Acts - Defending A Miracle
Notes
Transcript
Acts - Defending A Miracle
Acts - Defending A Miracle
The man has been healed
The people are amazed
While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed, and they numbered about five thousand. The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are being asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. They said, “What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it. But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.
When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”
Ha-Shem…
They are reverting to an event with Jesus, when he healed a man and they claimed that he was casting out demons by the chief of demons
That section just precedes the part where Jesus says…
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
Strange, isn’t it.
Jesus is not concerned with what you say about him
He is concerned as to what ‘god’ you assign as the power (dynamos) behind him
But the part I want to concentrate on is the first sentence:
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.
let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”
There is a quote here:
Two potential locations:
Is 28:16 (Speaks of a corner stone, but no rejection)
Psalm 118:22 (Speaks of both a corner stone, and rejection)
Peter is building his argument on Psalm 118
It opens with…
Ps 118:1, “Y’all give thanks to Yahweh for [he is] good, because for an age is his loyal loving kindness.
The phrasing is familiar to you:
Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, his steadfast love endures forever!
Ps 118:6-9, “Yahweh is for me. I will not fear. What will adam (mortal) do to me? Yahweh is for me, in the ones who help me. I, even I will look on the ones who hate me. [It is] good to take refuge in Yahweh. Better than trusting in the adam (mortal). [It is] good to take refuge in Yahweh. Better than trusting in nobles (leaders).”
Some translations put an adjective in Ps 118:7 that is not there in the Hebrew or Greek:
NIV, NET, ISV, NLT, NRSV, ESV: look ‘with triumph’
TLV: I will see ‘the downfall of’
KJV: I shall see ‘my desire upon them’
NASB: I shall look with ‘satisfaction’
This is called contextual eisegesis.
And yes, it exists in every single translation in many places.
One in particular is about to come up!
It is a travesty given the nature of this Psalm, as we will see.
Let’s see where Peter and John maintain the text of this Psalm…
But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you (mortal leaders) rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
You can see where Peter and John are drawing from this Psalm…
More in a moment…
Ps 118:10, “Every nation, they surrounded me. With the Name of Yahweh, surely I will circumcise them.”
As a verb, everywhere it is used, it means circumcise.
Only here do they change it.
And they make an entry in the dictionaries that it is a homonym
But…it is ONLY here they change the meaning.
Let me tell you why it is VITAL that it is translated circumcision.
Deut 10:16, “So circumcise your heart, and do not stiffen your neck any longer.”
Deut 30:6, “Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live.”
Gen 17:10, “This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.”
Jer 9:25, “Behold, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, that I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh.”
But what is happening in these first few chapters?
They had Jews from every nation: They accepted the message of Jesus
Inwardly, they are circumcised
And here is our verse…
Ps 118:22, “A stone the builders rejected is the head cornerstone.”
For Christians, this is a critical verse because it speaks of Messiah Jesus
Meaning, this passage IS about circumcision, because it is part of what happens when you are a loyal believer
Rom 2:25-28, If you practice Torah, then you are circumcised
Rom 2:29, You are a Jew inwardly because of the circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not the letter.
Rom 15:8, Christ is a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises to the fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)
Col 2:11, In Christ you were circumcised without hands
Jesus quoted this in Matt 21:42, Luke 20:17 and Mark 12:10-11
The builders are the leaders…but Jesus (the stone, God) is the head cornerstone of the new temple that he is building
Because the temple is not made of brick and mortar
It is made of people
Ps 118:27, “God is Yahweh. And he caused light for us. Y’all bind a festival among the branches! Up! To the horns of the altar!”
Who is the Light?
Jesus, according to John…
I have heard this verse preached as speaking of Christ as the festal sacrifice.
That is not at all what this means.
It is a call to the people to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles because of what God has done
The feast of tabernacles makes perfect sense…
The nations are circumcised
Now they come to Jerusalem (Zion)
And there they camp and celebrate with their praise offering
Peter and John are watching Psalm 118 play out right in front of them
Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh.
Want to have fun with a verse?
Gal 6:13, “For those who are circumcised do not even keep Torah, but they want to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.”
A minor change brings new light,
“For those who are baptised do not even keep Christ’s commands, but they want to have you baptised so that they may boast in the number of people their church baptised.”
What is our takeaway?
Don’t be a scribe, priest, or leader…
Who intellectually know, but refuse to believe
Acts - Defending A Miracle
Acts - Defending A Miracle
