Morning Devotion November 12 Acts 1–3 Crucifixion of - TopicsExpress

Morning Devotion November 12 Acts 1–3 Crucifixion of Christ “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” (Acts 2:23) Peter is preaching his famous Pentecost sermon here. The sermon is a gem and filled with instructions. We focus on this one verse in the sermon which is about the crucifixion of Christ. It speaks of the character of the crucified, the control of the crucifixion, and the corruption of the crucifiers. Character of the crucified. “Him.” Peter had spoken about the impeccable character of Christ in the preceding verses; then he said that it was “Him” who was crucified. The impeccable character of Christ qualified Him to be our Savior and to die in our place. The impeccable character of Christ also showed that character does not exempt one from shameful treatment in this world. No one lived better than Christ, yet He was despicably treated by mankind and crucified. Control of the crucifixion. “Delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” Man was not running the show at the crucifixion. God was. Man only manifested his evil at the crucifixion, though he thought he was running the show. God controlled all the events, and Christ would not die until it was time for Him to die. Man may be terribly vile and appear to gain the upper hand over God, but never believe it. God so controls things that He will use the evil of man to bring about His purposes. It was so with the crucifixion; and it is so in the events of our lives, too. As the Psalmist says, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain” (Psalm 76:10). Corruption of the crucifiers. “Wicked hands have crucified.” While God is sovereign and in control of all things, it will not exonerate evil. Peter did not hesitate to indict the people involved in the crucifixion by calling them “wicked” which they truly were. It took boldness to stand before this crowd and call those who crucified Jesus “wicked.” The boldness of Peter shames the preachers who are afraid to call sin by its right name. We do not help anyone when we whitewash sin and call it watered down names.