On a Roll: Acts 13 (7)

Pray Psalm 2.7, 8.
“I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.”

Sing Psalm 2.7, 8.
(Agincourt: O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High!)
Proclaim the message far and wide, that God has exalted the Crucified!
From heav’n He sent us His only Son, Who has for us salvation won!

Read Acts 13.1-52; meditate on verses 32, 33.

Preparation
1. What did Paul declare to the people who heard him?

2. What was the focus of His message?

Meditation
Our chapter ends in the middle of Paul’s first missionary journey. He and Barnabas were continually on the move, not always by their own choice. Everywhere they went they proclaimed “glad tidings” (v. 32). Which begs the question: What are these glad tidings? Or, what is the Good News? Or, what is the Gospel?

From Paul’s remarks we can discern the following outline: The Gospel is grounded in “that promise” God made to the fathers of Israel. That promise was one of blessing, influence, and the power to bless all peoples with the knowledge of God and His glory (Gen. 12.1-3). It boils down to a simple phrase, repeated throughout the Scriptures: “I will be your God, and you will be My people.” Jesus came as the embodiment of that promise, doing good and speaking truth about a new Kingdom and a divine economy that He had come to bring near. His resurrection is the guarantee that God would fulfill that promise by drawing people into His blessings through faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord.

The “glad tidings” are that fear, uncertainty, death, and the lie need no longer control our lives. Life and truth and abiding joy can be ours because Jesus has risen from the dead. Eternal life with God – the sure and personal knowledge of God and Jesus Christ (Jn. 17.3) and all that entails for daily living – is now available through Jesus to all who repent and believe the Good News.

God has done what He promised, and Jesus is the proof of purchase we need to be redeemed, revived, and restored to our proper relationship with God. The Good News is that we are the heirs of a great salvation in which all the promises of God are “Yes!” and “Amen!” in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1.20).

Tell the world!

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Glad tidings.

The Good News began with the angel Gabriel appearing to Zacharias to tell him that he would father a son who would be the forerunner of the Savior. “And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth…And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before Him…” (Lk.1.14, 16, 17) Your son’s name will be John.

The next glad tiding came to the virgin Mary when Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (Lk. 1.28) Your Son’s name will be JESUS.

Then a glad tiding came to the baby John, still in his mother’s womb, as he heard the greeting of Mary when she visited Elizabeth, his mother. She explained that when they heard the voice of Mary, “the babe leaped in my womb for joy” (Lk. 1.44).

Mary came next with her own glad tiding, “my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Lk. 1.47).

Zacharias then spoke this glad tiding, when he said that God would “perform the mercy promised to our fathers…to remember His holy covenant…to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk. 1.72, 79).

The angel of the Lord delivered the next glad tiding to the shepherds when he said, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2.10).

Finally, the quintessential glad tiding came from the mouth of our beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3.16). “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, ‘The LORD be magnified!’” (Ps. 40.16)

Gabriel, Mary, Elizabeth, John, Zacharias, an angel of the Lord, Jesus, and Paul. All joy-bringers. And now that we, too, have received this promised good news, we are told to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only…” (Jms. 1.22).

So let us be glad-tidings tellers too! “Yes” and “Amen”! (2 Cor. 1.20).

For reflection
1. What about the Gospel especially makes you glad?

2. Why do you think Christians are so reluctant to proclaim the Good News of Jesus?

3. In what ways do you see the Spirit continuing the ongoing work of Jesus in your Personal Mission Field?

Christ was to serve all generations. May we look to Him who is declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, that by faith in him we may walk with God, and serve our generation according to his will; and when death comes, may we fall asleep in him, with a joyful hope of a blessed resurrection. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Acts 13.32-37

Pray Psalm 2.8-12.
Pray for a new, richer, and more expansive understanding of the Gospel, and pray the same for Christians everywhere. Pray that God would revive His people and send us into the world to proclaim the Good News of Jesus.

Sing Psalm 2.9-12.
(Agincourt: O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High!)
To Christ the Lord be given all who humbly embrace Him and on Him call.
Be wise, be warned: His judgment comes to break the prideful, sinful ones.

Rejoice with fear in Jesus’ grace, and worship before His exalted face!
Beware His anger and judgment grim: How blessed are all who rest in Him!

T. M. and Susie Moore

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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.