The Fine Print

known as Christ Church could at the very moment of this passage be counted in mere minutes. And in those earliest moments of the church, God called upon a very unlikely witness. This witness would be tasked with testifying about the most fantastic event in human history. the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. There were many such witnesses, a great host of people that could have been called upon to testify of what they had seen of the risen Christ. The first person who was recorded as seeing the risen Savior was Mary Magdalene.

In her grief, she had gone to Christ’s tomb with some other women to anoint Christ’s body. And when she saw the open tomb, she ran back to alert Peter and John. She returned with them to the empty tomb. And when the apostles departed abruptly, Mary was left there alone. John’s gospel records that Jesus revealed himself to her before anyone else. Mary Magdalene could have been a witness.

After Jesus departs, the rest of Mary’s helpers arrive. An angel confronts and instructs them, do not be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, he has risen. Just as he said, come, see the place where he is lying. go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And as the women hurry back to the apostles to tell them this news, Jesus presents himself now to the entire group of women. Matthew records that as they worship him, he too tells them to take word to his disciples.

These women could have been witnesses. As we read this morning, our risen savior ultimately reveals himself to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Cleopas and his unnamed friend traveling on that dusty road. Well, those two men could have been witnesses.

At long last, Jesus presents himself to the gathered apostles. Only Thomas is absent. Any of those 10 apostles could have been a witness. Days later, Jesus reveals himself again to the gathered apostles, this time with Thomas present. This is the occasion in which Jesus gently confronts Thomas’ doubt. showing him the wounds in his hands and his side. Thomas surely could have been a witness. And there are many others that could have been witnesses to Christ’s resurrection. All 11 apostles are again visited by Jesus. Seven of them go fishing. They are visited by the risen Savior. All 11 of them are gathered in Galilee.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that on some occasion, unrecorded in the Gospels, Jesus appeared to more than 500 brethren. Any of these could have been witnesses to the risen Christ. Paul also says that Jesus revealed himself risen from the dead to his unbelieving brother, James. That may have been when James came to faith in Christ. James could have been a witness. But out of all of those options, more than 500, Jesus himself chose one particular person to give the first and the greatest testimony to his resurrection. His name, of course, is Peter. Peter just barely missed seeing the risen Christ at the tomb.

That privilege was reserved for Mary alone, but he was present when Christ revealed himself to the 10 apostles, and on other occasions when Jesus did so. And those two men on the road to Emmaus, they spill the beans that they report to the 10 apostles who were gathered that he had revealed himself to Simon Peter alone. Paul affirms that in 1 Corinthians 15, that he appeared to Cephas. This is the same Peter who denied Jesus three times on the night of Christ’s trials. And yet God chose this man. Lonely, broken, devastated Peter to be the great witness to Christ’s resurrection. He was indeed a most unlikely key witness to a hostile world, but Peter was the one who would first proclaim Christ’s resurrection.

And with conviction and clarity and boldness, Testimony is recorded in Acts chapter 2. Would God’s people turn there, please? Acts chapter 2. Christ’s followers had been instructed to wait, to stay in the city of Jerusalem in order to receive the Holy Spirit which God the Father had promised, And it’s against that backdrop that we come into Acts chapter two. They’re waiting, hopefully. Would you follow along as I read those initial four verses? Verse one through four of chapter two.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind. It filled the whole house where they were sitting, and there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves.

And they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Just a fantastic scene. They didn’t even know what it would look like or what to expect, only that they were going to be given the Holy Spirit.

But the noise, the tongues of fire, and people speaking with other tongues. And Luke proceeds to describe the nature of these tongues. They were actual languages, would you look, beginning at verse five. Now, there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.

And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together and they were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished saying, why are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes, Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs.

We hear them in our own language, speaking of the mighty deeds of God. Three times Luke records that this was no undiscernible gibberish. Miraculously, believers touched by the Holy Spirit were enabled to declare God’s workmanship, the gospel, in other tongues, in other languages. Luke mentions at least 15 different cities or regions each with a different language.

And the hearers were astonished. This is indeed a remarkable event. And Luke describes the crowd’s reaction in verses 12 and 13. They all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, what does this mean? But others were mocking and saying, They are full of sweet wine. Some of them properly were bewildered about the significance of this occasion, this miraculous event. But some people took opportunity to more than just suggest that those speaking in these tongues were drunken, full of sweet wine.

And at this suggestion, God prompts no other than Peter to stand among this newly established church and deliver the very first sermon. We pick up Luke’s account in verse 14. But Peter, taking his stand with the 11, raised his voice and declared to them, men of Judea, And all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose. For it is only the third hour of the day, 9 a.m. But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel.

And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth my spirit on all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall see dreams. Even on my bond slaves, both men and women, I will pour in I will in those days pour forth my spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs in the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Peter effectively here says that, look, this phenomena, these hearers have errantly tributed to drunkenness. Instead, it is the fulfillment of prophecy by means of the power of Almighty God, the pouring forth of God’s Spirit. We might consider verses 14 through 21 as point one of Peter’s sermon. Would you glance down now and look at point two, verses 22 through 24. Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst, just as you know, this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men, but God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. That’s Peter’s point two of his sermon, and there are other points that we’re just going to kind of brush across this morning. These are the verses that I’d like to focus on, but Peter will go on in verses 25 through 28 to make application of Christ’s resurrection by means of Psalm 16. You will not allow your Holy One to undergo decay, said Psalm 16.

And Peter goes on to point out that David was speaking there not of himself, but of Christ. And then in verses 29 through 36, he gives his exposition of that passage, essentially showing that David was speaking of Christ, not himself. David is dead. Only Jesus Christ is alive.

Well, let’s stay here in verses 22 through 24. And the first thing that, I would have to highlight this morning is that the primary statement that Peter makes in verses 22 through 24, the simple sentence. And we have to be patient here because it doesn’t just jump off the page at us, we have to go and dig for it. Sentence unfolds in verses 22 and 23, it’s just this. Just listen.

Jesus the Nazarene, that’s the start of the sentence, and then we have to look all the way to the beginning of verse 23. Jesus the Nazarene, this man, and then finally to the very end of verse 23. You put to death. Jesus the Nazarene, this one, you put to death.

That’s the simple sentence. Everything else in those three verses is subordinate to that one statement. Everything else qualifies that one statement. I would simply refer to the subordinate statements as the fine print. And there are three particular qualifications that we’ll read. Let’s look at these briefly. Peter is effectively delivering an indictment against Christ detractors, those who had called for and accomplished his execution only hours before. And he gives three qualifications to this indictment.

The qualifiers are all spoken of as something that God did. Would you notice? In verse 22, God attested to Christ. God proved him by means of these miracles. In verse 23, it says that God delivered over Christ. This didn’t just happen to Christ, it was planned by God, though carried out by men. God attested to Christ, God delivered over Christ, and look at verse 24, God raised Christ. All three things, God did. Now the first of these, these fine print qualifiers, we find in verse 22.

Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst. Basically, Peter says here that God proved who Jesus was through these so many miracles and wonders and signs, countless healings and cleansings, even raising the dead, the feeding of 5,000, making water into wine, walking on the water, only to name a few. These miracles ought to have been enough because it was the Father who performed them. So the first statement in fine print that Peter asks these haters of Christ to acknowledge is that God had verified his son to them, the very one that they killed by these miraculous signs, he proved Christ. The second qualifier that Peter gives is in verse 23.

Would you glance there? This man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men. God not only attested to Jesus, but he delivered him over. The only time in the New Testament that this word is used, but it has a frightening overtone to it. Delivered over. It cannot be for a good purpose. And sure enough, by the end of the verse, verse 23, ultimately we see that Jesus was delivered over to death.

We’ve all heard it asked from time to time, who put Jesus on the cross? And if we’re humble, we might acknowledge that in large measure, we are to blame. After all, Jesus died for our sins. We might also point our fingers at the Jewish leaders of the day. They did it. Or we might blame Herod or Pilate. Those answers are true in measure. Peter has already issued his indictment of these leaders.

By hands of godless men, you put him to death. Peter surprises everyone with this qualification because he says that Christ’s crucifixion was an exercise of God’s sovereignty, a predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. This second qualification is that God is the one who designated Jesus for crucifixion by godless men. So God attested to Jesus’ nature and his character as God. He delivered him over to godless men.

We find Peter’s third qualification in verse 24. And here as well, it’s something that God did. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. And it’s this third qualification that I wanna focus on this morning. That God raised or resurrected Jesus from the dead. I’d like to look more closely at this third point, the fine print qualification of this indictment.

It’s important to read the fine print because Peter declares three amazing truths regarding Christ’s resurrection. Would you focus in on verse 24? Peter declares three amazing truths regarding Christ’s resurrection. And the first thing that he says, he tells us is the definitiveness of Christ’s resurrection. Very simple, but God raised him up again. Before we get too far into verse 24, I need to clarify something. In the original, in the Greek, there is no adversative, the word but. It doesn’t say but God. Literally, it says whom God raised again.

Because it’s tied to the previous statements. Peter is not making a new point in contrast to his indictment. It’s another in the continuing series of qualifiers here, the fine print to Peter’s main thought. Verse 24 in its entirety is subordinate to that indictment. Peter takes occasion in this first sermon to the church to proclaim Christ’s resurrection. And that may not sound amazing to us, Here we are, Resurrection Sunday, almost a given to us. But remember the context.

Just weeks ago, Peter watched helplessly as his Savior was arrested, and then run through a pretend series of trials, complete with false charges. And during these trials, Peter shamefully denied the Lord three times. He knows well that the message of Christ’s resurrection will not be a popular one.

The Jewish leaders knew that they had a problem because against all efforts, Jesus’ body had gone missing. Matthew records that Pilate and the Pharisees did everything they could to thwart such an event. Matthew 27, Verse 62 says, on the next day, the day after preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate and said, sir, we remember that when he was still alive, that deceiver said, after three days, I’m going to rise again.

Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal him away and say to the people, he has risen from the dead. The last deception will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, you have a guard. Go and make it as secure as you know how. But Jesus did rise from the grave. All that was left was an empty tomb and burial clothes, They could not account for his body, and that was a problem.

Matthew 28 even accounts for this contingency. You are to say that his disciples came up at night and stole him away while we were asleep. So this message, this message about Jesus being resurrected would not be a popular one. And yet the very one who previously denied that he even knew Jesus, now boldly declares his resurrection, even under the threat of death.

And it seems that from this first moment of ministry to his dying breath, the resurrection of his savior was the hallmark of Peter’s ministry. In Acts chapter one, remember this? He’s pressing for a replacement apostle for Judas. One who was, as Peter said, a witness of his resurrection. Very important to Peter. As I mentioned later in this passage, Psalm 16, it says that David there spoke of the resurrection of Christ. The very Jesus, he says in the next verse, that God raised up again. Resurrection was crucial to Peter.

Again, in his second sermon, same crowd, same indictment, same conclusion, same theme, you put to death the prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead. Even in his defense on this occasion, he could not curtail his testimony. Verse 10 of this same passage, that his ministry was by the name of Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified.” And then even nearing the end of his life, his earthly life, four times in the short letter of 1 Peter, again and again, the great theme of Christ’s resurrection emerges.

Chapter one, verse three, that God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Chapter one, verse 21, speaking of God, who raised him from the dead. In 318, he reminds us of Christ, that he was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. And then in 321, he urges us to a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The resurrection was everything to Peter. Peter uses several different words when speaking of this idea of the resurrection. He uses the word egyro, raised, to refer to the work that God performs, God raised him. He uses that word, he uses another word, anastasis, to speak more generally of the resurrection as an idea.

But here, In verse 24 and in Acts 2.32, Peter uses the word that, in its simplest sense, just means to stand up.

It was used by Mark 4.42 of Jairus. Remember his daughter, 12-year-old daughter, who had died, but whom Jesus made get up and walk. Likewise, to the paralytic. Remember whose friends let him down through the roof? Jesus just said to him, get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.

And so also God, the giver of all life, made a dead man, that is Jesus Christ, stand up again, brought him to life. And so here in verse 22, Peter boldly says, and unequivocally, God raised him up again. Peter immediately pictures here God the Father accepting Christ’s atonement for sinners, payment in full by raising him from the dead. Before he even moves to substantiate Jesus’ resurrection as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, which he does in the remainder of this chapter, he simply states it here in verse 24 as a fact. You killed him. God raised him up again.

So Peter’s sermon is not only the first one to be heard in the now established church, it was the first openly public declaration of the resurrection. It’s not conjecture. It’s not a matter of opinion, this idea of resurrection. It is the plain statement of truth that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by Almighty God. The Apostle Peter said it so clearly in the, pardon me, the Apostle Paul said it so clearly in the opening chapter of Romans. Chapter one, verse four, Christ was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. Well, there’s a second amazing truth that emerges from this verse.

Not only the definitiveness of Christ’s resurrection, but secondly, the significance of his resurrection. What were the consequences? What were the implications of Jesus rising from the dead? You look at verse 24 again. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death. Very fascinating phrase. And a lot of different people have stubbed their toe on this, not knowing exactly how to interpret it.

One thought is that this phrase hearkens back to Psalm 18.4. Just listen. It says there that the cords of death compassed me. The picture’s an individual bound with ropes, captured, perhaps awaiting imprisonment or even execution. But a rescuer comes and loosens the cords and frees the captive individual. It’s a fascinating image.

The other line of thinking is that this word agony refers to the pain of childbirth. And interestingly enough, the word is frequently translated as such, the only other time that it’s used. Birth pangs in Matthew 24, 8, Mark 13, 8, labor pains in First Thessalonians 5, 3, And so the word is used to describe excruciating pain, but such as is suddenly relieved, as with the birth of a child. And it almost, as you back away, it seems to be a blend of two metaphors.

We use mixed metaphors all the time, don’t we? And when we do, we don’t even really realize that we’re doing it. Try these on. Step up to the plate and put your cards on the table. He’s burning the midnight oil at both ends. Let’s burn that bridge when we come to it. Let’s bury the hatchet and let sleeping dogs lie. Those are just a few.

And so there is this suggestion here that maybe Peter is just loosely and creatively mixing his metaphors. I don’t think so. As much as I’m intrigued by the tie to Psalm 18, 4, the cords of death being loosed or untied, to attribute clumsiness to Peter here would be problematic, to say the least. And at the very most, all that Peter is doing is making an illusion, not a citation of that Psalm. But further, it seems to only obscure the beautiful point of the phrase.

By raising Jesus from the dead, God put an end to the pain that is the agony of the horrible problem of death. In his monumental treatment of the resurrection, Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 says, oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see the implications of Christ’s resurrection abound. But perhaps the greatest implication is the implication upon death itself. The great enemy of humanity is suddenly rendered powerless. The curse that Adam and Eve incurred in the garden is suddenly destroyed. By faith in Jesus Christ, his victory becomes our victory. The assurance of life everlasting. There’s a third caveat or condition that Paul provides.

The third amazing truth regarding Jesus’ resurrection, derived there from verse 24. Not only the definitiveness of Christ’s resurrection and the significance of Christ’s resurrection, but thirdly, the inevitability of Christ’s resurrection. The inevitability of Christ’s resurrection. Would you look at verse 24 once again?

But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. The third portion of this qualifier tells us of the inevitability of Christ’s resurrection. It is at the same time a stunningly powerful and wonderfully liberating thought. God raised up Jesus and in so doing put an end to the agony of death because or since it was impossible for Jesus to continue to be held in its power.

Now, there are a number of reasons, logical reasons for this. First of all, it’s demanded by prophecy Even if we were to only limit ourselves to the argument that Peter makes from Psalm 16, prophecy would be destroyed if Jesus doesn’t fulfill it in this regard.

Now, I’ve alluded to Psalm 16 several times. Let me just have you glance down or glide down into those verses. Verse 25. There in verse 25, Peter says, for David says of him, I saw the Lord always in my presence for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.

Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue exulted. Moreover, my flesh will also live in hope because you will not abandon my soul to Hades nor allow your Holy One to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brethren, Peter says, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried. And his tomb is with us to this day. There was no resurrection for David, not yet.

And so because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on the throne, he looked ahead. and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh suffer decay. This Jesus, God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. The prophecy had to be fulfilled. I’ve alluded to it several times. today, Peter is referring to that impossible grip that death had on Christ, it couldn’t remain. If God doesn’t conquer death here, prophecy has proven false and the whole plan of redemption disintegrates. God overcoming Christ’s death, raising him from the dead is also necessarily demanded by Christ’s own words.

Listen to this. Matthew 17, 23, they will kill him. He’s telling his disciples, they will kill him and he will be raised the third day. Matthew 20, verse 19, they will hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock and scourge and crucify. And on the third day, he will be raised up.

Luke 9.22, the Son of Man will suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day.

John 2.19, Jesus answered them, destroy this temple, the temple of his body, and in three days I will raise it up. If Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead, then he would be found a liar and therefore not God, and God’s entire plan of redemption is immediately destroyed.

Our redemption, of course, is logically and inextricably tied to Christ’s resurrection. The resurrection served as God’s stamp of approval for Christ’s atonement. He was raised for our justification, says Paul in Romans 5. Paul also provides an airtight argument for the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Listen to this. Paul is reasoning here, mind you.

Now, if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some of you, some among you, say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is in vain. And so there are these logical conclusions to the, it had to happen. It was impossible for Jesus not to be raised. It was a logical impossibility.

But in addition to these logical implications, suppose the first question that comes to us in this passage is, who or what is holding on to Jesus? And quite simply, the answer is death. Death is personified as having this kind of grip on Christ. But Peter goes on to show it was a feeble grasp.

And try as it might, death could not keep hold of Jesus. It was, as our translators tell us here, impossible. Literally here in the original, it says, it, that is death, was not able, it was not powerful enough to maintain its grasp on Christ. It was impossible for death to hold on to Christ any longer. His resurrection was inevitable.

Beyond those logical arguments, there’s a mighty torrent of testimony from Scripture that makes it absolutely impossible for death to maintain its grip on Christ. In his second sermon, Peter refers to Jesus as the Prince of Life. In the opening of the Apostle John’s Gospels, he provides us many such testimonies. He says of Jesus in chapter one, verse four, in him was life. And he expands on that argument and in 526 of his Gospels saying that as the father has life in himself, even so he gave the son to have life in himself. Jesus himself declared in John 10, 18, no one has taken my life away from me.

I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down. I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my father. And again, in John 11, 25, I am the resurrection and the life. Paul presents this same argument in 2 Timothy 1.10, where he says that Christ Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Finally, the writer of Hebrews says that through death he rendered powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. And so the argument that courses through the entirety of the New Testament is that of course it was impossible for Jesus Christ to be held in death’s grip. Because of Christ and his divine nature, he was life itself. He was the very source and spring and fountain of life. He was the cause of all life, physical, and spiritual. Every living thing has its life and owes its existence to Jesus Christ.

It was impossible that death could overcome him. Would you rejoice before him in prayer? Our merciful God, we come before you and humble ourselves before this mighty testimony. A mere and feeble man, but a man that you chose and you anointed for this occasion. Father, he doesn’t hold back one bit.

Peter boldly declares the absolute truth of the resurrection, that God raised him up again, restored him to life, And Lord, in doing so, he ended the curse of death. Father, we thank you and praise you for the reminder that Jesus Christ’s resurrection was inevitable. It was impossible for death to keep him down. He is life itself. And the moment we yield to the idea that Jesus Christ could be killed or destroyed, is to destroy God and to destroy all creation.

Lord, we thank you for our Savior, the Savior that you provided. And Lord, even as we were reminded today from Peter’s testimony, that for all who place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, their sin is forgiven. and they too will experience and enjoy the resurrection into eternal life. Lord God, we pray for any person in our midst who does not know the Savior as such, who does not have faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Lord God, we pray that you would do your work in their hearts Make your hand to be heavy upon them. Show them their desperate need of the Savior. And Lord, like you’ve done with us, would you open their eyes and make them to see that Jesus Christ already paid for sinners penalty on the cross. Lord, draw them to yourself.

And for us, Lord, For those of us who by your grace do know the Savior and do know his resurrection, this message is our message. It doesn’t have to remain as Peter’s message. We are called to proclaim this same truth, that God raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, and he put an end to this painful experience of life we call death. And he did so because it was absolutely impossible that Jesus would remain in death’s grip. Lord, we rejoice before you. We thank you for the forgiveness and for the eternal life that we have, and for the promise that the resurrection is to us. We lay these things before you and we pray them in Jesus’ name.