Acts 13:26-37
26 'Men, brethren, sons of the race of Abraham, and those among you fearing God, to you was the word of this salvation sent, 27 for those dwelling in Jerusalem, and their chiefs, this one not having known, also the voices of the prophets, which every sabbath are being read—having judged 'him'—did fulfill, 28 and no cause of death having found, they did ask of Pilate that he should be slain, 29 and when they did complete all the things written about him, having taken 'him' down from the tree, they laid him in a tomb; 30 and God did raise him out of the dead, 31 and he was seen for many days of those who did come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. 32 'And we to you do proclaim good news—that the promise made unto the fathers, 33 God hath in full completed this to us their children, having raised up Jesus, as also in the second Psalm it hath been written, My Son thou art—I to-day have begotten thee. 34 'And that He did raise him up out of the dead, no more to return to corruption, he hath said thus—I will give to you the faithful kindnesses of David; 35 wherefore also in another 'place' he saith, Thou shalt not give Thy kind One to see corruption, 36 for David, indeed, his own generation having served by the will of God, did fall asleep, and was added unto his fathers, and saw corruption, 37 but he whom God did raise up, did not see corruption.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Acts 13:26-37
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.
Commentary on Acts 13:32-37
(Read Acts 13:32-37)
The resurrection of Christ was the great proof of his being the Son of God. It was not possible he should be held by death, because he was the Son of God, and therefore had life in himself, which he could not lay down but with a design to take it again. The sure mercies of David are that everlasting life, of which the resurrection was a sure pledge; and the blessings of redemption in Christ are a certain earnest, even in this world. David was a great blessing to the age wherein he lived. We were not born for ourselves, but there are those living around us, to whom we must study to be serviceable. Yet here is the difference; Christ was to serve all generations. May we look to Him who is declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, that by faith in him we may walk with God, and serve our generation according to his will; and when death comes, may we fall asleep in him, with a joyful hope of a blessed resurrection.