“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are revealing to us that You are our King and we live in the experience of Your reign. Your kingdom is forever. You are assuring this reality to us through Your resurrection from the dead. You are revealing all of this to us so that we will be knowledgeable and conscious of our lives lived in Your kingdom. We will always be full of thanksgiving and praise to You for we know to whom we belong. 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 continue to look at Peter’s explanation to the Jews, of how Jesus is the King in the lineage of David, for whom they had been waiting. They had taken the Prince of life and had killed Him but God had raised Him from the dead.
This message is not only for the Jews but also for us Gentiles, for we need to know that Jesus is the King. We come into a kingdom relationship with Jesus.
We live in a world where there is overflowing wickedness and evil. There is a lack of proper governance at all levels and in all places. Whereas, the reign of Jesus is righteousness, justice, and total wellbeing. We belong to the kingdom of Jesus. We are in the habitat of God.
Peter is establishing to the Jews that the prophecy of David in Psalms 16:8-11, which he quotes in Acts 2:25-28 is about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This confirms that Jesus is the one who is the fulfilment of God’s covenant with David that his reign will be forever.
This assurance is not only for the Jews but also for us Gentiles, that when we come to Jesus, we come to the King, whose reign is forever. We come to Jesus, thereby coming into the habitat of God, where we experience His Shalom.
Acts 2:29-31 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. (30) Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, (31) he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
The first crucial realisation is that God had covenanted with David that out of the fruit of his body, God would raise the Christ, who will reign in David’s lineage. This kingdom would be forever.
To the Jews, their relationship with God was that of being subjects to the King, who would reign forever. They were longing and waiting for the Messiah to come, in the lineage of David, and set up His reign on earth. This experience of the kingdom of God took into consideration every aspect of life. Nothing was left unattended in God’s kingdom. The kingdom life of God is a rich and complete experience.
This affirmation that Jesus is the King in the lineage of David was established by God by raising Jesus from the dead.
Peter is making this Jewish crowd know that the Messiah for whom they were all waiting, expecting Him to come and set up the everlasting reign of David, had come. It was this Jesus, whom the Jews had taken by lawless hands and had Him crucified when Pilate was trying his best to set Jesus free. This Jesus, God had raised from the dead and the disciples were His witnesses.
If we were Jew, listening to this explanation given by Peter, we can imagine the horror that this understanding would have caused in the Jewish mind. We can see how the Holy Spirit was using Peter and the rest of the Apostles as witnesses to Christ. This is how we too, as His church, must allow ourselves to be under the full possession of the Holy Spirit, for Him to use us as witnesses to Christ.
Let us look further at the covenant of God with David that his throne would be an everlasting reign.
Psalms 89:20-21 I have found My servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him, (21) With whom My hand shall be established; Also My arm shall strengthen him.
The 89th Psalm gives us a wonderful understanding of the covenant of God with David, regarding his reign.
Psalms 89:24 “But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, And *in My name his horn shall be exalted. Horn represents leadership that is strong and effective.
Verse 28 My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him.
Psalms 89:35-37 Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: (36) His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; (37) It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah
The quality of the reign of David will be a reign of the kingdom of God, which is righteousness and justice to the people.
Psalms 72:2 He will judge Your people with righteousness, And Your poor with justice.
Psalms 72:1-19 is a beautiful description of the reign of the Davidic kingdom through Christ.
This is the reign of Jesus, in the lineage of David, where Jews and Gentiles alike, find our habitat.