
Originally Posted by
quiet dove
Hi John146, I thought I responded to Acts but I must have deleted the wrong thing in my stuff because I cant find it. The other one (Romans) is in response to another post.
the one on Acts
I think the first important thing is the setting and context for Peter’s sermon. This conversation was directed toward “devout”Jews and these Jews fully expected their promised Messiah to restore the kingdom to Israel.
With those promises (scripture below-Jeremiah) and the promises of the Christ and Him ruling on Davids throne, then the One claiming to be the Christ dieing on the cross, the Jews who were very aware of being the chosen people of God and the "holier than thou" attitude,and that they had strayed so far in rebellion (they were not aware of that part), no doubt there was some confusion here. The part of the prophesies of the Christ dieing on a cross had gone right by them due to their rebellous hearts.
Jeremiah 23:5 says that this King shall, not only shall riegn and prosper, but also “execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. Presently Christ is offering salvation as a gift and building His Church, not reigning in the sense of a king of Israel executing judgment and righteousness in the earth. And Jeremiah 30:9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, And David their king, Whom I will raise up for them. This in Jeremiah is not speaking of Davids heir to the throne, but David, whom God will raise up in resurrection, just like He will raise us up in resurrection.
Peter quoted the prophesies (Psalms) as evidence that Christ was their promised Messiah, and within that context Peter explains that David was not talking about David and Jesus was the Christ, that much we both would agree to I think. Within this context, and with Acts 1:6, it is clear that some of the main confusion was the expectancy of the Jews, that their promised Messiah would sit as rightfull Heir upon the throne of David and rule Israel, and along with His reign, the Jews would see the promises of protection, safety, properity and so on that they were all focused on. It was the disciples who ask in Acts 1:6 “ Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” and as I stated earlier, Jesus did not correct them other than to say “ It is not for you to know the times or seaons which the Father has put in His own autority”.
All of that relates to setting for Peter’s sermon and the mind set of the Jews. Not only did Peter have to show from their prophesies that Jesus was the Christ, he had to show why the kingdom was not restored to Israel. The fact that Christ is at the right hand of God and no kingdom was restored to Israel is a problem for these Jews. They fully expect their Messiah to sit on Davids throne as their prophets fortold that He will.
David was/is presently dead,(or for the sake of this conversaion, he aint on the earth, mortal or immortal.) And the prophesies were exlplained that David was not speaking about/to David. But that prophecy doesn’t confirm that the Christ is on the throne of David, it expains why He isnt and that He is at the right hand of God which is not physically or spirituall the throne of David.
The reason I quoted the verses from Romans is they make clear, that God has full intentions of doing all He has said reguarding the restoration and salvation of Israel, that doesn’t mean anyone Jewish is saved based on their blood, it means that in the future, in the tribulation, all the Jews that survive the tribulation will have been saved, (through Christ) they will recognize their Messiah as the One they pierced. All those Jews, entering the Millenial reign of Christ will be saved, therefore, all of Israel will be saved at that time because those Jews will constitue the “all”. Doesn’t have anything to do with todays Israel other than if the tribulation were to begin tomarrow, they are the ones alive when it begins and therefore those of Rev 7 would come from the ones alive today.
I am sorry if this is to long, I’m trying to shorten them.
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