By: Dr. Dale Weckbacher
Text: Acts
13:13-41
Acts
13:23
From
this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up
for Israel a[d] Savior—Jesus—
(NKJV)
Paul and his entourage
have arrived in Antioch, with Paul going to the synagogue on the Sabbath and
invited to share with those there. He takes this opportunity to share with them
by sharing their history and how Jesus is the promised Savior and Messiah. This
is a custom Paul would practice wherever he went and would often be rejected by
the Jews and share the Gospel with the Gentiles.
Paul and those with him set
sail from Paphos and arrived in Perga in Pamphylia, with John departing from them
and returning to Jerusalem (Acts
13:13). After departing Perga, they arrived in Antioch in Pisidia and sat
down in the synagogue on the Sabbath (Acts
13:14). After the reading of the law, the prophets and rulers of the synagogue
asked Paul and those with him if they had a word of exhortation for the people
(Acts
13:15).
Paul then stood up and asked
the men of Israel who fear God to listen, beginning by telling them the God of
Israel chose their fathers and exalted the people while they were strangers in
Egypt, bringing them out with His mighty arm (Acts
13:16-17). God put up with their ways for about forty years in the
wilderness and then destroyed seven nations in Canaan, distributing the land to
them by allotment (Acts
13:18-19). Judges then ruled Israel for about four hundred and fifty years,
after which they asked Samuel for a king, and God gave them Saul for forty
years (Acts
13:20-21). After the removal of Saul, David became king, a man after God’s
own heart who would do God’s will (Acts
13:22). From David’s descendants, God raised up a Savior, Jesus, coming
after John first came preaching the baptism of repentance to all the people of
Israel (Acts
13:23-24). As John was finishing his ministry, he asked those following him
who they thought he was, telling them he was not the one and that the Savior
would come after him and that he was unworthy to loosen His sandals (Acts
13:25).
Paul then addresses the
sons of the family of Abraham, telling them that the word of salvation is sent
to them but that they have fulfilled the words of the prophets by condemning
Jesus to death (Acts
13:26-27). Even though there was no reason to execute Him, they asked
Pilate to crucify Jesus, fulfilling all that was written about Him. Then they
took His body down and laid it in a tomb (Acts
13:28-29). However, Jesus did not remain in the tomb, but resurrected from
the dead, with many witnesses seeing Him for many days (Acts
13:30-31). Paul then declares the good news to these Jews that the promise
of God to their fathers is fulfilled in Jesus in fulfillment of Psalm
2:7 (Acts
13:32-33). In raising Jesus from the dead, Jesus is the holy one of the lineage
of David who will not see corruption (Acts
13:34-37; Isaiah 55:3; Psalm 16:10).
Paul then concludes by
letting these Jews know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is preached,
providing justification with God that could not be done by the law of Moses (Acts
13:38-39). Paul then warns these Jews to beware lest what was spoken by the
prophets come upon them, that they would not believe even though one would come
and tell them (Acts
13:40-41).
Paul arrives in Antioch
and begins his ministry by starting something that will become his custom when
entering a new city; he goes to the Jews first and shares Christ (Acts
14:1, 17:10, 17:17, 18:4, 18:19). In this passage, we see Paul, a Pharisee,
telling the Jews in the synagogue that.
- They
are chosen of God (Acts
13:16) – As children of Abraham, this is promised in Genesis
12:1-7, 15, and 17.
- Delivered
from Egyptian bondage (Acts
13:16-17) – Paul then reminds these Jews of how God sent Moses to them
as a deliverer to be used by God to free them from the oppression of
slavery in Egypt (Exodus
1-14).
- They
were established in the land of Canaan (Acts
16:18-22) – The book of Joshua records the crossing over of the
Israelites into the Promised Land, recording the conquests of the
Canaanites through Joshua. The book of Judges records the tumultuous
establishment of the people in the land, with the people asking for a king
in 1
Samuel 8.
- They
were promised an eternal kingdom through David’s seed (Acts
13:22) – While David was not the one to build the temple, God does
promise an eternal kingdom through his descendants (2
Samuel 7:1-17)
- Jesus
is their promised Messiah (Acts
13:23-26) – The descendant of David that will rule for eternity is
Jesus Christ, the one who died and resurrected from the grave (Matthew
28:1-8). Jesus is the one sitting at the right hand of God making
intercession for God’s people (Acts
7:55). Jesus is the one who is coming back to reign for eternity (Revelation
20:4-6).
As Paul was sharing with
the Jews in Antioch, he did not have access to the gospels or epistles in the
New Testament of the Bible, so he shared what he knew as a Pharisee. This is like
what Stephen shared in Acts
7, minus the stoning. Like the Jews in the time of Paul, the church often
needs a reminder of what Jesus did to save us from our sins, and why we should
often observe communion. Communion reminds us that,
- Jesus’s
body was broken for us – The breaking of Jesus’s body was severe through a
beating (Luke
22:63-65), severe head wounds from a crown of thorns (Matthew
27:29), and piercing of nails.
- Jesus’s
blood was shed for the remission of our sins – Scourging with a cat of
nine-tails, bleeding from a crown of thorns, and the piercing of his hands
and feet with nails would have caused severe blood loss.
All reading this have
sinned and fallen short of God’s standard and face a death penalty for their
sins (Romans
3:23, 6:23). However, we can have an acquittal from our penalty by
confessing our heartfelt belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
for our sins (Romans
10:9-10). Our good works cannot save us (Ephesians
2:8-9), but only the grace of God demonstrated on the cross. If you are
reading this and have never made a heartfelt confession in the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus, I invite you to pray with me now.
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans
3:23)
and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans
6:23).
I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1
John 1:9). I believe you died, spent three days in the grave,
and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord of my life.
This prayer is not some
magical prayer but must be a genuine expression of your heart. If that is why
you prayed, rest assured, your sins are completely forgiven, and you have
eternal life. I now encourage you to let someone know of your decision. I also
urge you to find a church of truth that teaches from the Bible and is empowered
by the Holy Spirit, so you can grow in your faith. May God convict, challenge,
and bless everyone reading this post.
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