The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree; Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Acts 5:30-31
A terrible crime had been committed one time in the east side of Saint John, in which a woman had been knifed to death. The man suspected of killing her had been brought to the courtroom in manacles, and he sat by himself at the far end of the prisoner’s dock, his clothing dirty and messy, his bushy black hair unkempt, When he raised his eyes to face the court, there was a wild look of terror and hopelessness on his countenance. When the court preliminary matters were dispensed with, the judge turned to the accused man in the dock and abruptly told him to stand up. The accused murderer did so, leaning on the rail in front of him, and hanging his head. The judge then raised the indictment prepared by the police, and read the awful charge: first-degree murder. His words fell like stones and it seemed they hit the accused man in the heart. He slumped down in the dock and gasped for air. What a dreadful thing to face a man with! And yet, Peter brought the very same charge against the rulers of the Jews. In a very real way, the same charge is leveled against us. We hang our heads in shame today to think of what we did to the Lord of Glory.
As we meet today to Remember the Lord Jesus, and to show His death in the breaking of bread and in the drinking of the cup, we are so thankful that, despite our shameful treatment of Him, He is willing and joyful to be our Prince and Saviour. God first of all raised Him on the cross at Golgotha. But that is not all: He has indeed raised Him not only from the dead but also to His own right side, to the most exalted position in heaven. And the same One who was so shamefully mistreated by us has withdrawn all charges. We confess our guilt, but He has removed the guilt. We confess our unworthiness, but He has imparted to us His righteousness. As our text declares, He has provided to forgiveness of sins, even the terrible sin of sending our Saviour to the cruelty of Golgotha.
And He is not yet finished; our text reminds us that when the Gentiles have been gathered in, He will bring His earthly people Israel as a nation to repentance and to full acceptance of Him as their Messiah and King.
We are a happy people today as we stand before One who well might have been our Judge but who has instead become our Prince and our Saviour.
Let us raise Him up today in our midst in praise and adoration. He is worthy. -Jim MacIntosh