Friday, April 22, 2005
Acts 13:28-30 And though they found no cause of death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead.
FULFILLMENT
The Book of Acts in the New Testament contains many excerpts from sermons preached by the apostles of Jesus in the early days of the church. The above verses from Acts 13 are taken from an address given by the apostle Paul in a Jewish synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia.
Note the simple factual presentation of what had recently happened in Jerusalem. Jesus of Nazareth had been put to death. The Jewish leaders had presented their case for crucifixion to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and he had yielded to their desires, even though Jesus was clearly innocent of all the charges brought against Him, and Pilate knew He was innocent.
All the actors in this drama had their reasons for doing as they did: jealousy, rage, self-interests, self-preservation. But as they carried out their own sinful desires, they were at the same time carrying out the plan of salvation foretold by God through the prophets. They, of course, did not realize they were fulfilling Old Testament prophecies. Nevertheless, everything they did on that day contributed to the fulfillment of the ancient Scriptures. They "fulfilled all that was written concerning Him."
Of course, fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy meant that Jesus' death and burial would not be the end of Him. Of course not! There had to be a resurrection of God's suffering Servant. And there was. "God raised Him from the dead." This is the main point the apostles wanted to get across in their early sermons. Jesus died and rose again. Since His death and resurrection were foretold in the Scriptures, therefore Jesus must be the promised Messiah.
