Greetings, friend! Welcome back.
Today, we'll see how the Old Testament Scriptures proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is essential to understand that when we preach and teach the message of the cross, Jesus' death, and resurrection, we are "saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass" (Acts 26:22).
In the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul was brought before the governing authorities, King Agrippa and Porcius Festus. You may remember how Paul was proclaiming how the Lord Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, where he was rescued from a "religion of works," to being "crucified with Christ." This revelation completely transformed his life from "working for salvation" into a life of resting in the finished work of Jesus crucified and His victorious resurrection. And now on trial, based on some false accusations brought against him by the Jews. Paul recounts his conversion before the Roman leader, Festus, and King Agrippa.
Let's see how the gospel is our offense/defense and only message we have to proclaim to the church and to the world for the forgiveness of sins. Let's listen and learn from the prophets of old, how believing the good news of Christ's death and resurrection is the only hope we have to see captives set free to live in the power of God.
“Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ Acts 26:15-18 (NIV)
The Gospel Reveals: Jesus appeared and revealed Himself to Paul, even as the gospel of Jesus Christ reveals Jesus to us. “But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being” (Galatians 1:15-16).
The Gospel Appoints: Jesus appointed Paul as a servant and a witness, even as Jesus, through the amazingly good news of His death and resurrection, appoints us to proclaim the message and bear fruit. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you” (John 15:16).
The Gospel Creates Entrusted Servants: “This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed” (1 Corinthians 4:1).
The Gospel Sends Witnesses: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). “He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15).
“...to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” Acts 26:18 (NIV)