• (14) 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“. (22) 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 – (23) Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; (24) whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. (25) 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. (26) Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad, Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope, (27) For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. (28) You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’ (29) “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. (30) 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 Christ to sit on His throne, (31) he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. (32) This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. (33) 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.

The Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke; physician, historian and beloved companion of the apostle Paul. To put our verses in context we must realize this spontaneous address by Peter happened only 50 days after that Resurrection of Christ Jesus. Just over 50 days since Peter had denied Christ three times; when nine of the apostles had fled from the garden of Gethsemane in terror after the arrest of Jesus and not one of His disciples recognized the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies. Now a short seven weeks later this uneducated fisherman from Galilee addressed a large hostile crowd in Jerusalem claiming Christ Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. And from that day on every one of the disciples stood firm in their conviction. What happened?

Luke tells us earlier in chapter 2 of Acts that on that first Pentecost Sunday with the gift of the Spirit, there was a sound from heaven as of a rushing wind and that noise caused the multitudes “from every nation under heaven” in Jerusalem for the feast of Harvest to come together. And then when Peter began to speak “everyone heard (and understood) them speak in his own language”. Peter begins with this phenomenon of what everyone was witnessing and hearing by quoting the prophesy of Joel – It’s so beautiful I have included it here: ‘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 My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit and they shall prophesy.” Peter then moved to authenticate Christ Jesus as the promised Messiah; through His miracles, His death and resurrection and now, through His authentication by the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost Sunday is recognized as the birthday of the church. We are now in the last days and the events of that far ago day tell us that faith must be specific to our Lord, Christ Jesus.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (5) who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (6) In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, (7) that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, (8) whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, (9) receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls.

The first letter written by the apostle Peter was written by him to Christians, shoring up their eternal perspective in the face of their present suffering. A problem of man is the emphasis on the here and now and the precipitous change in our “normal” lives today is giving us a mini lesson in what it means to be lost (or spiritually dead). Our situation today should open our minds to what Peter is saying: we are born spiritually dead and of this world. Human nature predisposes us to think that we, through our free will, good works and merit, can earn salvation – natural man has a very high view of his/her self and his/her worth. Peter is saying that salvation comes only from God the Father through God the Son, sealed by the Spirit. This most emphatically means that salvation does not come from man in any way – actually it comes from God in spite of man.

We have been restored to life by God in faith, in Christ, and our inheritance is said to be reserved or beyond the reach of danger because it is in God’s hands. Salvation is not indiscriminately for all and those in faith are distinguished from the rest. God didn’t choose the elect because He knew they would receive the gospel BUT because He determined before hand that they would believe the gospel. Scripture does not teach that Christians will inevitably continue to persevere in faith but it does teach that God will persevere in His commitment/promise and will bring all who have loved Him to heaven.

Trials are temporary, necessary and under God’s control. They are temporary compared to eternity and necessary to refine our faith. We learn through adversity and failure but the promise of Christ is that He is always with the faithful and He will be revealed. So the warning here is: Don’t drift.

Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. (2) Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” (3) Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. (4) So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. (5) And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. (6) Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, (7) and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded together in a place by itself. (8) Then the other disciple who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. (9) For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

Today we are going to look at the gospel of John (instead of the second reading) and consider that first Easter Sunday; when did the people closest to Jesus know what was happening and how did they behave. At the time of the arrest of Christ Jesus in Gethsemane we have the remaining 11 disciples (Judas was with the arresting party). The disciples were terrified by the arrest and 9 of them scattered, possibly to Bethany where they had returned nightly, but Peter and John probably closely followed the arresting party into Jerusalem. The arrest of Jesus was not done until after Judas went to the Jewish leaders Thursday night and they quickly organized. There is cause – because of the highly irregular Roman trial – to think the high priest visited Pilate late that night asking for a quick trial the next morning so Jesus could be executed before Passover began Friday at sundown. There was also the note Pilate’s wife sent him early Friday morning urging him to have nothing to do with the man on trial – how else would she have known of the impending trial or have had violent dreams unless she had overheard conversation the night before retiring? There is no indication in the narratives that there was universal realization of what was happening to Jesus until much later – probably the women who were close to Jesus didn’t know until early Friday. So we begin Friday morning with 7 of the close group of Jesus in the city and 5 of them were women. After the narrative of the crucifixion of Christ, the story switches to the women who were the principal witnesses of the resurrection.
From the gospels it would appear that the witnesses to the burial of Jesus body was down to three of the women. His mother Mary is removed from the scene, probably helped by the apostle John, with his mother Salome. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and John, and Joanna from Herod’s household were the witnesses to the wrapping of the body with spices and the internment in Joseph of Aramathema’s empty tomb – and the rolling of the heavy stone to seal the tomb. . The women probably then made plans to return Sunday morning to finish preparing the body which task was interrupted by the Sabbath beginning at sundown that Friday.
That first Easter Sunday at or just before sunrise, the women arrived at the tomb; the narrative tells us they were discussing who would roll away the stone as they made their way. Although John only mentions Mary Magdalene, certainly others accompanied her as she uses the word “we” when she reaches Peter. When the women arrived at the tomb at daybreak, the great stone had been rolled back and when they entered the tomb it was empty of the body: the burial clothes were there neatly and separately folded but the body of Christ was absent. An agent of God was also there and told them Jesus was risen – but the women, alarmed, had no understanding of what had taken place, and Mary Magdalene ran to where Peter and John were to announce that “they” had taken the Lord’s body. This is the last appearance of the women but memory of their testimony is in every document of this experience.
Now the narrative switches to the men. We know both Peter and John were placed in Jerusalem early Friday morning. (By Sunday night 10 of the remaining 11 apostles are also placed in Jerusalem. ). Peter and John are alerted by Mary Magdalene and race to the empty tomb. John emphasizes he arrived first and looked in but did not enter. Peter, of course, entered immediately and “saw” the empty cloths folded there. The implication of “saw” here would be he studied everything carefully but without understanding or connecting the evidence with a risen Savior. But John – who faltered at the entrance to the tomb with perhaps doubt – saw the cloths, and believed. Let us return now to verse 9: “For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead”.

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, (2) saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. (3) And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” (4) All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: (5) “Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” (6) So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. (7) They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. (8) And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. (9) Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!” (10) And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” (11) So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Our verses today are a chronicle of the beginning of the last week in the life of our Lord before the crucifixion and we need to understand the significance of His entry to Jerusalem (Zion) to understand what comes next. Jesus has been preaching in Galilee but now draws near to Jerusalem which was the end of His earthly pilgrimage; now we are there at the week of Passover which was the primary moment of Israel’s calendar year.
When Jesus sent his disciples to bring a donkey and an unridden foal He knows death is near and is openly showing the nature of His kingdom. Jesus is fulfilling that well known prophecy which was spoken by Zechariah 9:9. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you: He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” The Christ will come poor and meek unlike earthly kings in their pomp and splendor. Jesus came to Jerusalem to present Himself formally to the leaders of Israel as Messiah as predicted. He came then as a servant, in peace, extending grace rather than judgment. Jesus’ deliberate preparations for a city wide reception greatly contrasts with His former approach to ministry – this is apparent in the people’s recognition of the significance of such an entry. It was the solemn declaration of Christ that He was/is the Old Testament promised Messianic King. Jesus no longer keeps his Messianic secret.
By sending for the colt and ass Jesus initiates everything culminating in His crucifixion. Jesus is declaring who He is. But, in a nutshell, the Jewish people believed Jesus was the Messiah but didn’t understand the nature of the Messiah; they didn’t understand God’s plan of salvation and they wanted the Messiah of their own invention.