Why should Peter have stopped quoting Joel at verse 19?
Peter should have stopped quoting Joel at verse 19 because Israel was going to go into dispersion and God was going to turn to John. The verses he continued to quote describe tribulation wonders—blood, fire, vapor of smoke, a darkened sun, and a moon turned to blood—that precede the great and notable day of the Lord, not Pentecost.
Les explains that Peter was still hanging tooth and nail on that Old Testament program: Israel had to come to a knowledge of their Messiah, then the tribulation could unroll, and then they would have the King and the Kingdom. Peter knew the tribulation had to come, but he continued quoting Joel about wonders in heaven above, signs in the earth beneath, blood, fire, vapor of smoke, the sun turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord. Les says Peter should have stopped right there at verse 19 had he known Israel was going into dispersion and God was going to turn to John. He should have stopped, but he didn't. Peter even concluded, 'whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved,' which is Peter, not Paul.