Acts 2:22

St. Peter having wiped off the unjust aspersion of drunkenness cast upon himself and his brethren in the foregoing verses; in these he makes it his business to convince the Jews that they were the murderers of the best man that ever lived in the world, even Jesus of Nazareth, the true and promised Messiah.

In order to this he treats in this sermon,

1. Of the person and life of Christ.

2. Of the sufferings and death of Christ.

3. Of the resurrection of him from the grave.

First, as touching his person, the apostle shows, That he was evidently sent from God and approved of him, by those many miracles, wonders, and signs, which were wrought by him.

Hence note, That the many and great miracles wrought by Christ, evidently prove that he was sent of God, and came from him, and was approved by him. Our Saviour's miracles, for the nature of them, were beneficial to mankind; for the number of them, they were many; for the manner of their operation, they were public and open, in the sight and view of all the people; not in corners, like the Popish miracles, (wrought before their own creatures only,) but before his enemies; and for the quality of them, they were of the greatest magnitude, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, giving sight to them that were born blind; by. word spoken, by. touch given: so that our blessed Saviour had all that attestation that miracles can give, that he was commissioned by God, and came from God.

The second part of Peter's sermon here treats of the sufferings and death of Christ: By wicked hands ye have crucified and slain him, who was delivered by he determinate counsel of God.

Where note, 1. The name and kind of death which Christ died: this is described more generally; it was. violent death, Ye have slain him; more particularly, it was an ignominious, cursed, and dishonourable death, ye have crucified him.

Learn thence, That the Lord Jesus Christ was not only put to death, but to the worst of deaths, even the death of the cross. Now the death of the cross was. violent death,. painful death,. shameful death,. lingering death,. succourless death, and an accursed death.

Note, 2. The causes of Christ's death are here expressed. The principal cause, permitting and ordering, was the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. The instrumental cause, effecting, was the wicked hands of the Jews: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel, &c. ye have taken, and by wicked hands crucified, &c.

Learn hence, That there was not any one particular action or single circumstance relating to the death of Christ, but what came under the holy counsel and wise determination of God. Yet this foreknowledge and counsel of God, as it did not necessitate and enforce them to it, so neither doth it excuse them in it. God's foreknowledge and determinate counsel did no more compel or force their wicked hands to do what they did, than the mariner's hoisting up his sails to take the wind to serve his design, can be said to compel the wind to blow. God's end in acting was one, their end in acting was another; his most pure and holy, theirs most malicious and daringly wicked. In respect of God, Christ's death was justice and mercy; in respect of man it was murder and cruelty; in respect of himself, it was obedience and humility.

The third part of the apostle's sermon, respects the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave, Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it Acts 2:24. Christ, though laid, was not lost in the grave; but revived and rose again, and rose by the power of his Godhead.

True, God is here said to raise him, and Spirit elsewhere; but we are not to understand it so, as if they raised him by their power without his own power; for he declares it expressly, In three days. will raise up the temple of my body. John 2:19

And if he had not raised himself by his own power, how could he be said, To be declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead Romans 1:4? What more had appeared in Christ's resurrection that in any other, if that were all? For others were raised by the power of God as well as he. Now because the Jews, to whom Peter here preaches, were filled with prejudice against Christ, the apostle thought fit to tell them that God raised them from the dead; yet by the consequence it sufficiently appears in the following discourse, that Christ raised himself from the dead.

Learn hence, That the Lord Jesus Christ, by the omnipotent power of the Godhead, the Father's, the Spirit's and his own Godhead, revived, and rose again from the dead, to the terror and consternation of his enemies, and the unspeakable consolation of all believers. As by the eternal Spirit, or the power of his own Godhead, he offered up himself to God when he died; so when he was put to death in the flesh, he was quickened by the Spirit; that is, by the power of his divine nature. The same Spirit enabled him to do both.

Observe also, The reason annexed, why God raised up Jesus Christ: because it was impossible that death should hold him. But how impossible?

1. 'Twas naturally impossible, upon the account of that divine power which was inherent in his person as God.

2. 'Twas legally impossible, because divine justice being fully satisfied by his sufferings, required that he should be raised to life; as when. debt is paid, the prisoner is discharged, and the prison-door opened.