The next mention of the Holy Spirit is in verse 33. It reads, “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. As we have already seen in John’s prediction of Him, He would baptize in the Holy Spirit. What is said of one person in the Godhead is often said of another. We noted this is chapters 14 through 16 of John’s gospel. Jesus is said to raise himself, and other texts speak of the Father raising the Son. Here, the connection of Peter’s explanation in verse 33 is directly tied to the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke’s gospel. He records Jesus saying,
“Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:46-49).
This explains that both the Father and Son are involved in the sending. In these two verses, Jesus is doing the sending, but the Father gave the promise. It seems as if He executes the order. Since the Father promised the Spirit, he sends out the order that He be sent. The promise of the Holy Spirit of Acts 2:33 was not the promise the Holy Spirit gave but the promise that the Holy Spirit would be given from the Father. Waiting in Jerusalem for that promise, they would know it was fulfilled when they would be clothed with power from on high. The early part of Acts 2 describes it. It is miraculous power.