More Prophecies of David

January 9, 2005

Tom: In this our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we’re going through the Book of Acts and Dave, last week…we’re in chapter 2 and we’ve mentioned some things about verse 25, 26, and 27, but let me go back to Acts:2:25, I’ll read that again, and I’ve got some questions here.

“For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”

Dave, on verse 27—I don’t know if you want to go back a little earlier, but is that a good translation “…Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell”?

Dave: Actually….

Tom: I think the Greek is “hades.”

Dave: That’s right. Now, some people don’t know the difference. “Hades,” “hell,” we talk about hell in a certain context. Now, hell is where the damned go. But there was a place called “hades” that had two compartments. How do we know that? Because we know that the rich man ended up in one, and Lazarus, the beggar, ended up in the other. The other was called “Abraham’s bosom.” And this was where the redeemed were waiting for the resurrection of Christ before they could be taken to heaven, and we talked about that a bit.

But, David is speaking of himself, but he is also speaking prophetically: “Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.” And we mentioned that, again, briefly….

Tom: Mm-hmm.

Dave: …last week. The body of Christ did not corrupt in the grave. Verse 25 is so amazing. David is a prophet. He’s speaking—he says, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face. He is on my right hand that I should not be moved.”

How can that be? David was under the protection of God—some amazing things happened in his life, and I think I quoted last week, and we can quote it again, Psalm 27, David said, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.” So, David was spiritually in the presence of God. This is where he lived continually and in fellowship and communion with God. Amazing, because there are many people who call themselves Christians today who certainly do not have that experience, and yet, they have the whole Bible in front of them.

Tom: Well, not only that. They are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Dave: Right.

Tom: And David wasn’t.

Dave: Exactly. So, how could this be? Well, David was a man of God. It was possible for everyone. God said, “You will seek for me and find me when seek for me with all your heart.” So the psalmist said, “As the hart pants after the water brooks,…” h-a-r-t, a deer…so panteth my heart, my soul, after thee, O God.” If we have a passion to know God, to serve Him, to please Him, to be what He wants us to be, this would be true of us as well.

So, this is a prophecy concerning the resurrection. It comes from Psalm:16:10. One of the places in the Old Testament that foretold the resurrection of Christ—now, if there is going to be a resurrection, then obviously there is going to be a death—and of course, David also foretold the crucifixion….

Tom: Mm-hmm.

Dave: …of Christ. Verse 28: “Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.” David wrote, “In thy presence is fullness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.” This is not the kind of pleasures that the world seeks. “Fullness of joy”—not the joy that the world seeks, and this is why we’re going to have to be redeemed.

I think an unsaved person would be very uncomfortable in heaven. This is not what they want. This is not their interest. This is not their desire. It’s one of the problems when I see a person who claims to be a Christian, but they have ungodly companions. Maybe he or she is dating an unsaved person. You get very close to a person when you date them. You talk about things that matter and so forth. How can you talk about the Lord to someone that doesn’t know the Lord? So, apparently, this person who claims to be a Christian is not that much in love with the Lord himself or herself. Because they can spend all their time with ungodly companions, doing ungodly things—well, where is my heart? And David’s heart was with the Lord. His heart was toward the Lord.

Tom: Yeah, even though he sinned. He sinned grievously.

Dave: He did. Yes, that was an amazing slip on the part of David, because that is not the way he was the rest of the time. So….

Tom: He repented….

Dave: Yeah.

Tom: …once under conviction.

Dave: Right. So this is why Paul wrote, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” We don’t have any confidence in the flesh,” Paul said.

He goes on in verse 29, “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell (that’s hades), neither his flesh did see corruption…” (that is actually paradise—Jesus said to the thief who believed in Him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”)

Tom: Yeah, and not abode of the damned.

Dave: No. And we dealt with that, I think, last week, or the week before. So, I find it interesting, Tom, verse 29: “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David.” These people believed in the patriarch David. One thing about the Jews of that day, at least, and it’s not true of, say, the reformed Jews today; there are liberal Jews—they don’t believe the Bible. They don’t really believe in God.

For example, in Acts 13—if we ever get to it—Paul is preaching a sermon in the synagogue as he often did, and he always refers them back to the prophets, refers them back to the Old Testament. At least in those days, they believed in that. Their problem was that they didn’t know the Scriptures, they didn’t know the prophets, and, so, in Luke 24 Jesus chides—in fact, he rebukes sternly the two on the road to Emmaus. “You fools! You didn’t pay attention to what the prophets said.”

Now, today, it’s a different situation. So many of them are New Agers, atheists, they have rejected the Bible almost in its entirety. As have many Protestants—so called.

Tom: Well, yeah, Dave, I remember when we were in Israel we ran across that. But it was interesting. In their schools they still use it as a history book.

Dave: That’s right. The Bible—the Old Testament.

Tom: Right.

Dave: Exactly.

Tom: Verse 32, “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”

Dave: He’s referring to them speaking in other languages, and Jesus had said that He would have to go away before the Comforter would come. So, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, and the Spirit of God has come upon these people, indwelling them, and so forth. And that was a witness to what He had promised. This was the proof. Amazing passage, here, Tom, and He’s now going to go on, and He says, “For David is not ascended into the heavens: [that is at the time he made this statement] but he said, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Very bold statement for Peter! That’s eventually going to get him crucified upside down according to tradition. But he is declaring that this one that they crucified, He is the Christ. They have rejected the very one that God promised to send them. And they’ve done this in the face of the prophets who have told them exactly what would happen.

Tom: Dave, can you imagine? There are those that say, “This is an anti-Semitic verse. It should be taken out of the Bible; taken out of the New Testament.” Hey…Peter—this is Peter!

Dave: Right. The truth is not anti-anything.

Tom: Right.

Dave: Anti, being supposedly a false accusation. Simply the facts; that’s what the Bible gives us.

Program Number:

0305d