Acts 13:29-30 NKJV
“Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead.”
Though he was not among the twelve disciples of Jesus, the Apostle Paul received extraordinary revelations about the finished work of Christ. The Lord spoke to him from heaven several times, with most of them being during times when Paul’s life was in danger. On one occasion at Corinth, the Lord spoke with him in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city” (Act 18:9-10 NKJV). Hallelujah! Only by continuing to speak would God use the words through Paul’s mouth to transform many.
What was the main subject of the things Paul was to keep speaking about? Put in his own words, he was called and anointed to “…testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Act 20:24 NKJV). Hallelujah! Given that Jesus Christ is the Person at the heart of the gospel of the grace of God, simply put, Paul was to keep speaking of Jesus Christ. At one point, this is what the man of God said, in part, of Christ: “Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead”, as in our reference text. Hallelujah!
Reflecting on what Paul said in our text, we can see that the things that happen under the sun are completely inferior to what heaven does. Notice, while men did what they could do to the Lord Jesus, what God did to His Son superseded all! It is in speaking of Christ Jesus that God’s power of salvation comes into action (Rom 1:16). That applies in all cases: whether we are speaking of Jesus to others or to our very own selves! Yes, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent”—until everything in and around you knows that you believe in the disgrace-removing, head-lifting, and life-transforming power of God in Christ Jesus!
Pst. Emmanuel