Journey Through Acts

Lesson 10

Acts 2:23

The Death of Christ

Acts 2:23 (NIV) — 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

 

1. Did Jesus have to die?
   1. If he was the Messiah, why was he a victim?
      1. Why could he not have prevented this to happen?
      2. Why could he not call on the angels of heaven?
         1. Luke 4:9–12 (NIV) — 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
         2. See also Ps 91:11-12
      3. If he was the chosen by God why did God not stop it.
         1. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. 1 Peter 3:9
   2. “This Man”
      1. “Peter’s emphatic use of the phrase this Man brings out the stark contrast between his hearers’ evaluation of Jesus and God’s.”
      2. The very One whom God had honored as Messiah, they had rejected and crucified.
   3. Predetermined plan
      1. Always understand this that Jesus was no victim.
      2. John 10:17–18 (NLT) — 17 “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. 18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
      3. John 19:10–11 (NIV) — 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
      4. “by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge” verse 23
2. Delivered
   1. Handed over.
      1. Interesting word here in the Greek bible.
      2. It’s the only place this word appears.
      3. It has the same meaning as betrayed.
      4. It’s only our friends that betray us.
      5. Betrayed by Judas into the hands of the Jewish leaders, who handed Him over to the Romans for execution.
3. God’s deliberate plan.
   1. Predetermined.
      1. Predetermined is two words.
         1. English word “horizon.” It means “to mark out with a boundary,” or “to determine.”
         2. Plan is from boulomai and refers to God’s will, design, or purpose.
         3. Taken together they indicate that Jesus Christ was delivered to death because God planned and ordained it
   2. Notice a couple of passages.
      1. Acts 4:27–28 (NLT) — 27 “In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. 28 But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will.
      2. Acts 13:27–30 (NIV) — 27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead,
   3. This was “planned out” from the beginning.
      1. 2 Timothy 1:9 (NLT) — 9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
      2. Revelation 13:8 (NLT) — 8 And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.
   4. What about freewill?
      1. To this is one of the most difficult parts of God for me to understand.
      2. I have freewill. Yet God knows what I am going to do.
      3. I trust God has this all worked out.
4. Foreknowledge
   1. To know beforehand.
      1. This is an attribute of God’s omniscience.
      2. This word is complex, but one of the most important words in the New Testament.
      3. God did not just “look into the future” (predetermined) saw that Jesus was going to be crucified and worked it into his plan.
   2. Sovereign
      1. God had foreknowledge of and authority over the death of Jesus.
      2. This was “determined” “brought to bear” before the creation of the earth.
   3. The guilty
      1. That Jesus Christ was delivered to death by God’s predetermined plan, however, does not absolve those who put Him to death of their guilt.
      2. “With the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”
      3. God used evil men to accomplish His purpose, yet never violated their will or removed their culpability by doing so.
      4. Peter thus presents the total sovereignty of God alongside the complete responsibility of man.
      5. Luke 22:22 (NLT) — 22 For it has been determined that the Son of Man must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays him.”
      6. Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 Point to the death of Christ thus being predetermined and foreknowledge under God’s sovereign will and authority.