14 From Perga the rest of them traveled on to Antioch in Pisidia. 15 After the reading of the Scriptures - God's Law and the Prophets - the president of the meeting asked them, "Friends, do you have anything you want to say? A word of encouragement, perhaps?" 16 Paul stood up, paused and took a deep breath, then said, "Fellow Israelites and friends of God, listen. 17 God took a special interest in our ancestors, pulled our people who were beaten down in Egyptian exile to their feet, and led them out of there in grand style. 18 He took good care of them for nearly forty years in that godforsaken wilderness 19 and then, having wiped out seven enemies who stood in the way, gave them the land of Canaan for their very own - 20 a span in all of about four hundred fifty years. 21 But then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, out of the tribe of Benjamin. After Saul had ruled forty years, 22 God removed him from office and put King David in his place, with this commendation: 'I've searched the land and found this David, son of Jesse. He's a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him.' 23 "From out of David's descendants God produced a Savior for Israel, Jesus, exactly as he promised - 24 but only after John had thoroughly alerted the people to his arrival by preparing them for a total life-change. 25 As John was finishing up his work, he said, 'Did you think I was the One? No, I'm not the One. But the One you've been waiting for all these years is just around the corner, about to appear. And I'm about to disappear.' 26 "Dear brothers and sisters, children of Abraham, and friends of God, this message of salvation has been precisely targeted to you. 27 The citizens and rulers in Jerusalem didn't recognize who he was and condemned him to death. 28 They couldn't find a good reason, but demanded that Pilate execute him anyway. 29 They did just what the prophets said they would do, but had no idea they were following to the letter the script of the prophets, even though those same prophets are read every Sabbath in their meeting places. 30 And then God raised him from death. 31 There is no disputing that - he appeared over and over again many times and places to those who had known him well in the Galilean years, and these same people continue to give witness that he is alive.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Acts 13:14-31
Commentary on Acts 13:14-31
(Read Acts 13:14-31)
When we come together to worship God, we must do it, not only by prayer and praise, but by the reading and hearing of the word of God. The bare reading of the Scriptures in public assemblies is not enough; they should be expounded, and the people exhorted out of them. This is helping people in doing that which is necessary to make the word profitable, to apply it to themselves. Every thing is touched upon in this sermon, which might best prevail with Jews to receive and embrace Christ as the promised Messiah. And every view, however short or faint, of the Lord's dealings with his church, reminds us of his mercy and long-suffering, and of man's ingratitude and perverseness. Paul passes from David to the Son of David, and shows that this Jesus is his promised Seed; a Saviour to do that for them, which the judges of old could not do, to save them from their sins, their worst enemies. When the apostles preached Christ as the Saviour, they were so far from concealing his death, that they always preached Christ crucified. Our complete separation from sin, is represented by our being buried with Christ. But he rose again from the dead, and saw no corruption: this was the great truth to be preached.