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Realizing the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom of God.
The Scriptorium

Things to Come

We need to hear Jesus. Acts 3.22-26

The Kingdom among Us: Acts 3 (6)

Pray Psalm 78.1-4.

Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

Sing Psalm 78.1-4.
(Foundation: How Firm a Foundation)
Give ear, O my people, attend to my word,
dark sayings and parables sent from the Lord,
things we have before by our fathers been told,
which we would not dare from our children withhold.

Read Acts 3.1-26; meditate on verses 22-26.

Preparation
1. Where did Peter turn to validate his claims about Jesus?

2. In what do the blessings of God primarily consist?

Meditation
Peter explains that Jesus is the promised Prophet Who has life in Himself and Whom to disobey is to perish. Again we see Peter inserting this warning of judgment: You’ve heard the Good News; reject it to your peril (v. 23). We must include the bad news along with the Good, if only to keep the whole truth in a proper perspective.

Moses was speaking about Jesus. He was promised in the covenant with Abraham and proclaimed in the prophets throughout the Old Testament (Jn. 5.39). The Scriptures everywhere testify to Jesus and the Kingdom God is bringing through Him.

The mention here of “all the families of the earth” being blessed (v. 25) not only ties into the covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12.1-3) but serves to foreshadow events to come in the book of Acts. Yet there will be no blessing, no forgiveness, and no hope of promise without repentance, without turning from sin to the holiness and righteousness of God (v. 26). 

Peter’s first sermon wasn’t a fluke, a momentary burst of courage perhaps sustained as much by adrenalin as by a real and transforming spiritual experience. No, he’s a changed man, a bold man, a caring and urgent man – a man on a mission. Peter is like that generation who invaded the land of promise in the book of Joshua. Whereas previously the people of Israel (and Peter) demurred and denied the Lord and His promised land, now Peter and this new generation were charging ahead, like the people in Joshua’s day, all faith and fearlessness, taking on giants and laying the foundations of the Kingdom of God.  

Let’s make sure we are of the generation of Joshua and Peter, and not of those who, unfaithful to their calling, failed to claim the promises of God.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
These folks were being taken to the woodshed! You denied Him, you chose a murderer in His place, and you killed Him. The accusations were all true; and they knew it. But here’s the upside: “To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities” (Acts 3.26). “You first.”

They fulfilled the bad news prophesied (Ps. 22.6-8). But now they are the first to participate in the good news prophesied (Joel 2.29): “A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation. They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this” (Ps. 22.30, 31).

Peter also reminded them of Moses’ words concerning Jesus: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you” (Acts 3.22; Deut. 18.15).

Him you shall hear. But not just hear what you like or what is easy. Whatever He says to you, hear!
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14.6).
“If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn. 14.15)
“You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (Jn. 15.14).
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1.8).

And now on to us. We are as guilty as they, and we are just as forgiven. We might not be the first to hear the bad and good news, but we are equally included!
“And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone…” (Eph. 2.17-20).

We are participants in the promised things to come:
“…I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Joel 2.29).

We carry the legacy of Joshua and Peter into our days, so “… let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Gal. 6.9).

For reflection

1. What happened to Peter? Could what happened to Peter happen to you? Explain.

2. Why is it important for us to understand that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is tied in with the promises made to Abraham?

3. What does hearing Jesus mean for you today?

Christ came into the world to bring a blessing with him. And he sent his Spirit to be the great blessing. Christ came to bless us, by turning us from our iniquities, and saving us from our sins. We, by nature cleave to sin; the design of Divine grace is to turn us from it, that we may not only forsake, but hate it. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Acts 3.22-26

Pray Psalm 78.4-7.
Our calling to bear witness to God and His truth is rooted in His covenant of promise. Ask the Lord to give you an opportunity today to encourage a fellow believer and to bear witness to a lost soul.

Sing Psalm 78.4-7.
(Foundation: How Firm a Foundation)
The glorious deeds of our God in His might,
and all of the works He has done in our sight,
together with all of the words of His Law,
would we on ourselves and our children bestow.

Lord, let all our children arise and declare
the truth of the Lord every day, everywhere,
and set all their hopes in God’s wonderful Word,
and never forget all the works of the Lord.

T. M. and Susie Moore

You can listen to a summary of last week’s Scriptorium study by going to our website, www.ailbe.org, and clicking theScriptorium tab for last Sunday. For more about what Jesus is doing at the right hand of God, order a free copy of our book, What in Heaven Is Jesus Doing on Earth? (click here).

You can download any or all of the studies in this series on Acts by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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