Passage of the Day - October 15, 2010

Acts 2:22-36

²²"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know--

 ²³this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

 ²⁴"But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.

 ²⁵"For David says of Him,
         'I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE;
         FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.
    ²⁶'THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED;
         MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE;
    ²⁷BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES,
         NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.
    ²⁸'YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE;
         YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.'

 ²⁹"Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

 ³⁰"And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE,

 ³¹he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY.

 ³²"This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.

 ³³"Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

 ³⁴"For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says:
         'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,
         "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
    ³⁵UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET."'

 ³⁶"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified."

I know I have often thought, “How could they be so dumb?  How could they not of realized who this was?  How could they turn on Him so drastically in just a week?”  Well, look at how we treat those who become celebrities.  The more popular they become, the more we enjoy watching them come crashing down.  Usually they are taken down because their sin gets revealed or because they speak their mind and aren’t politically correct.  True followers of Christ could never survive as a celebrity because the world, at heart, hates the true God.  The world has rebelled against Him and are His enemies.  So were we, but God sent Christ to die for us and to raise Him up!  We have been saved to serve Him.  We are to serve Him by being hated by the world.  If the world is the enemy of Christ and we are His, then the world makes itself the enemy of us as well.