NT Framework - Explaining Pentecost

Pentecost fulfills prophecy and reveals a mystery. The Church was an unknown thing prior to Pentecost, as the Jews as a nation had rejected their Messiah a new group took the stage. Not as the new main character, but as a significant subplot to advance the story and in doing so more fully reveal the Glory of God through His grace and mercy.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Transcript

Welcome And New Testament Framework

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Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, the full lesson from Jeremy Thomas. Here's a hint of what's to come.

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There are four ways that New Testament authors quote the Old Testament. And actually, next week when we get into Matthew 2, the story of the wise men and all that, all this is a prep for that. All four types of usages are found in Matthew chapter 2, which is what we'll study.

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As you read the Bible, there are certain days that stand out as unique among all others. The long day of Joshua, the birth of the King or Messiah Jesus Christ, and the day of Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit was given to all believers, and done so in a majestic and beautiful way, signifying the specialness of this event. For no time before that had anyone received the Holy Spirit upon belief and remained with the Holy Spirit. Prophets and kings would have the Spirit, but the Spirit would come and go. This day of Pentecost was unique. It was unique among all other days. And not only was it unique in this way, it fulfilled so many prophetic statements from the Old Testament. There is much to be said in the Old Testament about this, and much to be learned today. So let's jump in and see what the day of Pentecost has for us. What encouragement and exhortation?

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Okay, so last week in Acts chapter 2, verses 1 through 13, as we do the background for the doctrine that comes out of the event of Pentecost, that doctrine will focus on the Holy Spirit and his various works in the church age, you know, regeneration, indwelling, baptism, sealing, spiritual gifts, and some

Pentecost And Israel’s Spring Feasts

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others. We'll be looking at all those, but behind all that is the events that happen on the day of Pentecost, and we've been focusing on this particularly Jewish feast, the fourth spring feast in the Jewish calendar, which they had seven feasts every year. And uh this one was the fourth in the spring. Of course, you have Passover, and that of course relates to the sacrifice for sin that Christ made on the cross. He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Uh coupled with this was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which signified Israel's separation from Egypt, right? And signifies our the importance of us breaking with sin, breaking with the pagan culture around us. And then, of course, first fruits was the day that the Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected on the third day. And he's the first fruits, which is an assurance of more to follow. They would bring the sheaf and wave the barley before the Lord on the early part of the harvest, an assurance of more to follow. And then, of course, the Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost, which was fifty days after firstfruits, and this is when the harvest had come in, and the first loaves of bread from the harvest uh were uh shown before the Lord at the temple. So this is applied in the book of Acts to the day that the Holy Spirit came and began the church because the Lord Jesus Christ had ascended and was with the Father. He could then send forth the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. So we've been looking at this really unique event,

Wind, Fire, And Real Languages

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right? Um, and controversial one because of the tongue speaking. But basically, there is a obviously miraculous event that transpires in Jerusalem on that day. It was a sight and sound miracle. Uh the sound was that of a mighty rushing wind, and wind signifies the Holy Spirit many places in the Old and New Testament, like John 3:8. You with wind, you you don't see it or where it comes from, but you see the effects of it, so it is with the Spirit of God. And so this sound that you see in Acts chapter 2, verse 2, is this signifying the Spirit's arrival. Also, you have the uh sound and this other sound called the tongues and a visual fire, uh the tongues you know that distribute in the cells like fire upon either the twelve or the hundred and twenty, and they began to speak in uh other languages. We said these are foreign tongues, foreign languages, the Greek word glosa, um, and it's real languages. And you can see that quite easily because there are people there in verses 9 and 10 and 11 who are from all over the Mediterranean world and they're hearing in their own native tongue, their own native language. So they understood what was being said because they were native speakers of these languages. Uh but not only that, what was so astonishing was they weren't just speaking in foreign languages that they never learned or studied, but they were speaking even in the exact dialects of certain areas in these provinces. And that was very impressive because they say, are not all these Galileans? And um Galileans, of course, were considered among the Jewish people to be basically like country bumpkins. You know, people who live up there by the Sea of Galilee, maybe they fish or are involved in trade along the trade routes, but um they weren't considered to be educated people. And so how how could they be speaking in these foreign languages and uh these dialects? So they're asking that question, and that's really the important question in verses, you know. Where do they ask? How can they do these things? Um, yeah, verse 8. And how is it that we hear each of them? How can this happen? How can this be? So there are two groups of Jews there on the day of Pentecost.

Two Jewish Crowds Hear Two Things

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Let's just kind of pick up in verse 14 because you can see these two groups. But Peter taking his stand with the eleven. So they had tried to give an explanation. They uh, the Judeans, the Jews from the native area in verse 13 said, Oh, they're they're full of sweet wine. Sweet wine was evidently more intoxicating. And so maybe the explanation is that they're drunk. But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and he declared to them, men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem. Now, there's actually two groups there. Those are not the same groups. The men of Judea are the people from the area of Judea around Jerusalem. But those who, he says, live in Jerusalem, that is actually a word Katoi Kea, which means temporary resident. They were not from that area, but they temporarily resided there because they came for Passover, unleavened bread, first fruits, and then 50 days later, Passover. So they're there for an extended period of time. Uh we would say basically a couple months, right? And those are the people who were from the diaspora. So you have these two groups of Jews, and it's important to keep in mind that there are two groups of Jews here. One group, they understand the languages because they're from out in the diaspora, and those are the languages that are being spoken. But the people in Judea, they don't understand those languages because they don't speak those languages. So they say, ah, they must be drunk. So Peter in this verse takes his stand with the eleven, and he declares to the men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. For these men are not drunk as you suppose, because it's only the third hour of the day, which was 9 a.m. But this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. And then he quotes a long section from Joel chapter 2, verse 28 through 32. Now, if you just kind of back away from your Bible, if you're not using an electronic Bible, one of the advantages is you can kind of see a big page, maybe two, sometimes two chapters or so on both pages. And if you just kind of scan, starting in verse 17, you're going to see a lot of uh quotations from the Old Testament. Usually a Bible, if it's a study Bible, or they'll offset the quotes in a different font so you know that the author's quoting something from the Old Testament. If they don't do that, sorry, you might just have to get another Bible or something. But um but it's helpful to see where they're quoting the Old Testament. So verse 17 is a quote from the Old Testament, 18, 19, 20, 21. And then you start in verse 22 and you just start scanning, and then when you get to verse 24 and 25, you see in verse 25 there's a quote from the Old Testament, 26, 27, 28, those all come from the Old Testament, right? Then you have verse 29, no. Verse 30, yes. Verse 31, yes. And then you keep scanning down and you get to verse 34, and again, 34 and 35 are quote from the Old Testament. And then his uh sermon is somewhat over in verse 36 or so there or so. And well, he keeps going, but there's some the dialogue there. If you do like just some sketchy math, just quick math, which which which is what I did, and you ask yourself, how much of this Old Testament is Peter, and how much of this this sermon is Old Testament? Is it is it Peter talking or is he quoting the Old Testament? I did some rough math, and sixty-eight percent of his sermon is quotations from the Old Testament. Now we're often told, well, we live in the New Testament, we don't really need the Old Testament. I mean Jesus came, he died, he rose. Okay, we don't need this Old Testament stuff anymore. Uh we'll just study the New Testament. Here's the problem with that. You start to study the New Testament and you read what Peter wrote here in this sermon, given on the day of Pentecost, and you realize that, well, 68% of it came from the Old Testament. So if we don't know the Old Testament, how in the world are we supposed to know that understand the New Testament? See? So what I want to do today is kind of take us back as we walk through the passage and take you to these passages that he quoted. 68% of which that's a lot of a sermon. So the first one is coming here in uh chapter 2, verse 17, where he says, This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. And what's interesting is, I mean, he's a Jew, right? Peter's a Jew. And so obviously he's fairly conversant with the Old Testament. So this is what came to mind when he heard the sound and of the tongues and saw the tongues of fire resting on the individuals who spoke on the day of Pentecost.

Joel And The Day Of The Lord

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He thought about Joel. Now, what's interesting is you go to study Joel in his original context. Let's just go there. Hold your place in Acts because we'll we'll be back.

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Acts chapter two, all the way back to Joel. Chapter two. Right before Amos, right after Hosea.

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Joel is known as the prophet of the day of the Lord, because he's one of the earliest uh prophets to predict a period of time in history in which uh God would intervene catastrophically and bring about judgment on the world and deliverance of Israel. In the context of these types of passages, which we usually would just call the tribulation time. That's what most people call it. But the Old Testament terminology for that is the day of the Lord. And Joel's all about the day of the Lord. You can see it there in chapter 2, verse 1. Blow a trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm on my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. Surely it is near. And then he describes that day, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Um, there's never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it. So it's a totally unique period of history. That's the context. And this all we know will occur in the last days of Israel before Christ comes back the second time to set up his kingdom. Come on down to chapter 2, uh, verse 12. What is, well, verse 11. Do you see at the end of verse 11? The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome. Who can endure it? Because it's the the judgment is so intense. Yet even now, verse 12 declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart. This is a call to Israel to return with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts and not your garments. Now return to the Lord your God, because he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving-kindness, and relenting of evil. Famous passage from Deuteronomy 34. So even the Old Testament authors quote the Old Testament. Um, this is a time when Israel needs to get right with God again, right? And of course, there will be a believing remnant during that time. There will also be a non-remnant of Israel who will be judged. Um, notice verse 17 in this time let the let the priests, the Lord's ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your inheritance a reproach. Do not make Israel a reproach, just a byword among the nations. Why should they, among the people, say, Where is their God? You know, why should the nations say, Where is Israel's God? You know, that would be a reproach. And so all this deals with the end of what we call the last days of Israel, right? But notice verse 18, what the Lord will do. It says, Then the Lord will be zealous for his land and will have pity on his people. Speaking of Israel, right? He's gonna bring them back to himself. And he has uh zeal for even the land of Israel, the promised land that God covenanted with Abraham. And so the Lord, you know, is now going to work on behalf of them. Verse 19, he will answer and say to his people, Behold, I'm gonna send you grain, new wine, and oil, you will be satisfied and full with them. I will never again make you a reproach among the nations. So this is the time period when Israel is restored, and never, ever, ever, ever, ever again will they be a reproach among the nations. Now, has that ever occurred? No, even right now, they're a reproach among the nations, you know. Uh people are rising anti-Semitism again. So uh the last verse before our section is verse 27, and that's where he says, Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other, and my people will never be put to shame. So this is obviously, I'm just trying to say, hey, this is way forward focus in Joel's prophecy, and then the next section is what Peter quotes on the day of Pentecost as an explanation of tongue. So let's look at what he says here. It will come about after this, that I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. And your sons, Israel's sons, and Israel's daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions, even on the male and the female servants, I will pour out my spirit. In those days, I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke. These are things that happen in the day of the Lord, right? That result in Israel's deliverance and the pouring out of his spirit on Israel as they go into the messianic kingdom for a thousand years. He says, the sun will be turned into darkness, the moon will be turned into blood. Before, here it is, before the great and awesome day of the Lord. So you have the day of the Lord, that's a whole period of judgment, what we usually just say the seven-year tribulation, right? And then you have the great and awesome day of the Lord. That's the day of the second coming. That's the actual day when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back to deliver Israel and ultimately set his feet down on the Mount of Olives, right? And well, then the king has returned. So this is what uh well, verse 32. It will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. So this is what Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost. And what's so interesting about it, right, is that did you read anything about tongues in there? Did Joel predict that people would speak in tongues? No. There's no discussion of tongues. There's discussion of cosmic phenomena like the moon turning to blood, the sun being darkened. But you ask the question, well, did any of that stuff happen on the day of Pentecost? Was there any description of the sun being darkened? Was there any description of the moon turning to blood? Was there fire and columns of smoke? You know, none of that happens. So you see why New Testament scholars come to this passage and they say, why in the world did Peter quote this?

Four Ways The New Testament Quotes

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Well, let's uh take a look at this slide. There are four ways that New Testament authors quote the Old Testament. And actually, next week when we get into Matthew 2, the story of the wise men and all that, all this is a prep for that, all four types of usages are found in Matthew chapter 2, which is what we'll study. So just real quick, there's the simple the four different ways. First of all, direct fulfillment. This means there's a straightforward prophecy and fulfillment. And an example would be the prophets said that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, and guess where Jesus was born? Bethlehem. That is the easiest type, and that is what most people think of when they think of Bible prophecy being fulfilled. But there are other ways that the New Testament authors quoted the Old Testament. Um, we would ask ourselves, first of all, before we move past direct fulfillment, is Peter quoting Joel because Joel was directly fulfilled on the day of Pentecost? Well, I mean, no. Most of the things that that Joel predicted did not happen on that day. So, um, but this will be directly fulfilled in the future with Israel, just as Joel said. So that's to be expected. But the question still is, well, why did he quote it then? Not as a direct fulfillment. Secondly, there's typological fulfillment. That means that in the Old Testament a type is established, and then later, in the New Testament, you find an anti-type. For example, Hosea says that Israel went down to Egypt. We know the story, right? It's all there in the book of Genesis. You know, they went down to Egypt and they were there for 400 years, and then they came out of Egypt. You had the intricus to Egypt, later you had the Exodus from Egypt. Well, guess what? The Messiah was the antity to that, to the nation. And just as the nation went down to Egypt and later came out, so the Messiah went down to Egypt, and when Herod was dead, he came out. So that's a typological fulfillment in that Israel was the type, the Messiah was the antitype. So as goes the nation, so went the Messiah. The nation Israel is to say, hey, look, the same path that our nation walked is the same path that the Messiah would walk. And therefore, when Jesus walks that path, that must mean that Jesus is the Messiah. That again isn't probably that's not what is happening in Joel chapter 2, but it's interesting to know that they quote it in this way. The third type of way New Testament authors quote the Old Testament is called applicational fulfillment. And this is just like a pastor making an application of a passage, maybe in the Old Testament, that refers to Israel, and uh I make an application to us, something like that, because of similarities between Israel and what we face in the church, right? So this is what it basically is. It means that there's some historical or prophetic event in the Old Testament that is quoted in the New Testament because some current event is so similar to it that it comes to mind. For example, again, Jewish women wept when their sons and husbands were taken captive to Babylon. Of course they wept. And then in the New Testament, in Matthew 2, guess what happens? Jewish women weep because their baby boys around Bethlehem are murdered by Herod. So because this new current event is similar to the old one that happened in the days of Jeremiah, the author in the New Testament picks up that passage from Jeremiah and he says, Hey, it's been fulfilled. In many cases, they're not even prophecies, they're just historic events. But the point is that there's something similar, and so the author quotes it and says it's fulfilled. And that's not how we use fulfilled, but this is the way they used it. So uh we're trying to understand that. Um that's exactly what Peter's doing when he quotes Joel too. So it's this third type of quotation that Peter is using on the day of Pentecost. There is one point of similarity between what happened on the day of Pentecost and what Joel predicted would happen. And we just read Joel, so we can glance here as we're still in Joel. Verse 28 says it, I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. There had been on the day of Pentecost a what? A pouring out of the spirit. That's the explanation for tongues. They said, How can these this be? Well, well, because the Holy Spirit had been poured out, and he was the one that Acts 2.4 says was giving them utterance. The Spirit was giving them utterance. So that's why he quoted the Joel passage. You say, Well, why did he quote so much of it? It's like five verses. Well, because Jews, first of all, didn't memorize verses. Because guess what? They didn't have verse divisions.

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Neither did they have chapter divisions. Those things didn't even come until the church church history.

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Okay. I mean, the chapter divisions, what? 1260, Stephen Langton, something like that. Verse divisions. First Bible to show up with verse divisions was 1560. The Geneva Study Bible. The first Bible in all of history to have chapter and verse divisions was only, what, not even 500 years ago. So most people in history didn't have that. So if you don't have verses to memorize, because there are no such things as verses, what do you think you memorized? Sections. That's what the Jews memorized, sections of Scripture. So when we come to Acts chapter 2 and we see him quoting five verses from Joel 2, what do we know? He's quoting what he had memorized in his sermon. So that's the first thing to understand about the meaning of Acts 2 is that he quoted Joel to show that the explanation of tongues was that a pouring out of the Spirit had taken place. That's mentioned in verse 2.17 and also in 2.18. And what had Jesus predicted in Acts 1.5? What did he predict in Acts 1.5? John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So obviously the Holy Spirit was the prediction, and Peter agrees with that. What does Peter further say a little farther on in his sermon, verse 33? Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, this is the exaltation of Christ, to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he, that is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, has poured forth this which you both see and hear. Remember, it's a miracle that is a sight and sound phenomena. And the explanation of it is in this verse also the Holy Spirit. So nothing else in Joel happened on the day of Pentecost. Peter quoted it because that's what he memorized. His point was to make an application of it to this new situation that happened. And of course, we still expect Joel to be fulfilled to Israel in the latter days. That's the first quote from the Old Testament. See what I mean? It's hard. This would be really, really difficult if we didn't understand and study these things out to know why he had done this. And quoted this.

Jesus’ Miracles And The Cross

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Let's move on in his sermon, verse 22. Men of Israel. Remember, the men had, you know, three times a year had to show up for the feast. So that's why he addresses them as the men of Israel. Listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene. Now, were the Nazarenes considered, you know, well, can anything good come out of Nazareth? That was the question in the Gospels, right? And yet come and see, right? And uh something good had come out of Nazareth. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know. I mean, these were publicly done miracles, signs, and wonders. And Peter is attesting to the Messiahship of Jesus because of these miracles that he had done. And isn't that, if you look back at verse 11, isn't that exactly what they were speaking in these foreign languages?

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And we each hear them in our own tongue speaking of what? Speaking of what? The mighty deeds of God.

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Which verse 22, Peter is saying, God performed through him. Both those verses are talking about the miracles, signs, and wonders that Jesus did in his earthly ministry. So when they spoke in tongues, they weren't giving the gospel or something like that. They were recounting the miracles that had been done. Now, the diaspora Jew who understood these languages, he didn't live in the land of Israel. Right? He lived out there. They lived in Parthia, Me, you know, Greece, other places, right? Macedonia, Achaia. They weren't there in the land to see these miracles. They were hearing about it in foreign languages on the day of Pentecost. But the men of Israel who were native, who lived in the land, verse 22 says, hey, you yourselves know you were here. You saw him, you heard him teach, you saw him do his astonishing miracles. So I'm now recounting this to you. Uh his sermon is essentially about who Jesus is and what he has done. Essentially, and most importantly, his resurrection, as we'll see. So, verse 23, this man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, pre-science. God knows everything, but he knows here it stated something in advance, of course. The crucifixion was predetermined. It was a part of the plan of God from before the foundation of the world. Remember, he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That God would create a history in which man would rebel against him, sin against him, and therefore need someone to pay the penalty for that sin is a part of the plan of God. It doesn't mean God caused these things, like man to sin or something like that. But he created a responsible agent, Adam, and the woman Eve, out of Adam. As I would say in the past, he created them incorrupt, but corruptible, meaning they had the capacity to become corrupt. And God, knowing all things in advance, knew that they would. And so part of his eternal plan from before time and space was the deliverance over of this man, the Messiah, to pay the sin penalty of the world. And he says, and look what you did to him. You nailed him to a cross, you Jews, by the hands of godless men. That's the Romans, right? And put him to death. But God raised him up. You didn't approve of him, but God did approve of him. See? Which is Peter's way of putting his audience at odds with God in order to get conviction. And by verse 37, they'll be convicted. It says, Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart. So this is his way of creating conviction. You killed him, God raised him again. Putting an end to the agony of death. By the way, the word agony is a word that's most commonly used for a woman in childbirth. Now, half of the human race doesn't know what that's like. Well, we've never experienced it. The other half, only a portion of them, have experienced it, right? But this is not a wonderful pain. I mean, I can't attest to it other than I see I've seen it, you know, my wife. But um, this is considered like the ultimate pain. And this is the same type of pain that's described that Christ faced during the crucifixion. It was agony. But God put an end to that agony by way of resurrection, since it was impossible for him to be held in his power. Now, why was it impossible for Jesus Christ to remain dead? Now he actually died on the cross, right? The soldier came by, used his spear, and went up under the ribcage through the heart. Out came blood and water, signifying he was dead, a separation of the blood and water. And um this indicated he was dead. They took him off the tree, they buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea on a Friday, and he was in there, so a portion of Friday, which counts as a whole day in Jewish thinking, all day Saturday, of course, and then was resurrected on Sunday. And um so it's quite clear he died, but it was impossible for him to remain dead, right? Because of something that David said. What does David have to do with this? David has almost everything to do with this. The next section is a quote.

Psalm 16 And The Resurrection Argument

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Where does this quote come from in verse 25, 26, 27, 28? Look in your margin. We have a study Bible. Psalm 16, verses 8, 9, 10, and 11. So let's hold our place here again.

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Let's go back. Psalm 16.

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Once again, just to point out how much Old Testament you have to know to understand the New Testament, right? Now, there are a lot of discussions about the Psalms of David. I mean, David wrote the majority of the Psalms, right? This one at the title is called the Micktam of David, which is a specific type of poetry. It's very concise and has one major point. There's a lot of discussion about this psalm because, well, David wrote it. But the question is, is it about David? David wrote it, but is it about David? Or is it about someone who is a greater than David, who would be the seed of David? And as a prophet, was he prophesying of the Messiah when he wrote this psalm? Now, there's a lot of people in the last 15 to 20 years in theological circles who are downplaying the messianism of the Old Testament. And they want to say that it's a lot less messianic than we previously thought. And they will say that passages like Psalm 16 are not about the Messiah, they're about David, or they're partially about David and maybe partially about Messiah. But at any rate, they're downplying how messianic the Old Testament is. Now, I don't think one word of this entire psalm is about David. I think the entire thing is messianic. I think it's all about Messiah. Some of the things here may sound similar to things that David experienced, but none of them really fit anything in David's life to a T. And we know that God made a covenant with David, a Davidic covenant, and that covenant promised he would have an eternal descendant, who would sit on an eternal throne and rule an eternal kingdom. And therefore, since David was the initial person to whom God made this covenant, David could be a prophet to speak of the one who would come as his ultimate descendant. So this psalm is essentially about the Messiah through David. Notice verse 5 the Lord is the portion of my inheritance, he is my cup. Now, that's talk. If you ask yourself about that phrase, is he talking to the Lord or is he talking about the Lord in that phrase? You'll say, well, he's talking about the Lord. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup. He's not talking to him. But then look at the next phrase. You support my lot. He's not talking now about the Lord, he's talking to the Lord. And he's functioning both as a prophet and a priest here. I mean, the Messiah is, because the prophet tells you about God. The priest talks to God. And there is this interplay, which is in our minds heavily messianic, in my mind. The passage goes on the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me. Isaiah talks about how the Father woke the mess would wake the Messiah up every single morning and teach him personally. The scriptures and his humanity. And here he's talking of this counsel. I will bless the Lord who Yahweh who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. This is, he would wake him early in the morning and in the night while it's still night and teach him, instruct him. And then the verses that Peter quotes, I have set the Lord continually before me. Now, did David do that? I mean, continually? Was the Lord before him when he was with Bathsheba? When he was plotting to have Uriah murdered? Was the Lord continually before him at that point? No, see, this is someone who's a greater than David. This is the seat of David. And David is prophesying of him. I have set the Lord continually before me, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. The right hand position of strength. Position of find help. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely. Now that's a strange phrase. My flesh also will dwell securely. That's a strange phrase. But then the explanation is given in verse 10. For you, now he's speaking directly to God again, you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, to the grave. Sheol is sometimes used as the grave. So we're getting hints here at the resurrection, right? He would not be abandoned to the grave. Nor he says, will you allow your holy one to undergo decay? Meaning he wouldn't be in the grave for a long period of time.

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Right?

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He would actually die, but he would not be there for an extended period of time. And then the results of this resurrection in verse 11, you will make known to me the path of life, in your presence is fullness of joy, and your right hand pleasures forever. He would be restored to God. He would be back in his presence through the ascension. So that's what Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost about the resurrection in 224. He put an end to the agony, the pain of death, because it was impossible to him to be held in its power. He had no sin. And then he quotes that passage. And then notice what he says about Psalm 16 in verse 29. This is Peter's commentary on Psalm 16. He says, Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David, who wrote that Psalm, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. So could Psalm 16 really be about David? If his tomb was still with them to this day? They knew where it was in the first century, take you down there. And so, verse 30, because he was a prophet, there it is, David was not just a king, he was also a prophet, right? And this prophet knew something. He knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne. Then David, he says, looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah. That he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh suffer decay. Another quote from Psalm 16, 10 again. But there's one other little passage there that's quoted in verse 30 that David knew of.

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And that's in verse 30, a quotation from where? Psalm 132, right, verse 11.

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Good.

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So let's look at it. Another Davidic Psalm. Psalm 132, verse 11. Again, I really want to impact you with the importance of knowing the Old Testament. If you're going to know your Messiah, you need to know what? You need to know your Old Testament. The very first verse in the entire New Testament, Matthew 1.1, says, a genealogy of David. These are the generations of David, the son of Abraham. Those guys are from the Old Testament. We need to know these guys. We need to know what God did with them in their lives. Here's Psalm 132, Song of Ascents, also a Davidic Psalm. And notice verse 10. For the sake of David, your servant, do not turn away the face of your anointed. The Lord has sworn to David, a truth from which he will not turn back. And here is what the Lord. Right there, that's the Lord is Yahweh, okay, right? All caps. Yahweh, what the Jews call the tetragrammaton. What I call the name of God. Sometimes we pronounce it Yahweh, but it's just the four letters, Y-H-W-H. We don't know exactly what the vowels were or how it's exactly to be pronounced. But we usually just say Yahweh. Yahweh has sworn to David a truth from which you will not turn back. Of the fruit of David's body I will set upon your throne. And if your son, if your sons will keep my covenant, my testimony, which I will teach them, their sons shall also sit upon your throne forever. See, there's David. Then David has many sons, but only one became the king, anointed king, that was Solomon. And then through Solomon Rehaboam. And then the line goes on. But that line ultimately comes to rest on one individual, an eternal individual, the Messiah.

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And this is the passage that Peter insists that David knew.

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And so when he's writing Psalm 16, he knew about the covenant that God had made him to sit one of his descendants on the throne of David forever. And so he quotes that in Acts chapter 2, verse 30. That David, because he was a prophet, he knew that God had made this covenant to see one of his descendants on his throne. He looked ahead and he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah. Now this Jesus, verse 32, Acts 2.32, this Jesus, God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. He says, hey, here we are. It's me, it's these other Galileans who spoke in these foreign tongues. We were all witnesses of the resurrection, right? And that's what Jesus said they would be, they would do. They would be witnesses to the resurrection. The chief thing that they are doing in the book of Acts, if you trace the sermons of Peter and later Paul, is they are testifying to the resurrection of the Messiah. Because he said in Acts 1.8, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the remotest parts of the earth. Witnesses of what? Their own personal testimonies? No. The testimony that Christ, the Messiah, predicted by the prophets, especially David, is risen. Verse 33, therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, this is John 16, 7, right? Jesus said, Hey, if I don't go, it's not going to be good for you, but if I go, I will send the helper from the Father. See, the book of Acts is a story about how Jesus departed, he ascended. But he didn't leave us an orphan. He sent the Spirit in His stead to carry out what Christ said he would do, which is to build his church. So the question becomes, well, how does he build his church? By means of his spirit. We often talk, and the emphasis, rightly so, is on the death and the resurrection of Christ. But the there's two events that happen after that that in the church have not been emphasized nearly as much. And that is the ascension of Christ. And his exaltation or session at the right hand of the Father. These are truly remarkable and important events. Christ died and rose in the first century, but the question becomes what is he doing now? Once he ascended, he took a certain position at the right hand of the Father and began to function in a priestly ministry. And what is he administering? He's administering this thing called the law of Christ, which is directly related to our spiritual lives here and now. So this ascension idea that he went, he had to go. He could not send the Spirit unless he went. Because he had to go, verse 33 says, to receive the Spirit from the Father, and then pour it forth to bring about the sight and sound phenomena on the day of Pentecost, which was the Spirit speaking, the mighty deeds of God, the things that the Messiah had done. And this was all a testimony to Israel, the men of Israel, right? Verse 22, men of Israel. He wants to get a conviction. You killed him, but God raised him. And now he's proving all that from the Old Testament. One more passage, verse 34. For it was not David who ascended into heaven. So again, these prophecies are not about David. They're written by David, but they're not about David. They're about somebody who's greater than David. He says, but he himself, that is David, says, and now we have another psalm.

Psalm 110 And The Kingdom Timing

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So let's hold our place here. And this one comes from where? Psalm 110. I believe this is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament. Psalm 110, verse 1. And this one, again, very strange psalm because there in Psalm 110, verse 1, a psalm of David, David says, the Lord says to my Lord. Which is just a strange phrase. The first Lord you can see is Yahweh. The second Lord is not Yahweh. It's a different Hebrew word. It's Adonai. Right? So Yahweh says to my Adonai. We say, well, wait a minute. Who could be David's Adonai? You have two people above David? I mean, yeah, the Lord Yahweh, yeah, he's above David, but David was the king of all Israel. Who could be higher than him? Who does he call Lord? See? There's another figure here. This is where we would start to interject ideas like, hey, there's more than one person in God. Right? So Yahweh says to my Adonai, sit at my right hand. So he's seeing a conversation between the Father and the Son, is what we would say. David is actually getting to see a conversation between the Father and the Son. The Father says to the Son, Sit at my right hand. And so this is speaking of his, well, he has to ascend to get there. And then he has to be in session. You know, seat, seated, seated at the right hand, the privileged position, right? Now that's where Jesus is right now, right? I mean, if we were there, let's just say, let's just take a trip. Let's get on a spaceship and go to the third heaven, right? Take this little journey.

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And we go into the true tabernacle in heaven.

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What are we seeing there? Are you going to see Christ? Yes. What is he going to look like? He's going to look like Christ in his resurrection body did the day he ascended. He's in his resurrection body. This is what we would see. And that resurrection body is seated at the right hand of the Father. And he's going to sit there and remain there, he says in verse 1, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Then, of course, he's not going to be seated there any longer, but he's actually going to return to earth, right? And he's going to set up his kingdom. Verse 2 the Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion, saying, Rule in the midst of your enemies. Now, he's going to rule on the throne of David, right? That's what the scriptures promise. So the question becomes in Acts chapter 2, is Jesus currently sitting on David's throne in heaven ruling, or is he sitting on the Father's throne right now? Is it A, he's sitting on David's throne, and David's throne was a heavenly throne, or B, he's seated on the Father's throne, awaiting to return to earth, and then sit on David's throne. In other words, is the kingdom now, or is the kingdom not yet? Or, as some people say, oh, it's now and not yet. Because they like to play on both sides of the fence here on this important issue.

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If Jesus is currently sitting on David's throne, then this is the kingdom, or at least a form of it.

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But if this is the kingdom now, that would mean a lot of different things we should be doing in this world. You know, we've been given a commission. That commission is to make disciples of all nations. Go forth, right? Give the gospel to all creation. Mark 16. Right? I mean, kind of what they're doing in the book of Acts, you know. Like, hey, Christ is risen. Believe in him. This is the message we're to take to the world. If it's a kingdom, we're building a kingdom or establishing a kingdom or something like that. It's very different. We need to import biblical law and make it the governing rules in society. We need to do all sorts of things like that, social programs, things like that. But no, the focus on the church is Christ is going to build it. He's going to build it through the evangelization process and then within churches to disciple believers to continue that evangelization and disciple process from generation to generation, right? Teach these things to faithful men who are able to teach others also, right? We have a very particular mission, but it's not a kingdom type mission. Now, yes, every time a person believes, they get a citizenship in the kingdom, meaning they'll ultimately be there. They become heirs of the kingdom, meaning that's where their inheritance lies. But we're not in the kingdom. We have to wait for Jesus Christ to come back. See, but right now he's seated at the Father's right hand on the Father's throne. And then in the future, he's going to come back to earth, as verse 2 says, and he'll rule in the midst of his enemies. Rule, meaning a rule of a description of his rule on the Davidic throne. So a lot of people try to put Jesus on David's throne over here in Acts chapter 2, but that's not the point of the sermon. The point of the sermon is that he has been resurrected and he has been ascended. And that's the explanation of Pentecost because only from that position can he send the Spirit, as he said in verse 33, which you both see and hear. Now, all this said about David and his ultimate offspring, the Messiah, and discussion of the fact that no, no, he's not on David's throne

Luke 1 And Covenant-Focused Faith

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yet. He's sitting next to the Father on his throne. Turn to Luke chapter 1. There's this little girl in the first century named Mary. Probably only 15, 16 years old when these things transpired in her life. In Luke chapter 1, verse 26, you have the angel Gabriel sent to give this virgin who was engaged or betrothed to Joseph some revelation. And you see it in verse 30. The angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor, which is the Greek word for grace. You have found grace with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. And he will be called great. The Son of the Most High God, right? The Lord God will give him what? The throne of his father David. See, Gabriel's got good theology. The angel Gabriel has good theology. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. All that is wrapped up with the Davidic covenant, and it's all coming to its consummation in this 15 or 16-year-old girl. And Mary said to the angel, How can this be since I'm a virgin? Now she's not doubting that it will be. She's just simply asking how it can happen. How is this going to happen? Verse 35 is the answer of how it will happen, right? The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason, the holy child shall be called the Son of God. So that's the revelation that she's going to be with this son who's going to sit on the throne of David, and she is to name him Jesus. Now come down to verse 54. Beginning in verse 46, you can see that this is what's typically called Mary's Magnificat. This is her response to this revelation that she will have this child, and she's now gone to Elizabeth's house and so forth. And she is exalting the Lord. And notice what is on this 15 to 16-year-old girl's mind. I mean, you can look at, you could read this magnificat, which most theologians and seminarians can't understand, which is a travesty, right? Where in the world did this girl get this theology? She's a 15-year-old for crying out loud. Well, because these people love the Bible, that's why. They studied the Bible very carefully. And this is her words to the Lord. And notice what she has in her mind in verse 54. He has given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever. See, she's going directly back to Abraham, the Abrahamic covenant, which was made through Isaac and Jacob, and to the 12 tribes of Israel, and ultimately to David, right? And would come now to consummation in herself. Can you imagine the marvel of all of Old Testament theology coming to fruition in you? Yeah. Yeah, God's favor rested upon her. It wasn't because of anything Mary had done, it was simply because God is gracious. Now we look at Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. Look what he says. Verse 67, same chapter. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people. Speaking of Israel. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David, his servant. As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from old, verse 71, salvation from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us. See, Israel will ultimately be delivered. To show mercy toward our fathers, and to remember what? The covenant. The covenant that he made, verse 73, to Abraham, our father, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear and holiness and so forth. Verse 76, and you, child, his son, John, will be called a prophet of the Most High, because you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the sunrise from on high will visit us to shine upon those who sit in darkness in the shadow of death. See what's happening. These people they knew that the covenants of God were what controlled history. And they still control it today, don't they? Peter's saying on the day of Pentecost, hey, Israel, you need to get right with God. Because God has sent forth the prophesied Messiah. And he was crucified because you hated him, you killed him through the hands of the godless Romans, but God raised him up because death couldn't hold him. Because he had no sin. He was paying for our sin.

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And this was the one David prophesied of, right? The one that the grave could not hold. And he's risen again. And that's what we pay witness to today. That is what we pay witness to today. He's risen and he lives forevermore. And he's coming again. He's faithful. He will keep covenant with Israel. And he will keep promises to you and to me. And he's the one we celebrate this time of year.

Repent And Believe Without Delay

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Obviously, if you haven't believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you know.

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Paul says later, now is the day. Now is the acceptable time. It's not something to put off and wait on. It's something you should do now. Because once we pass out of this life, there's no more opportunities. Once we die, that's it. We don't have another opportunity. So now is the acceptable time. Is there anything you have to do to merit his favor? Is there any kind of good works? Is he going to accept that? You need to walk an aisle, get baptized 3,000 times or something like that. You need to go through some kind of ritual. No, you need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. Well, Paul said, Paul and Silas said to Philippian jailer, if it was good enough for Paul, you know what? It's going to be good enough for me. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Later, Paul's going to say, Peter's going to say in that sermon, repent. But if you look at verse 44, it says, And the number who believed that day were 3,000. So these ideas of repentance and faith, they're tied up with one another, like two sides of the same coin. I used to, you know, you flip the coin, you got heads and you got what? Tails. How many coins do you got? One, just one coin, but it's got two sides, two faces to it. The requirement for salvation is the same thing. Repent and believe. These are tied together like two sides of the same coin. Repent just means change of mind. Change of mind about what? Well, they needed to change their mind about what they did to Jesus. They had crucified him, they had killed him, they had slain the Lord of glory. They needed to have a change of mind about who he was and remember, oh, he's the Messiah, just like David prophesied. Change of mind, and accompanying that, of course, belief, belief in him. So these two things go together. They're not two separate things. They're like one coin with two sides. So that's what they needed to do, and that's of course what any person here needs to do today who hasn't done so. So do it today. Believe in him. He has died for you, he loves you, he gave himself for you, and he is risen and lives forevermore and is coming again.

Where To Watch And Final Thanks

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Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.