Acts 17.1-4 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to gThessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, has was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them ifrom the Scriptures, 3 jexplaining and proving that it was necessary for kthe Christ to suffer and lto rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And msome of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did na great many of the devout oGreeks and not a few of the leading women.
Following Jesus was not meant to be a new religion. Paul, Silas and Timothy went to the synagogue. They came on the Jewish day of worship and Torah study. They reasoned from the Old Testament Scriptures, “explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead.” And, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ. [The promised anointed One.]
Good news from and old place.
Although it does not say, the actual citations of Scripture Paul was using, there are few places in the OT more complete in its vision of Jesus as the suffering Messiah than Isaiah 53:
53 gWho has believed what he has heard from us?1
And to whom has hthe arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
iand like a root out of dry ground;
jhe had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 kHe was despised and rejected2 by men;
a man of sorrows,3 and acquainted with4 grief;5
and as one from whom men hide their faces6
he was despised, and lwe esteemed him not.
4 mSurely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
nsmitten by God, and afflicted.
5 oBut he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
pand with his stripes we are healed.
6 qAll we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
rand the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
syet he opened not his mouth;
tlike a ulamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, vwho considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
wand with a rich man in his death,
although xhe had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet yit was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;7
zwhen his soul makes8 an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
athe will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see9 and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall bthe righteous one, my servant,
cmake many to be accounted righteous,
dand he shall bear their iniquities.
12 eTherefore I will divide him a portion with the many,10
fand he shall divide the spoil with the strong,11
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
gyet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Jesus is the “arm of the Lord”. This denotes power and authority and action. But right away it goes upside DOWN.
It was not about his appearance. He had nothing to draw the world’s outside attention.
-Despised and rejected. (that is not our view of a king.)
As he was brutally beaten and savagely crucified, it must have been something very hard to look upon. (The curse of the cross is not what we expect out of our heroes, is it?)
Jesus is a “man of sorrows” acquainted with grief. This should bring joy to all the faint hearted who struggle with depression and despair. Your Savior has borne every sorrow and is well acquainted with all the trouble this world so easily dishes out. He doesn’t just empathize with our grief, HE BEARS IT. He carries it. HE OWNS IT.
Our first glance at the cross is repulsive. This man hanging there must be cursed by God. He must have done something so evil to be handled this way. If He were a good man, a prophet of God, He would have escaped this ordeal. This dishonor is an unfathomable insult to a holy prophet like this. So much so, that some believe today that God removed Jesus at the last moment and sent a more just replacement.
This is UPSIDE down. Cursed instead of praised.
He is sacrificed instead of lauded.
He is clothed with dishonor instead of honor and majesty.
His death brings about our life.
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