Acts 2:33-36 (NIV)
Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”‘
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.””
Both John the Baptist (Luke 3:16) and Jesus (Acts 1:5, 8) had promised the baptism with the Holy Spirit. John especially emphasized that this baptism would come through Jesus Himself. So, Peter rightly declared that the Father had given Jesus the gift of the Holy Spirit, but that Jesus had been the one who had poured it out on His followers.
As Peter spoke, the Holy Spirit reminded him of what David had written in the first verse of Psalm 110. This Psalm had long been understood to be about the promised Messiah, and Peter confirmed it. Jesus had also quoted this same verse (Luke 20:41-44) in order to prove that the Messiah could not be a mere man but had to be God in the flesh.
The Psalm declared that, since Jesus had been exalted to the right hand of the Father, the place of privilege and power, He had put all Jesus’ enemies under His feet. These included the religious leaders of the Jewish people, who had killed Him but couldn’t make it stick. It had also included significant enemies of mankind: satan, sin, and death. From the moment of His resurrection, these enemies were crushed, and no longer had any power over Him, or over those who believed in Him. And His exaltation, demonstrated by the appearing of the Holy Spirit, made His victory complete and permanent
The conclusion was obvious: Jesus, the one whom the Jewish people had themselves executed, had been recognized by their God as who He had always been: Lord, God in the flesh, and Christ, their long-awaited Messiah and deliverer.
Father, even though Jesus’ exaltation to Your right hand was invisible to the people of the world, its reality was clearly seen from the results – specifically the Holy Spirit being poured out on all His followers, the promise kept to the letter. And the fulfillment of that promise bore within it the reality of the fulfillment of every other promise Jesus ever made to His followers. And I can testify to that reality in my own life. Thank You so much! Amen.
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