Acts 2:20

Acts 2:20, in plain English

Joel concludes by describing cosmic signs — the sun turning dark, the moon appearing blood-red — before the arrival of God's great and glorious Day of the Lord.

Why it's here

These poetic, apocalyptic images describe judgment and transformation. They point to a day when God will openly and finally establish His kingdom on earth. Peter is saying: what you're seeing with the Spirit being poured out is the beginning of what leads to that day.

Who's speaking

Peter, completing Joel's prophecy

Where it sits in the story

The Spirit's outpouring connects the resurrection of Jesus to the eventual renewal of all things. We're living in the time between Jesus's ascension and His return, and the Spirit's presence is the guarantee and foretaste of the glory to come.

The scholarly reading

The prophecy concludes with the ultimate cosmic sign: the sun becoming dark and the moon turning blood-red, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.

Language and setting

This represents the climactic statement of Joel's prophecy as cited by Peter. The imagery of σκοτισμός (skotismos)—'darkening'—and the moon becoming αἷμα—'blood'—draws on classical apocalyptic symbolism appearing in Isaiah 13:10 and Revelation 6:12. The 'great and glorious Day of the Lord' (ἡμέρα τοῦ κυρίου) represents the eschatological renewal of all things. Notably, Peter cites the prophecy while Jesus has already been exalted; the full consummation remains future.

Voice

Peter, quoting the prophet Joel

Significance

This verse completes Peter's hermeneutical framework: the Spirit's present outpouring is not an endpoint but a marker of the age's transition. The Church exists in eschatological tension—the 'last days' have begun through Christ's exaltation and the Spirit's coming, yet the ultimate consummation awaits the Lord's return. This establishes the theological matrix for all apostolic proclamation in Acts: present fulfillment of eschatological promise pointing toward final redemption.

18Even on My menservants and maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

19I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

20The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.

21And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

22Men of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know.

Read all of Acts 2 — The Spirit arrives like wind and fire. The church is born in a single day. A movement that will never stop starts in one room.