June 14
Bible Reading: Acts 3:21-26
Acts 3:24, “And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.”
Sometimes people speak of being a part of something that is bigger than yourself. Typically, they are referring to a group or movement or cause of some kind. While it can be a good thing to be a part of something like that, there is nothing bigger than being a part of God’s plan and nothing that bear’s more weight for eternity.
Peter’s purpose in his sermon was to direct the hearts of the people to Jesus. He spoke both of Jesus’ identity and His work, and how Jesus did all He did to He provide for salvation. It was important for Peter’s Jewish listeners to realize that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, so Peter reached back thousands of years to covenants and prophets in making his case.
Jesus is the prophet that Moses had prophesied about many centuries earlier. Moses had commanded that the Jews listen to the prophet who would come after him (Deuteronomy 18:15). For century after century, that prophecy stood seemingly abandoned, but then came Jesus. Long before that prophecy, God made a covenant with Abraham regarding a land, a nation, and a blessing. God brought the people to the land, and He chose them to be a nation, but the blessing part lay waiting for fulfillment. It was an audacious promise — “And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Acts 3:25) — but Jesus, the “offspring,” worked through the cross to facilitate that amazing promise!
In calling upon the people to believe, Peter was calling them not just to salvation, but to be a part of something bigger than themselves—God’s plan for the ages! And it’s no different today than it was back then. Nations and causes and movements and such will all one day cease, but Jesus is forever and so is His church. You are there in that promise made to Abraham nearly four thousand years ago, of which Peter spoke. God planned for you long before you were born, and His plans reach unto heaven’s eternity!
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”—Jeremiah 29:11
O, GOD, OUR HELP IN AGES PAST
O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home:
Under the shadow of your throne
your saints have dwelt secure;
sufficient is your arm alone,
and our defense is sure.
Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received its frame,
from everlasting you are God,
to endless years the same.
A thousand ages in your sight
are like an evening gone,
short as the watch that ends the night
before the rising sun.
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
soon bears us all away;
we fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the op’ning day.
O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
still be our guard while troubles last,
and our eternal home!
LookingtoJesus 