Promised

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

PROMISED

Acts 2:29-35

29 "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand 35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." '   

NIV

Are we to believe that David’s body is still in the grave and has decayed beyond to point of existence? It has been so long that even his bones might have decayed away to nothing but dust. Is Jesus the only one who was physically resurrected? Does that mean we too will remain in the grave? Is that what Peter is saying? We know there is a day when we will all be changed. On that day we will exchange this corruptible body for one that is incorruptible. Our bodies will also be changed from this perishable form to one that is imperishable, and they will also transform from a mortal body to an immortal one. When that day is, we can not say with certainty, but we know that we are not going to be abandoned to the grave, for death cannot hold on to us for eternity. Has David been resurrected since the time Peter spoke of his tomb still being there, or will David be resurrected on the same day we are if we die before the Lord returns? What we know for certain is that Jesus is alive and sits at the right hand of the Father and is forever making intercession for us. Now, with that knowledge, we can also be sure that Jesus is going to return for us to take us to the place where he is. That is his promise, and we will not be going to that place as a dead people, but rather as resurrected children of God. We also know that as we humble ourselves before the Lord, he will exalt us in the same manner that he exalted Jesus. Jesus humbled himself before the Father when he prayed if there was any other way, but nevertheless, the Father's will be done. This showed how Jesus humbled himself to the will of the Father and was therefore exalted to the place of honor. The one thing we understand is that we too must humble ourselves before the Father, not overriding his will for us with our own will. We know that we will be exalted if we submit ourselves to the Father. Jesus made that truth when he said that anyone who exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. The other truth here is that Jesus received the promised Holy Spirit from the Father to send forth into the world to be poured out upon all people. Because we can attest to at least one of the promises of Jesus that has already come true, that is we have the Holy Spirit within us and have experienced his power and his manifestation of his fruit and gifts in us, we can be sure that all rest of the promises of Jesus will happen. Therefore we live in complete confidence that we will be with our Lord, whenever it happens is not the point, for it will happen, just as Jesus promised.