Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come–that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
Acts 26:22-23
Why do you believe the Bible over all the other religious books of the world? What makes Christianity so unique to you? Is it simply because that’s how you were raised? I hope not! I pray you could defend your faith to the Buddhist, the Muslim, or the person who is not religious at all. I trust you could explain that you believe in something that is more than a series of “cunningly devised fables.” That’s the phrase that Peter used to contrast Christianity with the religions of the world: “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” (2Pe 1:16) Peter mentions in this verse something that humanity understands is necessary to validate that an event is historically accurate–firsthand eyewitnesses. We have multiple accounts from men who saw the miracles that Jesus did and witnessed him alive after his death! In fact, the eleven apostles, who were scared and fled when the soldiers took Jesus to crucify Him, believed so fervently that they saw Him alive after his death that they laid down their own lives testifying of this very truth! They were eyewitnesses to these things.
Peter lists another confirmation concerning Christ a few verses later in 2Pe 1:19-21 “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” This “prophecy” spoke of the ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ hundreds and thousands of years before He arrived on the scene! It is this convincing argument that Paul uses in our text today. All the prophets along with Moses said that Messiah would come and that His coming would be known by certain events, namely:
1) “Christ would suffer”
The first message of Christ’s suffering was actually preached at the very outset of Scripture by none other than God Himself! When man fell into sin in Gen 3, God immediately reveals a Savior, the “Seed” of the woman, who would one day crush the head of the serpent. This man would, however, first suffer because the serpent would “bruise His heel.” (v. 15) In that suffering, the Savior would exclaim, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,” but even those words were written long before our Lord uttered them in agony on the cross. David penned them hundreds of years earlier in Psa 22. This psalm reveals the tremendous suffering of One who says, “They pierced My hands and My feet.” (v. 16) Of course, David never experienced this level of suffering, but as a prophet, he wrote of the Messiah’s death, the One Who the prophet Isaiah would declare as a “Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Isa 53:3)
2) “He would be the first to rise from the dead”
As you follow Isaiah’s account of this Man of sorrows, you see that He ultimately dies. In v. 9 we read, “they made His grave with the wicked,” and v. 10 speaks of Him being “an offering for sin.” However, the story doesn’t stop there as v. 12 reveals His glory AFTER death! “Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” David speaks also of the resurrection of this One who dies but whose body never decays: “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol [a reference to the grave], nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” (Psa 16:10)
3) “would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles”
One of the most disturbing things to the Jews about Christ’s ministry (as well as the Apostle Paul’s) is that the Gentiles were included in God’s plan of redemption. As a Gentile, I’m very thankful of that crucial point! 🙂 The reality is that the Jews should have known this glorious truth because the prophets declared it. Isaiah wrote, “By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.” (Isa 9:1-2) Jesus reminded His Jewish listeners when He first began to preach, “…many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah…but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” (Luk 4:25-27) God’s plan from the beginning was to extend mercy to men of every kindred, nation, and tongue!
Let us thank God for such a sure word of prophecy! He has validated His word over and over again to those to whom He has sent it. Man is truly left without excuse! May we “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”. (1Pe 3:15) This gospel and the Lord it declares is not one choice among many. It is the only infallible word of God, and this Jesus Christ which it reveals is the only Way to the Father!
Jamie