Acts 13:17

Acts 13: 17 says, The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.  Paul began to review the history of God's relationship with Israel, from the time He delivered them from Egypt.  I don't know why Paul chose to start at that point, but he was about to tell them of the ultimate delivery of all people of all time by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, if they will accept Him..  Verse eighteen adds, And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.  Paul reminded them that their lack of faith led to forty years in the wilderness.  Paul did not berate them for the actions of their forefathers, but simply stated a truth they could not deny.  We as Christians too often spend time wandering in the wilderness of sin instead of following the leadership of the Holy Spirit or wandering in the wilderness of sin because we have not accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, which is much worse.  Verse nineteen continues, And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.  Despite their disobedience in the wilderness, God gave them the land that He promised them.  God does not forget His promises, and Paul was moving them ahead to the fulfillment of the promise of the coming Messiah. Verse twenty states, And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.  Paul said Israel was under judges for four hundred fifty years, until the coming of the prophet Samuel.  By now, we might have been bored with the word of exhortation that Paul was sharing.  He was speaking in the synagogue after all, and he was seemingly giving them a history lesson.  We sometimes look for a fiery preacher to excite us, when often what we need is a knowledgeable preacher to exhort us.  We seldom extol a preacher that we find boring, no matter how accurately he proclaims God's word.  Verse twenty-one adds, And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.  Paul then reminded them of their ancestor's desire for a king.  Why did they want one?  Basically, it was because the other nations had one and Israel didn't.  They were once again forgetting that God was to be their leader, and the fact that He had set them apart from the rest of the world.  When we as Christians start wanting to be like the rest of the world, we have forgotten who we are.  We are God's people set apart from the world for His purpose.  We are to allow God to work through us to redeem the world, not to be conformed to the world.  When the things of this world begin to matter more to us than the morality of God, then we are useless servants of God.  Verse twenty-two continues, And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.  The Israelites chose Saul as their king.  Saul ruled for forty years but became more concerned with Saul than he was with God, so God chose David as the new king while Saul was still alive.  God called David a man after His own heart who would obey His will.  They needed a leader who was willing to follow God.  We need the same thing today.  Verse twenty-three declares, Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:  From David's descendants God raised up a savior as He had promised.  Now, Paul moved from what the Jewish leaders knew to what they had not acknowledged, that the Savior wasn't just coming, He had already come.  The Savior was Jesus.  Verse twenty-four adds, When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.  John the Baptist had preached repentance to the people of Israel, and he had quite a following, but he was quick to point out that he was not Messiah they looked for.  We don’t need to look anywhere but to Jesus Christ for salvation.  Verse twenty-five continues, And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.  The people might have accepted John more easily than Jesus, but John was true to his call.  Our actions should always point people to God and not to us.  As Christians, we cannot separate the world into what we do for God and what we do for self.  Any action we take must be for God's glory, not our own.   

When Paul and Barnabas were asked if they had a word of exhortation, Paul was ready.  Since he was speaking to Jews, he started at a point that he knew they would understand.  He began in Acts 13: 17 to review the history of God's relationship with Is real, from the time he delivered them from Egypt.  I don't know why Paul chose to start at that point, but he was about to tell them of the ultimate delivery of all people of all time by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.  Paul reminded them that their lack of faith led to forty years in the wilderness.  Paul did not berate them for the actions of their forefathers, but simply stated a truth they could not deny.  In spite of their disobedience in the wilderness, God gave them the land that He promised them.  God does not forget His promises, and Paul was moving them ahead to the fulfillment of the promise of the coming Messiah.  Israel was under judges for four hundred fifty years, until the coming of the prophet Samuel.  By now, we might have been bored with the word of exhortation that Paul was sharing.  He was speaking in the synagogue after all, and he was seemingly giving them a history lesson.  We sometimes look for a fiery preacher to excite us, when often what we need is a knowledgeable preacher to exhort us.  We seldom extol a preacher that we find boring, no matter how accurately he proclaims God's word.  Paul then reminded them of their ancestors desire for a king.  Why did they want one?  Basically, it was because the other nations had one and Israel didn't.  They were once again forgetting that God was to be their leader, and the fact that He was set them apart from the rest of the world.  When we as Christians start wanting to be like the rest of the world, we have forgotten who we are.  We are God's people set apart from the world for His purpose.  We are to allow God to work through us to redeem the world, not to be conformed to the world.  When the things of this world begin to matter more than the morality of God to us, then we are useless servants of God.