Behold and marvel, believe

Acts 13:16-41 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: ¹⁷ The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it. ¹⁸ For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. ¹⁹ When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took about four hundred and fifty years. ²⁰ After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²² After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’ ²³ From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, ²⁴ after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶ “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. ²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. ²⁸ And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. ²⁹ When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised Him from the dead; ³¹ and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. ³² And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, ³³ that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today i have begotten You.’ ³⁴ As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ ³⁵ Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.’ ³⁶ For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; ³⁷ but He whom God raised did not undergo decay. ³⁸ Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹ and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you:

⁴¹ ‘Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish;
For I am accomplishing a work in your days,
A work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.’”

Jesus says:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)  Many people say that it is narrow minded to think that Jesus would be the only way to heaven and to God. They make an argument, saying what about those who have never heard the gospel. I must admit that I don’t have an answer for that. I don’t know how it is that Jesus will present Himself as savior and redeemer to them. The thing is that’s not my problem. I don’t say that coldly or arrogantly as though I don’t care about those who have not heard. Rather I say it because I believe that it is true that Jesus is the way. I also believe that it is true that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) I also believe that God is:  not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)      So, it is not my problem how He accomplishes revealing Jesus, His Son as Lord and Savior. It’s His and while I can’t explain it I am confident He will do it. As the psalmist says:  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You. (Psalm 89:14)     

In truth, the thing about that argument is that it cannot be made by those who have heard the gospel, by those who have heard of Jesus. In reality then their argument is not an argument at all, it is merely an excuse. They are simply trying to justify their own decision, in light of their own awareness.   In today’s text it says:  For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed.   Many of those who rejected Jesus when He was here, were those who heard the most about Him, those who knew and studied the scriptures about Him. They too had no excuse.      In Romans 1:15-32 it says:  I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen... And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.    In John 3:16-19, Jesus Himself says it this way:  “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

Like Jesus I do not condemn and like Paul, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. As the psalmist says:   Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.  I don’t know how it is that God will reveal salvation through Christ to everyone, but I believe because He is loving, righteous and just, He will. He will reveal truth to everyone. Then each one must decide for themselves, they must choose, light or darkness, truth or a lie, there are no excuses. God can and will do it because of love. Yet Jesus has called and commissioned us to join Him in the revelation to others. He has called us to be His witnesses. (Acts 1:8) He has commissioned us to: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)    Today’s text ends saying:    Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you:   ‘Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish; For I am accomplishing a work in your days, A work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.’”

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for Your love, Your righteousness, justice and truth. Thank You for the revelation of Your love, demonstrated in the cross of Christ. Thank You for the witness of Your word, and of creation itself. I am not ashamed of the gospel and its power for salvation. I will not be silent, so that my silence would never be anyone’s excuse.   Amen.