~ The Apostles Claimed Jesus Christ Is
The Messiah ~
Background ~ Jesus Christ said, “Search the Scriptures—they testify of
Me” (John 5:39). “And
beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, Jesus explained to them the
things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27).
Peter Preaching at Solomon’s Portico ~ “Now
as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran
together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the
people: ‘Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by
our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant
Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he
was determined to let Him go. But you
denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to
you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we
are witnesses. And His name, through
faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the
faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the
presence of you all.
Yet now, brethren, I know
that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth
of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent
therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of
refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus
Christ, who was preached to you before, whom
heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has
spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For
Moses truly said to the fathers, “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. And it shall be that every
soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the
people.”
Yes, and all the prophets,
from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. You are sons of the prophets, and of the
covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, “And in your seed
all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 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 3:11-26).
Paul Preaching at Thessalonica
~ “Now when they had passed
through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a
synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his
custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating
that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the
Christ.’ And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the
devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas” (Acts
17:1-4).
Paul
Instructing the Church at Corinth ~ “Brethren, I declare to you the gospel which
I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which
also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless
you believed in vain. For I delivered to
you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the
third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then
by the twelve. After that He was seen by
over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the
present, but some have fallen asleep. After
that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as
by one born out of due time. For I am
the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I
persecuted the church of God. But by the
grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I
labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which
was with me. Therefore, whether it was I
or they, so we preach and so you believed” (1 Corinthians 15:1-11, also see
Mark 16:9-20).
One of Peter’s Sermons ~ “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised
his voice and said to them, ‘Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let
this be known to you, and heed my words.
For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour
of the day. But this is what was spoken
by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come
to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all
flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see
visions, your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit
in those days; and they shall prophesy. I
will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and
fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall
be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the
great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls
on the name of the Lord shall be
saved.” [Joel 2:28-32]
Men of Israel, hear these
words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders,
and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know
— Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you
have taken by lawless hands, have
crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of
death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. For David says concerning Him: “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that
I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart
rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor
will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You
will make me full of joy in Your presence.” [Psalm 16:8-11]
Men and brethren, let me
speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried,
and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore,
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the
fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit
on his throne, he, foreseeing this,
spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in
Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of
God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He
poured out this which you now see and hear.
For David did not ascend
into the heavens, but he says himself: “The
Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My
right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” [Psalm 110:1]
Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified,
both Lord and Christ [Messiah].’ Now when they heard
this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the
apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let
every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your
children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call’”
(Acts 2:14-39).
Closing Passage [Apostle Paul] ~ “But
when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a
son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ
[Messiah]” (Galatians 4:4-7).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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