Pentecost and Government (1)

The day of Pentecost was the birthday of the Church, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on every believer. Now every person who believes can have a relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit living within.

The day of Pentecost was also a day of judgment for the kings, emperors and political rulers of the world. When he got up to preach, Peter quoted from Joel 2. We all remember the verses that describe the Spirit being poured out on all flesh, so that people would dream and see visions and prophesy.
What we often forget is that Peter did not stop there, but went onto quote three more verses.

I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
(Act 2:19-21).

These forgotten verses describe an important consequence of what happened at Pentecost. The Old Testament prophets use the sun, moon and stars as symbols of the emperors and rulers of the nations. One example is found in Ezekiel 32:7:

When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.

Ezekiel was speaking about the defeat of Egypt by Babylon. The words give a graphic description of the collapse of Egypt before a greater power. They were not fulfilled literally, but in a prophetic sense they were fulfilled. Other prophets used the same kind of language to describe the collapse of a nation. In prophetic language, the sun and moon represent powerful human governments.

So for Joel, the sun and moon represent powerful political powers. Blood symbolizes death. So Joel is using prophetic language to describe the destruction of powerful political powers. They will not just fall, but they will be destroyed. This is the consequence of the day of Pentecost.