Read Acts 2:36-39
Acts 2 is quite a dramatic chapter in the
Bible and parts of it read like a suspense-filled thriller movie. Acts 2 speaks
about an appearance of the Holy Spirit after Jesus has returned from the dead.
It shows the power and authority of God to all who are present. The signs in
this chapter show that Jesus is King; Jesus is God and as Peter speaks to them,
the people realize that Jesus is the Christ and they understand, Verse 36, that
they have killed the Christ, the one they have been waiting for to save them.
They have killed him.
These people now standing in front of Peter
are like repentant children in front of the school principal, realizing that
they’ve done something terribly wrong. They realize that Jesus is the Christ
and they realize that they’ve killed him. We’ve killed him and now Jesus is
back from the dead. If we didn’t know the ending and for those present who don’t,
it could be like a 1970s horror movie. You wrongfully kill someone and they
come back from the dead to set things right! That is what Jesus did. The people
in our text today are hoping against hope to somehow make it right with this
Jesus whom they have killed and who has now returned from the dead. Verse 37,
“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and
the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter says, Verse 38, “Repent and be
baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sins.” Now this is significant. Jesus is ushering in the Kingdom of
God. And what does this Kingdom look
like? It is a Kingdom of forgiveness. It is a Kingdom –like the Lord’s Prayer
says - where we forgive those who do things against us and God forgives us what
we have done – even our sending God’s own son to die on the cross. This is what
it looks like when we are a part of God’s Kingdom; this is what it looks like
when we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Christ has already forgiven us everything.
As we accept the forgiveness, as we repent and as we forgive others, we will be
forgiven and we will be a part of his Kingdom of Forgiveness.
Questions for today: Is it evident in our
lives that we are a part of God’s eternal Kingdom of Forgiveness? Do we forgive
others as Christ has forgiven us?
[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Acts 2 - Act II,
Scene 1. Presented to The Salvation Army Nipawin & Tisdale on 12 August
2007 and Swift Current on 23 May 2010 and the Week of Prayer for Christian
Unity service on 16 January 2011 held at St. Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church
in Swift Current: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2007/08/acts-2-act-ii-scene-1.html
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