SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2017 7:29 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Exaltation of Christ
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 2:33-36
Message of the verses: “33 "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, 35 UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET."’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-this Jesus whom you crucified."”
Peter begins verse 33 by stating that Jesus Christ was
exalted to the right hand of God. If we
go back to eternity past we can see that the plan for the Son of God was to
come to earth to become the God/Man, live for 33 years, preaching and teaching
for the last three years and then dying for the sins of man. Because of this God was going to exalt Him to
the position of power, that is at the right hand of God which is where our Lord
is at this time interceding for His children.
This was all God’s plan which Christ fulfilled.
Peter then goes on to talk about Jesus “having received from the Father
the promise of the Holy Spirit, has poured forth this which you both see and
hear,” and this to was in the perfect plan of God. John MacArthur writes “Peter now brings his
listeners full circle back to the phenomena of Pentecost. He tells them that what they had just seen
resulted from God’s promise to send the Spirit to inaugurate the messianic age
(Joel 2:28-29). Now that Christ was
risen and glorified, God fulfilled that promise.” “But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those
who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because
Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39).”
Peter moves onto another of the Messianic Psalms, Psalm
110 in order to prove from the Lord’s ascension and exaltation that Jesus
Christ is the Messiah. As we look at the
end of Matthew, Mark, and Luke we see Jesus asking the Pharisees a
question: “41 Now while the Pharisees
were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: 42 “What do you think
about the Christ, whose son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of
David." 43 He said to them, "Then how does David in the Spirit call
Him ’Lord,’ saying, 44 ’THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET"’? 45 “If David then calls Him
’Lord,’ how is He his son?" 46 No one was able to answer Him a word, nor
did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question (Matthew
22:41-46).” So in total we see this
section “The Lord said to My Lord” four times in the New Testament including
here in the book of Acts, and as mentioned it comes from Psalm 110. This Psalm was written by David and it speaks
of the Messiah. Placing one’s enemies
under one’s feet was a figure of speech that denotes their abject submission as
seen as an example in Joshua 10:24-25 “24 When they brought these kings out to
Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the
men of war who had gone with him, "Come near, put your feet on the necks
of these kings." So they came near and put their feet on their necks. 25
Joshua then said to them, "Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and
courageous, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies with whom you
fight."” We know that it was not
David who was exalted to God’s right hand, but it was Jesus who was as seen in
Acts 1:9-11 “9 And after He had said
these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received
Him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while
He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also
said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus,
who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as
you have watched Him go into heaven."”
Now we have the proof of this which was the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit as God promised to do, and as the crowd witnessed this happen. This fulfillment of the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit was the proof that Jesus was sitting at the right hand of God as we
have seen from Psalm 110.
Peter’s sermon gives overwhelming evidence from Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and exaltation that He is indeed Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. Peter concludes this powerful sermon with a powerful ending as he says “36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-this Jesus whom you crucified."” John MacArthur states “for certain” is the Greek word asphalos, which speaks of that which is known beyond a doubt. He goes on to say “The verdict was in, and they were on the wrong side, guilty of opposing God and rejecting their Messiah. As Peter was later to put it, ‘He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the very corner stone’ (Acts 4:11).”
We will begin looking at “The First Christian Sermon—part
3 The Appeal and Results which covers verses 37-41 of Acts chapter two in our
next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I believe that
since God has planned out in eternity past what Christ was going to do for me,
and of course not only me but all that belong to Him that He now has a plan for
my life and will fulfill that as long as I submit to Him.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Submit to the Lord so He can fulfill His plan
in my life, a plan that will bring glory to His name.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Silver” (Acts 19:24).
Today’s Bible question
“Where was Jesus born?”
Answer in our next SD.
7/31/2017 8:15 AM
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