the disciples as life for their living.  The latter is the economical aspect of the Spirit in His being poured upon them as power for their work. The same Spirit is within them essentially and upon them economically. The pouring out of the Spirit in Christ’s ascension was the descension of the resurrected and ascended Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit to carry out His heavenly ministry on the earth to build up His church (Matt.16:18) as His Body (Eph.1:23) for God’s New Testament economy. 

Verse 19 Lit., give. Verses 19 and 20, quoted from Joel’s prophecy, are not related to the things that occurred on the day of Pentecost but to the calamities of the judgment day of the Lord in the future. 

Verse 21 Calling on the name of the Lord is not a new practice that began with the New Testament. Rather, it began with Enosh, the third generation of mankind, in Gen.4:26. It was continued by Job (Job 12:4;27:10), Abraham (Gen.12:8;13:4;21:33), Isaac (Gen.26:25), Moses and the children of Israel (Deut.4:7), Samson (Juge.15:18;16:28), Samuel (1Sam.12:18; Psa.99: 6), David (2Sam.22:4,7;1Chron.16:8;21:26;Psa.14:4;17:6;18:3,6;31;17;55;16;86:5,7;105:1;116:4,13,17;118:5;145:18), the psalmist Asaph (Psa.80:18), the psalmist Heman (Psa.88:9), Elijah (1Kings18:24), Isaiah (Isa.12:4), Jeremiah (Lam.3:55,57), and others (Psa.99:6), all of whom practiced  this in the Old Testament age.

          Isaiah charged the seekers of God to call upon Him (Isa.55:6). Even the Gentiles knew that the prophets of Israel had the habit of calling on the name of God (Jonah1:6; 2 Kings 5:11) The Gentile raised up by God from the north also called upon His name (Isa.41:25). It is God’s commandment (Psa.91:15; Zeph.3:9; Zech.13:9) that His people call on Him. This is the joyful way to drink from the fountain of God’s salvation (Isa.12:3-4) and the enjoyable way to delight oneself in God (Job27:10), that is, to enjoy Him. Therefore, God’s people must call upon Him daily (Psa.88:9). Such a jubilant practice was prophesied by Joel (Joel2:23) concerning the New Testament jubilee.

              In the New Testament, calling on the name of the Lord was first mentioned by Peter, here, on the day of Pentecost, as the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. This fulfillment is related to God’s outpouring of all –inclusive Spirit economically upon His chosen people that they may participate in His New Testament jubilee. Joel’s prophecy and its fulfillment concerning God’s New Testament jubilee have two aspects: on God’s side, He poured out His Spirit in the ascension of the resurrected Christ; on our side, we call on the name of the ascended Lord, who has accomplished all, attained unto all, and obtained all. Calling on the Lord’s name is vitally necessary in order for us, the believers in Christ, to participate in and enjoy all –inclusive Christ with all He has accomplished, attained, and obtained (1Cor.1:2). It is a major practice in God’s New Testament economy that enables us to enjoy the processed Triune God for out full salvation (Rom.10:10-13).

The early believers practiced this everywhere (1Cor.1:2), and to the unbelievers, especially the persecutors, it became a popular sign of Christ’s believers (9:14,21). When Stephen suffered persecution, he practiced this (7:59), and his practice surely impressed Saul, one of his persecutors (7:58-60;22:20). Later, the unbelieving Saul persecuted the callers (9:14,21) by taking their calling as a sign. Immediately after Saul was caught by the Lord, Ananias, who brought Saul into the fellowship of  the Body of Christ, charged him to be baptized, calling on the name of the Lord, to show others that he too had become such a caller. By his word to Timothy in 2 tim.2:22, Paul indicated that in the early days all the Lord’s seekers practiced such calling. Undoubtedly, he was one who practiced this , since he charged his young co-worker Timothy to do this that Timothy might enjoy the Lord as he did.

The Greek word for call on is composed of on and call (by name); thus, it is to call out audibly, even loudly, as Stephen did (7:59-60). The name denotes the person. Jesus is the Lord’s name, and the Spirit is His person. When we call, “Lord Jesus” we receive the Spirit.

This is the conclusion of the quotation of Joel’s prophecy, which began in v.17, indicating that the issue of God’s pouring out of His Spirit upon all flesh is their salvation through calling on the name of the Lord. God’s outpouring of His Spirit is the applying of the Lord’s salvation to His chosen people. To be saved is to receive this Spirit, who is the blessing of the gospel in God’s New Testament economy (Gal3:2,5,14). This Spirit is the Lord Himself as the breath (John20:22) and the living water (John 4:10,14) to us. To breathe Him in as our breath and drink Him as our living water, we need to call on Him.

Lamentation 3:55-56 indicates that our calling on the Lord is our breathing, and Isa.12:3-4 indicates that our calling on the Lord is our drinking. After we believe in the Lord, we need to call on Him that we may not only be saved but also enjoy His riches; this is the real worship to God (John4:24) to the drinking of the living water given by Him. (John 4:14).

 

Bibliography,

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV). Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.