Written ~ 09-14-2023
Acts 2:22-28
“People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through Him, as you well know. But God knew what would happen, and His prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed Him to a cross and killed Him. But God released Him from the horrors of death and raised Him back to life, for death could not keep Him in its grip.
King David said this about Him:
“I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts His praises! My body rests in hope. For You will not leave my soul among the dead or allow Your Holy One to rot in the grave. You have shown me the way of life, and You will fill me with the joy of Your presence.’”
The first four Books of the New Testament are the personal and eyewitness accounts of everything Jesus had done during His ministry here on earth. The disciples learned all they could from Jesus, the Messiah. The disciple John summarizes this perfectly in John 20:30-31,
“The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the Power of His Name.”
Then the last verse of the Book of John says this, 21:25,
“Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.”
After all they had experienced while serving alongside Jesus, it isn’t a surprise that they were distraught when He was arrested, accused, tortured, then killed on the cross. They saw Him being taken down and placed for burial. Their whole world had been shattered. Instantly their confidence was gone, they scattered and hid away. It wasn’t until Jesus appeared to them after He was raised from the dead, did their spirits renew. After such devastation, their joy couldn’t be contained when they saw Jesus standing in their midst. It is very interesting to me how different each Gospel Book describes the resurrection of Jesus, to get the whole picture, reading each one gives a broader understanding of what the disciples were doing and what happened as Jesus began appearing before several people, then the disciples.
In our passage for today, the disciples had just watched Jesus ascend to Heaven where He would be seated at the right hand of God. Before He was whisked up into the clouds, He promised the power of the Holy Spirit would come upon them and then He gave them the commission to spread the Gospel message throughout the world. During the 40 days Jesus spent with them, He reassured them, He reminded them of the words written by Moses and the prophets that everything that had happened was foretold, and He spent time hanging out them, eating with them, to the disciples it probably felt like the “good ole times.”
In Acts chapter 2 the Holy Spirit is received by all who had been gathered around. It was a powerful moment, and this event started a whole new chapter in each of these disciples lives. Acts 2:14-41 shows Peter preaching his very first Holy Spirit filled sermon to a crowd of people. Our verses for today Peter is telling the people gathered around that God had planned everything, all the signs and wonders Jesus had done, and that it was prearranged to have Jesus Christ die that horrible death on the cross. God did all of this so we might have life through Jesus! By having Jesus raised from death, He conquered death itself. So, by believing, by accepting, and by calling on the name of Jesus, we are saved from the grip of death. Now don’t get me wrong… we all will die, our bodies aren’t meant to live forever, but our spirits live on and if a decision has been made to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior over your life, you will live forever in the Kingdom of Heaven. Part of this message Peter quotes King David. I think it’s pretty awesome that King David knew the Lord in this way. He knew the Lord in a personal way. That’s why he is, many times, described as being a man after God’s own heart.
All along, from the very beginning, Genesis 1:1 through the last verse of the Bible, Revelation 22:21, God is telling us about Jesus. The whole of Scripture points us to His Son and what He needed to do on the cross. Nothing came as a surprise to Him, He had it prearranged. By doing so, our Almighty God has given us a way to escape the penalty of death because of sin. Acts 2:21 says,
“But everyone who calls on the Name of the LORD will be saved.”
Ask God to open your eyes, ask Him to open your ears. Ask your Father in Heaven to give you understanding of all the wonders written within the pages of the Bible. If you do that, He will answer.
As Peter’s sermon was ending, he said this… verses 2:36-40,
“So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both LORD and Messiah!” Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away – all who have been called by the Lord our God.” Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging, all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
This one sermon, brought people from all over, they listened intently to the words Peter was saying and, on that day, verse 2:41 says:
“Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day – about 3000 in all.”
So, this is where the church begins! One sermon by a Holy Spirit empowered disciple, 3000 people believe in who Jesus is and accept Him as Lord and Savior! How awesome is that! And here we are 2000 years later still preaching the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. There may be those on this earth today who will never believe in what Jesus did on the cross 2000 years ago, but my prayer is, if you are reading these words today, or if you have ever heard the Gospel message, do not delay, give your heart to the Lord. Repent of your sins, ask Jesus to come into your life. Acts 3:19 says,
“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.”
For those of us who do know the Lord, maybe we’ve known Him our entire lives! The commission Jesus gave to the disciples all those years ago still applies to us today. It is up to us to spread the Gospel message so those around us can come to the Lord just as those 3000 people did while listening to Peter.
Let me end with this…
Numbers 6:24-26
“May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace.”
~AMEN~