by Timothy W. Burnett
Peter explained that what they saw was that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, "'And it shall come to pass in the last days,' said 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 men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit. And they shall prophesy.'"
The prophet Joel spoke of the time when people would be filled with the spirit of God. And being filled with holy spirit, they would be able to speak by the spirit of God. This fits with 1Corinthians 12:7-10 which lists nine different ways people can profit from the manifestation of the spirit of God. Prophecy is part of the list.
Continuing with Peter's explanation, "'And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.'" (Acts 2:19-20).
In the future, some amazing things will occur as seen in the sky and also on the earth. They will take place prior to an event known as the "great and notable day of the Lord."
The day of the Lord is when our Lord Jesus will return to kick some behinds. The book of Revelations is more descriptive about these events.
Throughout the period of time known as "the Lord's Day" it will be available for people to be filed with the spirit of God. Being filled with the spirit, they are sanctified and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. They are called saints in the Epistles and the book of Revelations. This same period of time will end on the great and notable day of the Lord.
Continueing with Acts 2:21, "And it shall come to pass, that who ever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." To be saved meant to be delivered or rescued from something. To understand what the saints could be saved from, we need only look at the previous verses 19-20.
To call upon the name of the Lord results in being rescued from the great and notable day of the Lord. On a side note, it also saves them from having to face the seven year tribulation period mentioned in Revelations.
In summary, the events of Acts 2:1-4 launched the beginning of a period of time in which it became available for anybody to believe with their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead unto righteousness (Romans 10:9-10), which is to be filled with the spirit of God unto everlasting life. And it became available for these saints to spiritually call upon the name of the Lord unto being saved from all the events recorded in Revelations (Acts 2:21; 1Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:1-11; and 1Corinthians 15:51-57).
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