“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are not God who is held by death but You are alive. It is Your resurrection that gives us a completely new and fresh basis for our lives, for we worship the living God. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”
Acts 2:24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
We have been considering how the evil plan of man, to put Jesus to death on the cross, was executed. Simultaneously, we have seen that Jesus going to the cross was foreordained before the foundation of the world because it was God’s plan to show mercy on all.
We now move ahead. We now come to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Man thought he had put an end to the Prince of life, but God raised Jesus from the dead. Therefore, even the wicked plan of man, to murder Christ, became the place for victory, for Jesus could not be held by death. God demonstrated His power over death.
God wants us to know Him as the risen Lord. For Jesus to rise again, He needed to die and be buried. All of this was done by man according to his evil agenda for which he is accountable, but God took the very same evil act of man and converted the same into that which is of eternal worth.
Acts 3:15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
The Prince of life was put to death. This statement, by itself, sounds frightening. Though this is what man did, God raised Jesus from the dead. This is the witness that we share with the world.
Acts 2:32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
Our witnessing is of different nature altogether. We were the ones who put Jesus to death on the cross. We are the ones, now, who are witnesses to His resurrection. This gives so much meaning to our witness.
Whatever may be our circumstances, we need not be overwhelmed and feel defeated, because Jesus is alive.
Acts 10:40-43 Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, (41) not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. (42) And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. (43) To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
The fact of resurrection of Jesus is the seal that is set on Jesus. Jesus has gone through death but is now alive. Since He has conquered death, Jesus is the one to be the judge of the living and the dead. The living, are those who are alive in Christ and the dead are those, who are still in their sins. Both the living as well as the dead will be judged by Christ
Peter, is affirming here that being witnesses to Christ was not given to everybody. It was given to those who are specially chosen by God, for they are continuously experiencing the resurrection of Jesus.
Paul was preaching to the Gentiles in Athens. We see how beautifully Paul’s message to such an audience is clinched with the fact of the resurrection of Jesus. Paul is not sparing this Gentile crowd that they must reckon with Jesus because Jesus has risen from the dead.
Acts 17:24-31 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. (25) Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. (26) And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, (27) so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; (28) for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ (29) Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. (30) Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, (31) because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead, gives Jesus the unique place and authority to be the judge of the world.