Thursday, April 28, 2005
Acts 13:35-37 Therefore He also says in another Psalm: "You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption." For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; but He whom God raised up saw no corruption.
PSALM OF DAVID . . . SON OF DAVID
The psalm Paul is quoting here is the 16th Psalm, a psalm of David. David was a Jewish king from the tribe of Judah, who reigned over the Jews about 1000 years before Christ. Besides being a king for 40 years, David was a poet and a prophet. That is, he was someone to whom God the Holy Spirit gave words to speak to the people. Since it was God the Holy Spirit who spoke through David, he was given the ability to foretell events hundreds of years in advance of their occurrence. This may seem impossible to us, and it is, of course, impossible for mere human beings to utter such prophecies and have them come true. But, you see, God knows everything before they happen. Therefore He is able to foretell the future whenever He desires. Not only does He foretell the future; He can make it happen in accordance with His will. In fact, He can even use the plans and tactics of His enemies to carry out His own plans.
When David wrote this 16th Psalm, his readers did not know of whom he was speaking. Perhaps they thought he was speaking about himself, for in a sense, he was God's holy one. He had been chosen by God to be king over God's holy people.
But Paul in his sermon in the Jewish synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia points out that David could not have been speaking about himself. If he had been speaking about himself, he was a liar. "For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption." King David died as do we all, and his body was buried. There was no resurrection of his dead body. His body was buried and began to decompose and decay, just like everyone else's.
The apostle Peter said the same thing on Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2: "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. 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 the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades (another term that means about the same as Sheol), nor did His flesh see corruption."
In other words, the Holy Spirit permitted David to look ahead to the days of the Son of David, the Messiah. God had promised David that his dynasty would continue forever. David would have a Son who would rule forever. It was concerning this Son of David that David was writing. This Son would die but not stay dead. His body would be buried but not decay.
Jesus fulfilled this prophecy by His death and resurrection. Therefore He is without doubt the promised Son of David, ruling over His people forever. Jesus is without doubt the promised Messiah. His body did not decay in Joseph's garden tomb. His body escaped from that tomb, and Jesus in that resurrected body appeared to His disciples and changed their deep sadness into stupendous joy. Hear it, believe it, and enjoy life.
