Acts 2:22-28 “Fellow Israelites, listen carefully to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you—the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him are common knowledge—this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you. And you pinned him to a cross and killed him. But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him. David said it all: “I saw God before me for all time. Nothing can shake me; he’s right by my side. I’m glad from the inside out, ecstatic; I’ve pitched my tent in the land of hope. I know you’ll never dump me in Hades; I’ll never even smell the stench of death. You’ve got my feet on the life-path, with your face shining sun-joy all around.” 29-36 “Dear friends, let me be completely frank with you. Our ancestor David is dead and buried—his tomb is in plain sight today. But being also a prophet and knowing that God had solemnly sworn that a descendant of his would rule his kingdom, seeing far ahead, he talked of the resurrection of the Messiah—‘no trip to Hades, no stench of death.’ This Jesus, God raised up. And every one of us here is a witness to it. Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just received. That is what you see and hear. For David himself did not ascend to heaven, but he did say, “God said to my Master, “Sit at my right hand Until I make your enemies a stool for resting your feet.” “All Israel, then, know this: There’s no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross.” * I’ve always appreciated how Peter could tell an entire crowd “Jesus, whom YOU killed on a cross….” Always reminding them that they were the ones that killed Christ. The strange thing about saying that is that we ALL killed Christ. No one has ever been perfect but Christ. Therefore, our sin is what caused him to go to the cross. No one is blameless of his death. I remember watching movies about Nazis or some other antisemetic groups and hearing them call Jews “Christ-killers”. I hate that statement. To the depths of my being I hate that statement. Maybe even more than the N word. Because if they are calling Jews Christ killers, then that makes Christ’s death on the cross null and void for themselves and for me! Now granted, I consider myself to be grafted into Abraham’s vine. I’m part of the wild olive branch WOOWOO. But remember, if you do not accept partial responsibility for Christ’s death, then you do not get to take advantage of the rewards of it.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 09:50:28 +0000
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