December 6, 2024
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
In Acts 2, Peter is preaching the gospel under the direction of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. As he is preaching the truth of Jesus Christ, Peter uses Old Testament prophecy to proclaim the hope we have in Jesus. Jesus Christ is the eternal and perfect king from the line of David, who will sit on the throne of God’s people forever. This Jesus is the one, spoken of by David, who would die but not see corruption, foretelling Jesus’ resurrection.
This resurrection of Jesus makes the hope of God clear, it means that Christ has defeated sin and death, removing the power of sin in our lives. Without Christ, we are without hope. We were destined to die in our sinful rebellion against God unless God acted to change our fate. God DID act by sending Christ to live sinlessly and sacrificially pay the penalty for our sins through His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection. The glorious submission of Christ to the will of the Father was accepted and Christ was resurrected to tell us all that the resurrected Christ is where we should find our hope. Our hope began with Christ in His First Coming and is completed in His Second Coming.
Lord, I love you, convict me of my sin and drive my heart to repentance. Help me to understand clearly what you have done for me in the work of Christ. Give me a desire to proclaim that truth with my life.