Click above to watch video.
OR
Click below to play audio and read along.
Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you hear the word “REVOLUTION” what comes to your mind? What about a Spiritual Revolution? Yesterday I left you in the middle of chaos in Jerusalem about 2000 years ago, do you remember? It was the Jewish “Shavuot” festival, also known as the Harvest Festival or Pentecost, which was celebrated each year 50 days after Passover.
As you recall, the Passover weekend, which we celebrate as Easter, was for all who knew Jesus Christ dramatic, unexplainable, unbelievable, and historic. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus has changed history and changed life for Billions of people in the past 2000 years. (Matt. 26-28)
In the 40 days after that Passover/Easter weekend, resurrected Jesus appeared several times to His friends and some of those appearances are documented for us in the four Gospels. (John 20, Luke 24) The ascension of Jesus was yet one more radical, unimaginable event as Jesus left planet earth and returned to the heavenly Presence of God from which Jesus had come for His incarnation. (Acts 1:9-11)
For 10 days following Jesus’ ascension, His disciples and other close friends huddled together waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit of God which Jesus promised God the Father would send after Jesus arrived back home in heaven. (John 14:16,17,26)
The coinciding of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection with Passover weekend was no accident. It was planned by God from eternity past and fulfilled hundreds of years of Jewish prophecies, religious practices and traditions wrapped up in the sacrificial system God had given them at Mount Sinai through Moses.
Similarly, the arrival of the Holy Spirit at the “Shavuot” festival, Pentecost, was also very strategic planning by God. Both events were witnessed by religious Jews who had made their pilgrimages to Jerusalem for these very important Jewish festivals and therefore both were witnessed by people who had remarkable stories to tell when they returned to their homes far away.
The chaos in Jerusalem that “Shavuot” was due to the sound of a violent wind, and the tongues of fire which fell from heaven and settled on the heads of the followers of Jesus without burning them and finally, they spoke in languages they did not know but languages familiar to the pilgrims who had come from distant places. Of course, those who witnessed this were stunned, amazed, perplexed, confused.
Bold, boisterous Peter had called for the attention of the crowd and explained this was a fulfillment of an ancient Jewish prophecy given by the prophet Joel centuries before. (Acts 2:14-21) Peter was a fisherman, not a theologian and therefore his speech was clearly an anointing of the Holy Spirit upon Peter, just as Jesus had promised. (Acts 1:8; John 16:12-15)
But then Peter proclaimed one of the shortest and most powerful sermons of all time. He said: “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Jesus.” (Acts 2:22) Through the miracles (John 14:11) and God’s audible proclamations (Matt. 3:16,17; 17:5) God proved Jesus was God the Son whom God had sent from heaven to earth as our Redeemer. That is why Jesus’ distinctive statement is so critical to every person in the world: “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me.” (John 14:6)
But there’s more! Peter continued his bold proclamation with these words: “Jesus was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Jesus to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Jesus from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus.” (Acts 2:23,24) I doubt any of us can imagine the shock wave which swept through this crowd of Jews hearing Galileans speaking their languages.
But this declaration by Peter was even more shocking! Peter was declaring that everything that had happened to Jesus was according to plan, God’s Redemption plan! Almighty God allowed the crucifixion of Jesus and God unleashed His mighty power to raise Jesus Christ, God the Son, from death back to life again! In so doing Jesus paid the sin atonement price for all humanity and Jesus defeated death! (Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14,15)!
But there’s more and Peter continued: “God raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, Jesus has received from God the Father the promised Holy Spirit of God and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:32,33) Here Peter is declaring that after His resurrection Jesus ascended back to heaven where He sat down on His throne at the exalted place, the right hand of God Almighty! Hebrews 1:3 confirms that!
These people were familiar with Kings and kingdoms. They understood that the right hand of the Sovereign is the most exalted place of honor and power. And furthermore, Almighty God entrusted to exalted Jesus Messiah (Christ) the privilege of sending the Holy Spirit of God to humanity in all His mighty power! And that power of God was evidenced in the wind, fire and the miracle of Galileans speaking languages known by these pilgrims and spoken in the far reaches of the Roman empire, but unknown by the Galileans who spoke them!
This huge crowd of people could not deny what they were witnessing with both their eyes and ears and now Peter was challenging their minds and hearts to understand that God was changing everything about a human relationship with God! No longer animal sacrifices. No longer human mediators like priests. No longer one special place of worship, the Temple. Now a relationship with Holy, Almighty God was available through Jesus Christ, to every and any person, Jew or Gentile, of any age, any education, anywhere in the world! Do you understand this fantastic truth my friends?
Peter concluded with one powerful summary statement which shook this crowd to their core and should knock us off our feet: “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2:36)
We need to pause right here, for if Peter’s message is God’s TRUTH… and it is… every person in the world should know it and take action, immediate action, with a response. If you are a Gentile, then it may not be overly significant to you that Jesus is Messiah, but it should be stunning to you that God has declared this Jesus Lord above and over ALL... including you and me!
So how have you responded? Is your life re-oriented by the truth of Peter’s powerful message? Is this Jesus YOUR Savior and Lord? Is your life here and your eternity built on that reality?
Oh, that’s a lot to ponder, isn’t it my friends! And here’s a powerful song to help us worship in response to Peter’s message and tomorrow let’s meet right back here, and we’ll see what happened as 3000 were convicted deep in their hearts and their lives were changed forever!
Today’s Scripture: Acts 2:21-36.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.