God exalted Jesus and sent Him to bless the world
The non-Trinitarian declares,
“To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him;
and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” (1Cor. 8:6).
“But”, you ask him, “where is the Holy Spirit (the third
Person of the Trinity)?”
His reply, “The Spirit is the counsel of peace between
Them both. The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ is Their union. No one
knows the Father but the Son; and no one knows the Son but the Father.”
After the Son defeated sin and Satan at the cross, the
Father raised up His Son by His own Spirit. Then, when He caused His Son to
ascend back into glory. Following His return there, His Father highly exalted
Him and gave Him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus the
powers under the earth must bow. And having exalted His Son, the Father sent
Him to bless the disturbed Jews by turning them away from their iniquities.
Listed below are all the e-Sword translations of Acts
3:26. This verse has a most interesting chronology to it. Most of the versions
say: 1) God raise up His Son; 2) God sent His Son to bless the Jewish people
who saw the lame man healed; 3) God used His Son’s healing power to turn them
all away from their sins. They say that God brought His Son to His heavenly
home, exalted Him before all heaven, and then sent Him to bless the Jews first,
as He also sent Him to bless Saul of Tarsus.
Acts 3:26
(ASV) Unto you first God, having raised up His Servant,
sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.
(BBE) To you, first, God sent His Servant, blessing
you by turning every one of you from his sins.
(CEV) God sent His chosen Son to you first, because
God wanted to bless you and make each one of you turn away from your sins.
(DRB) To you first, God, raising up His Son, hath
sent Him to bless you: that every one may convert himself from his wickedness.
(ERV) God has sent His special Servant Jesus. He
sent Him to you first. He sent Him to bless you by causing each of you to turn
away from your evil ways.”
(ESV) God, having raised up His Servant, sent Him to
you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
(GNB) And so God chose His Servant and sent Him to
you first, to bless you by making every one of you turn away from your wicked
ways.”
(GW) God has brought His Servant back to life and
has sent Him to you first. God did this to bless you by turning every one of
you from your evil ways.”
(ISV) When God raised up His Servant, He sent Him first
to you to bless you by turning every one of you from your evil ways.”
(KJV) Unto you first God, having raised up His Son
Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
(KJV+) Unto youG5213 firstG4412 God,G2316 having raised upG450 Hisg848 SonG3816 Jesus,G2424 sentG649 Himg846 to blessG2127 you,G5209 in turning awayG654 every oneG1538 of you fromG575 hisG5216 iniquities.G4189
(LEB) God, after
He had raised up His Servant, sent Him
to you first, to bless you by turning each of
you back from your wickedness!”
(LITV) Having raised up His child Jesus, God sent
Him first to you, blessing you in turning away each one from your iniquities.
(MKJV) Having raised up His son Jesus, God sent Him
to you first, to bless you in turning every one of you away from his
iniquities.
(RV) Unto you first God, having raised up His Servant,
sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.
(YLT) to you first, God, having raised up His Child
Jesus, did send Him, blessing you, in the turning away of each one from your
evil ways.’
We normally think the other way around, that God sent
His Son for a 3 ½ year ministry to bless the Jews by turning them from their
sins, and then the Father raised Him up.
But that isn’t what Acts 3:26
is saying. The verse is saying that God raised up His Son by exalting Him in
heaven, and then sent Him that day to heal the lame man, turning the hearts of
the people back to their Father in heaven and away from their sins.
The statement that this one
was amplifying was verses 19-21. “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached
unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the
world began.” (Acts 3:19-21).
As Jesus was present for the
lame man’s healing, He would wanted to blot out all the people’s sins so that
His presence could be with them. And with His presence would come refreshing,
His rest.
“Let us therefore fear, lest,
a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to
come short of it…. For we which have believed do enter into rest…. For he that
is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did
from His.” (Heb. 4:1,3,10).
Rest and peace come with His
presence because life and joy come with His presence.
“They that wait upon the LORD
shall renew their strength.” (Isa. 40:31).
“Therefore my heart is glad,
and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For Thou wilt not
leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy Presence is fulness of
joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Ps. 16:9-11).
But how can His presence be
had here on this sin-filled, corrupted outpost of a planet? Must we go to
heaven for it? Or does He come here? And how?
“Am I a God at hand, saith
the LORD, and not a God afar off?… Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the
LORD.” (Jer. 23:23,24).
“Whither shall I go from Thy
Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy Presence?” (Ps. 139:7).
Before His incarnation
Christ, the Word of wisdom, had been all Spirit. He filled heaven and earth,
and was made to shine by His Father’s transfiguring presence.
“And now, O Father, glorify Thou
Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world
was.” (John 17:5).
“Thou lovest righteousness,
and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil
of gladness above Thy fellows.” (Ps. 45:7).
“Out of the throne proceeded
lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire
burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” (Rev. 4:5).
Spirit and presence and glory
go together, thus Christ was transfigured by His Father’s presence and Spirit. “For
God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness”, that “hath shined in
our hearts”, and that gives us “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Cor. 4:6), was “the eternal Spirit” through
which Christ “offered Himself without spot to God” (Heb. 9:14). And after His
incarnation His glory still could not be contained. Even while He walked among
men in corrupted flesh, His divinity flashed forth many times and daily healed
the sick and lame. But following His resurrection His glorified body readily
and continually shed forth the omnipotence and omniscience of His Spirit. He
again filled all heaven and earth.
“He…hath the seven Spirits of
God, and the seven stars.” (Rev. 3:1).
“His countenance was as the
sun shineth in his strength” (Rev. 1:16), “and His eyes were as a flame of fire.”
(Rev. 1:14).
“And I beheld, and, lo, in
the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders,
stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are
the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” (Rev. 5:6).
Let us receive of the bread
of His presence. Let us make face time with Him, “whom the heaven must receive
until the times of restitution of all things.” (Acts 3:21).
“Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the
kingdom to God, even the Father; when He [the Father] shall have put down all
rule and all authority and power. For He [Christ] must reign, till He [the
Father] hath put all enemies under His [Christ’s] feet.… And when all things
shall be subdued unto Him [Christ], then shall the Son also Himself be subject
unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor.
15:24, 25, 28).
“And the seventh angel
sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall
reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God
on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give Thee
thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because Thou
hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned.” (Rev. 11:15-17).
“And I beheld, and I
heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the
elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of thousands;
Saying with a loud voice,
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and
strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
And every creature which is
in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea,
and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and
power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and
ever.
And the four beasts said,
Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth
for ever and ever.” (Rev. 5:11-14).
But, until that day the Lamb makes Himself known to us today
by His ever-presence, His eternal Spirit. Somehow heaven arcs with Earth, and
God “raise[s] us up together, and [makes]
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:6).
“And Jesus [says to
us], Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43). In His presence is fullness of joy and
at His right hand are pleasures for evermore.
