3) v30-37: Jesus was raised from the dead.
Jesus was certifiably dead! His body placed in a tomb. And the evidence was compelling: people who
knew He was dead later saw Him alive.
They spoke with Him, ate with Him, and were taught by Him. I know a resurrection is unusual. But there’s no other explanation. But what is interesting is that Paul, who
knew he didn’t need to provide Old Testament support for his declaration that
Jesus had died, know that this was part of the regular reading of Scripture in
the synagogue, also knew that he did need to support the claims of the
resurrection for his Jewish brethren.
And so, he did.
·
Psalm 2:7: Psalm 2 was a well-known Messianic
Psalm. In that Psalm the Messiah was
acknowledged to be “the Son of God.” There
is a connection between the resurrection of Christ and His being the Son of
God. Jesus had said, concerning His
body, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn. 2:19-20). Again “For as the Father raises the dead and
gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will” (Jn.
5:21). The resurrection was the ultimate
confirmation that Jesus was the Son of God (Rom. 1:4).
·
Isa. 55:3: Isaiah called the people of Israel to
come to the Lord in obedience, and the Lord would “make an everlasting covenant
with you – the sure mercies of David.”
This is all based in God’s covenant with David, that he would have a son
on the throne forever (2 Sam. 7:16).
This was a clear Messianic promise.
The Messiah would be the Savior, and would be the Son of David. It was always confusing to God’s people, even
the prophets, how the Messiah would suffer for our sins and yet rule on the
throne of David (1 Pt. 1:11). The answer
to this conundrum was the resurrection: after dying for our sin He would live
again, fulfilling the promise through David.
·
Ps. 16:10: This Messianic prophecy, “you will
not allow Your Holy One to see corruption,” was also quoted by Peter in the
sermon on the Day of Pentecost (Ac. 2:25-28 is a quote of Ps. 16:8-11). Both Apostles noted that David had died and
his body was corrupted. “But He whom God
raised up saw no corruption.”
Paul’s conclusion was simple. One, through Jesus is preached the forgiveness
of sin. He has died in our place for sin,
the innocent Lamb of God. This was
understandable by the Jews. Second, in
light of forgiveness, there could now be righteousness for all who would
believe in Him, something that the Law of Moses had never provided. The people of Israel only knew failure in
that area. Third, having mentioned a
shortcoming in the law of Moses, and that the Jews would not accept that
easily, Paul reminds them that the prophets prophesied that this great day was
coming (13:41 is a quote of Habakkuk 1:5).
This is the gospel of God’s grace. God did this, having loved the world so much
that He sent His only begotten Son, to give His life as the sacrifice for sin
on our behalf. Our sin was against Him,
our Creator. His grace provided the
solution. It was all the plan and work
of God. Luke’s account in Acts is that the
Jews left the synagogue that day, apparently thinking about what they
heard. The Gentiles who associated
themselves with the synagogue, begged to have a special hearing for themselves. They were ready to believe in Jesus as the
Savior. And having believed, Paul then
encouraged them to “continue in the grace of God.” That is the life we have, one lived daily out
of the grace of God in Christ!
Are you thinking? Are you ready to believe in Christ?
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