Bible Study - Acts chapter 2.22-31 - 'The Work of Yahweh Through Christ; The Deity of Christ'

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Tentative Preaching [07.20.25]

'The Work of Yahweh Through Christ; The Deity of Christ'

Acts 2.22-31
'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 did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know –
23-this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless 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 continually before me; because 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;
27-because you will not forsake my soul to Hades, nor give Your Holy One over to see corruption.
28-You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.'
29-Men, brothers, I may confidently say to 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 set one of the fruit of his body on his throne,
31-he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither forsaken to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.'

In this section, we are seeing the next part of Peter's first sermon. In the beginning of the sermon, we see Peter talking about how '...in these last days, God would pour out His Spirit on mankind...', which is out of Joel [and can be also found in Ezekiel 36].

All that we are really seeing here is the 'new' ministry of The Holy Spirit after The Lord Christ Jesus had ascended back into heaven.
Also, in seeing that Acts was written way before the Revelation was given to John, we see an indicator of things that would happen which we are further told in Revelation.

But here in our specific section, we are told that God attested to who The lord Christ Jesus was through miracles and signs.
The signs are validation of the deity of The Lord Christ Jesus
They are not the focus, they point to The Lord Christ Jesus
We no longer need theses signs and wonders because the work of The Lord Christ Jesus is finished, and He is seated at the right hand of The Majesty on High

Total Depravity

V. 23 - '...you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death...'

The whole of man is guilty in the sight of God.

It is not just the Jews who rejected Christ, it was/is the gentiles also

The whole of mankind is conceived in corruption and born into iniquity
Every single intent of every single thought of our thoughts are only evil continually
The heart is deceitful above all else, and is desperately sick
There is none righteous, no not one, there is none who does good, there is none who seek for God, all together they are useless/worthless
All mouths are shut up under the Law, and the whole of mankind is guilty in the presence of God

The Absolute Sovereignty of Yahweh

V. 23 - '...this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God,'

The Substitutionary atoning work of The Lord Christ Jesus was accomplished in eternity past, and realized here in time upon the cross.

V. 24 - 'But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death,'

The Glorification of Christ from God The Father
The Father raised Christ from the dead as proof [or authentication] of the sufficiency of the work of the substitutionary atoning work of The Lord Christ Jesus

'29-Men, brothers, I may confidently say to 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 set one of the fruit of his body on his throne...'

This proves the deity of Christ
In that Christ is alive, His tomb is empty

Christ is the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant in that Yahweh has placed Christ in the lineage of David and set His rule for all eternity

Worship and hope in Yahweh
Perseverance of the saints [in the fact that we are kept by God]

V. 26-27 '...Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh also will live in hope; because you will not forsake my soul to Hades...'

Salvation belongs to Yahweh alone, and it is through the substitutionary atoning work of The Lord Christ Jesus where those who are truly of God are made alive, and who have the forgiveness of God through Christ

The holy and just wrath of Yahweh

V. 27 '...because you will not forsake my soul to Hades, nor give Your Holy One over to see corruption...'
V. 31 '...the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither forsaken to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.'

Christ took on the form of a slave, and was found in the likeness of man. He submitted Himself perfectly to The Father, even to the point of death upon the cross

He who knew no sin became sin for us

He became a curse for us

I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill

In the MacArthur study Bible, MacArthur suggests that the use of 'Hades' here is not talking about hell, rather it is the general use for the grave, meaning that the grave could not hold The Lord Christ Jesus

How is it that Christ took the fullness of hell upon Himself, and cried out 'Father, why have you forsaken me?', that we are told here that He was not forsaken, and that He did not see corruption?

We need to look at the three hour period of Christ upon the cross:

There was three hours of darkness

the fullness of the wrath of God was being poured out upon The Lord Christ Jesus...
Which includes the separation from God, as well as the torment of punishment of God
All in an eternal sense, not merely physical

What is true death?

In order to answer this, we need to understand what true eternal life is

True eternal life is to know God and Him whom the Father has sent

Thus, the opposite is what true death is, or what the second death is.

Thus, when we read '...neither forsaken to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.'
We should see that 1-The Father raised Christ on the third day, and 2-there was no decay found on Christ.

In John 1.4 we are told:
'In Him was life, and the life was the Light of man.'

The Lord Christ Jesus tells us that He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life...

Death cannot be found in life, thus death could not have an hold on The Lord Christ Jesus because The Lord Christ Jesus is Life itself
Which proves the very deity of The Lord Christ Jesus
Just because Christ took humanity upon Himself, this does not negate the fact that The Lord Christ Jesus is, and was, and is always God The Son, the second member of the triune Godhead

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