THE CORONATION OF CHRIST
Acts 2: 22-36
INTRODUCTION
There is a famous old fairy tale titled, "Beauty and the Beast".
A number of years ago, Walt Disney, as they have done with so many old
stories, made an animated film based on the story. I’m not sure how closely
they stuck to the original plot but the film version begins by explaining
how the Beast, became the Beast. Once upon a time there was a very proud
young prince. One evening, an old and ugly beggar woman came to the door
of his palace. She asked him if she might spend the night and in payment
she offered him a rose. The arrogant young man was repulsed by her unkempt
and haggard appearance and he commanded her to leave at once. He was far
too superior to have anything to do with such a woman as she. She responded
to his rejection by saying, "Do not be fooled by appearances."
In a flash she was transfigured to become a beautiful enchantress. The
prince in horror fell before her in contrition and remorse at having rejected
such a beautiful and powerful person. But it was too late. The enchantress
turned him into the Beast and put a curse on his castle and all his servants.
I’ll let you rent the movie to find out the rest of the story.
I am here this morning to warn you not to be fooled by appearances. The
greatest of all beings, God himself, has come into the world not asking
for your help but commanding all people everywhere to honor and love him
above everything and everyone else. "He was in the world and though
the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came
to his own people, the nation Israel, but even they did not welcome him.
But to those few who welcomed him, who trusted in him, he gave the right
to become God’s children." This is how John, one of Jesus’ first
followers described how people responded to Jesus when he was here in
the flesh. While some recognized him for who he was and responded in faith
and love, the majority of the people who lived with Jesus were fooled
by appearances.
That was 2000 years ago, yet, Jesus Christ is still alive and still present
in this world. The eternal Son of God is present now, by his Spirit, in
his church. Paul, another of Christianity’s earliest spokesman, said in
a letter he wrote, "God placed all things under his feet and appointed
him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the
fullness of him who fills everything in every way." Jesus is revealing
himself through every local church that is living under the authority
of his word. We are his hands and feet and mouth. We don’t look like much.
We don’t look that different from those who live around us. The words
you hear spoken and sung this morning sound like merely human words. But
don’t let appearances fool you. Jesus Christ is present here this morning
and he is speaking to each of us.
I know that is a very bold claim; many would say it is arrogant. Such
a claim requires verification. I want to look at the first time that claim
was made and how it was verified. We are going to examine a portion of
the first Christian sermon in Acts 2. This is the first time that a group
of human beings stood up and said to other human beings that God is only
saving people through Jesus Christ. Peter, a fisherman from a small village
on the Sea of Galilee, speaks as the representative for a group of about
120 other people. He is speaking to several thousand Jewish people who
are gathered on the very large front porch of the temple in Jerusalem.
There are Jewish people from all over the world in the audience; from
Rome in the west to modern day Iran in the east. They are in Jerusalem
to celebrate the Jewish feast of Pentecost. This event took place 50 days
after Jesus was killed in this very town. Many of those in his audience
were among the crowd that screamed for Jesus to be crucified. They were
convinced that the God who made the heavens and the earth was the God
who called himself Yahweh. They were convinced that the only God who exists
is the God who revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. He
chose the descendents of Abraham, the Jewish nation, to be his people,
his treasured possession. They were convinced that to worship any God
but this God was to engage in false worship and to guarantee your own
destruction.
They knew that God was going to send a Savior to rescue them from the
oppression of their enemies and to establish God’s kingdom on earth. They
killed Jesus because he claimed to be that Savior and more than that,
to be God come in the flesh. This is the audience to whom Peter speaks.
These people are not predisposed to agree with him. In fact, it would
be hard to imagine a more resistant crowd to the message Peter brings.
Peter and his 120 friends are telling an entire nation, an entire religion,
that they were wrong about the most important person who ever showed up
on planet earth. Like the prince in "Beauty and the Beast" they,
out of their own arrogance and pride, refused to see who he truly was.
He tells them that God has made this Jesus, whom they killed, both Master
of the Universe and Savior of the world.
MAIN POINT
God has convincingly shown that Jesus is both Lord and Christ by…
I. The miracles he performed in public (v. 22)
Peter begins by appealing to facts that he says these several thousand
Jewish people know. In verse 22 he boldly asserts that this audience knows
that Jesus was real person. He came from the town of Nazareth. He was
a man. He performed many miracles, wonders and signs. He tells them they
know that these miracles were God’s commendation of Jesus. He is stating
what we often are told in the first four books of the NT. Many times,
the Jewish people who witnessed Jesus’ miracles praised God for his work
through Jesus. One of the 70 men, who ruled over Israel, by the name of
Nicodemus, once said to Jesus, "We know that you have come from God
because no one could do the miraculous signs you are doing unless God
sent him."
Imagine that this is a court of law and the audience is the jury and
Peter is the defense attorney. The question before the court is who is
Jesus. In a court of law, much of the work of the attorneys is spent on
convincing the jury of the trustworthiness of the witnesses. With each
witness that is put on the stand, one of the attorney’s will be working
to undermine the credibility of the witness while the other will be seeking
to establish the credibility of the witness. Who is the witness that Peter
is putting forward that the jury should believe? His chief witness is
God himself. God proved that Jesus was his representative and was given
his authority and spoke his words by the miracles, wonders and signs that
he did among the Jewish people. Do not miss this; the facts are not in
dispute. Everyone in this crowd of thousands knows that Jesus performed
many mighty miracles. Peter merely draws the inference, "no one can
do these things unless God has sent him."
This assertion immediately causes a question. If God so convincingly
proved that Jesus was his spokesperson than why did the very people who
witnessed these powerful demonstrations of God’s power in Jesus kill him?
The one thing we cannot say is that these people were more evil than the
rest of us. I’ve been talking with people for over 25 years about Jesus.
I can’t tell you how many times people, after reading one of the biographies
of Jesus’ life, have said something like this to me. "I can’t believe
that these people did this to Jesus. After all the miracles and the way
he lived, how could they not know that he was God’s Son? How could they
have done this? I would never have called for his crucifixion after seeing
the things he did." The underlying assumption in these kinds of statements
is that, "The only thing that keeps me from believing is convincing
evidence. If I saw a true, verifiable miracle, then I would believe. I
am a better person, more spiritually sensitive than the people in this
story." Nothing could be further from the truth. The reason we do
not trust Christ is not because there is insufficient evidence but rather
because we don’t want to trust Christ. Our problem is not an intellectual
problem but a moral problem. We don’t like him and what he stands for.
We want a god who acts like we want him to act, who says things we want
him to say. We don’t want a god who commands us to "deny ourselves",
to love him more than we love our families. So Peter, like a good attorney,
makes God his chief witness. But also, like a good attorney, he raises
a question that demands an answer. If the evidence of Jesus’ identity
was so overwhelming, then why did the very people who witnessed this evidence
kill him?
God has convincingly shown that Jesus is both Lord and Christ by…
- The miracles he performed in public
- And by…
II. Planning and assuring his death (v. 23)
The answer that Peter gives in v. 23 plumbs the depths of one of the
great mysteries of the universe. Notice what he says. This Jesus, who
was clearly God’s man, God’s representative, approved of by God, blessed
by God, was handed over by God to be killed. When you seek to find out
the ultimate cause of Jesus’ death you discover, that the God who sent
him, killed him. Peter says that the death of Jesus was no accident. Neither
the hypocritical Jewish leaders, nor the barbaric and cowardly Roman governor,
Pilate, nor the traitor Judas determined Jesus’ fate. Jesus died because
the triune God had determined before the world began that the Son would
become a man and live a perfect life and be handed over into the hands
of wicked men so that they might kill him. This is everywhere stated in
the NT. In Acts 4: 27-28 the disciples, while praying, say this, "Indeed
Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom
you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand
should happen."
But notice, at the very same time, those who killed Jesus are called
wicked men. In other words, those who killed Jesus did what they ought
not to have done. They sinned and acted wickedly. Every human being that
came into contact with Jesus ought to have loved and trusted and obeyed
him. It was and is an act of great treachery and arrogant self-righteousness
to not trust Christ who was and is so evidently God’s Son. Every human
being that was involved in the betrayal, arrest, denial, desertion, trial,
beating, mocking and killing of Jesus was guilty of the greatest of all
sins. They did this to the only human being who had never done anything
but love God and people. Every single one of these people did exactly
what they wanted to do. God didn’t make anyone do evil. Yet, every act
of evil accomplished his will. Here is the profoundest of mysteries; God
rules over his entire universe, even over the evil acts of evil men. And,
men are responsible for the evil they do. God can never be accused of
doing evil because men do what they want to do and yet even their evil
deeds serve God’s good purposes.
The question that Peter does not answer at this point in his sermon is
why did God kill his Son? He answers that question in vv. 38-39. He says
that the reason God handed his son over to be killed is so that everyone
who repents of their sins and trusts in him is forgiven of their sins
and made God’s children by the Holy Spirit. This death and resurrection
of Christ secures a pardon for sin and the promise of eternal life for
all who believe. It is the cross of Christ that distinguishes true Christianity
from every other religion in the world. The cross declares the absolute
wickedness of every human being and the inability of humans to do anything
to secure God’s favor. The cross declares that God alone saves sinners.
No one will be in heaven because of the good deeds they did. The only
people in heaven will be those whose sins were put on Christ and punished
by God when he killed his Son. All those whose sins were placed on Christ
repent of their sins, trust in Christ and live new lives by the power
of the Holy Spirit.
God has convincingly shown that Jesus is both Lord and Christ by…
- The miracles he performed in public
- Planning and assuring his death
- And by…
III. Raising him from the dead as he promised (vv. 24-32a)
The assertion of the Christian church that the death of Jesus at the
hands of wicked men was God’s greatest and strongest act is a bizarre
claim. What good is a dead Savior? How can a man dying on a cross, at
a point in time, be the instrument of salvation for millions of people?
The reason that we know this death accomplished what no human effort could
ever accomplish is because of the resurrection. That’s where Peter turns
now in his argument with the jury, these thousands of orthodox Jewish
believers. But it is important to note how he talks about this resurrection.
He is not simply asserting it as historical evidence but he takes these
people who believe that the OT is God’s word, into a passage from the
OT. Look what he does.
In v. 23 he says God handed him over to wicked men to be killed, and
then in v. 24 he says "God raised him up, freeing him from the agony
of death." The entire saving work of Christ is the work of God. God
is the one who killed Jesus and he is the one who raised Jesus from the
dead. But now notice he tells us why God raised Christ up, "for it
was impossible for death to keep its hold on him." Why was it impossible
for death to keep its hold on him? The next verse actually begins with
a "for" which the NIV leaves out. The reason that death could
not keep its hold on Christ is because God promised Jesus that he would
raise him from the dead. When God makes a promise, he never breaks it.
"He is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should
change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and then
not fulfill?" (Num. 23:19) The evidence that Peter quotes from the
OT is from one of King David’s psalms.
Read with me vv. 25-32a. Do you see his logic? David talks about the
joy of having God near him, watching over him. He expresses his hope of
being with God forever. But in v. 27 he says something about himself that
cannot be literally true of his experience. He says that He will not be
left in the grave; that his body will not rot. Yet, as Peter says, David’s
tomb is one of the landmarks of Jerusalem. Any of the people listening
to him could have made a five-minute walk and come to David’s tomb. If
you were to open it you would discover a pile of bones and dust where
David’s body was laid to rest. Therefore, David was not talking about
himself but about his greater son.
In v. 30 Peter explains why David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah.
He refers to another promise that God made to David. This is a little
complicated because so many of you do not know the OT very well, whereas
everyone in Peter’s audience knew it backwards and forwards. In 2 Samuel
7 God made a promise to David. He said that one of David’s sons would
reign on the throne of Israel over all the other nations, forever.
What we see in Psalm 16 is the fruit of David’s meditation on this promise.
"How is one of my sons, who is human and therefore must die, going
to reign forever?" David’s conclusion was that one of his sons would
be resurrected after he died.
He as a prophet of God was looking forward to the resurrection of Jesus.
The reason death could not hold Jesus is because God promised him that
he would not leave him in the grave but would raise him from the dead.
God had to do this because it was the only way that one of David’s human
sons could ever reign on his throne forever. Again, Peter is calling God
forth as his chief witness to the fact that it is only through Jesus as
he reveals himself through his word and his church that people can gain
eternal life. God promised that he would raise the Messiah from the dead
and this Jesus that they killed has been raised from the dead. In fact,
says Peter, we are witnesses of this great work of God. We have seen him,
who you killed, alive. He is one of David’s sons and he is resurrected,
therefore he must be Lord and Christ.
God has convincingly shown that Jesus is both Lord and Christ by…
- The miracles he performed in public
- Planning and assuring his death
- Raising him from the dead as he promised
- And by…
IV. Making him head of his church and judge of the world (vv 32b-37)
What Peter says in vv. 33-35 is astounding. Jesus, right now, because
he suffered death in obedience to his Father, is at the right hand of
God. He is God’s right hand man. He now dwells in the presence of his
Father and possesses all the power and authority of his Father. The first
way in which he uses the authority of his Father is in sending out the
promised Holy Spirit upon all those for whom he died, those who believe
in him. Why does he call the Holy Spirit, "the promised Holy Spirit"?
He is referring to the dozens of times in the OT that God promised that
a day was coming when he would put his Spirit in all of his people and
cause all of his people to love him and his ways. He quoted one of those
promises from the prophet Joel at the beginning of his sermon.
Peter says that the evidence that Jesus has poured out this promised
Holy Spirit is what they see and hear. What were they seeing and hearing?
They saw a small band of 120 people, all of them Jewish, all from the
backwards region of Galilee. They saw them courageously identifying themselves
with a man who was just murdered in this same town by these people 50
days earlier. They heard these 120 people declaring the great deeds of
God in the native languages of the various people who had come to Jerusalem
from throughout the known world. They saw and heard Peter fearlessly proclaiming
this good news about Christ. In short Peter is saying that the existence
of the church as a community of believers in Christ who praise him, obey
and preach his word, love one another and their enemies and experience
the power of God’s Spirit in transformed lives prove that Jesus is the
Lord and Savior of the world. He is saying that the only explanation for
why these orthodox, conservative Jewish men and women are proclaiming
that Jesus is the Lord and Savior of the world is that the Holy Spirit
has been poured out upon them. The only reason they did not participate
in the killing of Jesus is because God had mercy on them and poured out
his Spirit, causing them to repent of their sins and trust in Christ.
Then Peter concludes by quoting another of David’s psalms, Psalm 110.
David did not rise from the dead and therefore, he did not ascend to God’s
right hand and yet he wrote, "The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my
right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’"
God the Father said to God the Son upon the completion of his mission
of suffering and dying on the cross that he was to take the position of
authority at the right hand of his throne while the Father went about
the work of making his enemies his footstool. What does it mean for Christ’s
enemies to be made his footstool? First, the term, "footstool"
is used about 10 times in the OT to refer to the temple, the place where
God dwells and is worshipped. So one of the things God is doing is turning
some of Christ’s enemies into worshippers of Christ. In v. 41 we see that
3000 of Christ’s enemies became his worshippers on the day Peter spoke.
Second, God’s making Christ’s enemies his footstool refers to the great
day of judgment when every human being will stand before Christ as their
judge and he will cast all those who refused to trust in him into an eternal
hell but will take all those who trusted in him to be with him forever
in heaven. There is a day coming when every human being will see Jesus
as he actually is and it will be too late to change your opinion.
God has convincingly shown that Jesus is both Lord and Christ by…
- The miracles he performed in public
- Planning and assuring his death
- Raising him from the dead as he promised
- Making him head of his church and judge of the world
You’ll notice that when Peter finished his sermon, these people who had
participated in the killing of Jesus were cut to the heart as they realized
that they had killed the one God sent to save them. They were overcome
with fear and grief. Because of this sermon, they suddenly realized that
they had killed the king of glory. They had presumed that they were serving
God in their rejection of Jesus but discovered that they actually were
rejecting God when they rejected Jesus. They knew that it would only be
right for God to punish them and destroy them forever in hell. So they
begged Peter to tell them what they should do. Peter replied that they
should repent of their sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the
forgiveness of their sins. 3000 people professed faith in Christ that
day and were baptized with water.
In a moment, three people are going to be baptized. It’s important that
you understand the relationship between repentance, faith, baptism and
forgiveness. The relationship is explained by the little word "for"
in v. 38. Repentance and baptism are not the cause of forgiveness; they
are what forgiven people do. When you go into the post office and you
see the FBI most wanted posters they all have a statement on them like
this. "Joe Smith wanted for murder." In that sentence
we understand that the FBI isn’t looking for Joe Smith because they want
him to commit murder but because he has already committed murder. In the
same way, when Peter says that these people should repent and be baptized
for the forgiveness of sins, he isn’t saying forgiveness is the result
of repentance and baptism, rather he is saying that those who are forgiven
by the dying and rising of Christ show they are forgiven by repenting
and being baptized. So how do you know if your sins are forgiven? Have
you repented of your sins? Have you trusted in Christ as Lord and Savior?
Are you living a life of obedience to Christ? These are the things that
forgiven people do. If you have not repented and believed and are not
obeying Christ, then you are not forgiven.
© Copyright
2001 John Swanson.
You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material
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If you would like to post this material to the web, or if your intended
use is other than outlined above, please contact River Hills Community
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