Wednesday, September 6, 2017

PT-1 Prince of Life (Acts 3:15-17)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/6/2017 9:05 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-1 Prince of Life

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 3:15-17

            Message of the verses:  “15 but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. 16  "And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. 17 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.”

            We see in this section we are looking at that Peter is presenting a series of paradoxes.  We have seen that Jesus was a servant, and yet God highly exalted Him.  Jesus was the deliverer of the nation of Israel, as He was their promised Messiah, and yet they rejected Him and gave Him over to Pilate to have Him murdered.  The greatest paradox was that that they “put to death the Prince of life,” while asking for the release of the one who took a life or perhaps lives.

            John MacArthur tells us “Prince of life” translates archegos.  It refers to the originator, pioneer, or beginner of something. Hebrews 2:10 uses it in the phrase ‘author of salvation.’  In Hebrews 12:2 it describes Jesus as the ‘author’ of faith.  Here Peter uses it to describe Jesus as the originator of life.  That is a claim of deity for Jesus, since Psalm 36:9 describes God as the ‘fountain of life.’”

            We will look at some verses from the New Testament which shows Jesus as the source of life.  “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men (John 1:4).”  “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son (1 John 5:11b).”  “This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20b).”

            The following verses show us that Jesus claimed to be the source of life:  “"For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself (John 5:26).”  “"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies (John 11:25b).”  “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14:6).”

            As we continue to look at this sermon we will see that Peter does not stop at the death of Christ but goes on to talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is certainly one of the main themes that is found in the book of Acts.  Peter states

            One only has to go through 1 Corinthians to see what Paul said about the resurrection of Jesus Christ along with the resurrection of other believer who will follow to understand this great and wonderful truth which Peter speaks of in this sermon.

            Next Peter forcefully brings home the point that the Jews were the open enemies of the God they professed to love, the very God they had come to the temple to worship at this time that the miracle of this beggar occurred.  However we see that the One whom God had exalted they delivered up, and disowned and executed.

            We will continue to look at this section in our next SD.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Gabriel” (Daniel 9:21-14).

Today’s Bible question:  “Name the river in which Naaman washed seven times in.

Answer in our next SD.

9/6/2017 10:12 AM

 

 

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