The Last Days
In our reading from the book of Acts, Saint Luke tells us of Pentecost, the moment when, fifty days after Christ’s resurrection and ten days after his ascension, the apostles and other Christians are filled by the Spirit of God. Caught up with God’s spirit, these men and women begin to speak in many different tongues, they begin to speak in different languages of ‘the mighty works of God’ (Acts 2.11).
Witnesses to this event are ‘amazed and perplexed’, some even mock these inspired Christians, suggesting they are drunk (Acts 2.12-13). But Saint Peter denies this. He explains what has happened by quoting at length from the Prophet Joel, one of the prophets of the Old Testament.
‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that 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 I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth beneath,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood,
before the day of the Lord comes,
the great and manifest day.
And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Peter quotes at length from Joel, a prophet who, as we have heard, tells us about ‘the last days’. Considering this phrase, the theologian F F Bruce, said the following:
‘the ‘last days’ began with Christ’s appearance on earth and will be consummated by his reappearance; they are the days during which the age to come overlaps the present age. Hence the assurance with which Peter could quote the prophet’s words and declare ‘This is it.’’
As Bruce explains we are caught between two ages in history. With the birth of Jesus Christ, a new age has been inaugurated, a new moment in our understanding of the Divine. But there is a sense of incompleteness, a sense that the divine only appears in flashes—in prophesies, visions, dreams, and wonders.
We see these flashes, or this intrusion of the next age, we see it throughout the life of Christ. And in fact, as I’ve thought about our readings this week, a sensitivity for the supernatural struck me as characteristic of Saint Luke’s perspective. It is Luke who records for us the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts, and Luke also in his gospel account begins and ends in a similar fashion.
In the first chapter of Luke’s gospel, the angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah, foretelling the birth of John the Baptist (Lk 1.8-23). Then Luke tells of Gabriel’s visit to Mary, promising the birth of Christ (Lk 1.26-38). And once Christ has been born we are told of the appearance of the heavenly host to the shepherds (2.13-15). With these scenes, Luke begins the story of Christ’s life with the supernatural. Luke also ends his story in the same fashion—concluding with Christ’s ascension into heaven, the only gospel account to mention this event. The days that we live in, Luke reminds us, are the last days—a time of prophesies, visions, dreams, and wonders.
How should we live in such a time? Peter seems to address this question in his quotation of the Book of Joel. And in our first lesson we have a longer passage from this same book. It begins:
Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for the Lord has done great things!
Fear not, you beasts of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit,
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.Be glad, O sons of Zion,
and rejoice in the Lord, your God;
for … my people shall never again be put to shame.
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is none else.
These verses, the verses that immediately precede Peter’s quotation, they teach us that the last days are not a time for us to be afraid. Indeed, twice the Prophet Joel tells us ‘Fear not’, instead repeating that we are to ‘be glad and rejoice’.
And our rejoicing, as Joel continues, it is a rejoicing ‘in the Lord, your God’, a rejoicing because God is in our midst. We are reminded that he is in the midst of his people. His presence brings life—‘the pastures of the wilderness are green’ and ‘the tree bears its fruit’. His presence also brings us protection and forgiveness so that we are no longer put to shame. He is a God to whom we can readily confess our sin, a God in whom we can trust. By calling on his name, we are saved.
On Pentecost we take these truths to heart. We cast aside our spiritual fears, instead rejoicing in the Lord because of what he has done, because he is in our midst. In his Son he has taken on and perfected our nature. In his spirit he has poured himself out among us, turning our hearts green and bearing fruit in our lives. We call upon the name of the Lord—the Lord of prophecies, visions, dreams and wonders, the Lord of life and death, this Jesus who was crucified but then raised up and exalted to the right hand of God—we call upon his name to be saved. Amen.
Joel 2.21-end
“Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for the Lord has done great things!
Fear not, you beasts of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit,
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
“Be glad, O sons of Zion,
and rejoice in the Lord, your God;
for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
the early and the latter rain, as before.
“The threshing floors shall be full of grain,
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
I will restore to you the years
which the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent among you.
“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again
be put to shame.
Acts 2.14-38
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that 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;
yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days
I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth beneath,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood,
before the day of the Lord comes,
the great and manifest day.
And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,
‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover my flesh will dwell in hope.
For thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades,
nor let thy Holy One see corruption.
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life;
thou wilt make me full of gladness with thy presence.’
“Brethren, I may say to you confidently of the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens; but he himself says,
‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,
till I make thy enemies a stool for thy feet.’
Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.