Act 2:33-36 “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
We sometimes fail to realize the actions that God the Father has taken on our behalf. Jesus said He did the works that He saw the Father do and said the things He heard from the Father. Peter proves in his discourse here that he was familiar with Jesus’ teaching. He shows to us Jesus as the means through which the Father accomplished all that He had purposed.
God exalted Jesus by His own right hand. He was in a place of favor with the Father for all but a few minutes of His life. When Jesus cried from the cross “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”, He was in that moment suffering the judgment of the Father for sin. In that moment, Jesus was the only transgressor as He took our sins upon Himself.
Once Jesus had paid the penalty for sin, God proved that He was still in a place of favor. We see Him caught up in the clouds of glory. Remember that Jesus said He spoke the things He heard from the Father. Jesus received from the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost for the comfort of His children.
As Jesus had promised to send the Comforter (which promise He had received from the Father), so at this time Peter is pointing to the fulfillment of that blessed promise. He (Jesus) shed forth the Holy Ghost as cloven tongues of fire and as a mighty rushing wind. He caused men to hear the gospel in a language they could clearly understand. He blessed them to both see and hear the power of the Holy Comforter.
David, who was still in the tomb, spoke of the favor of God upon Jesus as manifested fully in His resurrection and ascension. David declared that the Father (LORD) said unto Jesus (David’s Lord) that He should be in a place of favor until every foe was vanquished. We find Paul telling us that we do not yet see every enemy put under Him. The last foe to face complete destruction is death, although death is conquered already because Christ is risen from the dead (1 Cor 15:25-26).
By the power of the Holy Ghost, we (spiritual Israel) know some things beyond all doubt. We are guilty of the transgressions that Jesus bore to the cross, and in that sense, we crucified Him just as surely as the soldiers that drove the nails in His hands and feet. We know assuredly that this Jesus is exalted by the right hand of God. With full assurance of the Holy Ghost, we know that God made this Jesus to be both our Lord and God’s anointed one!
May God bless us to continue to see and hear the powerful work of the Holy Ghost in revealing to us the truth as it is in Jesus Christ!
