It's Not The End of The World -Part VIII - Confirmation from Acts 2

Last week I offered a study in seven parts on the time of the coming of the Lord entitled “It’s Not The End of The World,” with the hope that some may begin to question and reconsider the lies being taught about both the Scriptures and the current “State” of Israel.  (See links at my contributor profile above.)  Once the knowledge of the correct meaning of “these last days” begins to filter past the lies we have all been taught for so long, many questions begin to occur.

A new perspective slowly begins to take hold once the time frame of “these last days” of the New Testament is established as the last days of the Old Covenant which took place during the first century A.D.  Everything in the New Testament slowly begins to harmonize, and the reader is able to realize the connections and confirmations from the Old Testament prophecies.  Then a light bulb turns on, and a realization hits.  This new understanding that “these last days” were  the last days of the old covenant puts a whole new light upon everything in the New Testament.  (If you have not read the previous Parts 1 – VII, you will need to do so for a beginning understanding of the evidences presented.)

It requires a complete re-reading of the New Testament, indeed the entire Bible, to be able to see just how clearly God spoke through the Holy Ghost, to the people, and to understand how straight forward His word truly is.  There is no mystical aspect of the scripture.  While there was a mystery (Eph. 1:9, 3:3-6. Col. 1:26) that the Gentiles were to be coheirs, that He would bring everyone into one relationship with Him through Christ Jesus, it has since all been revealed, and is now clear for those that will put away the confusion and propaganda that is being deliberately fed to the world by Satanic agents.

With that in mind, let’s look at a few more confirmations from Acts.  On the day of Pentecost, 40 or possibly 50 days after Christ’s ascension, Peter and the other apostles are preaching and speaking in foreign languages (tongues) on all sides of the temple so that all who are attending from all surrounding nations can hear.  When many of the people standing next to each other begin to perceive that, though they are from different countries, and therefore speak different languages, they are all hearing the same thing from the Apostles, some begin to heckle and shout that they must all be drunk. 

Peter clearly affirms that it is only the 3^rd hour of the day (9:00 AM for us, as their day was the 12 hours from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM), so they have not had time to become drunk, but that “this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel”.  Acts 2:16.  And, Peter then in vs. 17 begins to restate the prophecy from Joel Chapter 2.   Let’s read Acts 2 again.  (From the KJV, bold emphasis and paragraph spacing is mine.)

¹ And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.³ And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.⁵ And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.⁶ Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

⁷ And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? ⁸ And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? ⁹ Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,¹¹ Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.¹² And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

¹³ Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. ¹⁴ But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: ¹⁵ For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.¹⁶ But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

¹⁷ 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: ¹⁸ And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: ¹⁹ And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: ²⁰ The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: ²¹ And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

²² 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: ²³ Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: ²⁴ Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. ²⁵ For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: ²⁶ Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: ²⁷ Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. ²⁸ Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

²⁹ Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. ³⁰ Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; ³¹ He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.  ³² This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. ³³ Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

³⁴ For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, ³⁵ Until I make thy foes thy footstool. ³⁶ Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

³⁸ Then Peter said unto them, 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. ³⁹ 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. ⁴⁰ And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.⁴¹ Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

At Christ’s ascension in Acts 1, He promises to send the Holy Ghost not many days hence to the disciples.  This is the same promise that He gave the disciples in John, whom He said would teach them all things, and remind them of all things that He had told them.  (Jn 14:26, Jn 15:26, Jn. 15:7)  So, when the Holy Ghost comes upon them on the day of Pentecost, the disciples begin to receive all the answers for the things they still had been struggling to understand.  They then knew what Jesus had told them about the spiritual nature of the Kingdom.

When Peter says in Acts 2:16 that “this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel”, he is connecting the time period again, and confirming that the day of Pentecost was in “the last days”.  Joel had said that in the last days the Father would pour forth His spirit, and Peter confirms that this is what is happening on the day of Pentecost.  So, again using Algebra (A=B=C), if the prophecy of Joel 2 was to occur in the “last days,” and Peter says that was what was happening on the day of Pentecost, then the day of Pentecost occurred in the last days, which was in the first century A.D. 

We have confirmation from Acts 2, and from Joel 2 that “the last days” were the last days of the Old Covenant and that they occurred in the first century A.D. 

For the promise is to whom?  The question arises because there are those who teach and believe that this promise is still in effect today.  Joel says that the Spirit would be poured forth in “the last days”.  We have identified the “last days” as the last days of the Old Covenant.  So, how long was the promise of the miracles of the Holy Spirit good?  How long did it last?

I ask because I am a Christian.  I have been baptized, immersed in water for the forgiveness of my sins, and have confessed that Jesus is the Son of God.  But, I can, honestly, tell you that I am not able to prophesy, nor can I speak in or interpret foreign languages / tongues (that is to say, not miraculously), nor can I heal the sick, nor can I do any other of the miraculous things that the apostles could.  So, obviously the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit ended at some time.

And indeed, when we look carefully at the scripture, Peter says in vs. 39 that “³⁹ For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off…” Those that were far off were the Gentiles, as Peter had yet to go to the house of Cornelius to open the door to the Gentiles. The promise was a specific promise for a specific time.  It was to those standing there on the day of Pentecost, and to their children.  So, during the first century A.D. and for a generation following, the Holy Spirit would be poured forth upon those who were baptized into Christ in “the last days” of the old covenant.  Why?

Because they didn’t have the written word as we do today.  The people of the first century A.D.  had to know that what they were hearing, what was being taught, what the Apostles said was truly from, confirmed to be from the Most High.  Look at the bold section in Acts 2:22.  The miracles confirmed the word.  It was and has always been so, that the miracles of the Holy Spirit confirmed the word.  God’s miracles were always used to help the people know and believe that what was said by the patriarchs or the prophets was from Him.

The promise of Acts 2: 38 was limited to a time period to aid in the broadcast of the Gospel of Christ, to probate the New Testament of the testator throughout the lands, during the first century A.D.

You will notice also, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit only came one way.  They had to be from the laying on of the hands of the Apostles, and only of the Apostles.   Remember Acts 19: 3-6, where Paul is speaking to twelve disciples in Ephesus.

³ And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.⁴ Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

The gift of the Holy Ghost was not automatically a result of their baptism, but only came after Paul laid hands upon them.  The commandment from Peter and the other Apostles on the day of Pentecost to be baptized for the remission of sins continues to this day.  The conjunction “and” in vs. 38 continues with a specific promise to a specific people for a specific time.

These gifts continued during the “last days” of the old covenant until Jesus’ second appearance at the destruction of Jerusalem, to deliver His judgment upon the unrighteous of Israel and all surrounding nations of that day, and until the death of the Apostles..  By A.D. 70, the letters to the churches were in circulation.  The people had the Old Testament as record.  The word in written form has continued to be preserved by the Holy Spirit, in spite of tribulation and conspiracy, for our edification ever since.

We are no longer under the old covenant, therefore we are no longer in the last days.  We have His word through the providence of His Holy Spirit.  Today, in this church age, in the ever-lasting spiritual Kingdom, the Holy Spirit works through the word, the scriptures, to convict the good hearts of those who will hear and obey the Gospel, the good news of Christ.  Today, when we are baptized into Christ we have the promise of remission of our sins, and of eternal life.  His providence still works for the good of all of those that are in Christ.  I am satisfied with that.

There are a few more lessons from Acts which may be beneficial to restudy from this new perspective of “these last days” of the old covenant, especially about the first century preppers.  Blessings in Christ, Gina.