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"29 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. 30 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, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."' 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." ~ Acts 2:29-36
Today, we return again to the first recorded sermon of the Apostle Peter. This sermon was delivered on the first Pentecost after the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord. The Feast of Harvest or Pentecost had long been a feast given by God to the Jews in the Old Testament pointing them to this day when God would send His Holy Spirit to indwell forever each believer in the Messiah. If God had not sent His Spirit to indwell us we would have no assurance of our salvation, we would not have the presence of Christ living inside of us, we would have no internal conviction of sin, and, we would not have access to God's power to experience the transformed life He so desires to give us.
In v.29-32 of today's passage we read, "29 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. 30 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, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses."
Having just quoted King David out of Psalm 16, Peter now reasoned with the Jews who had gathered that day at the courts of the Temple in Jerusalem. Peter highlighted the fact that the prophecy given by King David could not have been about himself because his grave was still with them. No one present that day could have challenged Peter’s logic that David could not have been speaking of himself. David died, his body saw corruption, testified to by the tomb which remained. Given this revelation, the prophecy in Psalm 16 was clearly speaking of someone else. So, by the direction of the Holy Spirit, Peter pointed his hearers to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and explained that the prophecy in Psalm 16 was all about the Lord.
By the way, the Lord Jesus is not a created being as taught by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons. However, the Lord Jesus, in His humanity, is a part of the creation. There is a world of difference between the two. The making of the body that the Lord Jesus Christ inhabited is an incidental part of God's creation, not a direct act of His creation. God prepared a body out of that which He had originally created so that the Lord Jesus could inhabit a human body. This is evidenced by Hebrews 10:5 which reads, "Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: 'Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.'"
Now, the Lord Jesus had to come as one hundred percent man and one hundred percent God. And, He had to die as a man because God cannot die. His divine nature is immortal, but His human nature could experience death. Therefore, He died a human death to redeem mankind and to pay the penalty for our sin, while remaining God. As we read in John 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
In v.33-36 of today's passage we read, "33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, 35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.' 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Throughout the Bible the "right hand" of God signifies the position of authority. The Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the "right hand" of God right now which means He possesses all of the authority of God, symbolized by the right hand. He is seated because He has completed His work for our salvation. There are times in the Bible where He is seen standing as was the case when Stephen was being stoned in Acts 7. The Lord Jesus stands because He is the defender of believers in such times.
So, the Lord Jesus was seen long ago by King David as the Messiah who sits at the right hand of God. God had promised David that one of His descendants would reign on His throne forever. It is this throne that is referred to in Isaiah 9:7 which reads, "Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
Peter clearly made the point that the promise of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit prophesied in Joel had come to pass. This is the firstfruits of that event typologically anticipated in Leviticus 23:17 which reads, "You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord." According to Leviticus 23, "two loaves" were to be presented. The loaves were to be "baked with leaven." This is one of only two times that leaven was to be presented to the Lord in the Old Covenant sacrificial system. Leaven pictures sin, and yet due to the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, sinful people could be presented to the Lord, justified through His death. The Jews now being filled with the Spirit represent one of the two loaves. The Gentiles will represent the other loaf a little later in this book of Acts. The symbolism is clear. There is and will always be a difference between the Church and Israel. Yet, there is one New Covenant, one gospel, and it is only through believing in the Lord Jesus as our Savior do we receive the promised Holy Spirit.
