11-11 Acts and the Old Testament

Peter, in chapter 1, verse 20, is talking about Judas. Brethren, he says, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, verse 16, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas. This is Peter. Peter is now going back to the Old Testament and saying that there is Scripture from David in the Psalms that was fulfilled in Judas, and he quotes it in verse 20. For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his homestead be made desolate, let no one dwell in it, and let another man take his office.

In the explanation of Judas and the replacing of Judas, Peter actually sees this as a fulfillment of the Old Testament. And by the way, that’s from Psalm 69.25, and also a reference there also, a quote from Psalm 109, verse 8. Here’s Peter talking spontaneously, and he just plucks out Psalm 69, verse 25. Psalm 109, verse 8, because now he has a new kind of facility, a new kind of alacrity with the Old Testament, and he sees it like he never saw it before. Chapter 2, Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes.

We’ll look at all of this, and Peter gets up again, and Peter has now become the resident Old Testament expert. He stands up in verse 14 with the 11, raises his voice and says, men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, may it be known to you and give heed to my words, these men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day, but this is that which was spoken through the prophet Joel. So now, Peter for the first time understands that the prophecy of Joel 2.28 and 29 has a brand new, brand new.

Regarding Pentecost, regarding the coming of the Holy Spirit, this is what Joel was talking about in a preliminary way when the Lord pours out his spirit. He gives the extensive prophecy from Joel, which of course will not have its final fulfillment until the end of human history and the glorious day of the Lord, noted in verse 20. But in the meantime, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Here’s Peter, who didn’t understand the Old Testament before the Lord explained it that night in the upper room, and now he can draw on the Old Testament.

Familiar with these things, he can stand up spontaneously because he knows the Old Testament, and now he knows what it is predicting. Down in verse 25, that familiar message of Peter on the resurrection, God raised up Jesus, putting an end to the agony of death. Since it is impossible for him to be held in its power. And then he quotes Psalm 16s 8 to 11, for David says of him, I saw the Lord, etc, etc. For the first time, he understands the prophecy of Psalm 16. He also understands the prophecy of Psalm 110.

Later in that message, down in verse 34, it was not David who was ascended into heaven, but he himself said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. You have to understand the euphoria that grabbed the hearts of these men, when for the first time, they understood the Old Testament all along had not only been pointing to Christ, but it even pointed to Judas, and it even pointed to Pentecost. And it pointed to the coming of the Holy Spirit.

This was exhilarating, to put it mildly. You come over to chapter four in those early days of the apostles preaching, and they’re powerful preachers, they’re filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter again, the spokesman in verse eight, filled with the Holy Spirit, Acts four eight, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, because they had healed the man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you, and all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name, this man stands here before you in good health.

Wow, bold, isn’t it? And then he can’t resist it. Out of his mouth, just from his memory, comes Psalm 118 22. And he hears himself saying, he is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. Wow, Peter, who didn’t seem to be able to understand anything. Peter, who was told by Jesus that he was going to die and said, no, no, no, Lord, you’re not going to die. You’re not going to die. That’s not going to happen. That’s not the plan. And to whom Jesus then said, get behind me.

What, Satan? He was so oblivious to the plan of God that he took Satan’s side and didn’t know it. But post the upper room and the instruction of Jesus, after it was explained to him that all that had happened to Jesus, all about his rejection, all about his suffering, all about his death, all about his resurrection was planned and laid out in detail in the Old Testament, sweeping all the way to his coronation and exaltation. Everything made sense. He gets the full picture. Chapter four. Again, a little later in the chapter. And again, it’s still Peter and John together.

Verse 23 of chapter four. Way they had been released, they went to their own companions, reported all that the chief priests and the elders said to them. You remember they told them they were not allowed to preach. They threatened them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, Oh, Lord, it is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. This is borrowed from a number of Old Testament passages. And verse 25 by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our Father David, your servant said, Why did the Gentiles rage, the people’s rage, the nation’s rage and the people’s devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed, his Messiah, his Christ.

What are they quoting there? Psalm two. Psalm two made sense for the first time. Psalm two predicts that the nation’s rulers kings would take their stand against Christ and against the Lord himself, the Lord God. They weren’t going to be threatened by fearful warnings given by the leaders of Israel. They weren’t going to be cowards anymore. They now knew that they were right in the middle of the unfolding of all the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament down to the details. They had a clear view of the Old Testament and a clear view of messianic prophecy and prophecies related to aspects of the Messiah’s life and suffering and resurrection and coronation for the first time.

There are two really dramatic long sermons in the book of Acts. One is in chapter seven and one is in chapter thirteen. The one in chapter seven is preached by Stephen. He was a leader in the church. The one in chapter thirteen is preached by Paul. Both of them are prolonged narratives of the Old Testament history leading to Christ. I think this is just a remarkable way to understand what was going on in the lives of these men. They had a grasp but they were a part of this redemptive plan of God that was unfolding according to the details that had been laid out in the past and I think that played a very large role in the transformation of these men.

The book of Acts continues the history of God’s redemptive plan and now the men through whom that history will be written by whom it will be written and basically the characters who literally lived that history also for the first time understand it. It might be hard for you to grasp the exhilaration of this because you understand it, I understand it, but they didn’t. Acts then continues the story. Some people call it the Acts of the Apostles, that’s all right. Some people call it the Acts of the Holy Spirit, that’s all right.

But I really think the main character in the book of Acts is the same main character that was in the Old Testament and the same main character that was in the Gospels. The main character is God. These are the acts of God who is working out the plan of redemption. If the Old Testament thrilled you because of what it promised, if the Gospels thrilled you because of the account of the fulfilment of those promises in Christ, let me tell you, the book of Acts ought to thrill you as well because the book of Acts is the story that is still going on of which you are a part.

And how wonderful is it that God has allowed you to be in a place where you have been taught the meaning of the Old Testament, the meaning of redemption unfolding in Christ, and now, if you haven’t learned it before, the history that flows out of the Gospels as recorded in the book of Acts. Acts is narrative history. It’s narrative like the Old Testament is narrative. It’s narrative like the four Gospels are narrative. And the main person acting is God. The Old Testament is about God acting in blessing and judgment. The New Testament is about God acting in the bringing of his Son and acting to bring about redemption through his Son.

And the book of Acts is about God acting through the Apostles and the Church to preach the Gospel to fulfil the plan. God is continuing his redemptive work. I think for the first time the Apostles got above the fray. Instead of the worm’s eye view, the bird’s eye view, they got on top of it all and they began to really grasp it that God is continuing his redemptive work, fulfilling his plan to save his own for his eternal glory. He’s doing it through Christ. He accomplished everything he wanted to accomplish in Christ in the Incarnation.

He ascended to heaven. The Spirit has come, empowered us, and we write the next chapter of history as God’s plan unfolds. How would they be able to do that? Well, Jesus had promised them, hadn’t he? The Holy Spirit will come upon you. He said that to them in chapter 1 verse 8, just before his Ascension, you’ll receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You’ll be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost part of the earth. What happened was basically the apostolic preaching of the Gospel. The next chapter was the preaching of the Gospel.

The preaching of the Gospel established the Church, and the Church then took over. The Apostles died off, the last one, John, at the end of the first century, and the Apostles are gone. They’ve left their doctrine inscripturated in the New Testament, and the Church has become essentially the caretaker of Gospel truth until Jesus comes. That’s why the Apostles went out to preach the Gospel and to establish the Church, because they saw this sweeping plan. Which then raises the question, which comes down to us, by what means does the Lord now build his Church? Because this is our history now.

The Apostles have passed off the scene. They pass off the scene in the Book of Acts. Peter and John disappear in the first half of the Book of Acts. Paul disappears at the end of the Book of Acts. But the Church now is established. The Church then becomes God’s instrument in the world. Don’t we need the Apostles? No, we don’t need the men, because we have their doctrine, right? We have what they have written inspired by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of Acts and the Old Testament.

Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].