But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, 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 show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: (20) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that 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 sepulcher 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 that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
There must have been somewhat very striking, when Peter and the eleven all arose at once, as if (and which indeed was the case), all animated by a supernatural power, to refute the foul calumny of drunkenness. And I beg the Reader to remark with me, how mildly the Apostle expostulated with their accusers, appealing to their own principles of religion, in proof of the falseness of what they had said, seeing it was now but the third hour of the day, namely, nine of the clock in the morning, the well-known hour of the morning sacrifice; before which, and especially on the Sabbath, which this was, it became unlawful for any of the seed of Abraham to indulge in bodily refreshment. Compare Numbers 28:1-10 with Exodus 12:16. Reader! so will every preacher, yea, every child of God, mildly reason with opposers, when under the blessed influences of God the Holy Ghost, 2 Timothy 2:24-25
I am constrained by the limits I must observe, from entering very largely into a Commentary upon this sweet Sermon of the Apostles. For the text which Peter took from the prophecy of Joel, I refer to some few observations I have already offered in my Poor Man's Commentary on the place. And in addition to what is there proposed, I would here remark, that by the all flesh the Prophet speaks of, and the Apostle comments upon, cannot be supposed to mean all mankind; but as other Scriptures explain the phrase, all God's people in all places; and not confined, as the early Prophets had supposed to be the case, to the people of Judaea. Thus Haggai, when speaking of Christ, calls him the desire of all nations, Haggai 2:7, meaning the desire of his people in all nations. So Christ, when speaking of the world, God so loved the world, that all that believe in him, etc. meaning believers throughout the world, John 3:16. That the phrase must be understood in this sense, is evident, from what is said in other parts of scripture concerning the world, which cannot receive the Spirit of truth, and for whom Christ doth not pray. See John 14:17 and John 17:9-10
Let me particularly request the Reader to observe how Peter speaks of his divine Lord. A man he calleth him approved of God, among them by miracles and wonders as they knew. But while a man, truly and properly so, (for otherwise he could not have been the seed of the woman promised, Genesis 3:15.) yet, as truly and properly God, whom the pains of death could not hold, because (saith Peter), it was not possible that he should be holden of it. Reader! what higher demonstrations can be wished in proof of Godhead. Surely common sense must say, that had he not been God, the pains of death and the power of the grave must have held him, as they would hold any man, and make every man a prisoner. But, in the person of the God-man Christ Jesus, it was not possible, that he who was both God and man should be holden of either. And, as another Apostle saith, and under the same authority, Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Romans 1:4. How very blessed and precious are both testimonies to the union of the nature of God and man, in the person of our Lord!
I request the Reader's attention to another beautiful part in Peter's sermon. He saith, that Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, when crucified and slain by wicked hands. Oh! what a very blessed relation is here, to the truth as it is in Jesus? For what can be more blessed to every child of God, while rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, through the blood and righteousness of Christ as a Savior; than to see the hand of Jehovah in the appointment? In this united point of view, God our Redeemer's full equivalent sacrifice for sin, (yea, more than equivalent, as a ransom for the sins of all his people), we find a blessed plea before the mercy-seat in all our approaches there; in that we find all the strength necessary to make it blessed, because it is also from the appointment and ordination of Jehovah. Hence, we not only plead on the footing of Christ's blood and righteousness; but we plead, when we plead rightly, the Lord's appointment of it, and his approbation and pleasure in the Almighty work. Is it not sweet then, yea, very sweet, to bear back to the throne, what comes first from the throne, and to tell our God and Father, what our God and Father hath first told us; that it was Jehovah which bruised our glorious Head, and put him to grief, when he made his soul an offering for sin; that it was Jehovah which laid on Him the iniquities of us all, when by the determinate counsel of God, by wicked hands he was taken, and crucified, and slain? And, that the hand of the Lord was first in the great work, when Jesus was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification? Reader! what correspondence is there from the teachings of God the Holy Ghost, in your heart with these things? Oh! the blessedness of being able to join the voice of Old Testament saints, now we have seen the accomplishment of the whole to New Testament believers, and say as they did, Behold, 0 God! our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed? Happy the man, who amidst all the remains of indwelling corruption within, and the ungodly world without, the demands of law and justice, and all the accusations of Satan, can, and doth, go daily to the pardon office of Jesus Christ, pleading his blood and righteousness, and Jehovah's covenant promises, the joint security of everlasting salvation. See Isaiah 53:5-6; Romans 4:25; Psalms 84:9
Let me beg the Reader not to overlook the mercy and love of God the Holy Ghost, in another sweet part of Peter's sermon, namely, the explanation of the sixteenth Psalm, in direct reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. There can be no doubt from the manner in which Peter spake upon it, in begging permission to speak freely of the Patriarch David, but that the Jews of those days, considered that Psalm as written by David, in allusion to himself. What a blessed scripture, therefore, it is, to have it thus explained with an eye to Christ, and from such authority. And may we not observe that from the illustration of this Psalm, we derive information upon many other occasions of a similar nature, to make application to Christ? Reader! do not forget to notice Peter's appeal from the whole, to the hearts and minds of his hearers. How affectionate, yet how faithful the Apostle is. Let them know, (saith he), even the whole house of Israel, what the result of this wonderful event is. To Jesus shall every knee bow. He whom ye crucified, is now the Almighty and everlasting Lord of heaven and of earth! Reader! behold the bold, the undaunted Apostle! Oh! what did grace accomplish in him! And why not in you, or me? Lord! the Spirit! do thou in thy rich mercy make thy servants faithful! Speak, Lord, in them and by them, and let all whom thou hast sent, do the work of Evangelists, and make full proof of their ministry!