King Pierced

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003399" TEXT="#080000" background="040c8c00erkjxk.jpg"> <div> <B><U>Timothy King</U></B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#CC0033" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>is an elder and teacher for Restoration Ministries.  He lives in Grand Junction with his wife, Debbie, and their three daughters, Hannah, Sarah and Bekah.</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="7" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Brush Script MT" ><B>Restoration Ministries</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFF99" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>  |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Restoration Ministries"><U>home</U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="1351c480.jpg" border=0 width="540" height="72" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Thoughts on Peter's Pentecost Sermon</B></div> <div> <B>by Timothy King</B></div> <div> _________________________________________________________</div> <bR> <div> Has there ever a time in your life when a message made such an impact on you that you were, as were Peter’s listeners, <B>pierced to the heart</B>?  I don’t mean just that it made you thoughtful.  Nor do I mean that something made you teary and emotional.  I mean, did it drive a spiritual dagger into your soul that drove you to reevaluate your whole existence and change your life as you know it?</div> <bR> <div> For Peter’s listeners at Pentecost, His message turned their whole world completely upside down.  Think about it.  These people were baptized into the name of one who many considered a condemned criminal.  Something Peter said caused them to embrace this Jesus of Nazareth as Yahweh’s Messiah and that changed life as they knew it.</div> <bR> <div> We find indications that they did not go back to their homes right away.  Remember that these were representatives of <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" >“every nation under heaven”</FONT> (Acts 2:5).  Normally, the evangelists would say to the crowd, “Go back to your city and join a gospel-preaching church.”  But remember, this was the birth of the church.  There were no gospel-preaching churches anywhere but right there in Jerusalem — and that one was only moments old!</div> <bR> <div> The selling of property and possessions was no doubt done to provide living quarters and sustenance for these new converts who had to be trained in the “apostle’s teaching.”  We have no indication that any left Jerusalem until the persecution years later (Acts 8:1).</div> <bR> <div> So what was it about this message that caused such a radical change in the hearts and lives of the listeners?  One thing that we might observe is that this sermon is missing much of what drives the modern evangelistic sermon.  While Peter does speak of the death and resurrection of Jesus, that point is not applied personally to the crowd in saying, “Jesus died for you.”  </div> <bR> <div> Neither do we see the theme of “God loves you” in this message.  In fact, there is no mention whatsoever of the love of God in this sermon.  And here’s a fascinating bit of trivia: Nowhere in the book of Acts do we find the Greek word that describes God’s love, agape — we find neither the noun nor the verb.  So what made this message pierce the hearts of the listeners?</div> <bR> <div> Let’s look at a few points in Peter’s sermon that might give us an understanding of its powerful impact upon the listeners of that day.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Joel’s Prophecy</U></B></div> <bR> <div> The first thing that would have gripped the hearts of Peter’s listeners was his reference to <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" >“the great and glorious day of the Lord”</FONT> (Acts 2:17, 20).  Peter was announcing the fulfillment of the words of the prophet Joel.  In the minds of Peter’s Jewish listeners, “the Day of the Lord” had special and terrifying significance.  Their minds would have been drawn back to the Scriptures where graphic descriptions of various judgements of Yahweh had taken place, both for the benefit of Israel and for its downfall.  </div> <bR> <div> Milton Terry comments on the phrase “the day of Jehovah” and gives several examples:</div> <bR> <div> “The day of Jehovah is the occasion when he executes his ‘sore judgement’ (comp. Ezek. 14:21) upon a land or nation that deserves punishment for its sins.  It may be a day of judgement on Israel as well as on a heathen city.  ‘The day of Jezreel’ (Hosea 1:11) was the momentous event of God’s avenging the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and putting an end to the ‘kingdom of the house of Israel in the valley of Jezreel’ (verses 4, 5).  ‘The day of Midian’ (Isa. 9:4) was the ‘slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb.’ (Isa. 10:26), when ‘Jehovah set every man’s sword against his fellow,’ and cut off the hosts of the Midianites (Judg. 7:22, 25).  In harmony with this conception the prophets regard the victorious armies which execute the judgement as part of Jehovah’s hosts, and the battle itself is Jehovah’s as truly as if ‘the stars in their courses’ (Judg. 5:20) and the sun and the moon took part in the terrible conflict.” (<B>Biblical Apocalyptics</B>, Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, OR, 2001, p. 96)</div> <bR> <div> Two things could be brought out at this point: first, the “men of Israel” would have understood the concept of “the day of Yahweh” as being an event fulfilled in history manifested in an invasion and war.  In the eyes of the first century Jew, “the day of Yahweh” was either an invasion by a hostile army, humbling the tribes for their sin, or it was a victory for the Israelites over their enemies.  It was God’s wrath wielding an army as His weapon.</div> <bR> <div> I say this to counter the view that Peter’s listeners would have in mind some cosmic apocalypse that would end the physical universe as they (and we) know it.  To them, the “day of Yahweh” was, in a worldly perspective terrestrial, a military action by a hostile force.  But from a heavenly vista — the position of Peter’s audience — that martial devastation had a divine purpose behind it.  They surely understood Peter heralding a commonplace event like a war, but their being rooted in Old Covenant scriptures gave this event a grim, divine certainty and finality (if they believed it to be true).</div> <bR> <div> Second, the cosmic imagery is just that: imagery.  There is an attitude among some that to interpret the scriptures in any manner but “literal” diminishes the glory of God.  I believe that such an attitude has caused great confusion when seeking to understand the plain message of the Bible.  Phrases such as “the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood” do not lose their impact if we were to interpret them as imagery.  </div> <bR> <div> Don Preston has done an excellent study in his tape series called “In the Glory of the Father.”  He shows that the Old Covenant prophets did indeed use cataclysmic, universe-collapsing language to describe what history would record as a localized war.  </div> <bR> <div> One example he gives in the destruction of Babylon by the Medes and the Persians.  This event was called “the Day of the Lord” in Isaiah 13:6, 9 (literally, “the Day of Jehovah”).  Mr. Preston draws our attention to the language that the poet/prophet </div> <div> uses – </div> <bR> <div> “. . .the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light. . .”</div> <bR> <div> “. . .the sun will be dark when it rises. . .”</div> <bR> <div> “. . .and the moon will not shed its light. . .”</div> <bR> <div> This event was historically fulfilled.  The Medes and Persians <B>did </B>invade and conquer Babylon and the prophesied event was accomplished.  The prophet Isaiah used much metaphoric terminology to describe what was a literal, historical event.  Many commentators who would refuse to allow the Hebrews the use of figurative language cloud the understanding of many texts.</div> <bR> <div> All this is to say that Peter is using the same language of the prophets to put forth his message of the immanence of the “day of Yahweh.”  The coming of Jesus as Yahweh’s Messiah marked the “last days” as foretold by the prophets.  Peter’s assertion of this, though, was only the hilt of the dagger that pierced the hearts of the worshipers of that day.</div> <bR> <div> <B>“. . . everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved . . .”</B></div> <bR> <div> Peter closes his quotation from Joel with verse 21: <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" >“And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”</FONT>  Saved from what?  From “the great and glorious day of the Lord” and the wrath that accompanies it.  And how is one saved?  By calling on the name of the Lord.  Keep that in mind.</div> <bR> <div> Peter then launches into a message that, in essence, proclaims that Yahweh validated His approval of Jesus of Nazareth by raising Him from the dead.  This is important!  The issue is not just Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, but that His resurrection meant that Yahweh singled Him out for special exaltation to Lord of lords!</div> <bR> <div> In v. 30, Peter cites from Psalm 132:11 affirming the promise of Yahweh to seat one of David’s descendant’s upon his (David’s) throne.  In the prevailing eschatology of the day, this is seen as an event yet future, fulfilled in the millennium.  J. Dwight Pentecost offers the literal interpretation “which holds that David means <I>the historical David</I> who comes into regency by resurrection at the second advent of Christ” (<B>Things to Come</B>, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, p. 500).</div> <bR> <div> Others take a less literal view — that it will be Christ Himself or that it will be a <I>bona fide</I> descendant of David — but such future hopes still ignore v. 31 in which <B>Peter interprets the Davidic promise as being fulfilled in “the resurrection of the Christ.”</B>  It is a mystery to me as to why some must seek interpretations that come across as convoluted when the clearest and most literal interpretation is right in the context!  </div> <bR> <div> God promised to seat a descendant of David’s on the throne and He did.  No, it is not in the literalistic and earthly manner that many would wish.  But we must be willing to let our understanding of Old Covenant fulfillment be governed by the New Covenant revelation.  If Peter says that the Davidic promise was fulfilled by the resurrection, then let’s bask in the glory of that rather than trying to find something that could only be a lesser glory.</div> <bR> <div> Peter is establishing Yahweh’s crowning of His Son as Lord and Messiah.  The confirming sign was that God raised Jesus from the dead.  This is important to our study in that Peter’s intent is to establish that the crucified and risen Jesus was declared by Yahweh to be Lord by virtue of His resurrection from the dead (see vs. 34, 35 and Paul in Acts 13:26-39).  Let’s put this together and see what was said that caused them to be “pierced to the heart.”</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>He Is Lord!</U></B></div> <bR> <div> The blade pierces the heart in verse 36: <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" >“Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified.”</FONT>  Let’s follow the thinking of the men of Israel from the beginning to the end.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">They heard that the <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" >“great and awesome Day of the Lord”</FONT> was about to come.  I believe that their understanding was that it was imminent, something that loomed in their near future, certain to happen in their lifetime.  It was associated with the “last days.” </div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">They heard that the only hope for being saved from the “great and awesome Day of the Lord” was to <B>call upon the name of the Lord.</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">They heard that Jesus of Nazareth, a recently executed blasphemer, was declared by Yahweh <B>to be the Lord</B> through the resurrection from the dead.  </div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">In tying it all together, they understood that the Lord upon whom they had to call in order to be saved from the <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" >“great and awesome Day of the Lord”</FONT> was that very same Jesus in whom they had a hand in crucifying!</div> <bR> <div> That last statement nails it!  Suppose you were told that your way of life was about to be destroyed and there was only one person that could deliver you.  Then you were told that this one person who could deliver you was one that you helped kill!  You were complicit in His kangaroo-court trial and you cast a vote that he be executed.  Now your very survival depends upon<B> this very one</B>.  Wouldn't you be pierced to the heart?  Wouldn't you despair of ever finding mercy?  So it was with Peter's audience.  It is also why Peter's offer of forgiveness was so wonderful (Acts 2:38).</div> <bR> <div> They were “pierced to the heart” because they believed Peter’s message.  Just over thirty years later, the Jewish war with Rome began.  In the spring of AD 66, the Roman army set up a siege wall around Jerusalem that lasted until the fall of AD 70.  The rebellious Jews were the objects of God’s wrath at that time, but those who “called upon the name of the Lord” — the Lord, of course, being the Lord Jesus Christ — were saved from that wrath. </div> <bR> <div> They were saved in the earthly sense because they heeded Christ’s message (Matthew 24:15-18; Mark 13:14-16; Luke 21:20-24).  They were saved in the heavenly sense in that calling upon Christ resulted in righteousness.  As I said, the piercing of the heart came because they believed that the Lord was faithful to His word.  When He promised judgment, then judgment was inevitable.  But it was also true that when He promised mercy, that was as certain as wrath. </div> <bR> <div> The same theme ought to pierce our heart today.  We believe that those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus can have eternal life today because Jesus can be trusted to keep His word.  </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>