John Carter - The Speeches in the Acts - Class 2 - Peter's Speech (Acts 2v22-37)

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Dear all of you, we were speaking yesterday about the importance that we should attach to the portions of Luke’s narrative by reference to the place he gives to them in space and repetition. And since he gives so much space to the various speeches, it is quite evident that Luke would have us understand something concerning the thinking of the early Christians, something concerning the message that was given to them, something concerning God’s message which was communicated through them as witnesses.

2. 0:48

   We are back at the very beginning of Christian teaching. We are going to consider the first address that was given. It wasn’t address, however, with a background, for there had been some preparation of the men who were to give it. We all know how dismayed they were when Jesus was crucified and how it seemed as though all their expectations had failed.

3. 1:20

   We all know how changed it was when after the first day Jesus had appeared unto them. We are told that Jesus met them and expounded to them from the scriptures. And I think we’re quite right in attaching some words that Jesus spake, which are in his in the first book of Luke, in the Gospel, concerning what Jesus told them after he was raised from the dead. He met 2 on the way to Emmaus.

4. 1:57

   They thought he was a stranger. And he said, what is this that you’re discussing among yourselves? And as we read it, we can catch first one speaking and then the other as they answer him, as their words fall over each other, as they talk to him. If we go back just to catch that up, The 21st verse, we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.

5. 2:33

   And you catch the voice of the other interposing. Yeah. And certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre. And when they found not his body, they came, saying that they had seen also a vision of angels. And thus they tossed their words of the word Luke used by Luke indicates.

6. 2:52

   They tossed their words one to the other, as they fall over each other, almost in their eagerness to communicate to this stranger. And then he said to them, all foolish ones, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

7. 3:13

   And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And then when He was revealed to them at the breaking of bread, they thought nothing of the journey back to Jerusalem to say that the Lord was risen. But they said one to another did not our heartburn within us while He talked with us, by the way, and while He opened up to us the Scriptures.

8. 3:41

   Now there’s the divine example. He opened up the Scriptures, and the opening up of the scriptures by this master teacher had the effect of making their hearts glow and burn within them. Now that is what we will try to do as far as lies in the power of all of us as we study together these words of inspiration through the apostles.

9. 4:13

   But Jesus had to complete the preparation, and He met the apostles, as Luke tells us in a later verse. And he said unto them, We’re quoting verse 44. These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, So that insight which was His concerning the meaning of Scripture was given to them. He opened up their standing, and expounded to them what had been written.

10. 5:01

    Thus it is written, and thus it behoves Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. And the repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses. And I think we will be right in saying that that divine pattern in the words of Jesus, as He expounded to them the Scriptures concerning Himself, was that which gave shape to their own addresses.

11. 5:35

    It was that mould in which their thought was cast as they went out to witness to this truth. They had to testify to Jews that Jesus whom they had crucified, was really the Messiah. And not only had to they to witness to the fact, as a matter of experience in their own lives, that Jesus had risen from the dead, but they had to put that fact of the resurrection of Jesus into the framework of the Old Testament revelation.

12. 6:08

    And therefore it was necessary that they should understand and be empowered to open up the significance of the Old Testament Scriptures in order that it might be shown that what had happened in Jerusalem in connection with Jesus was according to the divine plan that had been revealed in the Old Testament writings. And as we study these speeches in Acts, we shall find the resemblance between them.

13. 6:37

    And again, I think it would be right to say that before many days had passed in connection with the work of preaching the Gospel, they had a group of texts on the different headings, which was common property of all the teachers, and all turned to it for guidance and used it as the pattern upon which could be presented. This doctrine we have a declaration. All of you will be familiar with it. It consists of a number of propositions and a display of proof texts in support of the propositions. And that that was something like what the early believers had probably before ever a gospel was written. They were bodies of testimonies, a corpus of quotations testifying to certain particular doctrines, and therefore it is that we find a similar grouping of passages in one and another address.

14. 7:53

    And in the Epistles these various passages came to be grouped together as witnessing to certain facts in connection with Jesus. And the Lord Himself had set them the example in His own exposition of the Scripture during His ministry, in how He had gathered together various Scriptures to build up His testimony and give the message that was entrusted to Him by the Father.

15. 8:29

    Ruskin has said in one of his books that we should go to a book not to find there what we think, but so to read and so to reread and study the author, that we come to know what he intended to say. And that is good counsel. We’re going to look at these speeches and see what Luke intended that we should know from them, or what God intended in the writing through Luke. And if we speak of Luke, you’ll remember that always we have in reserve that point of view that it was got through Luke. And just as we saw yesterday how wonderfully accurate Luke was in his writing of history, so we are going to observe today how wonderfully he gives us a summary of the address we have in these addresses.

16. 9:36

    What can it be? Anything more than a pressie of what was said, but just as a long article might be summarised, and indeed it is a test in literature exams, or used to be, that an article of some length should be summarised. That there must be a bringing out of the essential features and a reduction in words, but still a preservation of the essential content of what the longer article contains. So if in these speeches recorded in Acts, we have the same skill in summarizing, in writing the pressie that Luke has manifested in writing the history, we shall be able to expand the speech and observing Luke’s methods, acquire a fuller view of what was said then the summary would give us if we just read it quickly.

17. 10:42

    I was going to notice how many minutes it took the reading of this speech. I don’t suppose it took more than 3 or 4 minutes. But you don’t think for a minute that Peter stood up in Jerusalem and spake for 5 minutes? How long would Peter be addressing this multitude of people who were there on the day of Pentecost from the different parts of scattered jewellery? Would it be anything less than an hour? Might we not presume that with the giving of such a message it might be of two hours duration, and yet Luke has compressed, shall we say, an hour and a half address in the compass of what it takes us 4 minutes to read?

18. 11:29

    Now can we ascertain with what skill an address of such length has been summarized? I think we can and we want to trace out Luke’s method and follow catching hold of his method, do a little expansion. The expansion that is intended we should make for ourselves so that we get a larger view of the address that Peter gave. Now we said yesterday that one church historian has said that one of the reasons why Christianity spread so remarkably during the 1st century was that the Christians out thought the pagans.

19. 12:18

    And as we follow the argument of Peter and the other arguments in the other addresses, we shall find that they’re all marked by a close knit reasoning. You won’t have to nod. If you do, you’ll miss something of his address. It’s closely woven together and there’s a close knit texture about it. There’s power and cogency in the presentation of the argument, and that we shall try to see as we go through it. Now there isn’t time for any more words. By way of a preamble, let us turn to our Bibles and follow through this address.

20. 13:08

    You’ve heard it read as a whole. Now we’re going to look at it piece by piece. The miracle of the bestowal of the Spirit and the speaking with tongues had been performed, and the crowd was gathered together, probably in one of the Temple courts. It was not unusual for a sect, one of the many sects of Israel, to use the temple courts and give their addresses and speeches there.

21. 13:45

    And so it was in keeping with such a practice that the Christians for a considerable time in Jerusalem, met in one of the cloisters and gave their addresses there. And so there was a large company of Jews closely packed together, standing in the court when Peter stood up and spoke. It has been estimated upon good grounds that there would be 2 million Jews assembled in Jerusalem for every Passover.

22. 14:22

    Not so many attended the Feast of Pentecost, but if we just remember that 2 million could assemble for the Feast of Passover, and we were to cut that in half as an estimate of the attendance at Pentecost, we can understand what a vast company of Jews were there making a potential audience under circumstances like this. The news fled like wildfire throughout the city. Something has happened, something has happened, and these men are speaking in the temple courts. And it wouldn’t be very long before, along all the narrow alleyways of the old city, men were hurrying to the temple courts to see what had happened.

23. 15:15

    And they noticed the unusualness of this phenomenon. And as men are always ready to do some mock, they said they’re only drunk, to which Peter rejoined. Firstly, it’s only 9:00 in the morning and it is forbidden for Jews to partake of intoxicants before that time. So therefore, as good Jews, it can’t be a right explanation that we are drunk. But there’s another explanation, says Peter. You remember the prophecy of Joel, and besides the prophecy of Joel, of God pouring out of his Spirit upon old and young, of God’s servants and handmaidens, who should prophecy?

24. 16:08

    Now there are two ways of looking at this citation. It is possible to regard it as a fulfilment of the words of Joel, but as we look at the context, we must conclude that it cannot be a full fulfillment. It can only be a partial fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. But there’s another way of interpreting the words this and that have to be determined concerning their relatives.

25. 16:41

    Peter says this is that which was spoken by Joel, but what does he mean by this? And what does he mean by that? This statement is that which was spoken by Joel, or this which is happening is that which was foretold by Joel. Now if we take the first these words that I’m speaking unto you, this citation is that which was spoken by Joel.

26. 17:06

    Then Peter is giving them a testimony upon which he’s going to argue by analogy, that when this which you believe will come to pass as you believe the Old Testament Scriptures, will you then say that these men are drunk? Or will you see that there’s been a divine intervention among you by the outpouring of His Spirit upon some of His servants? If, when this then does come to pass, you will say that this word has been fulfilled, and you must admit its possibility in the light of the divine testimony, then why not now examine the matter and see whether there hasn’t been something happening now before your eyes which corresponds to it.

27. 17:58

    But He said something more. He says, observe what God has said in connection with an outpouring of His Spirit. And we want you to look at verse 20 of Acts 2. The sun shall be turned Into Darkness, and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now keep your fingers in that place in Acts, and turn back to Joel.

28. 18:47

    And as we read the prophecy of Joel carefully, we notice that Peter stops short at the quotation, verse 31. The sun shall be turned Into Darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. But the rest of Joel’s statement, which reads For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord our God has said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call, is not quoted in Acts.

29. 19:32

    Now that should make us pause. It wasn’t. It wasn’t that Luke was so short of space with regard to this quotation that he must cut those words in view of the fact that he’s quoted at such length the previous verses. But now notice this, that the very last words and the remnant whom the Lord shall call are in fact quoted later in the speech.

30. 20:04

    Now I want you to notice this verse 39. The promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off. And now comes the quotation from Joel, even as many. As the Lord our God shall call. Now we suggest from this method of loops of thus breaking off that quotation and then introducing it afterwards that this in fact is what happened. And it’s happened many a time on a Christian Delphian platform. A brother quotes so far and he says, now we’ll stop there and talk about that and we’ll come back to the rest afterwards. Now Luke doesn’t tell us he’s doing that, but by his very summary he shows that it was done. And Peter quoted so far in the statement of Joel, and he says, now I’m going to stop there and we’ll talk about this and I’ll come back to the rest of the quotation later. Now, that which we observe in connection with Joel’s prophecy may be noticed in other quotations that Luke gives, which Luke reports in this speech. And the fact that Luke does it more than once in his reporting is surely clear evidence that we’re expected to see that Peter stopped at that point and took up the thought of that point and carried it on, and then came back later to take up the remainder of the verse and explain it. Now you’ll see how that actually happened as we continue the thought through this address.

31. 21:58

    So we come back again to verse 21. It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This passage is used by Paul in the letter to the Romans, and he takes up each word in turn in the 10th chapter of the letter. We’re not going to follow it out, but we want you to notice that this verse was a verse that was used in the setting forth of the gospel in the 1st century, not by one, but by others. That is, it was part of the common stock of quotation that was given, just as we’ve a stock of quotations common to all of us as speakers in presenting the first principles of the truth. If any of us wanted to refer to the teaching of Jesus on the Kingdom of God, the vast majority would include in a lecture the fact that Jesus said in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, E12 shall sit upon 12 Thrones.

32. 23:07

    If a lecture were being given on the nature of man, there would be a certain reference to Genesis, which says, Dost thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And so in setting forth a divine purpose. This passage, similarly in Joy was used by them, and Paul in his argument stresses first of all whosoever he stresses call, and he stresses name in turn. But Peter uses it as the starting point of an exposition of how there has been exhibited in the midst of them a means for their salvation by a divine intervention in their midst. God would reveal Himself by this outpouring of the Spirit, and they would be exhibited a way of salvation upon which men might call in order that they might be saved. It was a salvation manifested, bound up with a name of the Lord, upon which men shall call.

33. 24:19

    Now, tomorrow we shall follow out what is involved in that name of the Lord, because it is the subject of particular reference in Peter’s speech, the second speech recorded in that. But the word salvation is the connecting thought between the speech of Joel and what Peter has next to say. He says to them, what is this salvation?

34. 24:48

    And what has been done to make effective a salvation? What is it that God has provided as a way of salvation? Now he says, we’ll tell you. He says you know about Jesus of Nazareth. He says, listen to this you men of Israel, verse 22 Jesus of Nazareth. And then he affirms 3 things of him.

35. 25:14

    He was a man approved among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him. Then secondly, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands of crucified and slain. And then, thirdly, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be old and of it.

36. 25:40

    And you’ll notice that the common feature to those 3 verses is, that there was divine action in their midst. First, Jesus was raised up and attested by God. He was approved of God among them. Secondly, that even their delivering up of Jesus fulfilled a divine purpose. They did it ignorantly, in unbelief, but nevertheless they were fulfilling a divine purpose which had been revealed before. It was according to the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God.

37. 26:14

    And then thirdly, God had raised up Jesus, so the events connected with Jesus were all part of a divine activity for men’s salvation. But you don’t think, brethren and sisters, for a minute that Peter just said that Jesus of Nazareth was approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him.

38. 26:40

    Without passing in review some of the miracles that Jesus had done, He classifieds them as miracles, wonders, and signs. Doesn’t that suggest to us that Peter surveyed the varied range of miracles that Jesus did? He would say to them, now this man has done miracles among you, You all know that he’s healed the sick. Don’t you remember such a case?

39. 27:11

    And is given sight to the blind. And they’d be among those who were there, some who had themselves either been the subject of the healing power of Jesus, or who had friends or relatives who had. And so it was an appeal to a body of common knowledge in their midst. But he couldn’t be made by outer certain recapitulation of certain miracles. And so when he said that he was delivered by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God, such a bold statement would never for a minute be itself convincing. He’d have to show that it was the determinate counsel of God that Jesus should be crucified and slain. And we shall observe as we go through these speeches that an emphasis is given to the fact that Jesus was crucified. And he would have therefore, to gather up from the Old Testament those passages which showed that God had decreed that this should be necessary for men’s salvation. And there would be an opening up, say, of those servant passages in Isaiah which begin at the 42nd chapter and go on to the end of the 53rd, in which God speaks of His servant, whom He would uphold, of that servant of the Lord who would be despised and rejected, who would prolong His days, by whose stripes men would be healed, who would bear their iniquities, who would see His seed, and in whose hands the pleasure of the Lord would yet prosper.

40. 28:54

    It would only be by a surveyor passages like that, that Peter would be able to say that it was according to the determinate counsel and poor knowledge of God. But when he comes to the Third Point, that whom God hath raised up, that that was something outside the common experience of all of them. The witnesses had seen Jesus, but they all had the Scriptures and now Peter.

41. 29:21

    That that was something outside the common experience of all of them. The witnesses had seen Jesus, but they all had the Scriptures, and now Peter in particular elaborates the prophetic testimony concerning the resurrection of Jesus. Now that was fitting, was it not? In the first point, he can appeal to their common experience and their knowledge of the wind, of the wonders and signs that Jesus had done.

42. 29:53

    With regard to the second, it being the determinate council, he will pass in review Scriptures. But the essential point of their testimony, and the one which would clinch the whole argument, consisted of the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus. For if God had raised him up from death when they had slain him and crucified him, why then it proved beyond all per adventure that Jesus must be the one about whom those testimonies that had been cited was concerned. And so he discusses a passage of scripture concerning the resurrection of Jesus.

43. 30:41

    He boldly affirms 2 things. Firstly, First that it was by David and that he was speaking concerning Jesus. The 25th verse for David speaketh concerning him. And they might have said well how do you know David was speaking? And the answer is, firstly, that modern higher criticism hadn’t cast doubt upon the authorship of the 16th Psalm, and all Orthodox Jews accepted the literary Ed heading of the Psalm that it was by David.

44. 31:21

    But speaking concerning him must needs be the subject of some testimony, some reasoning. And so Peter must quote at length at some length from the 16th Psalm. But the very fact that it is quoted by Luke at some length shows that it was the subject of considerable elaboration by David, And Luke tells us in what way it was elaborated.

45. 31:53

    First, the affirmation that David was speaking concerning Jesus. Then the citation of the passage. I foresaw the Lord always before my feast. He is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou will not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy ones to see corruption.

46. 32:21

    Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. And we go back to the 16th Psalm, and we observe that here again Luke has only given us part of the quotation, the 10th verse of the 16th Psalm. Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One, to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life in Thy presence, His fullness of joy.

47. 32:54

    And He leaves unquoted for the moment at Thy right hand. There are pleasures forevermore. But He does come back to it later in the address, which again teaches us and shows us that we are rightly interpreting Luke’s method of summarizing when we suggest that Peter said, at this point, now I’m only going to quote so far for a moment, We’ll come back to the implication of that phrase at thy right hand of pleasures forevermore in a moment or two. But let us talk about this fact, says Peter, that here David is testifying concerning somebody whose ways were pleasing to God, who always walked in the light of God’s countenance, whose flesh would rest in hope because his body wouldn’t be left there. Nay, not only would it not be left in the grave, but the resurrection would come so soon after his death that it was before corruption that set in an important point. Thou will not suffer, Thy Holy One to see corruption. Therefore resurrection must follow so soon after the burial that corruption of the body had not taken place. But what Peter has to say has the appearance, slight appearance, of a little disparagement of David. He says, now David isn’t speaking about himself. And you’ll catch that apologetic tone in the 29th verse when he says, men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David.

48. 34:36

    We all honour him and respect him. And it isn’t any disparagement when we say that the Psalm doesn’t apply to him now. In fact, he says it cannot apply to him. He is dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us to this day. And as he stood in the temple court, he could have said, you know where his sepulchre is. It isn’t far from the temple walls, just over there in the city of David.

49. 35:10

    If I were to ask anyone of you, he says, where David’s sepulchre is, you’d say, why don’t you know, Peter, come along and we’ll show you. And so we all agree that that is David’s sepulchre. It’s his sepulchre because his body was buried there, and it has remained there. So David wasn’t raised up, but the Psalm speaks of a man whom God raised up, and therefore he couldn’t apply to David.

50. 35:36

    But to whom did it apply? Now follow on then his argument. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you, the pitriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore, since it couldn’t apply to him, it must apply to someone else, could it?

51. 35:56

    Yes, it could, because David was a prophet, and David had promises given unto him, and therefore his prophecy concerns the one promised to him. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. And could Peter say that without quoting them the 7th chapter of the second book of Samuel and elaborating a little, the covenant made with David, of course he would do that. Now it’s a David had these promises made to him that one of his descendants should sit upon his throne. The horizon of his salvation was bound up with that man whom God was going to raise up in his line, and his prophecy concerned him.

52. 36:51

    So Peter concludes verse 31. He’s seeing this before spake of the resurrection of the Christ. The Revised Version rightly includes the definite article. And when Peter says the Christ, he doesn’t say Jesus. And perhaps if we translated Christ into Messiah, we would see that he was not thinking then of the person Jesus, but was arguing purely from the text that whoever the Messiah is, the Messiah must be a resurrected man. That’s Peter’s argument.

53. 37:27

    The prophecy says here is. And David speaking by prophecy tells of one who will be raised from the dead. He was Speaking of the one promised to him, says Peter, in the covenant made with him. That being so, the Messiah of necessity for the Scripture requires, it must be a man raised from the dead. He spake of the resurrection of the Messiah, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. I think we’ll all admit the force of the argument, but just think, brethren and sisters, of the circumstances under which that argument was put forward.

54. 38:11

    Peter said the gesture of his hand, probably you know where David’s sepulchre is, and it’s his sepulchre because his dust is there. But God has raised up Jesus and that has fulfilled this prophecy. And the place where Joseph and Arimathea and Nicodemus put the body of Jesus isn’t his sepulchre because he’s been raised from the dead. And it was only less than a mile across the city. And wasn’t there anybody there with sufficient to say, yes, Peter, but the tomb of Joseph is the sepulchre of Jesus. It was only seven weeks after Jesus was crucified. And yet Peter is standing in the temple court in the very citadel of Israel’s rulers and quoting this scripture that the Messiah must be a resurrected man and saying the passage can’t apply to David because his sepulchre is there. It does apply to Jesus because that isn’t his sepulcher and they didn’t take Peter around to show him that it was because they knew the place where Jesus had lain was not his sepulcher. They knew that their seals had been broken. They knew the God had come around with a lame tale. They knew that there was some mystery about it beyond their explanation, but in which they’d been revealed divine power. And the one thing that would have completely squashed right at the beginning, the setting forth of this basic Christian doctrine that Jesus was raised from the dead. The one thing that would have squashed, it wasn’t done because it couldn’t be done.

55. 39:53

    But the challenge was made at the ones right there. And the first address that was made in the very citadel, the very strong old of Israel’s rulers. It gives us a picture, doesn’t it, brethren and sisters of the vigor and the forcefulness, the logicalness, effective, cogent way in which they put forward their keys.

56. 40:16

    And so he sums it up in verse 32. This Jesus of God raised up whereof we all are witnesses. And since Jesus is raised up, and it isn’t a matter you can dispute, he must be the Messiah. But he was the only one that God ever did raise up. Others were raised as witnessing to the as attesting the truth of the messages which God’s messengers gave. But Jesus alone was the one whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, and so he passes on to the next aspect of the divine work.

57. 40:58

    Well, if Jesus is raised, where is he? And so he says Now Jesus is ascended to God therefore, and he said, Now I want you to remember the rest of the Psalm. Now at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore, and the resurrected man has gone to the right hand of God. And by the reference to it, the allusion to it, Luke would have us know that Peter is taking up this second part and telling them, emphasizing to them that just as the man must not see corruption, so he must ascend to God’s right hand.

58. 41:36

    But he’s going to bring together a catina of quotations to show that that the Messiah, whoever it may be, the Messiah, must not only be a resurrected man, but a man who has a session, God’s right hand before he assumes the office of Messiahship. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted.

59. 41:59

    And that word exalted is a word that sends us off at once to the 68th Psalm. And the very use of a word which in modern printing method would be putting quotation marks to show that it is a quotation is by that very use of it, Luke’s method of telling us that Peter cited the passage, the 68th Psalm, 18th verse. Thou has to send it on high.

60. 42:30

    Thou slate captivity captive, that thou have received gifts for men, ye for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among us, thou hast descended on high. And if thou hast descended. And the background, of course, is the divine descent at the Exodus for the deliverance of his people. And it’s typical bearing concerning another deliverance. If it could be said that God came down at the Exodus, it could also be said that the deliverance affected God ascended, He went back.

61. 43:07

    And when then Peter ventures to apply this, Thou hast ascended on high, he means not that Jesus personally had descended, but he does mean that in Jesus there had been a divine manifestation. And catching up the idiom of the Old Testament, there had been a visitation of God. Joseph said God will surely visit you. How did God visit them?

62. 43:37

    By the Angel of his presence as the vehicle of divine manifestation, appearing in their midst to lead them out. But how has God visited and redeemed his people? As we read in Luke’s Gospel, in those songs connected with the birth of Jesus? Why by the day spring from on high having visited us? So if in the birth of Jesus there was, in this sense of the Bible idiom, God coming in the midst of his people, then that one through whom God had manifested himself ascended on high.

63. 44:18

    But God never comes into human life without accomplishing his purpose. God came down at the Exodus not to leave the work unfinished, and he wouldn’t ascend until the work was accomplished. So here the fact of the ascension of Jesus is a witness to the accomplishment of the means of salvation. Now we are quite safe, brethren and sisters, in seeing that Peter brought that out because Paul brings it out in the letter to the Ephesians at some length.

64. 44:54

    And so we’re quite sure that the illusion by Luke would have us turn back and see that Peter made all of that passage and brought out its implication. So you see, by the very use of a word, Luke is wanting us to call to mind the passage indicated and understand that he’s giving us this wonderful summary.

65. 45:17

    And he wants us to open it out for ourselves, and see the range of thought, and the wealth of meaning, and the beauty of the elaboration of the exposition of the Scriptures. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit. And the reference in that 68th Psalm is to gifts to men, which Paul explains of these gifted men by the Spirit of God.

66. 45:46

    So here he has shed forth this, which you now see in here, and you’ll observe the perfect parallel between Peter’s citation and its implications, and what Paul brings out in the letter to the Hebrews. But just as he must show that the passage in the Psalm couldn’t have referenced to David because David Sepulchre was there, so the passage of the ascent couldn’t refer to David because for the same reason the sepulchre was there. For David is not ascended into the heavens. Did David know then that this word had reference to someone else?

67. 46:25

    He did know, said Peter, but he said himself. You notice how the very structure of the sentence requires you to expand it like that. Did David know that this passage of the ascent in the Psalm didn’t refer to himself? He did know, for David himself said, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy force thy footstool.

68. 46:53

    And so he cites, he cites the 110th Psalm, the 110th Psalm, which begins The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand till I make thy force thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of thine. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. In other words, it’s clearly a messianic Psalm.

69. 47:14

    Therefore the Messiah, whoever he may be, must ascend to God’s right hand to remain there until the time when God will establish His power. And so Peter can now lead on to his conclusion, the 36th verse. Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made, and now He can make the application, that same Jesus whom He have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And you’ll mark that he takes the word Christ from the 16th Psalm, which speaks of him as the Messiah, and he takes the word Lord up from the 110th Psalm. He’s made him both Lord and Christ. And it wasn’t just done as an assertion. There was an elaboration of the meaning of the words and what was dignified thereby.

70. 48:02

    But Peter has already moved them to such length that they said, men and brethren, what shall we do? He said, you must be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. But the passage in Joel said, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And now, just as Peter has given the exposition from the 68th Psalm that there must be an ascent after God had manifested and visited his people, so here also the name of the Lord has been embodied in the manifestation of God in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Corrie says this promise of salvation which we’re setting before you go back, he says to what Joel says and just think of the blessed privilege that is yours. But Joel says as many as shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and you’re calling on him now. But he says let the other part of the passage come true also. Even as many as the Lord our God shall call. This is a divine ministry.

71. 49:13

    He says, this is the testimony of God, and God by this message is calling you. Unite your call with God’s call, and lay hold of this salvation with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourself from this unto our generation. Or he said, It is a remnant tomb. The Lord shall call, as Joel testifies. And so Luke adds it up by saying, the Lord added to the church dearly.

72. 49:40

    Such it should be said, for it was a selective process. And again, Peter goes back to look to the Joel passage, even the remnant, and he says make sure you’re in the remnant. Well, it calls for application, brothers and sisters, as we follow it through. But if we’ll only gird up the loins of our minds, I think we’ll perceive the strength of our position as we follow Apostolic thought and see how well founded our faith is.