Jesus is Both Lord and Christ

“For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, Until I make Thy foes Thy footstool.  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”.  Acts 2:34-36

Peter continued to speak to the Jews who were gathered for Pentecost and who had witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and those who were followers of Jesus.  These particular Jews were not believers, that is, not yet.  What they needed was to hear the gospel which was supported by prophecies of the Old Testament.  Peter had been using Psalm 16, written by King David, to tie prophecy with the actual events of the crucifixion and resurrection.

Peter emphasized the fact that their revered David died, and his physical body was still in his tomb.  Everyone in Jerusalem was familiar with the location of David’s sepulcher.  Therefore, the One whom David wrote about in Psalm 16 could not have been himself.  The One of whom David prophesied had to be One who was resurrected from death to life, never to die again.  The only One who qualified was Jesus Christ.  Since David was not speaking about himself, he was speaking as a prophet who was foretelling the gospel.  In II Samuel 7:16, God made a promise to David:  “…thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever”.  David wrote about this promise in Psalm 132:11.  We know from Matthew 1, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, that He descended from the line of David.  Both Joseph, Jesus’ adopted father (Matthew 1:6) and Mary, His mother (Luke 3:23-her father Heli), descended from the line of David.

When Gabriel the angel came to tell Mary that she had been chosen to bear the Son of God, Gabriel said, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the LORD God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:32-33).  The proof of this promise was demonstrated in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  All that saw Him after He arose from the dead or heard about Him from reliable sources could testify to the fact that He indeed was alive, walking, talking, and eating (Luke 24:41-43).  He had a perfect body with no decay or corruption by the power of God.  How could any of these Jews present on that day of Pentecost deny the truth of a risen Savior and Lord?

When Jesus ascended back to the Father in heaven (Acts 1:9), He was given the power to send the Holy Spirit to earth to dwell within the hearts of all men and women who believe on Jesus.  This was in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to the disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit to lead them (Acts 1:5).  He had made this promise to them before His crucifixion.  In John 14:16, Jesus said, ”   I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever”.  This was the point that Peter was making to his Jewish audience.  The evidence of the fulfilling of Jesus’ promise had just been demonstrated for all to see and hear by way of the cloven tongues like fire and the many languages that were spoken (Acts 2:3-4).

Having made clear that it was not King David who was the One who was resurrected and ascended back to the Father in heaven, Peter again quotes from another Psalm of David, Psalm 110:1.  In this Psalm, David has a view of Jesus’ return to heaven being welcomed by His Father and given His rightful position at the right hand of God to await the day when He will judge the earth and destroy all of God’s enemies.  Jesus is pictured as sitting at God’s right hand on the throne of glory and His feet resting upon God’s foes as one would rest his feet on a footstool.  I would think that Peter’s Jewish audience understood that David was not the Messiah thus he would not be sitting on God’s right hand and therefore could not be writing about himself.

Peter’s conclusion to those who stood before him and all of Israel was that the One whom they had crucified was Jesus, God’s Son, both Lord, the sovereign God, Jehovah, and Christ, the Anointed One.  All the people in Peter’s audience could say was, “What shall we do?”  Peter said that they must repent of their sin, be baptized to signify their belief and commitment to Christ, and then they, too, would receive the Holy Spirit.  I can’t help but think that some of them thought, “What did we do?  We crucified the Son of God, the Messiah”.  I would guess that fear came upon them.  They realized that they were responsible for the suffering and death of the Lord and Savior.  But it wasn’t just them.  Jesus died for the sins of the entire world, thus, everyone that has ever been born is responsible for the cross.  The good news is, though, that Jesus will forgive every single sinner who repents and places faith in Him.  Peter’s message of the gospel made a difference that day.  About 3,000 gladly repented, received Christ, and were baptized that same day.