It Empowered a Movement (Acts 3:14-16)
How could such an outlandish belief as the resurrection of a dead prophet spread through a pagan empire like that of Rome if it had no credence? Why would a bunch of fishermen and tax collectors, against all odds, invent such a story? And if they did invent it, how did they come to believe it so strongly themselves that they were not prepared only to forsake family and friends to defend it, but to give their lives for the sake of the One they proclaimed as the risen Christ?
The arrest, trial, and execution of their Master had left these followers broken, traumatized, defeated. Disillusioned, the erstwhile inner circle began falling back upon old patterns, moving back into their accustomed grooves (and they themselves tell the story). We hear only about going fishing (the former livelihood of most of them); but there also must have been a lot of brooding by the likes of nonfishermen like Matthew and Simon the Zealot, wondering where to go from there, what to do next.
Flash ahead weeks later, to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2). As Peter delivered his impromptu Pentecostal sermon, it was his reference to Jesus as a living person, risen and exalted before the heavenly Father, the astonishing declaration that Jesus was alive, that homed in on hearers. "Brothers, what shall we do?" they responded (Acts 2:37, NIV).
Nor was the emphasis on the Resurrection a fad for these early believers, an ephemeral novelty to be abandoned when something better came along. Quite to the contrary, the Resurrection constituted the central element of apostolic preaching, with Peter and the other apostles repeatedly returning to it in their discourses.
Read Acts 3:11-16; 4:8-12; 7:54-56; 17:29-31. What theme do they constantly refer to? And why?
"For the earliest Christian preaching it is the Resurrection that designates Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. . . . This is the point at which his reign as Messiah begins, when . . . he enters upon and inaugurates the age of GLORY."—Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. R-Z, p. 44.
Writing to the Philippians, Paul spoke of wanting to "know Christ and the power of his resurrection" (Phil. 3:10, NIV). What do you think that means? How can we today experience the power of the Resurrection in our lives? (See, for example, John 3:3; Rom. 6:1-12.)
No comments:
Post a Comment