The Promise of Salvation and Resurrection

This week I read from Mark 10 to Acts 16. Acts is a book that recounts much of Jesus' ministry as the disciples proclaim the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles. And many times in their preaching, Paul, Peter, Philip, and many others, take their listeners back to the Old Testament Scriptures, pointing out that Jesus was the New Testament fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.

In Acts 2, Peter is preaching to the people Jerusalm and Judea on the Day of Pentacost. Standing with the eleven other disciples, Peter defends the inerrancy of Scripture and the deity of Christ using the words and life of Jesus, as well as the words from OT believers such as Joel and David.


One of the passages Peter quotes comes from Psalm 16:

For David says concerning him [Christ], I saw the Lord always before me, or he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence. (Acts 2:25-28, ESV)

 Going back to Psalm 16:8-11, we read:

I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

David, in this psalm describes his confidence in the Lord in the past, present, and future. Past, because he has consciously placed the Lord at the forefront of his mind, knowing that this will cause him to be steadfast regardless of people and circumstances around him. Present, because the core of his being ("heart" and "whole being") rejoices in God and is secure in the love of God. And future, because David knew that God removed the immediate threat of death, and would keep him safe in His will until the day he was resurrected into complete joy and pleasure.

Peter then takes these words of David's and brings them into his sermon defending the Lordship of Christ, especially that of the resurrection. For the resurrection was the event that proclaimed that Christ was who He said He was. David words--For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption--while speaking of his own physical death and resurrection, also spoke prophetically about Christ. And indeed, Peter uses these words to describe Christ's resurrection. David's body had never been raised, as of yet, but Peter goes on to say that Jesus was the fulfillment of these verses, in that He was raised from the dead and exalted at the Father's right hand. God kept His promise in preserving His Son's soul from corruption, and the disciples were witnesses of that fulfilled prophecy. Peter pointed to the crucified Christ and proved that He was exactly who He claimed to be--the Savior of the world and the long-awaited Messsiah of the Jews.

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. (Acts 2:29-33)

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36)

And so, this same promise was given to us, also: that the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead and exalted by the Father, and through Him we have the forgiveness of sins, the promise of a resurrected body, and the expectation of "fullness of joy" and "pleasures forevermore" when we enter Christ's presence.

For this promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. (Acts 2:39)

That promise should give us hope.