Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 96
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IMMERSE
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MESSIAH
13:25-43
the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn to God and be
baptized. As John was finishing his ministry he asked, ‘Do you think I am
the Messiah? No, I am not! But he is coming soon—and I’m not even
worthy to be his slave and untie the sandals on his feet.’
“Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also you God-fearing Gentiles—
this message of salvation has been sent to us! The people in Jerusalem and
their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken
about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the
prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath. They found no legal reason
to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.
“When they had done all that the prophecies said about him, they took
him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. But God raised him
from the dead! And over a period of many days he appeared to those who
had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses
to the people of Israel.
“And now we are here to bring you this Good News. The promise was
made to our ancestors, and God has now fulfilled it for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about Jesus:
‘You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.’
For God had promised to raise him from the dead, not leaving him to rot in
the grave. He said, ‘I will give you the sacred blessings I promised to David.’
Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow your Holy One
to rot in the grave.’ This is not a reference to David, for after David had
done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with
his ancestors, and his body decayed. No, it was a reference to someone
else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.
“Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus
there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is made
right in God’s sight—something the law of Moses could never do. Be careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said,
‘Look, you mockers,
be amazed and die!
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.’”
As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged
them to speak about these things again the next week. Many Jews and
devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men
urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God.
