History's Hinge Text: Acts 13:13-43
Introduction: The Tyranny of the Present
We live in an age that is historically illiterate, and proudly so. Our generation is afflicted with a kind of chronological snobbery that sees all of history as a long, dark, embarrassing runway leading up to the glorious takeoff of... us. We think the story begins with our feelings, our politics, our enlightened sensibilities. The result is a profound rootlessness. We are a people adrift, with no anchor in the past and therefore no compass for the future. We want the fruit of purpose without the root of a story.
Into this shallow puddle of self-regard, the Apostle Paul’s first recorded sermon lands like a granite boulder. Here, in a backwater synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, Paul does something that is utterly foreign to the modern evangelical impulse. He doesn't start with three steps to a better you. He doesn't offer a therapeutic pep talk. He starts with a history lesson. He understands that to explain the good news of Jesus Christ, you cannot begin in the middle of the book. You must show how all the previous chapters were leading to this very page. You must demonstrate that God is the author of a single, coherent, unfolding story.
This sermon is a master class in biblical theology. It is a declaration that history is not a random series of unfortunate events, but is rather His story. It is a divinely-scripted narrative, full of twists and turns, rebellion and grace, judgment and promise, all of it hurtling toward a single, decisive climax. Paul is here to announce that the climax has arrived. He is here to show these Jews and God-fearing Gentiles that their entire identity, their entire history, finds its meaning and fulfillment in one man: a crucified and risen Messiah. This sermon is not a quaint relic; it is the pattern for all faithful gospel preaching. It confronts men with the sovereign God of history and forces a decision.
The Text
Now after Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem. But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch. And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down... [Paul said,] “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and lifted up the people... From the seed of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus... Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and that in Him, everyone who believes is justified from all things which you could not be justified from through the Law of Moses...
(Acts 13:13-16, 23, 38-39 LSB)
God's Resume (vv. 16-22)
After the customary reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue rulers extend an open invitation. Paul seizes the moment. He stands up and addresses his dual audience: "Men of Israel," the ethnic sons of Abraham, and "you who fear God," the Gentile converts and seekers drawn to the light of monotheism.
"The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and lifted up the people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it. And for a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. And when He destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance... After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul... And after He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king..." (Acts 13:17-22 LSB)
Notice the relentless drumbeat of divine action. This is not a history of Israel's great achievements. It is a history of what God has done. God chose. God lifted up. God led them out. God put up with them. God destroyed. God distributed. God gave. God removed. God raised up. History is the theater of God's sovereign grace and judgment. Paul is establishing his first and most foundational premise: God is in charge. He is the one driving the narrative forward.
This is God's resume. He is reminding them of their own story, but He is giving them the divine commentary. He is showing them the pattern. And the pattern has a clear trajectory. He moves from the deliverance of the Exodus, through the grumbling patience of the wilderness, through the bloody conquest of Canaan, to the chaotic cycle of the judges. The people's solution to the chaos was to demand a king, "like all the nations." And God gave them what they wanted in Saul. Saul was the people's choice, tall and handsome, but ultimately a disobedient failure. God removed him.
Then God gave them His choice. He "raised up David." This is the pivot point of the entire historical survey. David was not just another king; he was the man after God's own heart, the one who would do all His will. And most importantly, he was the man to whom God gave an eternal promise. The whole sermon now hinges on the seed of David.
The Promise Arrives (vv. 23-25)
Having funneled all of Israel's history down to the person and promise of David, Paul now connects the dots to the present.
"From the seed of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, after John had preached before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel." (Acts 13:23-24 LSB)
This is the thunderclap. The long-awaited promise, the seed of David, has arrived. His name is Jesus, and He is a Savior. Paul is not presenting a new religion; he is announcing the fulfillment of the old one. This is not an innovation; it is the culmination. Jesus is not Plan B. He is the point of the whole story.
To buttress his claim, he calls the last and greatest of the old covenant prophets to the witness stand: John the Baptist. John's entire ministry was to prepare the way. He was the usher, not the Bridegroom. His greatness was located entirely in his humility. "I am not He," he declared. "But behold, one is coming after me of whom I am not worthy to untie the sandals of His feet." John understood his place, which is something the religious leaders in Jerusalem utterly failed to do.
The Great Reversal (vv. 26-31)
Paul now turns directly to his audience and makes the message personal. "Brothers... to us the word of this salvation was sent." But this good news comes packaged in a terrible irony.
"For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning Him... they asked Pilate that He be executed... But God raised Him from the dead." (Acts 13:27-30 LSB)
This is the stunning, sovereign paradox at the heart of the gospel. The very people who were the custodians of the prophetic word, who heard it read aloud every single week, were the ones who fulfilled it in their blind rebellion. Their ignorance was culpable. They should have known. But in their rejection, they became the instruments of God's predetermined plan. They condemned the innocent one, had him executed on a Roman tree, and laid him in a tomb.
And that could have been the end of a very tragic story. But Paul delivers the three most important words in human history: "But God raised Him." This is the divine reversal. This is the vindication of Jesus and the verdict of the Father against the verdict of men. Man says "crucify." God says "resurrect." Man says "guilty." God says "My beloved Son." The resurrection is not an appendix to the gospel; it is the gospel. Without it, we are still in our sins, and the story of Israel is a meaningless tragedy.
And this is not a secret event. Paul insists on the evidence: "for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses." The gospel is a public fact, grounded in historical, verifiable, eyewitness testimony.
The Promise Fulfilled (vv. 32-37)
Paul now drives the point home with a flurry of scriptural proofs. He is demonstrating that the resurrection was not a surprise, but was in fact the explicit promise made to the fathers.
"...God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.'... He also says in another Psalm, 'YOU WILL NOT GIVE YOUR HOLY ONE OVER TO SEE CORRUPTION.'" (Acts 13:33, 35 LSB)
Paul interprets Psalm 2 with Spirit-taught genius. When did the Father say to the Son, "Today I have begotten you?" Paul says this refers to the resurrection. The resurrection is the public declaration, the official installation of Jesus as the Messianic King. It is His coronation day.
Then he turns to Psalm 16. The promise that God's Holy One would not see corruption or decay could not possibly refer to David. Why? Because, as Paul says, "David... fell asleep and was laid among his fathers and saw corruption." You can go visit his tomb. He decayed. The promise flew right over David's head and landed on his greater Son, the one whom God raised, who "did not see corruption." The empty tomb is the fulfillment of this ancient promise.
The Point of the Spear (vv. 38-41)
Now comes the application. All of this history, all of this prophecy, all of this theology is brought to bear on the men sitting in that synagogue. This is the great "therefore."
"Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and that in Him, everyone who believes is justified from all things which you could not be justified from through the Law of Moses." (Acts 13:38-39 LSB)
Here it is. This is the gospel in miniature. Through this resurrected man, Jesus, two things are now available. First, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed. Not earned, not achieved, but proclaimed as a free gift. Second, and this would have been an absolute bombshell, in Him, everyone who believes is justified. This is a legal term. It means to be declared righteous in the sight of God. And this justification covers all things from which the Law of Moses could not justify you. The law was good. It revealed sin. It pointed the way. But it could not provide the perfect righteousness that God's holiness demands. It could diagnose the disease, but it could not provide the cure. Jesus is the cure.
This is justification by faith alone. It is the central artery of the Christian faith. You are not saved by your performance. You are saved by His. You are not declared righteous because you are. You are declared righteous because you are hidden in Him who is.
Paul concludes not with a gentle invitation, but with a terrifying warning from the prophet Habakkuk. He tells them to look, marvel, and not perish. God is doing a work in their day so astounding that they would not believe it even if someone recounted it to them. The warning is implicit but clear: do not be among the scoffers. Do not be the ones who hear the greatest news in history and shrug your shoulders. To disbelieve this report is to perish.
Conclusion: The Great Divide
The immediate response recorded by Luke is overwhelmingly positive. They were pleading for more. Many followed Paul and Barnabas, who urged them to "continue in the grace of God." This is the proper response to the gospel. Not to try harder, but to rest deeper in the unmerited, justifying grace of God.
But we know what happens the next week. The town is divided. This sermon, full of grace and historical fulfillment, provokes a riot. It forces a decision. There is no middle ground. You either receive this news with joy and continue in the grace of God, or you are filled with jealousy and contradict it.
And so it is today. This same message, this same good news about the God of history and His resurrected Son, still divides the world. It is still the hinge upon which every human destiny turns. Through this man, Jesus, forgiveness and justification are proclaimed to you. Therefore, let it be known. Believe it. Continue in it. Do not be a scoffer who marvels and perishes, but be a believer who marvels and is saved.