“ Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent
We tell you the good news. What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’
For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.“
Acts 13:26,32-33,36-37

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FEBRUARY 12, 2025

The gospel is not merely information: this good news is a message that calls for a response. Paul is pointed in his words when he says, “it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.” People are either attracted or repulsed by the appeal to follow Jesus. To believe is to accept by faith that Jesus was raised from the dead as the Savior of the world—and therefore, we must live our lives according to His will and not our own. To not believe is to either ignore the message, to oppose it as fabrication, or to choose to live our own way anyway.

One of the central claims of the gospel is the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If the resurrection of Jesus did not happen, then the gospel is not true. The resurrection was God’s approval of Jesus’ claims of being sent by God, of speaking for God; God’s response to the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross.

David, a human and fallible king, could not provide what Jesus came to give. But it was a descendant of David that God raised up from the dead in keeping with His plan from before the world began. The psalmist had made reference to such a One:

“You are my Son, today I have become your Father.” (Psalm 2:7)

In quoting the psalmist, Paul’s line of reasoning is that Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promises to the nation of Israel. Jesus was the culmination of all God had been doing generation after generation, preparing His people for a new covenantal relationship. This is the good news!

You can feel Paul’s passion and conviction as he shares these words. He desperately wants his Jewish brothers and the Gentiles present to know that God has sent a Savior in Jesus. His motivation is sincere love for those who have no awareness of what God has already done on their behalf.

This is a message worth telling, for these are the words of life.

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • How passionate are we about telling the good news?
  • What lines of reasoning could be utilized to explain salvation in our context today? Examples might be honest self-examination, societal concerns and trends, world crises, search for identity, etc.
  • Think about a way to conclude your story with an appeal, that it is to your listener “that this message of salvation has been sent.”

 

Church Reading Plan: Genesis 45; Mark 15