I will pick up a few questions right now. They are brief in nature, but you know obviously a lot could be said about them, but one is, where does Josephus fit in the spectrum of historians? Was he a contingent historian as compared to Thuggitidus, and I would basically say yes. One of the reasons for Josephus being a very significant historian is that a lot of it is eyewitness report. Some suspicion has been raised with regard to his motives, because you know that he was a Jewish, a Jewish by birth, and then he crossed the lines and sided with the Romans. And actually was arguing against or with Jews to surrender Jerusalem in order to save it. And the Jewish people would not, and so the Jerusalem was leveled to the ground in 70 AD. So I would basically say yes, there are some areas where probably there's exaggeration of figures, there's some imprecision, but in many ways Josephus works fairly well. Also what needs to be said is it depends on which work. Antiquities, there's a good bit there, but you have to be careful as to where you look. What about Svetonius? Svetonius, I would say, is a little less clear in terms of his reliability. I would prefer Tacitus to Svetonius any time in terms of reliability, so that is that. I have a little anecdote here on that particular point. I was in Cambridge, England at one point as a student from University of Aberdeen, and when I visited there I was involved in a little discussion group. And one agricultural looking, old man, set in the corner, and very rustic. And we were discussing things and at one point he opened his mouth and said this. When you hear something or read something from Tacitus, you need to pay close attention. Here's something from Svetonius, it's a little iffy. I thought, wow, isn't that amazing? In Great Britain even the farmers know the difference. It's between Svetonius and Tacitus. And while it later was told to me that this was no other than Etheth Bruce himself who made that statement. OK, I think that's one area. And then there are two related questions, namely, when was shorthand invented? Did it exist in ancient times? Its use would ensure accurate reflection of the speeches made and then a similar question, how did speeches come to be written? Where they recorded on the spot, memorized somehow, it would seem a remote possibility that someone could hear a somewhat long speech and remember verbatim. Yes, although I think I know people still that remember entire sermons. So we are at an age where we simply have this type of a hearing that just doesn't get processed somewhere in the middle, it goes through. So I would say maybe there is such a thing as verbatim remembrance. But to answer the first question, there is good ground to say there was some form of shorthand, particular in studying Matthew, the text collectors, job. There was probably some form of stenography, some form of shorthand, so that actually some of the speeches of Jesus, some of the sayings of Jesus could have been written even before Easter. And certainly the speeches in Acts as well. So there is probably a concerted effort, both of memorization and of shorthand that would explain the origin and provenance of how these speeches got reported. Let us move on a little bit to the next section, lecture 8. And we want to look a little bit at Acts 2 verses 14 to 36. And perhaps we can also have a little of a personal devotion here, not just to reflect on the message of this first major speech. Now that we have looked at the larger picture, let us look a little bit at one detail. Here in this speech in Acts 2, Peter arises after the outpouring of the Spirit, and rather than a fearful man who denies any association with Jesus, someone who puts rather his foot in his mouth at the opportune and in opportune times, he now is someone who stands and who pronounces authoritatively, clearly and directly the truth concerning the gospel. We do have four major sections in this speech. The first one would be the explanation 214-211 of the phenomenon of the outpouring of the Spirit of God with reference to Joel, the prediction of the outpouring of the Spirit of God. And then 222-32 is the second major part in which the earthly Jesus is presented. The presentation, the preaching of who Jesus is. The third part 233-36 gives you the exalted Jesus, the reference to the exalted Jesus, and then a last part 238-40 call to repentance. So let us look at this a little more in detail what we find here in this majestic speech. First of all, we notice that the way that the speech is introduced is very significant. 214-214 says, then Peter stood up with the eleven raised his voice and addressed the crowd. This is a sentiment of important prophetic speaking, this kind of a description of standing up, raising his voice and addressing the crowd, establishes a certain, inspired speaking, an expectation of unusual pronouncement, and then in a very simple way Peter addresses the Jews. Now please notice that it is not really Peter's speech, but it is the witness of the twelve, and Peter is the spokesman of these twelve. And I have already emphasized that, but I want to emphasize that again. It is very significant that the initial witness to the truth of the gospel is a corporate apostolic witness. It is not just one person that says something, but there are these eleven that stand silently but tellingly besides Peter, and he pronounces for them what is happening, and they can at every point say, wait a minute, wrong, not true, you have got that not quite right, there is this corrective. And so the total of that witness is very compelling and very powerful in terms of the veracity and the truth of what is being said. Fellow Jews and all of you who are in Jerusalem, who does that address? Pardon? Yes, the nations, but as we have discussed the visit to Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost, would mean that the Asprah Jews would have come Jews from different areas of the Roman Empire to celebrate. So Peter addresses Palestinian Jews, but also the Asprah Jews. Let me explain this to you, and so in his explanation he deals first with the accusers and then with those who seek. First with those who look down upon him and then he connects with those who actually want to listen.
And then he begins his speech with their explanation of Pentecost by reference to Joel. Now the reference to Joel has a particular significance, namely that the Spirit of God in these last days will be poured out, and that's why I'm using the word indiscriminately, that's the big thing. You name what social stratum? You name who should be covered? Everybody. There is a pervasive openness of this movement of the Spirit to reach out, and is even more significant when you look at the context of Joel in the Old Testament, that the context there is that of a call to repentance, a offer of forgiveness and the coming of the day of the Lord. So I would say that from the perspective of Joel there may be this expectation of one big bang where all things are being wrapped up now, as Peter preaches, and says this is that the event relates to Joel, that prophetically connects pieces of God's self-revelation, we see that there is a telescopic expansion, that there's something happening here that is beginning, the end times that perhaps not culminating. I would say what Peter pronounces here is the commencement of the end times. You have heard me say that before, and I do not tire to repeat it, I believe we're in the end times for at least 2000 years now. This outpouring of the Spirit is announced, and we see from the passage of the Joel, that this outpouring goes beyond simply the people of Palestine, it is very pervasive. There's one problem, however, that in verses 19 and 20 in our section here, obviously the Joel verses would be different, we read, I will show wonders in the heaven and above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. Now some people would ask, why does Peter speak about that? And what does that refer to? Exegides, conchanges, exegides such as FF Bruce have tried to say that these references that I've just read pertain and refer to the crucifixion of Christ, the unusual circumstances surrounding the crucifixion of Christ. I'm not quite sure, and I don't want to get involved in a lot of debate on that particular issue of how to see things, but I think there's a simple answer here. Peter begins this passage, the citation of this passage because it explains the phenomenon of the outpouring of the Spirit, and he ends this passage on the point that he needs to end, wants to end, namely with the last verse, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He cites a whole section, the beginning certainly applies, the middle section, maybe we can agree to be open on, but the concluding point is so important, that now that you hear that God has worked in your midst one more time, a renewed time, calling him, let me linger a little bit on this phrase, calling on the name of the Lord. This is a very significant phrase in the Old Testament, and if you would go to Jews and say, I'm calling on the name of the Lord, you would clearly imply that you are attributing divinity to God. If you call on somebody, you call on him as if he is God, so you already see where I'm headed, don't you? But here it is calling on the name of Yahweh, that's in the Hebrew Old Testament text, whoever calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved. Whoever seeks his salvation with him, whoever places his hope on him, he will be saved. So that is very clear here in the speech in the first part, this explanation till verse 21 of, let me explain to you by Old Testament reference, what has happened. Now, without real transition, Peter moves on to point two, and that's a little abrupt. If you had to look for a nice style of transitioning, you would not move from verse 21 to verse 22, because unrelated to what was just said, Peter says, men of Israel, listen to this, Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you, by miracles, wonders and signs, and you wonder yourself, where does that lead? That has nothing to do with the outpouring of the Spirit of God, we can follow you thus far, we can see that there's an Old Testament anticipation and a fulfillment. How does this Jesus that you talk about relate to this? And it is true that initially here in this speech, there is no direct connection with describing the earthly Jesus, actually the explanation comes in this third section only. Well, let's hold that tension and just slowly and briefly move through what Peter presents in this description of the earthly Jesus. He refers to the fact that he did many miracles, wonders and signs, and I would say they explain that the Messiah of God was confirmed. So the signs and wonders confirm the authority and the claim of the Messiah. Then in very short terms, Peter describes the handing over of Jesus by God's set purpose and foreknowledge. Here you have this amazing tension that while the people thought they were pursuing their agenda, they were actually playing into the hand of God. I cannot really fathom that, but it is the amazing thing that the most evil thoughts of men are turned in the hand of God to pursue and fulfill His purpose. Now that does not justify any evil at all, it simply exalts and glorifies the power of God. So there is no justification for evil deed, but there is an amazing wonder that you see here and that is repeated so often in the speeches and acts that the purpose of man to oppose God turned out to work right into the purposes of God Himself. And this man was handed over to you, this handing over means that God takes His protective hands off of His anointed servant. He exposes His servant to the random, destructive, evil powers of men. But it is His set purpose and foreknowledge in you with the help of wicked men put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. Here you have the sobriety, you have the earthiness of this gospel. It is not some fancy thought, it is not some captivating idea, it is a very harsh hard description of their master going to death. And I think you need to remember that and retain that, that the gospel is a very simple and a very real story of Jesus going to death. And then comes in verse 24, that which Peter can authoritatively testify to, that God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, freeing him because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him in verse 24. So here is a reference to Psalm 185, the description of death, the labors of death, that death cannot hold the righteous one. The death is nearly like birth pangs and death has to release, has to give up, has to hand over the righteous one. So the purpose of this reference in verse 24 is that death could not hold the righteous one that had to birth the righteous one. It is amazing how that is a description here of God's power. And then comes the reference to David's testimony in verses 25 following, perhaps one of these central Psalms referring to resurrection, namely Psalm 16. And the argument here is this, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken, and because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy one see decay. So here this connection of death not being able to hold, and the promise that the righteous one will not see decay are put together to show from the Old Testament from Psalm 16 in particular, and a little bit from Psalm 18 that Jesus had to be raised from the dead. Now you can already anticipate a little bit of the answer to the connection between 2.14, the Pentecost, outpouring, and Jesus. There is something happening here, something unusual, namely that Jesus comes back to life not only revitalized, but he is established to eternal life. So there is no power here, and then comes one of the more tender parts of his speech in which Peter again addresses his audience because it is such a tender issue, brothers. Now please listen, I am not trying to offend you by speaking against our honored patriarch David. So get this point right, we cannot apply Psalm 16 to David. Psalm 16 does not fulfill David. David's life ended in the grave, and we know his grave, and we know he did not come back to life, we know that the arms of death actually took hold of David, we know that this does not pertain to him. And so Peter in a very gentle way says, but in verse 30 he was a prophet, David was a prophet, and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne, 2 Samuel 7. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ. So here Psalm 18 and particularly Psalm 16, in the reference that the righteous one cannot be held by death, and that the righteous one will not see decay in the grave. The resurrection is shown from the Old Testament witness to by the disciples as true, and therefore the basis for an explanation for the outpouring of the Spirit of God is given. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. And then we move to the exalted Jesus, you could really put these two sections together as a reference to Jesus. Now comes in the next verses 33 to 36, perhaps the most concentrated reference to who Jesus is in all of Acts, perhaps with the exception of Acts 3. There's a lot about Christ in Acts 3. What do we find here? We find in these verses that the resurrection anticipated a place of honor that gives Jesus the divine status of sitting at the right hand of God, and the amazing thing in verse 33 is that the Father hands to the Son the promise of the Spirit and the Spirit is poured out by the exalted Christ, and now as the British would say the penny has dropped. Now you see that the reference to Jesus explains the outpouring of the Spirit. So the outpouring of the Spirit is the first, then comes the explanation of the Old Testament, then comes the little excursors of what Jesus did and who he is and how he was raised only to explain that actually the originator of the outpouring of the Spirit is no other than Jesus Christ himself. And who has received this promise and privilege from the Father and we get this wonderful inside into the love and the mutuality and the authority and submission that give and take between the Father's Son and the Holy Spirit is wonderful how we get a little glimpse of the trinitarian love that exists forever, eternally. And so this reference to the outpouring of the Spirit here is significant and perhaps you can remember back to Acts 1-1, where I tried to argue that theophilus I have written to you the account of what Jesus began to teach and do with the assumption that he will now continue to do and the major work that that's far as being described is that the Son has poured out the Spirit to fulfill the promise. He will fulfill the promise that he will be with them to the end of the earth, that he is going to send the paraclete to them so that they may not be orphaned or left alone. This is magnificent and then it moves on to verse 34 where we have the reference to Psalm 110 and besides Psalm 16, Psalm 110 is the most significant. So perhaps you can say Psalm 2, the Son, Messianic Son, Psalm 16, the Resurrection, Psalm and now Psalm 110, well we will see what this holds. Because here David did not ascend to heaven yet he said, the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Verse 34 and 35 quote Psalm 110 and Psalm 110 is an amazing Psalm because it says this, Yahweh said to Adonai, Yahweh said to my Adonai, David is describing in his prophetic understanding a conversation between father and Adonai. Now it's up to you to know who Adonai is. Yahweh is Yahweh, Adonai is God. Yahweh says to my Lord, what is it, sit at my right hand. So Yahweh says to Adonai, come up, sit with me, sit at my right hand until I have made your enemies the footstool of your feet, a footstool for your feet. So Yahweh says to the Adonai of David, the Lord of David, come up, be insulted until I have subjugated your enemies. Now as you can see, and as we can see from other areas, this is speaking about Christ. It is interesting that Christ and the Gospels himself teaches the apostles to understand this verse this way and let's briefly turn to that. Again, I just wonder if I can find that, but maybe I can have your help. Well, Mark 12, let's try there, Mark 12, 36. Adline squirrel has found a second o'court, Mark 12, verse 36. Here Jesus instructs the disciples and argues with His opponents by saying, David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, interesting, being a prophet in Acts 2, here speaking by the Holy Spirit, we have always these references to the inspiration of Scripture, the inspiration of the Psalms in this particular area. He said this, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet, or make them a footstool, under your feet, reference to Psalm 110. What does Jesus say after this? What does He ask? David himself calls Him Adonai, Lord, how then can He be His Son? It's a strong reference and Jesus doesn't deny that, that the Messiah is the Son of David in a certain way, but in a more important way, the Messiah is the Lord of David, the Adonai of David. And so I believe that here we have the origin of this preaching and the confession of the early church that says Jesus is Lord, Adonai, Curios, Jesus is Lord. And that's perhaps a little more significant when you say, when you ask people, can you confess Jesus as Lord and some people can say, sure, I can lolly gag anything. But really, that's the connotation. Can you confess Jesus as Adonai? Do you refer to Him as the one who has been exalted to the right hand of the Father and who is enjoying the privilege of having His enemies put under His feet by the purpose of the Father? Is that a kind of Lord you confess? Now you also see, if you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. There's a lot of connection here, I have not really drawn all those lines out, but at least you see here that when Peter stands up and preaches with Psalm 110, He's been trained. He's been taught. And now, as the Spirit enables Him, He has the confidence to bring these lines together and to say, listen to this. The phenomenon that you have seen is a phenomenon that comes out of the work and the ministry of Jesus is the phenomenon of the outpouring of the Spirit, the phenomenon of the exaltation of the Son to the right hand. And then also, there's an agenda set because the exaltation has, as its consequence, that there is opposition in Psalm 2, you have opposition against the anointed. Here in Psalm 110, you have a theme of opposition. In Isaiah 53, you have the theme of opposition of destruction. So, you see where God acts, where God intervenes, there's opposition and the book of acts is a telling commentary that this opposition is actually ensuing. Very strongly. So, be not surprised that as you get caught onto the train of God's purposes, that you will find that same opposition. Now, obviously you need to remind yourself with Peter, don't suffer for your own foolishness. You know, it's a real, super spiritual way to say, poor me, you know, I'm again bankrupt. I must be doing the right thing for God because I'm bankrupt again rather than to say, what is my spending habit? By the way, you know, I'm getting a little off here, but it's very good to write down every penny you spend. I've done that for a year and a half now. It's amazing, but kind of mirror that. So, don't blame God or make it spiritual when you suffer for your own foolishness. If you have a hard time managing money, you better watch out and get that straight now and pray for it, but don't feel like you're suffering for Christ, you know. So, make sure you know when you suffer for Christ and when you suffer for your own foolishness, but expect opposition. Expect that to happen because it happened with the very Lord, the very Master, and we are not lower or less than the Master in the sense of being opposed and being associated with Him. So, this last part of Psalm 110 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet is really an eschatological description of what is ensuing now that the Son has been exalted. Adonai has been exalted to the right hand of Yahweh and the Lord of David has been exalted. Do you notice here too in the Petrion speech that there's great respect paid to David? It's not at the expense. It is not a message that plays down everything that came before. No, it simply says, you know what? David looked forward. And that's really a wonderful pattern in the whole of the book of Acts that some people say, you're speaking against the law. The answer of the early Christians is, I'm with Moses. Moses said, there will be a prophet like Moses. Listen to him. If you don't listen to him, you will be cut off from the people. I'm with Moses. Some people said, you're against the temple and the Christians responded, we are with the temple. Listen to the dedication speech and the prayer that Solomon gave when he dedicated the temple, he said, God is not confined to the temple. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. And in his condescending, he is committing himself to this place, but we are worshiping the Lord in spirit and truth. So we are moving with Moses. We're moving with David. We're moving with the temple, with the intention of that and we're coming to its fruition and conclusion. So it's a wonderful argument here that you see that Peter pursues when he speaks very gently and tenderly about the respected patriarch David who has spoken as a prophet in the Psalms. Yes, I know that you and I enjoy to read the Psalms for personal edification and upbuilding, counseling and nourishment, but let us not forget, this is prophetic writ that as much reveals as much about the purposes of God and the heart of God as the rest of Scripture, this is prophetic writing. Therefore, verse 36, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ, and this is perhaps the most concentrated, crystallological statement, the most concentrated statement on who is Jesus in the speech, certainly in perhaps in the entire book of Acts. Some people have argued that this word made refers to that Jesus was made into something he was not before, he was made into Lord which he was not before, he was made into Messiah Christ which he was not before. While the same word made occurs in Mark 3, 14, I believe. My people, mine, fails me often, let's better test it because I don't want to take you down a wrong road. Mark 3, 14, yes. Here it is translated in the NIV, appointed. He appointed the twelfth, he prayed, reflected, and then he appointed the twelfth to be apostles to travel with him. That same word is used here and there. So it's really more appointed. I would have preferred the translation appointed in Acts, and I think it's made, isn't it? Yes, God has made this Jesus. It's more appointed, so it's not making out of nothing, but it's affirming, introducing to a particular commission not implying that Jesus was not the Messiah and the Lord before. There's a certain exaltation that happened to Jesus, there's a certain affirmation appointing for a particular ministry, namely the ministry of being Lord and Christ. And you see here that the word Lord, Kurios, Adonai, recurse here again, a very significant term in the book of Acts referring to the nature of Christ, and we will come to that in just a little bit. So this is basically what Peter has to say, and now you know that the entire section through verse 36 hangs closely together, and you have seen as a Jew that the ministry, the preaching of Jesus is not some new sect, is not some strange deviation of suddenly believing in Jesus at the expense of God, the Father. It's very intricately connected and embedded with God's Old Testament self-revelation, with God's signs and wonders, presentation of His Spirit, with these witnesses that testify to that truth, and with the amazing fact that there's one who has not been helped by the grasp of death, who had to be birthed to life in death. And could not be helped. So you explain who Jesus is if not the Adonai that the Adonai has spoken to that has been exalted. So it says here that the people who listened to Peter were cut to the quick. Their hearts were pierced. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do? Perhaps this is a little bit of an inside into the Jewish mindset. Not what should we think about now, or how should we respond to this? But what can we do? Maybe I'm overemphasizing that a little bit. Perhaps it is still men of what's next, what now? Perhaps it is that tone. Maybe though it does refer to how can we mend that by deeds? And obviously the response, the response of Peter is, you can't mend that by deeds at all. Let the Spirit of God work repentance in you. But you may be baptized and I would think baptized here is water baptism but also refers to identification with Christ because in the name of Jesus Christ and acts refers to the person, be identified with the person of Jesus Christ, of which baptism is a sign and a seal. So that your sins may be forgiven and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I would say here in 38, as we have discussed the work of the Spirit in the Book of Acts, you have the summary statement. There's one work of God, softening a person's heart towards repentance, towards identification, faith identification with Christ and receiving the promise of the Spirit. The promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord, our God will call an unusual reference here echoing the Abrahamic promise to you and your children, an outpouring of the kindness of God, but also the sovereign intervention of God. For all those whom He will call, it is not at the disposal of man, God is in charge, God is the one who calls. But it does include all those who are far off. Maybe Peter still thinks all those Jews who happen to be as far as Alexandria, as far as Ephesus, as far as Athens, as far as even Rome. So I don't know exactly how far Peter understands the totality of what he's preaching because he has to go through a rather serious lesson in Acts 10 and 11, where he has to comprehend that God even reaches out to these absolutely filthy Gentiles. So that may be a factor here, but certainly there is already the promise here that God's call is going to be far and wide. It dovetails with the outpouring of the Spirit on all the quotation from Joel, so there's an anticipation here that this is going to go out very wide rather than very narrow. And then we have this conclusion here that I've already mentioned to you with many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them, saved yourselves from this corrupt generation or be saved. Those who accepted his message were baptized in about 3,000 were added to their number that day. So there is an amazing burst of external growth with this first major speech of Peter, and isn't it amazing that this very roughly-hewn middle management fisherman from Galilee who works in his trade and has his own character pretty much set. It is transformed in the hands of Christ, the hands of the Spirit to be such a wonderful witness, such a direct witness, such a compelling witness of the truth of that gospel. So I've written down on your outline, I believe somewhere here, if I can find it, do you know why you believe in Jesus as Lord? And do you know how to communicate that truth? I hope I've helped you just a little bit to get to the root of that and not just to say it is Christian-like to say Jesus is Lord, but to know why this is truly true and the amazing phenomenon that this truth of the Lordship of Christ, Jesus is add-on as the exalted Son of God, arose on the very soil of Palestinian Judaism, monotheistic Palestinian Judaism. It did not arise in polytheistic, halonism in Athens or in some kind of polytheistic, Greco-Roman thought in Rome. No, it arose in the very soil that jealously preserved the one God, and that's where Paul comes in actually when we see that he viciously persecutes that sect that seems to threaten exactly that monotheistic core of the confession of the Jews. And he has to find out that the Christians are not jeopardizing that monotheistic core, but they're actually following with God's purpose that there is more to God than you think. So let's take a little break here and then we will go into the next lecture on the teaching of Christ in the Book of Acts, we'll connect with Acts 236. Thank you.