Acts (Part 11) – Acts 2:23-26

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Acts (Part 11) – Acts 2:23-26

Acts 2:23 – Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

1. Jesus was delivered to be crucified by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.
   1. Determinate – 1. a. Definitely bound or limited, in time, space, extent, position, character, or nature; definite, fixed; clearly defined or individualized; distinct, as opposed to vague, undefined, or indefinite.
   2. Foreknowledge – Knowledge of an event, etc. before it exists or happens; prescience.
   3. These definitions show that God set bounds and limits beforehand on how Jesus would be delivered up to be killed.
   4. Jesus’ death was therefore predetermined, not predestinated (Act 4:28).
2. Leading up to the crucifixion, the Jews tried to kill Jesus several times and by several different ways.
   1. In the beginning of His ministry, they tried to cast Him headlong over the brow of a hill, but He escaped (Luk 4:29-30).
   2. Later, they sought to lay hands on Him, but His hour was not yet come (Joh 7:30).
   3. Then they tried to stone Him, but He went through the midst of them (Joh 8:59).
   4. Then they sought to take him again, but He escaped out of their hand (Joh 10:39).
   5. God thwarted all their plans because Jesus would be killed in the way it was determined by God (Luk 22:22).
3. The wrath of men will praise God, but He will restrain the remainder of their wrath (Psa 76:10).
4. God overruled the devices and conceits of these wicked men (Pro 19:21).
   1. These men’s goings were of the Lord (Pro 20:24).
   2. But they didn’t understand their own way (1Co 2:8).

Acts 2:24 – Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

1. Whom God hath raised up,
   1. Jesus was raised from the dead by the Trinity:
   2. The Father (Gal 1:1)
   3. Jesus Christ (Joh 10:17)
   4. The Holy Spirit (Rom 8:11)
2. having loosed the pains of death:
   1. Death stings (1Co 15:55).
   2. Death is painful (Psa 116:3).
   3. When Christ was resurrected, death and its pain had no more power over Him.
3. because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
   1. It was impossible for Jesus Christ to remain dead.
   2. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).
   3. Jesus bore our sins (1Pe 2:24), was made sin for us (2Co 5:21), and died for our sins (1Co 15:3).
   4. When Jesus died for our sins, He took them away (Joh 1:29; 1Jo 3:5).
   5. There was no more sin laid to His charge.
   6. Therefore, death, which is the penalty of sin, had no more strength or authority to hold him in the grave.

Acts 2:25 – For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

1. In verses 25-28, Peter quotes David from Psa 16:8-11.
2. Peter reasons that since David had been dead and buried for hundreds of years, that, being a prophet, David was referring to Christ, not himself (Act 2:29-31).
3. Jesus set the LORD (the Father) always before Him (Psa 16:8), and He saw into the future that the Father would always be before His face (Act 2:25).
4. The Father was on/at Christ’s right hand, always present and close to Him.
5. For this reason, Jesus was confident that He would not be moved.
6. When God is with us, we will not be moved (Psa 21:7; Psa 46:5; Psa 62:6).

Acts 2:26 – Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

1. Because Jesus believed that God was always with Him, He rejoiced and was able to rest in hope.
2. We can do likewise (Psa 4:8).
3. The Bible has its own built-in dictionary.
   1. What David called his glory in Psa 16:9, Peter rendered tongue in Act 2:26.
      1. Man’s tongue is therefore his glory.
      2. The tongue gives us the ability to talk, sing, and communicate.
      3. The tongue also greatly helps us to taste food and enjoy that blessing which God has given us.
   2. David wrote that his heart was glad and his glory rejoiced, and Peter quoted him as saying that his heart rejoiced and his tongue was glad.
   3. This shows us that to be glad and to rejoice are synonyms.