Peter Preaches - Acts 2:13-36

2:13 - You know when you watch tv and a “religious” sermon comes on and people are hollering and rolling on the ground and making a scene? My reaction is always an eye roll and for those who don’t believe, the Apostles speaking in tongues might have looked like this chaotic scene as well. Some unbelievers standing around “mocking said, These men are full of new wine” or basically, “these dudes are drunk.” I would think that there would be a difference between the Apostles speaking in tongues by the power of God and those others who just make a scene. In fact I remember studying the “shaking quakers” in the Doctrine and Covenants, and while I can’t seem to find it now, there is something in there that says basically that the gifts of the Spirit are not manifest in brash or unusual ways.

Specifically with the gift of tongues, it isn’t just a bunch of gibberish that someone is spewing loudly that means nothing, the Apostles were probably speaking clearly in an even tone of voice at a reasonable volume level. And what else is interesting is that there were clearly people there who understood what the Apostles were saying because it was their natural language. The foreigners didn’t ask “why are these grown men shouting and yelling in gibberish?” They said, “how do these poor guys know our language? What does it mean that they can speak to us?” Anyone can say nonsense sounds but the true gift is speaking in a way that people can understand.
2:14-16 - Peter stands up and this is really the first time that we get to hear from Peter and it’s exciting because he’s now President of the Church and he’s been endowed with the Holy Ghost so he knows and understands a lot more than he did previously. He stands up to speak to all the “men of Judaea, and all ye that swell at Jerusalem,” he’s speaking to his own people, not to the visitors, but to those who are familiar with Jesus and have at least some knowledge about him. I think it’s funny that Peter basically tell them, “they aren’t drunk, it’s only 9 o’clock in the morning!” Like an early hour has ever stopped anyone from drinking before.
2:17-21 - He says that this is not a bunch of drunk guys but that this is fulfillment of prophecy given by “the prophet Joel.” Until verse 21 it seems like Peter is quoting from Joel 2:28-32. The IM says, “He taught that the gift of tongues and other manifestations of the Spirit among the Apostles were a fulfillment of the prophecy found in Joel 2:28-32.” The IM then goes on to say that this was not the only time that Joel’s prophecy has been or will be fulfilled, and that it’s continuing fulfillment is found in the Restoration of the gospel. Joel’s prophecy includes the pouring out of God’s Spirit “upon all flesh,” children prophesying, young men seeing “visions” and old men “shall dream dreams,” the showing of “wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke,” the sun turning dark, the moon turning into blood, and “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Some of these events are seen as happening on that day of Pentecost, but many of the other things, the physical signs and wonders are more “end of days” types of things.
2:22-28 - Peter again addresses his brethren from Palestine reminding them that Jesus had stood “in the midst” of them and worked many miracles. Peter accuses the men in being complicit in Jesus’ execution as “ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” But jokes on them because Jesus was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,” meaning that this was God’s plan the whole time. It’s like when Satan convinced Adam and Eve to eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden, he must have felt so triumphant, but then only to learn, “hey that was the plan all along, thanks for your help.” Peter points out that it was the will of God that Jesus be crucified, but “God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”
He further points out that David prophesied of Christ. The IM teaches, “Peter boldly and courageously proclaimed to the Jews that Jesus of Nazareth, the Man they had seen perform miracles and whom they had delivered to be crucified, had been resurrected and had loosed the ‘pains of death.’ As Peter taught about Jesus Christ, he quoted Psalm 16:8-11 and Psalm 110:1, explaining that in these passages, King David had prophesied of the Resurrection of Christ.” Peter is doing exactly what Jesus did when he was preaching, using the scriptures as evidence. He’s bringing home to the Jews the point that they had learned these scriptures and prophecies
2:29-36 – Peter testifies that the Messiah that David prophesied of was in fact, Jesus of Nazareth, “you know, the guy that was just killed and then came back from the dead, and we are all witnesses of that.” With a bold “therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Let’s think for a second about why this is powerful. When the chief priests sought to kill Jesus, they did so because they wanted him and his contrary viewpoints to go away. If the gospel did just go away once Jesus was killed, then we would be able to deduce that it wasn’t powerful enough to be effective in people’s lives without Jesus personally being involved. And where Jesus taught that all people were loved and welcomed by God, a religion that depended on Him personally was bound to fail because he couldn’t be everywhere and everything to everyone. The fact that even now after his death and resurrection there are people speaking about his gospel demonstrates that his message has enough power to be effective without Him personally being the one to teach it. We also have to consider that the people have the Holy Ghost now so the words of the Apostles are carried to their hearts with power and conviction, so they can feel and understand more than they were able to previously.