In no area of biblical studies have Christians been more often deceived then in the area of
prophecy. The early church fathers got caught up in wild spiritualizing of the Old Testament. They
found profound revelations where there were none. It became so subjective that you could make
Scripture mean anything you wanted it to mean, and this abuse led to reaction which went to the
other extreme of literalism. This led to just as foolish conclusions as the other extreme. A cult in
East Africa, for example, says you must have 2, 4, 6 or 8 wives because the Bible says, “Do not be
unequally yoked together.”
This an extreme example, but it is not isolated. When a freshman at Bethel, I and my
roommate ran on to a book by a well known evangelical that found predictions in the prophets of all
kinds of modern inventions such as cars, planes and bombs. We were excited and thought this was
proof of the Bible’s inspiration, and many Christians think the same way today because they think
the Bible foretells everything that is going on in the world. This is a totally erroneous view of
Revelation that ignores the basic truth that the Bible is a revelation of God’s redemptive plan, and
not to be used to satisfy the curiosity of people by seeming to predict modern inventions. This
degrades the Bible and puts it in the same category with those who pretend to predict the future
today.
Prophecy is also perverted in every generation by those who feel it was all written for just their
day. There is a whole graveyard full of old prophecy books that died along with the people who are
suppose to be the anti-Christ. Many Popes, kings, and rulers, like Napoleon, and more recently
Hitler and Mussolini, were all thought to be the fulfillment of prophecy. Men who can pinpoint
God’s plan, and even name names, always draw good crowds, but so far they have never been right.
Those who name him when the real anti-Christ appears are bound to at last be right, but then no one
will need a book to tell them, for it will be obvious.
Meanwhile the dangers of self-appointed prophets are great. They often cause division and get
Christian people to be lopsided in their view of God’s plan. They try and make you think that
figuring out which ten rulers or nations are the ten heads of the beasts is the real goal of Bible study.
Andrew Murray once led a group of people who would not come to hear him preach because the
notes in their Bible said the ten heads of the beasts were kings of Europe, one of which was the king
of England, and since Murray was a salaried servant of the British Empire he was considered to be a
servant of anti-Christ. Murray said he hardly knew whether to weep or smile at some of their
explanations of the prophecies.
In every age the cults major on prophecy. The Jehovah Witnesses have volume after volume
on prophecy, and they do an amazing amount of research in this area. I have read some and find it is
usually no more wild in its speculations than are those of evangelicals who consider themselves to be
authorities in this area. It seems that no one can tolerate a mystery, and so everyone must have
definite answers no matter how subjective they may be. Louis H. Evans in his book Life’s Hidden
Power writes, “Some people have placed too much emphasis on prophecy; their minds have run
rampant on the subject, and they have given themselves over to an unregenerate form of “guessing”
to weird predictions and prophetic fantasies. Taking advantage of a natural desire to look around
the corner of the day after tomorrow, many “prophets” have become profiteers. This abuse of
prophecy has arisen out of a disuse of prophecy; so many teachers and preachers have shied away
from the subject that they have left their poor congregations without any standards of interpretation
that are either sane, scholarly or scriptural, and their people have become easy prey to those wild
cults of prophecy which have spawned in a vacuum existing only because the church has not been
willing to deal with the problem in a sensible and scholarly fashion.”
Before we look then at Peter’s interpretation of prophecy let me share with you 3 basic rules
of interpretation, which if followed will keep you from many perversions of God’s Word.
1. The New Testament interprets the Old Testament. Then New Testament fulfills, modifies and
eliminates much of the Old Testament. Nothing in the Old Testament is now applicable that
contradicts the New Testament, or is incompatible with God’s final revelation in Christ.
2. Systematic passages interpret the incidental. It is by neglecting this principle that the Pharisees
perverted God’s Word. They exaggerated the incidental and ignored the essential. They were
preoccupied with triviality. God’s Word deals with great themes, and so it is poor stewardship of
time and thought to major on minors.
3. Didactic passages interpret the symbolic. When an author is teaching and following a line of
reasoning to bring you to a definite conclusion, that kind of passage is always superior to one where
the symbolism may be mysterious, and where the author is conveying and impression by poetic
language and verbal picture drawing. This principle is basic in Peter’s sermon, for he is using
prophecy to show a very specific teaching. He is following a logical pattern, and what he is saying is
so clear that his conclusions must be followed in the interpretation of any other passage where the
same theme is covered.
All of the passages about the Messiah setting on the throne of David are to be seen in the light
of Peter’s sermon. If Peter is right and the prophecies were literally fulfilled in Christ’s ascension,
they it follows that we do not look for this in the future, for Jesus has already taken the throne and
reigns now. If we argue that there is to be a second fulfillment then we minimize the central theme
of the Gospel. We then minor on a theme that none of the New Testament writers say anything
about. Peter’s appeal to Jews was that Christ is on the throne now, and that He is Lord and Messiah.
He never spoke of any future taking of the throne, for that would negate his whole argument that all
was now fulfilled. In other words, to appeal to a Jew with the hope that some day Jesus will reign in
Jerusalem is to ignore the greater fact that He reigns now, and that they need to bow to Him now or
not be a part of the messianic kingdom. Let’s follow Peter’s argument to this conclusion.
In verse 22 Peter addresses the men of Israel with respect, and he does not begin by asserting his
conclusion as he would have before Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has given Peter wisdom, and so now
he knows that devout Jews can only be won by clear and well founded explanations of Scripture.
Lets remember this group to whom Peter spoke was not a group of pagans and skeptics, but devout
men out of every nations who accepted the Old Testament as the Word of God. They were already
believers, but had just not yet accepted Jesus as their Messiah. Peter’s task was to show them that He
was indeed the Messiah, and if he could convince them they would certainly believe. Peter knew
now that in fishing for men the net of the Word was essential and must be used not to coerce and
compel, but to convince. He starts, therefore, on a level where all can agree, which is one of the basic
principles of persuasion.
Peter refers to Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you. He does not start by
declaring Him to be the Son of God from glory, but that man from Nazareth, which they all knew
had done marvelous miracles. Being devout men they were likely of the same opinion as
Nicodemus who came to Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher come from God, for no
man can do these miracles that you do except God be with him.” These men at Pentecost were also
believers in Christ’s miracles, for it was impossible to deny them, and Peter says that it was God
doing these miracles through him, as you yourselves know.
In verse 23, having brought them to an awareness of just how obvious it was that this man
Jesus was a man of God, he goes on to shock them concerning their treatment of him. He declares
before hand, however, that God’s plan was not ruined by their folly. On the contrary, it was all a
part of God’s plan. Nothing is lost, for God used their evil to accomplish His goal, but that does not
in any way justify their evil, and they are still guilty. Peter says everything took place by the
definite plan and foreknowledge of God. It was no accident or after-thought in God’s plan. Gordon
in his Quiet Talks On Jesus says that if the Jews would have accepted Jesus as the Messiah the cross
would not have been necessary. This is rather meaningless, for it is like saying if the world was flat
it wouldn’t be round. God foresaw the cross from the beginning, and it is less than useless to
speculate on what would be if what was, was not. Jesus came to die, for God foresaw that the false
expectations of the Jews would lead to His crucifixion. Jesus knew also, and He submitted to their
folly knowing that by this means He could redeem all who would otherwise be lost.
God’s foreknowledge is the key to understanding everything. If you could know exactly what
move your opponent was going to make on a checkerboard you could so plan your strategy so that
all of his moves would be to your advantage. You could also force him at gunpoint to make the
moves that would be to your advantage, but this would be meaningless to win that way. God does
not use the method of force and compel men to do evil, and then damn them for doing so. He
foresees the evil and then acts so as to use it for His plan. Men are still held accountable for their
evil, for they did it voluntarily and not by force. God knew that Judas was going to betray His Son,
but God did not force him to do so. It was his own evil motive that made him do it, and he was held
responsible, even though it accomplished what God wanted to accomplish. In Luke 22:22 we read,
“And truly the Son of man goes as it was determined, but woe unto that man by who he is betrayed.”
God can use the evil of men for His ends, but they are still guilty of evil, for they were not forced to
do it, but chose to do it freely.
These devout men that Peter spoke to did not kill Jesus directly, but their leaders used the
Romans to do their dirty work. The Romans were not under the law, and in this sense they are
called lawless men. The Romans drove the actual nails that killed Christ, but Peter says they were
only used by the Jews. Modern Jewish writers often try to put most of the blame on the Romans, but
the facts of the New Testament are clear, and the burden of guilt falls on Israel. God goes to the
cause. If you bribe a man to do a crime for you, the law holds you as guilty as the one you bribed.
God sees that the Roman soldiers never would have crucified Jesus if they were not compelled by
the mob of Jews who pressured Pilate.
None of this justifies any anti-Semitism, since these Jews accepted Christ as Messiah and were
forgiven. This is the message of the church to the Jews. It is not bad news that you are condemned
because of the cross, but it is good news that prophecy has been fulfilled and that Christ is the
Messiah. No Jew is held accountable today for the death of Jesus. All people are equally guilty, but
also, all are equally free to receive the forgiveness of sin which He purchased on the cross.
