The Missing Piece

“Immanuel Spirit” – Part 5

(Acts 2:25-33, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 23, 2011)

25 For David says concerning him,

“I saw the Lord always before me,

for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;

26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;

my flesh also will dwell in hope.

27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,

or let your Holy One see corruption.

28 You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will make me full of gladness with your presence.

29 Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

For David says concerning Him, “I saw the Lord... (25-28)

David, the King of Israel who reigned 1000 years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, spoke concerning Jesus. One of the poems that He wrote about Jesus was what we now call Psalm 16. On the day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter spoke about that poem now that the mystery had been revealed. The problem, if you can call it that, with Psalm 16 and many other psalms and many other passages, was that there was a missing piece that made it very hard to understand. But now that piece had been found. Now that it was clear that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, the meaning of Psalm 16 had suddenly become more plain.

With Jesus revealed as the great Lord, David's words make perfect sense. The suffering Messiah, Jesus, when He was doing what He came to do, fulfilling His calling to be the Lamb of God, saw the Lord God always before Him. In all of His difficult ministry, God was with Him at His right hand. This Jesus was the fulfillment of perfection as the faithful servant/worshiper of God, and through it all He knew the presence of God so that He would not be utterly shaken, even on his way to the cross. Not only did He retain His composure despite many provocations; His heart was glad, and His tongue rejoiced.

David adds, in the voice of the Messiah who would come one millennium later, that He knew that His flesh would dwell in hope. His calling as the Lamb of God demanded that He die, and that He be buried, but He had perfect faith, even through the terror of taking our sins, that His flesh would live. Therefore He walked on in hope, with the assurance of the promises of God.

What was the promise of God to Jesus? That God would not abandon the soul of Jesus to Hades, the grave, the place of the dead. But the promise of God to Jesus was about more than his soul; his heart, mind, and will. The promise was about the body of Jesus, that the body of Jesus, the Holy One of God, the Messiah, would not see corruption.

Corruption of the body is the normal course of affairs for humanity. The poet Yeats wrote about the corruption all around us in a poem entitled “The Second Coming.” Here is the first half of it:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Things fall apart, and bodies face corruption; but not Jesus of Nazareth. His body faced death, but He was not given over to the corruption of the grave. David, in Psalm 16, wrote a subtle poem about the resurrection of Jesus. Poems are hard to understand some times. But now clarity had come, and Peter could show that 1000 years before that Pentecost, David wrote a poem about the resurrection of Jesus. The grave was not the final story for God's Holy One. God had made known to Him the paths of life, a life beyond the grave. God made Jesus full of gladness with His presence. The body of Jesus would not stay in the grave. He would live again, body and soul, in the presence of God. With that promise Jesus could face suffering with hope. Jesus was the missing piece of Psalm 16. Now the poem could finally be more fully understood.

Brothers, about the patriarch David, He foresaw... (29-31)

If Jesus of Nazareth, risen from the dead, is not the missing piece of Psalm 16, than what was David writing about? Could it be that he was referring to himself? Peter considers that. If David was talking about himself, then he was in error. David not only died, but He was buried. His body saw corruption. David, though the author of the poem, is not the living center of Psalm 16.

Though David was not the Messiah, he was a prophet. He knew that God had sworn to him that one of his descendants would be an eternal King. This was God's oath. (We will explore that next week in Psalm 110). As God's prophet, David was able to see ahead to Jesus and to speak about the resurrection of the Messiah, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.

This Jesus has poured out this... (32-33)

This Jesus is not only the glory Psalm 16, He is the key to David's life and to your life. This Jesus God raised up. Peter and the others were witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus. He was exalted to the right hand of God. He received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and He poured out that Holy Spirit, that Immanuel “God with us” Spirit, upon the church. The thousands who heard Peter were witnesses of this gift of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the church, and the apostles and the church were witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus.

God has not abandoned your soul. Nor has He forever abandoned your body. There will be a resurrection of the dead, but you do not have to wait for the Second Coming in order to know that God is with us. You do not have to wait until the Second Coming in order to positively address the sad fact that everything falls apart. You can be part of the solution. You can live in hope. The Lord is always before you. He is at your right hand that you may not be shaken.

Can you make a joyful noise? Make that noise unto the Lord, who would not abandon His Holy One to corruption. Can you pray? Speak to the God who hears and answers the prayer of faith, and change the world. Can you build something of beauty and order? Do you hear the voice of someone who needs a friend? Can you teach a child, or help the lonely? Be glad and serve.

1000 years is a long time to wait for the Messiah. But the promise of God kept David going, and kept many going who read and sang Psalm 16, even though they could not see what it was all about. We are in a better position to live with hope than they were. Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord. He is preached everywhere throughout the world. We hear and we believe. He is with us.

1. Why does Peter quote Psalm 16?

2. What does he say concerning Psalm 16 as a prophecy?

3. Who are the witnesses of the resurrection to which Peter refers?

4. What connection does Peter make between Jesus and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit?

OT Passage: Psalm 16