 |  |
wine" (Acts 2: 6-13). It is evident from the reaction of the multitude that something
extraordinary had happened, but the fact that these Jews, who were "devout men", did not
recognize the fulfillment of the O.T. prophecy when they saw it, is no proof that the
prophets and Moses did not say that these things should come. The nation rejected their
Messiah, in spite of the fulfillment of prophecy and type.
Most of our difficulties in connection with this matter vanish when we consider
Peter's inspired answer in verses 14-40, and particularly in verse 16:
"This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2: 16).
If we turn to chapter 2: of this prophecy, we shall find in verses 28-32 the complete
testimony to this great event. It is true that the seven wonders in heaven and earth have
not yet taken place, but this is explained by Israel's failure to repent. All that we are at
the moment attempting, however, is to prove that the "gifts" of the early Church were
promised before in the Holy Scriptures.
Peter not only refers to Joel, but later in his explanation to the testimony of David.
"David . . . . . being a prophet . . . . . seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of
Christ . . . . . 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" (Acts 2: 29-33).
It is evident from the above references that Peter would have been surprised to hear
any one deny, or even question the fact that the gifts bestowed on the Day of Pentecost
were spoken of by the prophets of the O.T. The term "Moses and the prophets" and
the term "the law and the prophets" are synonymous, yet we should be unscriptural to
draw a hard and fast line, and limit the term "law" to Moses. In John 10: 24, quoting
Psalm 82: 6, the Lord says: "Is it not written in your law?" And in I Cor. 14: 21,
the prophet Isaiah is quoted as "the law", with reference to the spiritual gifts of the early
Church. "Moses and the prophets" in its common usage simply stands for the O.T.
Scriptures.
"In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto
this people; and yet, for all that, will they not hear Me, saith the Lord" (I Cor. 14: 21).
On the Day of Pentecost, the gifts were received by Jews only. It is pure imagination
that peoples Jerusalem on that day with both Jews and Gentiles, then and there baptized
into one body. One reading of Acts 2:, with this tradition of the elders in mind, is
enough to dispel such an interpretation for ever. That Peter himself held no such belief is
made abundantly clear in Acts 10:
"While Peter yet spake these words, the holy ghost fell on all them which heard the
word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came
with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the holy ghost"
(Acts 10: 44-45).