On Pentecost day following the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the apostles received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and preached to Jews from many nations who had gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-5). “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto them, saying, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and give ear unto my words” (Acts 2:14). [All Scripture references are from the ASV.] Regarding the resurrection of Christ, Peter quoted Psalm 16:8-11 in what the Spirit spoke centuries before by David in Acts 2:25-28:
For David saith concerning him,
I beheld the Lord always before my face;
For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
Moreover my flesh also shall dwell in hope:
Because thou wilt not leave my soul unto Hades,
Neither wilt thou give thy Holy One to see corruption.
Thou madest known unto me the ways of life;
Thou shalt make me full of gladness with thy countenance.
Peter’s inspired argument is David was not writing of himself. Unlike the description of Psalm 16:8-11, David died and his body suffered corruption. “Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day” (Acts 2:29). The tomb of David was in Jerusalem, the city of David (1 Kgs. 2:10; Neh. 3:16), the very city where Peter was speaking in Acts 2. David’s tomb was occupied. Peter and his audience knew it and could likely point to where it was from where they were standing.
However, there was a tomb in a garden just outside Jerusalem where Jesus had been buried that now stood open and empty (Luke 24:1; John 20:1-8). This was the fulfillment of the prophecy that God would raise up one of David’s descendants on the throne. “Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne” (Acts 2:30). Through Nathan the prophet, God had told David:
When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. (2 Sam. 7:12-16.)
God was going to fulfill His oath to David even if it was centuries later. He said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant: Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations” (Psa. 89:3, 4). Indeed, “Jehovah hath sworn unto David in truth; He will not turn from it: Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne” (Psa. 132:11).
Acts 2:31 states that David, as a prophet of God, spoke of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead in Psalm 16. The body and the spirit separate at death (Jas. 2:26). The body of Jesus was not in the tomb long enough to decay. His spirit went into Paradise the same day He died (Luke 23:43) but did not remain there in Hades (Greek for unseen realm of departed spirits). Jesus was raised from the dead. To be held prisoner by death was impossible for Jesus because of God’s promise.
More than merely proving the resurrection of Christ was prophesied centuries earlier, Peter quoted the statements of David in the Psalms to prove to his Jewish audience that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Besides Psalm 16, Peter also quoted Psalm 110:1. In Acts 2:34, 35 he said, “For David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.” The Father told the Son to sit at His right hand. Jesus sat at the right hand of the Father after His resurrection when He ascended to heaven (John 3:13; 6:62; 20:17; Acts 1:11; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2).
Peter drives home the conclusion in Acts 2:36: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.” Christ is equivalent to Messiah. The terms refer to the anointed one of God of whom so much was said in the Hebrew Scriptures. Whether they recognized it or not, Jesus is the only Potentate, the anointed King of Kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15).
The apostles were witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:22; 4:33). They not only testified that it in fact occurred but also preached the response God desires people to have to this miracle. To the crowd gathered on Pentecost day, Peter did not hold back but pointed out the guilt of his audience in crucifying Jesus. When asked what to do (Acts 2:37), the inspired apostle replied, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Repentance is the proper response to the One who has been raised from the dead before Whose judgment seat we must appear (Acts 17:30, 31; 2 Cor. 5:10). How have you responded to the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus? Have you been united with Him in these by baptism (Rom. 6:3-7; 1 Pet. 3:21)? The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. The implications of the resurrection challenge us to give our lives in complete devotion to Him for we too will be raised in the final day (John 5:28, 29; 1Cor.6:14; 2 Cor. 4:14).