Acts 2:19 signs linked to OT prophecies?
What signs and wonders in Acts 2:19 relate to Old Testament prophecies?

Setting the Scene

Peter’s Pentecost sermon quotes Joel to explain the Spirit-empowered events his audience is witnessing. Acts 2:19 highlights dramatic “signs on the earth below,” reminding every listener that God’s Word has already painted these very pictures centuries earlier.


Acts 2:19 Quoted

“I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke.”


Connection with Joel 2:30-31

• Joel uses almost identical language: “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood…”.

• Peter’s citation confirms that Joel’s prophecy is the primary backdrop for Acts 2:19.


Blood, Fire, and Smoke in Earlier Scripture

Exodus 7:17-21 – The Nile turns to blood; a foretaste of judgment language later echoed by prophets.

Numbers 16:35 – “Fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men” rebelling with Korah—divine fire as purifying judgment.

Isaiah 9:18-19 – Wickedness burns “like a fire” and “the people will be like fuel for the fire,” reinforcing fire as a sign of God’s righteous dealing with sin.

Isaiah 34:9-10 – Edom’s land becomes “burning pitch… rising smoke” as a picture of total devastation, tying smoke to irreversible judgment.

Ezekiel 38:22 – God promises against Gog “torrential rain, hailstones, fire and brimstone,” combining bloodshed and fiery elements. These texts collectively feed the Joel-Acts imagery of catastrophic upheaval.


Heavenly Wonders that Accompany the Earthly Signs

While Acts 2:19 centers on earthly phenomena, Joel’s next verse—also echoed by Peter—adds:

• Sun darkened (Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7)

• Moon turned to blood (Joel 2:31)

• Stars falling or dimmed (Joel 3:15; Isaiah 34:4)

These cosmic disturbances underscore that both heaven and earth bear witness when the Lord intervenes in human history.


Purpose of the Signs

• Alert to divine intervention—God is unmistakably at work (Exodus 10:1-2).

• Call to repentance—Joel’s wider context urges, “Return to Me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12).

• Assurance of ultimate deliverance—Joel 2:32 promises, “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved,” a truth Peter applies directly in Acts 2:21.


Living in the Light of Fulfilled Prophecy

The Pentecost outpouring and the still-future climactic fulfillments together show that Scripture’s pictures of blood, fire, and smoke are neither random nor merely symbolic; they are deliberate markers of God’s redemptive timeline. Because the earlier prophecies materialized so precisely at Pentecost, we can trust every remaining promise He has spoken.

How does Acts 2:19 demonstrate God's power and sovereignty over creation?
Top of Page
Top of Page