“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,
“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for 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.’
“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 all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. – Acts 2:22–33 (ESV)
Eckhard Schnabel writes:
Jesus of Nazareth who died on a cross is the promised Messiah and the Lord who reigns at God’s right hand. The pivotal explanation of Pentecost is linked with Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and exaltation to God’s right hand. This means that Jesus is significant for historical reasons (He lived, performed miracles, He died on a cross, he rose from the dead, He ascended to the right hand of God), for theological reasons (His life, death, resurrection, and exaltation are part of God’s plan to save Israel and the world), and for pastoral and evangelistic reasons (He lives, He bestows salvation, He transforms through the Spirit). The central content of Peter’s sermon is Christological.
The connection between the coming of the Spirit and the person of Jesus constitutes both an invitation and a promise of salvation. Jesus invites us to “call on the name of the Lord” and thus acknowledge that He, the crucified Jew from Galilee, is indeed the Messiah and the Lord. At the same time His life, death, resurrection, and exaltation are an offer of salvation: those who invoke Jesus’ name in acknowledgement of who He was on earth and who He is in heaven will be saved from their sins and from condemnation on the day of judgment.
MEMORY WORK – Shorter Catechism Q/A 61
Q. 61. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission or careless performance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.