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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 2:33 - 2:36
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The conclusion of Peter's sermon:
v. 33. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.
v. 34. For David is not ascended into the heavens; but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand,
v. 35. until I make Thy foes Thy footstool.
v. 36. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ.
A powerful peroration or conclusion! After his testimony concerning the resurrection of Jesus there was one more point which Peter was bound to make, namely, the proof of Christ's exaltation into glory, with the attendant majesty and power. In this case he did not cite the testimony of the apostles' personal witnessing, since this step of Christ's glorification had been hidden from human eyes. But the ascension and exaltation was a necessary consequence of the resurrection. Jesus was by the right hand of God exalted, raised by the omnipotent power of God to the highest dignity in the realms of glory; Jesus received the promise of the Holy Spirit from. the Father; Jesus poured the Spirit out upon the disciples, as the Jews were now witnessing to their great astonishment, both with their eyes in seeing the tongues of fire and with their ears in hearing the unlearned fishermen declare the great wonders of God in more than a dozen languages and dialects. It was testimony of a kind which no sane man among the hearers would dream of calling into question. And this miracle of the exalted Christ was, in turn, predicted in the Old Testament, another fact which should convince them of the truth of Peter's remarks. For David, as they well knew, had not ascended into heaven. The words therefore which he had written, Psa_110:1 : The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand till I place Thine enemies as a footstool for Thy feet, could not apply to David. The passage, then, as even the Jews admitted, must refer to Christ; the words had found their fulfillment in the ascension of Jesus. Having therefore, by the soundest kind of evidence, brought proof for the statements which he made in his introduction, Peter was ready for the logical, powerful conclusion and application. With convincing confidence and startling directness he appeals not only to the present hearers, but to the whole house of Israel whom they represented, to have the correct understanding of the facts brought out by his sermon, namely, that God had made that same Jesus whom they had crucified both Lord and Christ. He had made Him Lord by exalting Him to the everlasting throne of majesty and power; and He had made Him Christ by thus establishing all the prophecies of old concerning the Messiah as referring to Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus and His entire ministry were vindicated in a most glorious and incontrovertible manner. Such is the preaching of Christ which should obtain in the Christian Church at all times. That is the content of all Christian preaching: Jesus Christ, true God and man, crucified and resurrected, our Lord and Savior.