Acts (Part 31) - Acts 3:24-26, Act 4:1

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Acts (Part 31) - Acts 3:24-26, Act 4:1 1. Acts 3:24 – Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. A. These days refer to the days when the Messiah would come, which Moses spoke of (Act 3:22-23; Deut 18:15, 18-19). B. All the prophets foretold of the days of the Messiah (Luk 24:25-27, 44-45; Joh 5:39; Act 3:18; Act 10:43; Act 26:22-23). 2. Acts 3:25 – Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. A. The Jews who wondered at the healing of the lame man and listened to Peter preach showed evidence that they were the children of God. B. Ye are the children of the prophets, i. The prophets of the nation of Israel were God’s elect (Luk 13:28). ii. Peter was telling them that they are the children of God, being the spiritual children of the prophets. C. and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. i. These Jews were the children of the covenant that God made with Abraham. a. Therefore, they showed evidence that they were children of God (Rom 9:6-8). b. They would later confirm their calling and election by their faith (Act 4:4). c. But without yet making a profession of faith, their actions showed that they had a changed heart, for they did not react in anger when Peter charged them with murdering the Son of God (Act 3:14-15), unlike their unregenerate countrymen (Act 7:52-54). d. Peter could tell that these Jews did not maliciously conspire to kill the Prince of Life, but did it through ignorance (Act 3:17). ii. The covenant God made with Abraham was made with the spiritual fathers of Peter and the other believing Jews. a. This is because the covenant was made between God, Abraham, and Abraham’s seed, Jesus Christ (Gal 3:16). b. Those who are in Christ, and demonstrate it by their faith, whether Jews or Gentiles, are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise (Gal 3:7-9, 28-29). 3. Acts 3:26 – Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. A. Unto you first i. The gospel was sent to the Jews first (Rom 1:16). ii. It was next sent to the Samaritans and then to the Gentiles (Act 1:8). B. God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. i. God sent Jesus to bless the elect among the Jews by turning them away from their sins.  ii. He did so after He raised Jesus from the dead (having raised up his Son Jesus). iii. Jesus died for our sins and thereby took them away eternally so that we are no longer under eternal judgment and condemnation (Rom 5:8-10; Rom 8:1-3). iv. After purging our sins through His vicarious death on the cross (Heb 1:3), Jesus has also blessed us by turning us away from our sins through the preaching of the gospel of repentance (Act 3:19; Act 14:15; Act 17:30). v. Jesus was sent to us through the Holy Spirit (Joh 14:16-18) Who inspires preachers to preach the gospel of repentance to God’s elect (1Pe 1:12). II. Acts Chapter 4 1. Acts 4:1 – And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, A. And as they spake unto the people, i. Peter and John’s preaching caught the attention of the Jewish religious leadership. ii. Remember when sharing the gospel or contending for the faith that God might use it as an opportunity to reach other people for His purposes. iii. The Jewish leaders were grieved that they taught the people about Jesus and the resurrection (Act 4:2). B. the priests, i. The priests should have known better than anyone that Jesus was the Messiah (Mat 2:4-6; Mar 1:44). ii. But instead, they rejected Him and led the charge to crucify Him (Mar 11:18; Mat 20:18; Mat 26:59; Mat 27:1, 12, 20). iii. Later on, many of the priests were converted (Act 6:7). C. and the captain of the temple, i. Captain n. – I. A chief or headman. 1. a. One who stands at the head of others and leads them, or exercises authority over them; a headman, chief, or leader. 2. esp. A military leader; a commander of a body of troops, of a fortress, castle, etc. ii. There were captains of the temple (Luk 22:4, 52). iii. The temple had its own security force. iv. The captain of the temple had officers that seem to have functioned as police officers (Act 5:24-27). a. The high priest had the authority to use the captain of the temple and his officers to put offenders in prison (Act 5:17-23). b. Officer n. – 1. One to whom a charge is committed, or who performs a duty, service, or function; a minister; an agent. 2. One who holds an office, post, or place. a. One who holds a public, civil, or ecclesiastical office . . . In early use, applied esp. to persons engaged in the administration of law or justice. v. “The “captain of the temple” (Luke 22:4; Act 4:1; 5:24) was not a military officer, but a priest who had command of the Levitical temple police, known  in Jewish writers a [sic] “the man of the temple mount” (Edersheim, The Temple, p. 119). His duty was to visit the posts during the night and see that the sentries were doing their duty.” (Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Captain, pp. 180-181) D. and the Sadducees, i. The Sadducees were the Jewish sect to which the priests belonged. ii. Sadducee n. – A member of one of the three ‘sects’ (the others being the Pharisees and Essenes) into which the Jews were divided in the time of Christ. According to the New Testament and Josephus, they denied the resurrection of the dead, the existence of angels and spirits, and the obligation of the unwritten law alleged by the Pharisees to have been handed down by tradition from Moses. In origin the Sadducees seem to have been not so much a theological or philosophical sect or school, as a political party composed of the nobility, i.e. the members and connexions of the high-priestly family. (OED) iii. “What Josephus really means is that the Sadducees were the aristocrats, the wealthy euporoi, the persons of rank (protoi tois axiomasin), i.e., from the priesthood. The New Testament (Act 5:17) and Josephus (Ant., xx, 9, 1) testify that the high-priestly families belonged to the Sadducean party. The Sadduceans were not, however, merely the priestly party, but aristocratic priests.” (Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Sadducee, pp. 952) E. came upon them, i. The priests with their police force and their religious leaders are upset with the teaching of the Apostles and come upon them to apprehend them. ii. This is the first or many times that the apostles will get in trouble with the Jewish leadership.