Lesson for June 5, 2016
The Book of Acts
Chapter 2:22-36
Verses 22-28
“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. For David says of Him:
‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. ‘You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ (Psalm 16:8-11)
Jesus the Nazarene means that Peter was going to discuss the humanity of Christ, the incarnation, and the reason for the first advent. The humanity of Christ was a man attested to by God by miracles and wonders and signs. The Greek word for attested is “apodeiknumi” [apo = ultimate source; deiknumi = to point out, to demonstrate], to demonstrate from ultimate source is the way this word was originally used, and it means to exhibit or display from the ultimate source of God. It comes to mean God revealing something very special to man – His Son Jesus Christ.
Now Peter revealed the purpose for Jesus Christ coming into the world. Delivered over means it was part of God’s plan for Christ to go to the Cross and pay the penalty for the sins of the world. The religious Jews and the Roman Empire represented by Pontius Pilate, had something had a part to play in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. But when it says this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God means ultimately, the fact that Jesus Christ went to the Cross was the plan of God the Father. This plan was given in eternity past long before man existed, and this is indicated by the words predetermined plan and foreknowledge.
God knew the free will of man billions of years ago in eternity past and all the decisions that would be made by every human being in history. And He knew exactly how the men who crucified Jesus would operate and think, therefore, at the exact right time Jesus Christ was brought into the world, and at the exact right time Jesus Christ was taken for crucifixion. This was all the plan of the Father, and the Father did His planning on the basis of knowing what every person would think in the city of Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion. There is only one point at which the whole thing got out of the hands of the human will of man, and that was the last three hours when Christ bore our sins on the Cross. That was strictly from God. God poured out upon His Son our sins; man’s free will had nothing to do with it. But bringing Christ to the Cross was the operation of the free will of man, and God’s plan was fulfilled. It was the sovereign decision of the Father to pour out on Christ the sins of the world. Sovereignty planned the Cross at the perfect time in history so the volition of godless men took Jesus Christ to the Cross, but once they got Him to the Cross the sovereignty took over and it was the sovereign decision of God the Father to pour out on Christ the sins of the entire human race (past, present and future).
The sovereignty of God and the free will of man can coexist provided you stick with the Scripture. The Word of God teaches both the existence of the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. But God has the jump on human volition in that billions of years before the first man started thinking and using his volition the Trinity knew exactly what man would think and what decisions would come from his free will by means of the foreknowledge of God. The whole plan of history is based on the fact that God knows just exactly how man’s volition will operate, and He designed history accordingly. History, then, is designed to bring the plan of God into face-to-face with the free will of man and to give man a choice in every generation between God’s plan and Satan’s plan. In this way the whole problem of the Angelic Conflict is resolved.
The conclusion is that godless men put Christ on the Cross and are responsible for His physical death. But in between putting Him on the Cross and His physical death there was the spiritual death of Christ, which was strictly the work of God in which the sins of the world were poured out upon Christ and God the Father judged the sins of all mankind at that point.
In verse 24 we see the resurrection of Christ after He died physically. Verses 25-28 is a quotation from Psalm 16:8-11 and is a prophecy. Verses 34-35 is a quotation from Psalm 110:1 and is a confirmation of the fulfillment of this prophecy. In verse 25 David is explaining the basis of his stability in life because of what he saw in the future concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. “I shall not be shaken” means David received stability from being occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 26 – “Therefore did my heart rejoice” means because of his stability he now has inner happiness. The heart is the mentality of the soul, and rejoicing is not an overt activity but is an inner mental happiness; “and my tongue was glad” – means a verbal expression of gladness; “moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope” – in other words he recognizes that Jesus Christ will be resurrected from the dead, and this means that his flesh will have a resurrection body, and hope has to do with the eternal future.
In verse 27, because you will not abandon my soul in Hades a reference to the section of Hades called Paradise. David is referring to the fact that he will not stay in Paradise forever but that he will receive a resurrection body. David is expressing the hope of the Resurrection and it is now being quoted by Peter. There is a twofold interpretation here. The soul refers to David who is having the experience of seeing the resurrected Christ, and therefore he knows that he will have a resurrection body. The human soul of Christ is also involved: Jesus went to Paradise. His body went into the grave; His spirit went into the presence of the Father; but His soul went into Paradise. His soul would not stay in Paradise of Hades but would be delivered up by resurrection. Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay means not seeing corruption is being resurrected; victory over physical death.
In verse 28, you have made known to me the ways of life means David understood that God has a plan for his life and you will make me full of gladness with your presence means he understood that he could have inner happiness and peace throughout his life on earth.
You become occupied with Christ when you obey the same mandates that He obeyed, concentrate on what He concentrated on (Divine Viewpoint Thinking), make positive decisions from a position of strength as He did and use the Problem-Solving Devices constantly, as He did. Sharing the happiness of God is having permanent contentmentas your constant companion. This happiness is permanent because it does not depend on the circumstances in your life. It is actually God’s own perfect happiness that He shares with the advancing believer as a grace gift. Sharing God’s happiness is obtained only by consistently learning, believing and applying the Word of God over a period of time.
Verses 29-36
“Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 For it was not David who ascended into Heaven, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
David was a king but he was also a prophet. When he wrote Psalm 16 he was prophesying the resurrection of Christ. Furthermore he knew that Christ would be raised up because Christ is the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. The promise was given in II Samuel 7:8-16 and Psalm 89:19-37. God promised David unconditionally that he would have a son (descendant) who would reign forever in Psalm 89:3-4. Peter was explaining this. He said to them that God had sworn with an oath to David, that of “the fruit of his loins,” according to the flesh (the humanity of Christ) He would raise up to sit on David’s throne.
David understood that this promise was in future referring to the Messiah (Christ) and that He would be raised from the dead so that He could rule forever as the son of David. Christ’s humanity would die, His humanity would be raised, and His humanity would reign forever. At the Second Coming and from then on Christ will reign as the son of David, fulfilling the Davidic Covenant. He looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. This same Jesus about whom David was speaking, Who is his “son” (descendant) was the Messiah who would go to the Cross and die for the sins of the world and be raised from the dead after three days. And Peter said that they were all witnesses of these events.
Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God means the Resurrection was a step toward the exaltation of the humanity of Christ which was absolutely necessary to fulfill the Angelic Conflict. Remember that after His resurrection Jesus Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father, above all angels, as a member of the human race. His humanity is above angels because Christ in His resurrection body is seated at the right hand of the Father. Once Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father He is glorified. His deity was always glorified, there never was a time when His deity wasn’t glorified; but His humanity is now glorified.
And having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear while Christ was here the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified. (John 7:39) But when Christ ascended and was seated at the right hand of the Father, then He was glorified, and then the Holy Spirit was sent to permanently indwell believers. And the purpose of the Holy Spirit in this Church Age is to glorify Christ. (John 16:14) He doesn’t do this through ecstatic experiences; He does this by producing on the inside of us the very character of the Lord Jesus Christ. When God the Holy Spirit controls the life of the believer, then Christ is seen.
And having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear was an important passage because it tells us that up until this day the promise of the Holy Spirit to all believers had not been fulfilled. It also means that when Jesus said to His disciples, “ask for the Holy Spirit,” (Luke 11:13) He was teaching them a principle under the Old Testament dispensation. Today we do not ask for the Holy Spirit; today we do not pray as David did, “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me,” ( Psalm 51:11) because God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer, starting at the point of salvation and continuing throughout his lifetime. The issue today for believers is if you are out of fellowship the Holy Spirit is grieved; if you are in fellowship the Holy Spirit controls your life, and when He controls your life you execute the plan of God, the Christian Way of Life. All of this is bound up in the principle of the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Once He was seated at the right hand of the Father, once He was exalted, then we had the giving of the Holy Spirit.
Peter then explained the exaltation of Christ from Old Testament Scriptures: “For it was not David who ascended into Heaven.” So when David was writing in Psalm 110:1 regarding Christ being seated at the right hand of the Father, no one is to construe this as having anything to do with David. When God (the Father) says to God (the Son), “Sit down,” this in itself in incomprehensible and inscrutable because obviously God does not sit down. So obviously He is speaking to the humanity of Christ, but He addresses Himself to God the Son because Christ is the unique Person of the universe, the God-Man.
‘The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet’” is a reference to the exultation of the humanity of Christ Who is now above his enemies (Satan and fallen angels). While on earth Christ was not as powerful as Satan and angels in His humanity, but as soon as He sat down at the right hand of the Father that all changed. He is now more powerful than them all, which is the meaning of making His enemies His footstool. He It also means the final stage of the Angelic Conflict is about to be resolved forever.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified was a dogmatic statement of fact being addressed to all those present that the nation of Israel had not recognized the true Messiah, Jesus Christ when He came the first time, but they will recognize Him when He comes the second time.