"We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. Acts13:32-33
Paul is in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. He has been invited to speak and he starts his sermon by going from Joburg to CapeTown via Cairo! (I've pasted the whole sermon below for you to read...)
He goes all the way back to Egypt and Moses and alludes to how God delivered them from slavery. He continues by talking about the entry into the promised land, the time of the Judges (Samson, Gideon, etc) and the appointment of David as the Israel's greatest King.
Then he moves on to talk about the coming of Christ, but even there he takes a quick diversion to John the Baptist, alluding to him as the "second Elijah."
All these digressions are a strategic move by Paul. He is reminding his listeners of the deep-seated and historically-anticipated hope of a Messiah who would rescue them from slavery, be their Judge (the Hebrew word also implies "Liberator") and their great King.
This longing was deeply embedded in the soul and psyche of the nation. As Paul travelled to cities all over the known world, he would always start at the synagogues and his message (when you boiled it down to basics) was: "The promise has been fulfilled!"
But there had been many false Messiahs. Many had hoped that the Maccabbee brothers who rebelled against the Greek dynasty in 164BC would be the Messiah to liberate the people of Israel, but it was not to last.
Why should people believe Paul's claim that a Country Carpenter was the Messiah?? Because God raised Him from the dead.
The Resurrection reassures us:
- The promises _are_ true!
- We _can_ dream again!
- This _will_ endure!
No matter what setbacks we experience, Jesus faced the worst setback of all and He is ALIVE!
H A L L E L U J A H !
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AC 13:16 Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: "Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt, with mighty power he led them out of that country, 18 he endured their conduct for about forty years in the desert, 19 he overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to his people as their inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years.
"After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: `I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.'
23 "From this man's descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was completing his work, he said: `Who do you think I am? I am not that one. No, but he is coming after me, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.'
26 "Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. 27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28 Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.
32 "We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
