Act 2:22-23 | KingComments | STEP | Peter speaks to them as “men of Israel”, and not only as “men of Jerusalem”, or “men of Judea”, for he is going to speak of the general hope for the whole people. He is now going to tell why this baptism with the Holy Spirit took place. It was a direct act of the Lord Jesus Who is now exalted at the right hand of God. Fifty days after the events during the Passover, events of which memories will surely have faded, Peter suddenly confronts the people again with the Man of Nazareth. He recalls how the Lord Jesus did works of power [“miracles” is literally: “works of power”] and wonders and signs in their midst. These were all proof that in Him God was present among them. God did it through Him. They knew that. Peter speaks to them as completely responsible people, as people who know that Christ did everything in God’s power. They have had to recognize God in Him. Peter then tells them that they killed Him. They did not do that themselves, because they forced the Gentiles in the person of Pilate by manipulation to execute the death penalty on Him, but it does not make them any less guilty. On the contrary, they are even more guilty than Pilate ( ), although he too is completely guilty of the death of the Lord Jesus. Yet the death of Christ is not a surprise, not a matter that got out of hand. It is the perfect fulfillment of God’s counsel. God has perfect foreknowledge of what would happen to His Son, how His people would surrender Him. In this verse we see that God knows how to use man’s iniquity for His glorification and the fulfillment of His counsel, which, incidentally, does not change man’s responsibility. What man thought to be evil, God has turned to good ( ). Peter doesn’t say a word about the lie of the stolen body. He completely ignores it and preaches the truth of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus by God. In doing so, he testifies to the pleasure of God in the work of His Son and the full acknowledgment of it. Because of the perfection of that work, it was impossible for Him to be held by the agony of death. He tasted death for a short moment ( ), but death could not hold Him in its power. Death had no hold on Him. He entered death voluntarily and overcame it. God dissolved the bonds of death, in which He had been for a short time. It would have been, speaking reverently, unjust of God if He had not done so and left His Son in death.

‏ Acts 2:22-23

The Acts of God and of Man

Peter speaks to them as “men of Israel”, and not only as “men of Jerusalem”, or “men of Judea”, for he is going to speak of the general hope for the whole people. He is now going to tell why this baptism with the Holy Spirit took place. It was a direct act of the Lord Jesus Who is now exalted at the right hand of God.

Fifty days after the events during the Passover, events of which memories will surely have faded, Peter suddenly confronts the people again with the Man of Nazareth. He recalls how the Lord Jesus did works of power [“miracles” is literally: “works of power”] and wonders and signs in their midst. These were all proof that in Him God was present among them. God did it through Him. They knew that. Peter speaks to them as completely responsible people, as people who know that Christ did everything in God’s power. They have had to recognize God in Him.

Peter then tells them that they killed Him. They did not do that themselves, because they forced the Gentiles in the person of Pilate by manipulation to execute the death penalty on Him, but it does not make them any less guilty. On the contrary, they are even more guilty than Pilate (Jn 19:11b), although he too is completely guilty of the death of the Lord Jesus.

Yet the death of Christ is not a surprise, not a matter that got out of hand. It is the perfect fulfillment of God’s counsel. God has perfect foreknowledge of what would happen to His Son, how His people would surrender Him. In this verse we see that God knows how to use man’s iniquity for His glorification and the fulfillment of His counsel, which, incidentally, does not change man’s responsibility. What man thought to be evil, God has turned to good (Gen 50:20).

Peter doesn’t say a word about the lie of the stolen body. He completely ignores it and preaches the truth of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus by God. In doing so, he testifies to the pleasure of God in the work of His Son and the full acknowledgment of it. Because of the perfection of that work, it was impossible for Him to be held by the agony of death. He tasted death for a short moment (Heb 2:7a ; 9a), but death could not hold Him in its power. Death had no hold on Him. He entered death voluntarily and overcame it. God dissolved the bonds of death, in which He had been for a short time. It would have been, speaking reverently, unjust of God if He had not done so and left His Son in death.