“The God of this nation of Israel chose our ancestors and made them multiply and grow strong during their stay in Egypt. Then with a powerful arm He led them out of their slavery. He put up with them through forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Then He destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years.
After that, God gave them judges to rule until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after My own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’
And it is one of King David’s descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel! Before He came, John the Baptist preached that all the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn to God and be baptized. As John was finishing his ministry he asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No, I am not! But He is coming soon—and I’m not even worthy to be His slave and untie the sandals on His feet.’ Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also you God-fearing Gentiles—this message of salvation has been sent to us! The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the One the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned Him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath. They found no legal reason to execute Him, but they asked Pilate to have Him killed anyway. When they had done all that the prophecies said about Him, they took Him down from the cross and placed Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead! And over a period of many days He appeared to those who had gone with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now His witnesses to the people of Israel.
And now we are here to bring you this Good News. The promise was made to our ancestors, and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus: ‘You are My Son. Today I have become Your Father. ‘ For God had promised to raise Him from the dead, not leaving Him to rot in the grave. He said, ‘I will give You the sacred blessings I promised to David.’
Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to rot in the grave.’ This is not a reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed. No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay. Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this Man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in Him is declared right with God—something the law of Moses could never do. Be careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said, ‘Look, you mockers, be amazed and die! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.’ ”
Acts 13:17-41
Just stand back and look at the big picture of what Paul is presenting to the people in the synagogue for a moment. It is significant that he chooses those things which he selects from Jewish history. Here is a man who has trained as a pharisee and by his own confession in Philippians 3 is a Hebrew of the Hebrews. This is Paul’s pocket version of the history of the Jews. Paul glosses over much of the detail of Jewish history and selects only what he wants to tell them but he takes the history on further than what any Jew normally would. I am sure you see how Paul combines Old Testament and New Testament history together. He sums up the 450 years of living in Egypt and then the escape from Egypt in three and half verses:
The God of this nation of Israel chose our ancestors and made them multiply and grow strong during their stay in Egypt. Then with a powerful arm He led them out of their slavery. He put up with them through forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Then He destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years. (17-20)
He then covers the whole of the period of the Judges and the Kings with another three verses:
After that, God gave them judges to rule until the time of Samuel the prophet. Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after My own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’ (20-22)
Following that Paul uses eight verses to sum up New Testament history:
Before He came, John the Baptist preached that all the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn to God and be baptized. As John was finishing his ministry he asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No, I am not! But He is coming soon—and I’m not even worthy to be His slave and untie the sandals on His feet.’ Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also you God-fearing Gentiles—this message of salvation has been sent to us! The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the One the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned Him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath. They found no legal reason to execute Him, but they asked Pilate to have Him killed anyway. When they had done all that the prophecies said about Him, they took Him down from the cross and placed Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead! And over a period of many days He appeared to those who had gone with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now His witnesses to the people of Israel. (24-31)
After he has summed up Jewish history from the beginning until now he turns his attention to his task:
And now we are here to bring you this Good News. The promise was made to our ancestors, and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus: ‘You are My Son. Today I have become Your Father.’ For God had promised to raise Him from the dead, not leaving Him to rot in the grave. He said, ‘I will give You the sacred blessings I promised to David.’ Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to rot in the grave.’ This is not a reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed. No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay. Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this Man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in Him is declared right with God—something the law of Moses could never do. Be careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said, ‘Look, you mockers, be amazed and die! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.’ ” (32-41)
In the coming Gems I will pick out for you some of the interpretive things Paul says. The above pocket account of Jewish history is Paul’s interpretation. Notice in the last segment from verses 32-41 Paul becomes more interactive with his audience. I have emboldened the interactive portions for you.
Paul is being highly selective of Jewish history. He has summed it up in six verses and then taken eight verses to encapsulate the New Testament. Paul has something specific to tell them. Once he has given them his potted history he becomes interactive with his audience and starts to ram home the message. It is recorded here for us once but I wonder if it is something Paul did in every synagogue he spoke in, and there were a lot of them. Paul gives them a panorama of their history and brings it up to date to the present time for them.
Notice his comment in verse 18. This is the first of those interpretive verses I told you about.
He put up with them through forty years of wandering in the wilderness.
One would think Paul would say he watched out for them, he guided them safely and cared for them. Isn’t that what God promised to do. To take this people and make them His own and never leave them. Moses said,”Unless you go with with us I am not going to leave this place.” God said, “OK I will go with you. I will lead you by pillar of fire and by cloud.”
We will explore that verse and others in the next Gems.
Use the time now to take in the bigger picture of what Paul was doing for the Jewish brothers and the Gentiles God-fearers in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia.
Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.
The 1st Adam gave us strife. The 2nd Adam gave us life.
Lavonia Grabau
Being hurt is inevitable, being miserable is an option.
Ian Vail
Some people say we live in a world of irreconcilable differences. Others say that true peace, lasting peace, can’t be obtained because we haven’t found a way yet to change the human heart.
Steve Saint (son of murdered missionary Nate Saint)
No one took my fathers life. He gave it. Through the years people could always identify with our loss. But they could never imagine the way we would experience gain.
Steve Saint
He, your saviour, willingly gave His life for you and for others; go and do likewise.
Ian Vail