Acts 2:29-36 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Acts 2:29-36. As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
Acts 2:29-33 (NIV)
29 “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.
30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.
31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.
32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.
33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
On verses 29-33: Peter connects the Scripture passages he quoted before (Joel 2 and Psalm 16) with what his audience is seeing in front of them to deliver one coherent message: that Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose again is now the one at the Father’s right hand pouring out the Holy Spirit on His church.
Acts 2:34-36 (NIV)
34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘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 Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
On verses 34-36: Before inviting his mainly Jewish audience to respond to his powerful sermon, Peter quotes one final verse from the Old Testament: Psalm 110:1. Every Jewish person would have grown up hearing this Psalm and knowing that this Psalm was about the Messiah, the promised Saviour King that God would send to deliver the nation of Israel. In that famous Psalm, David prophetically describes a vision he sees of God (“the Lord”) saying to the Messiah (“my Lord”), who is supposed to be a descendant of David, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”.
Previously Jesus Himself quoted this verse (in Matthew 22:43-45 and Mark 12:35-37) to hint to everyone listening that the Messiah was, mysteriously, both a descendant of David as well as the God who rules over David. Here in Acts 2 Peter quotes this same Psalm to show even more forcefully that Jesus is the Messiah and Lord whom his Jewish audience had been waiting for and whom the Scriptures have been prophesying about.
What can we learn from all this?
1. Being Jewish himself, Peter was familiar with the cultural background of his Jewish audience. He knew what questions his audience was asking, what stories and Scriptures they grew up hearing, what news they had been talking about and the feelings they were experiencing. Through this sermon Peter effectively showed how the famous Scriptures his audience had grown up hearing all pointed to Jesus. When you consider Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, as well as the fact that thousands of Jews from other nations were attracted to the disciples because they could hear them praising God in their own native languages, one of the leadership lessons we learn is: if you want to connect with your audience, you need to speak their language, using words and pictures that they can understand, before leading them to where you want them to end up.
If Peter was wise, he probably would not preach the same exact sermon to a non-Jewish audience. He would have used different illustrations and spoken a different cultural language, one that would connect more easily with a non-Jewish audience but that would ultimately lead them to the same place: faith in Jesus Christ.
2. Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Jesus is the Messiah whom the Old Testament prophets and psalms point to.
Lord Jesus, You are the One that the Old Testament prophets and psalms point to. Yours is the message I want my family, my friends, my city and my world to know: that You lived, died for us, rose again, ascended and pour on us Your Holy Spirit. Please help me, like Peter, to communicate this message in ways that the people around me can understand and connect with. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
