“And I will show wonders in the heaven above, And signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord come, that great and notable day.”
That day was also to be a time of vivid signs and wonders. Peter had noted that such things were already beginning. In respect of the ‘wonders in the heaven above' many of them would remember the darkness that had descended on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus, (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44). Here in Jerusalem it was not likely to have been forgotten, and certainly not by Peter and the disciples. But as we have seen above there were other wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth beneath. For example there were there were:
1). Wonders in the heaven above which comprised the mighty noise of the wind and the glory of the fire that had been seen to descend on the disciples ‘from heaven' (Acts 2:3).
2). Mighty ‘signs and wonders' of various kinds performed by Jesus on earth (Acts 2:22). Luke also continually stresses signs and wonders performed on earth by the Apostles and Apostolic appointees (Acts 2:43; Acts 4:16; Acts 4:30; Acts 5:12; Acts 6:8; Acts 8:9; Acts 8:13; Acts 14:3; compare Acts 3:10).
3). The blood of Christ that had so recently been shed, and which some of their number had observed falling from His hands and feet and body at the cross. This blood was the sign (Hebrews 12:24; 1 John 5:8) of God's redemptive offer (Romans 3:25; Romans 5:9; Eph 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:9), and will later be constantly referred to (Ephesians 2:13; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:19; 1Pe 1:2; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 12:11). They themselves are ‘the fellowship of the blood of Christ' (1 Corinthians 10:16). Blood is therefore a feature of the new age.
4). The fire of God that had come down from heaven on His people, to remain with them for ever, evidencing the permanent indwelling of God in His people.
5). The vapour of smoke or cloud into which Jesus had been taken that they might see Him no more (Acts 1:9), but which had resulted in what they now saw and heard.
6). There was the great darkness that blotted out the light in Jesus' final hours (Mark 15:33), a phenomenon possibly accompanied by the reddening of the moon. The reddening of the moon was a fairly common occurrence over Palestine, and sometimes occurred with such intensity that it is especially mentioned by Josephus.
Moreover Peter was now expecting that not only the present but also the future would also hold such world-shaking events, for Jesus had told them of what was to come (Luke 21:25-26; Matthew 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-27), and he knew that such signs would follow the pouring out of the Spirit. It had to be so for the world had crucified the Son of God. They had sent Him away marked ‘Unwanted'. So he saw what had now happened at Pentecost as the beginning of all that Jesus had promised, and all that Joel had prophesied, but as something that must also issue in judgments on the world. His words not only describe what has just now taken place but also stress what is to come, as a warning to his listeners.
Peter did not see the coming of the Holy Spirit as just a joyous event for His people, although it was certainly that. He saw it in a context of God's whole dealings with the world and with mankind. God was now beginning His activities of the last days. For those who responded that could only mean joy and gladness and salvation. But for those who rejected the Spirit's work there could only be gloom, disaster and despair.
He himself had only too recently heard from the lips of Jesus the dreadful and awe-inspiring events which were shortly to happen to Jerusalem and to the Temple (Luke 21:20-24), which were also inevitably to see the devastation of Palestine, and carrying away of His rejected people among the nations, and which would result in blood and fire and vapour of smoke, together with the inevitable effects on the visibility of the sun and moon, which the warfare involved would produce. And the 1st century AD would also see something of their fulfilment in the dreadful famine in the time of Claudius (see Acts 11:27-30) which covered many lands, especially affecting Palestine, and in the terrible earthquake which destroyed Laodicea and shook the whole of Phrygia in 61 AD, causing many seemingly unnatural phenomena to occur, and in the destruction by huge volcanic action of Pompeii and Herculaneum and all the area round about, which would certainly result in blood and fire and pillars of smoke, and in many similar catastrophes which occurred. And every century since has seen their fulfilment time and again, for these are the last days, but with all pointing ahead to the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord when He brings all things to conclusion. Peter had good cause for his words. (We do not do well just to split them into two as though God's judgments will not be abroad until what we call the end times. They have been observed throughout history).
All this tied in with the worldview of the Old and New Testaments. First there had been the times of man's ignorance which God had winked at, now had come the last days when God having sent His Son to die for us, would call men to repentance and visit the world with His judgments in the Day of the Lord (Acts 17:30-31), and finally would come the consummation when all was put right or destroyed and God would be all in all.