We
are now at the fifth station of Acts 3:25-26.
The verse is set in the context of Peter’s second
sermon to the Jews and the arrest of Peter and John for preaching the message
concerning Christ. Peter’s first sermon
was recorded in Acts 2:14-42 after the 120
disciples were indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
From the context passage, we see that the prophets of
the Old Testament preached the coming of the Promised Messiah. We see that the religious leaders were
“extremely disturbed and thoroughly annoyed” at Peter and John for teaching and
preaching the resurrected Jesus. We will later see from Galatians 3:8 that the Gentiles
were included as heirs of the Abrahamic Covenant.
The gist of Acts 3:25-26 is:
“God sent Jesus the Christ to the Jews first when fulfilling
the Abrahamic Covenant”.
Acts 3:26
made mention of God showing His glory by raising Jesus from the dead. This verse makes a reference to Acts 3:22 where Moses was quoted as
saying that ‘The LORD God will raise up for
you a Prophet like me from your countrymen” (Deuteronomy 18:15; 18). Moses spoke of the crucifixion of Christ Jesus
back then. In Hebrews 11:26 of the New English Translation Bible, it is
recorded that Moses “regarded abuse suffered for Christ to be greater wealth
than the treasure of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on the reward”. It can then be inferred from that Moses
actually foresaw the victory of Christ through the Cross and he was looking
forward to the reward of righteousness to be had in Christ crucified. This becomes obvious when we look at the
following two passage of scriptures.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14
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Romans 10:9-10
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11 “For
this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12 It
is not [a secret hidden] in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to
heaven for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?’ 13 Nor
is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and
bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?’ 14 But the
word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey
it.
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9 because
if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
[recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For
with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his
justification [that is, being made righteous—being freed of the guilt of sin
and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses
[his faith openly], resulting in and confirming
[his] salvation.
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Moses put into practice Hebrews 12:2. No wonder Jesus said in John 5:46 that Moses wrote about
Him. In that verse, references were made
of Jesus to the Promised Seed in Genesis 3:15, the Seed of Abraham
in Genesis 22:18, and the Prophet Whom
God will raise up in Deuteronomy 18:15. I am beginning
to catch a glimpse of the Luke 24:27 experience.
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