In Acts 2:16 - 21 Peter connects the prophet Joel with the events of the Day of Pentecost. Then in Acts 2:25 - 36 Peter connects David’s words in Psalms 16 and 110 to the Person of Jesus Christ. If we keep in mind that Jesus revealed Himself to His followers through what we call the Old Testament (see Luke 24) it should be no surprise that the Holy Spirit through Peter is continuing to reveal Jesus through the words of the Old Testament - for the words of the Old Testament, as the words of the New Testament, are the Word of God - they are a unity, an ever-present reality.
There has never been a time when the Word has not been; the Word, in fact, transcends time and space for the Word created time and space. In this sense the prophetic words of Joel, and the words of David, are less about things that “shall be” than they are about the Word that “is”. Our preoccupation with linear thinking and with linear Bible prophecy can result in us missing the transcendent ever-present Word. Prophecy is first and foremost a revelation of Jesus Christ, an unveiling of the Word; when prophecy has futuristic elements those elements are less about what shall be than about what already is and which shall, therefore, be manifested in the visible realm in God’s good times and seasons.
The Word of God is sacramental, it communicates the Person of God and draws us into intimate relationship with Him. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the express image of God, is the Sacrament of God and all that comes through Him communicates that sacramentality. Thus Paul can speak of creation in Romans Chapter 1 as revealing “His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature,” in fact Paul writes that they can be “clearly seen.” If we cannot “clearly see” them it only goes to underscore the extent to which we have fallen away from the sacramental life.
Thus, the psalmist in Psalm 19 can speak of the Word of God in terms of both Creation and Scripture. The unity of witness in Creation and Scripture, the complementariness of witness in Creation and Scripture - with both playing a part - is a joyful and sobering call to communion with God.
Pondering Peter’s use of Psalm 16; there is a sense in which the psalm can be read as coming from David about David, for when reading the words, “...You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow Your holy one to see decay...:” we can read these words in an ultimate sense. “Ultimately you will not abandon my soul to Hades, ultimately You will not allow Your holy one to see decay.” This sense of the “ultimate” is true of David as it is true of Abraham and Ruth and Isaiah. Yet Peter knows that the words of David can be transposed upward into Christ, Peter knows that the “words” of David are the Word, the words are refracting the Word just as Creation is refracting the invisible things of God.
This transposition upward contains an interplay that says, on the one hand, “This is about the Messiah,” and on the other hand, “Because this is about the Messiah it is about us in the Messiah.” For since Jesus has not undergone decay we will not undergo ultimate decay. Since Jesus has been raised from the dead we have been raised from the dead, and since Jesus has been raised into the heavenly places we have been raised into the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:18 - 2:10).
As some of the Church Fathers saw (I am thinking particularly of St. Augustine), and as the New Testament demonstrates, the experience of the Head of the Body is the experience of the Body.
Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death” (John 8:51). Is this true or is it not true?
In John Chapter Five we see Jesus saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life...Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live...Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil to a resurrection of judgement.”
Do we see the interplay of the “already - not yet” in this passage? There is an on-going resurrection in that when men and women believe in Jesus Christ and the Father they pass out of death into life. When we truly hear the Voice of the Son of God we come out of death. Yet, we know that a time will come when there will be other resurrections from the tomb (see 1 Corinthians Chapter 15).
The Resurrection “is” - it is now, it shall be fully manifested - it shall be fully fulfilled.
The above enables the Apostle John to write (1 John 3:14), “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”
And again (1 John 4:17), “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.”
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