Read Acts 2: 22-28
This Was God’s Deliberate Plan.
Peter is standing before all these Jews, who came for Pentecost, explaining the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. He starts with the beginning:
1. Jesus was a Nazarene and was accredited by God, meaning he was validated by God, endorsed by God, and God attested to Jesus’s identity as the Messiah through all the miracles, wonders, and signs that Jesus performed (all of which fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies). So God was actively working through Jesus, offering undeniable evidence of his Divine Mission.
2. So Jesus’ divine mission required him to die for our sins and be raised again. So in order for God’s plan to happen, Jesus had to deliberately let himself be handed over to the authorities.
3. Peter then accuses the Jews, along with wicked men, for putting Jesus to death on the cross. But again, this was God’s deliberate plan. God and Jesus had the power to stop the evil schemes of man, but out of love for us, he deliberately went through with it.
4. But then God raised Jesus from the dead because death had no power over Jesus. Peter quotes what David said in Psalm 16:8-11 to prove Jesus’s resurrection was prophesied, thus proving that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
The keywords that jump out to me in Psalm 16:8-11 are:
The Lord is always at my right hand. I will not be shaken. My heart is glad. I rejoice. There is hope. I will not be abandoned. I won’t see decay.
These words were said of Jesus proving his resurrection, but such words apply to every follower of Jesus. God is always with us. We won’t be shaken. Our hearts can be glad and rejoice in knowing there is hope. Though we die, we too shall live forever with the Lord. Our body may see decay, but we have the promise that our spirit will be resurrected to heaven to be with the Lord forever. This was all a part of God’s deliberate plan for us. Let us rejoice.
