Sacrifices for the Good || Acts 4:10 || Manna for the Mind #30

Welcome to Day 30 of my “Manna for the Mind” devotional series! This series takes a passage of scripture (typically 1-3 verses) and builds its understanding through its context and connecting scripture. Doing this helps us understand what the Bible truly teaches us. 

Acts 4:10

10          Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.

The healing power of Christ goes beyond the range of our understanding. Healed is the Greek adjective hugiés (hoog-ee-ace’), which means sound, whole, and healthy. This word is used to describe something sound, healthy, pure, or wholesome. The person that the Israelites crucified was sent to death and was killed in front of them. Jesus came out of that in a sound, healthy, and whole way. Let’s talk about that some more.

Acts 2:24

24          But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grips.

Peter spoke very upfront about the resurrection. As Peter preached his sermon of Pentecost, the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection were still hot news, less than two months old. Jesus’ execution was carried out in public before a lot of witnesses. His empty tomb was available for everyone to see, so everything preached about it was fresh. The grief, the buzz, and all the emotional in-betweens were still floating around from the believers to the unbelievers.

If Jesus was not resurrected, the authorities should have been able to produce his body and put to end the buzz of the fact that Jesus was resurrected. Peter and the apostles saw the risen Jesus. As changed as they were, they announced this news with great passion and conviction. We are called to share this news with the same conviction they did, but we really don’t do that. Why? We weren’t the ones present to see the risen Jesus ourselves. I’m sure if you or I were there, we would do it the same way Peter did, Yet we still can. We didn’t literally see the resurrected Jesus, but we can experience the feelings Peter did. We can experience what God has done in our life and how it’s changed it for the better.

Our faith and credibility also rest on the truth of the empty tomb. According to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection of Jesus means that he is the Son of God, and that word can be trusted. It proves a lot of different prophetic statements shown in the Old Testament.

We are forgiven by God of our sins because of the sacrifice Jesus endured on the Christ. That wasn’t supposed to be Jesus. That was supposed to be us, but God loved us so much that he didn’t want to see us there. He wanted someone who was perfectly sinless to go and be the sacrificial lamb who puts the spiritual punishments of sin to rest. This sacrifice opened the door to an easily accessible relationship with God. A relationship that allows us to come boldly before him to express our joys and sorrows. This means that the Spirit that saved us then is eternally with us. The Spirit is active and willing to help us in times of need, even when it’s time for our earthly bodies to pass away.

Father God, we thank you for what you did in sending your Son to pay the price for our sins. It could not have been easy to see your Son go through the torment, pain, suffering, and bullying he did, but you knew that he would survive. Even when the flesh died, the Spirit returned three days later to walk among us. Help us to share the power of what it means to us with those around us. Encourage us to plant the seed into others’ minds to share the power we’ve been lucky enough to receive. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.