Daily Devotional Saturday 15th February 2020
by William Moody
Acts 2:23–32
23 this Jesus,1 delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,
“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
Footnotes
[1] 2:23
Greek this one (ESV)
Jesus’ death was part of God’s great plan (v23). When Jesus was crucified ultimately the One who was in control was not the Jewish leaders, or the Roman soldiers, but the God of heaven who was freely sacrificing His Son.
Not only did Jesus die but He arose from the grave (v24). We see here that death meant agony for Jesus, but it also could not hold Him such was his strength as God’s Son.
Peter shows that Jesus’ resurrection was prophesied in the Old Testament by David (v25-28) as he now quotes from Psalm 16 v8-11. David in that Psalm was not speaking of himself but as a prophet was speaking of the Messiah who was to come. For people to be saved they must believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection. In this modern scientific world for many the resurrection sounds like a fairy tale.
We see here three strong pieces of evidence to enable people to trust in Jesus’ resurrection. a. there is the evidence of Jesus’ life and miracles (v22). Believing in the resurrection in isolation is impossible but believing in it in the context of Jesus’ whole life is different. b. There is the witness of the Old Testament scriptures which prophecy about Jesus’ resurrection (v25-28). c. there is the witness of those who saw it happen (v32; 1 Cor. 15 v3-8).
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