The birth day of the Church was anything but boring.
The sound of a rushing mighty wind.
The sight of tongues of fire resting on each of them.
Rednecks and common folk speaking the wonderous works of
God, like linguistic scholars from every nation under heaven.
A fisherman named Peter stood up and gave his very first
recorded sermon which could be titled, “Hey Ya’ll, Listen Up, We Ain’t Drunk!”.
Before he’s done 3,000 folks are saved.
He started his message pointing to the prophet Joel, who was
pointing to God, who was telling how He would reveal Himself through His people
and in His creation, by pouring out His Spirit, and showing wonders in the
heavens above, and signs in the earth below.
Then, Peter swings the spotlight straight to Jesus.
Which is where we drop into his powerful sermon today.
22 “Men of Israel, hear
these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by
miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in
your midst, as you yourselves also know—
God reveals Himself, in Person.
Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God.
God attested, confirmed, approved, endorsed, Jesus of
Nazareth. Each miracle, each wonder, each sign, Jesus did,
was God’s seal of approval; His endorsement of Jesus. Like Him saying, I AM God
and I approve this Message.
23 Him, being delivered
by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by
lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
Now, the Holy Spirit, uses Peter to clarify many things that
confuse many people.
Here we see God’s Divine Eternal Purpose working through the
lawless hands of man.
God knew it would happen, but did not make
it happen.
They were lawless hands, not, forced hands.
They willingly took, willingly crucified, willingly killed,
the Lord of glory.
God plays by all the rules. Man breaks all the rules. Yet,
in the end, God still wins.
Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8.
God is Love. 1 John 4:8,16.
God’s Divine Justice demands He follow Divine Rules of
Engagement.
In other words, He willingly works within the willingness,
and obedience (or disobedience, lawless hands), of man.
(Sunday, we were introduced to this in Genesis 22 with Abe offering Isaac)
Here we see it again, God navigates His Divine Plan, without
negating, (removing) man’s responsibility, culpability, accountability. God’s plan,
doesn’t take man, off the hook.
Understanding this keeps at bay unwarranted anger toward
God.
You see, in God’s eternal foreknowledge, He searched the
maze of humanity and saw a path that would lead to the other side; to redemption, to restoration... after the fall.
Along this path were (and still are) many ups and downs.
To name a few…
There was a time when the world went dark, the entire earth
became wicked, every thought and intent in the heart of man was only evil.
It was doomed for destruction.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. Noah willingly, by faith, obeyed, and built the ark. Genesis
6:8-22.
So, God was able to work His way a little further through
the maze.
Abraham and Sarah, an old man with a barren wife, willingly
by faith, received the Promise, which would eventually birth the Seed that
that would lead, to Salvation being made available (not forced) to the entire planet.
Oh, and there’s Abe & Sarah’s great grandson, the guy
who had the coat of many colors.
Joseph was a man attested, favored, by God. But
not by his brothers. They were jealous and cast him into a pit and then sold him
into slavery.
Nevertheless, Joseph chose to willingly, walk by faith.
God granted him favor and wisdom and promoted him to second
in command over all of Egypt. Through years of famine, the betraying brothers went
to Egypt for assistance. Upon realizing Joseph was in charge, they thought they
were dead. But Joseph said: What you meant for harm God meant for good; to
save many people alive this day; Genesis 50:20.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, willingly, by faith,
received the Seed, when she said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be
it unto me according to thy word. Luke 1:38.
Jesus, willingly,
by faith, yielded, praying to His Father, “Not My will but Thine.”
Luke 22:42.
And so, He was delivered into lawless hands to be crucified and put to death.
And with that, the Lord became the blood path, the scarlet
thread, the Way through the maze of humanity.
From the Garden of Eden, to the Garden Tomb; which was only
borrowed for the weekend because He is…
24 whom God raised up,
having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He
should be held by it.
God raised Him up.
Nothing could stop this.
No lawless hands. Not all the rules of the religious. Not
all the demons of hell. Not all the might of the Roman empire.
You see, the wages of sin, is death. But Jesus was sinless.
So, it was not possible for death to hold Him. For it had nothing on Him.
Therefore, Divine Eternal Justice, demanded He be raised and
eternally pardoned.
Yet, His death was not in vain, it was used to pay the wages
of sin; not His, but ours.
According to God’s Divine Justice, a substitutionary
sacrifice was acceptable per the precedent set, back in Eden, just after the
fall.
The blood of animals was shed, by God, and coats were made,
by God, to cover (temporarily) the sin, shame, and nakedness, of Adam and Eve.
Now, this final time the blood was God’s and thus the
covering, forever.
Yes, the wages of sin is death, BUT, the Gift of God, is Eternal
Life, through Christ Jesus. Romans 6:23.
Peter camps on this theme of Christ’s resurrection for several
verses and confirms what he’s saying by pointing to the words of king David
written into Scripture about 700 years prior.
25 For David says
concerning Him:
‘I foresaw the LORD
always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. 26
Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover, my
flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not
leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of
life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’
Peter quotes from, Psalm 16:8-11.
King David, rejoiced, was glad, and rested in hope, foreseeing
the resurrection of the Lord, the Messiah, the Christ Jesus.
Which is what Peter will explain, next.
29 “Men and brethren, let
me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried,
and his tomb is with us to this day.
Peter tells them that king David is dead and gone; his tomb
is right over there.
30 Therefore, being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit
of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his
throne,
King David knew, they all knew, that the Messiah would come
from the line of David. Which, Jesus did, both Joseph (stepdad, really) and
Mary were descendants of David.
31 he, foreseeing this,
spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was
not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
Peter tells them plainly that David was talking about the
resurrection of the Messiah, the Christ, and that His soul would not stay in
hell, nor would His body decay in the grave.
It’s interesting to note that Jesus rose from the grave
after three days. And the Jews believed that after four
days is when the flesh began to decay.
32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
This Lord, this Messiah, this Christ, that God raised up, is…
this Jesus!
And we know it’s true because we all saw Him with our own
eyes!
33 Therefore being
exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
Now Peter transitions from resurrection to ascension.
Jesus was not only raised from the grave, but also raised
from the earth.
He ascended back Home, to His rightful throne.
From there, as promised, He poured out His Holy Spirit; John 14:16, 26, 15:26, 16:7.
Friends, the rushing mighty wind, the tongues of fire, the
other tongues, the signs, the wonders, all of it…
This is that, which Joel prophesied about, David talked
about, Jesus poured out.
This is that which you now see and hear.
34 “For David did not
ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right
hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’
Now Peter quoted king David from, Psalm 110:1.
This Psalm is quoted or referred to more than any other in
the New Testament; 25-30 times.
The LORD (God the Father) said to my Lord (the
Son, the Messiah), “Sit at My right hand...”
David did not ascend, but the Lord, the Messiah, the Christ,
did, and sat at God’s right hand; indicating the Lord, the Messiah, is God.
Peter connected all the dots. Walked them through the maze
of Old Testament prophets, and left them standing, staring, straight into the
face of… this Jesus.
So, right about now they’re freaking out. Oh my, we
killed… this Jesus.
Peter drives the point home.
36 “Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
God has made, this Jesus, you, (not just them, but
all of us, too) crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Savior and Lord.
The crowd was cut to the heart and asked, “What shall we do.”
Great question. Lord willing, that’s what we’ll look at next
time. In the meantime, let’s pray.
Dear Jesus, thank You for leaving Your throne, to walk the
bloody path through the maze of mankind; knowing You’d be rejected and ridiculed,
scourged and crucified, by us, the ones You came to save.
Thank You, our Lord and Christ.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
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2:22-36
This was feed for you to read. Now it’s Seed for you to
sow.
Thank you for sharing.
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