Acts 3:22-26
In one case Moses
said that the Lord your God will cause a prophet to stand up for you all out of
your brothers as me. Hear him according
to all things – as much as he should call out to you all. But in another case it will be all life that
unless it should hear that prophet it will be utterly destroyed out of the
people. And also all the prophets from
Samuel and the ones subsequently occurring, as much as they called out also
they announced these days. You all are
the sons of the prophets and God arranged that covenant with your fathers while
saying to Abraham ‘also in your seed all the families of the earth will be
blessed.’ First to you all after God
caused his child to stand up he sent him forth while praising you all in
turning each away from your evil.”
Thoughts for Today:
First Thought:
Here is a great definition of a prophet: someone who brings a
Word from God into your midst.
Who are the prophets in your life? Do you listen to them often or do you do
things your own way first and then listen to them should things go poorly? How does this thought tie into being humble
before God?
Second Thought:
Peter reminds us that those who do not listen to the
prophets risk destruction. This isn’t a
scare tactic, this is history. The
people wandering through the wilderness didn’t listen to Moses and none of them
(except Joshua and Caleb) got to enter the Promised Land. The Hebrew people didn’t listen to the
prophets once they were in the Promised Land and they got conquered by the Assyrians,
the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Islamic forces, and actually spend
about 2,500 years without their own land to call “home.” Even now, the land they can call home is
still perpetually under threat.
Given that history, do you think people who don’t listen to
God’s Word in their life (which is all of us from time to time) are being
punished by God or are they reaping the natural consequences of their choices?
Third Thought:
Peter also talks about grace in this passage. Peter says that the Jewish people should be
blessed because in spite of all their prior times at refusing to listen to God,
God still sent them the Messiah first.
God’s grace, love, forgiveness, and mercy do truly abound.
How lucky and blessed should we “Gentiles” be in that God
gave us a Messiah at all?
Passage for Tomorrow: Acts 4:1-4
3 comments:
What do you mean about natural consequences?
Natural consequences are things that come from making bad choices. For example, if I decide to get behind the vehicle of a car after having become drunk, the natural consequences would be an accident. Imposed consequences of that act might include a ticket from police, possibly going to jail, suspension of a drivers license, etc.
As a more positive example, the natural consequences of brushing my teeth is fewer cavities and a fresh smelling breath. The imposed consequences of brushing my teeth is people commenting on the whiteness, comments about a fresh breath, a happy dentist at check-up time, etc.
Natural consequences are things that happen simply because we make a decision to do something (or not do something). Imposed consequences are reactions taken by someone else based on what we chose to do (or not to do). Does that make sense?
Yes thank you
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