Amos 7:7-8

Jesus is the plumb line. He marks where heaven met earth. He is the only way to the Father and in Him is the fullness of the Godhead.

Just believe.

Amos 7:7-8

7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”

And I said, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said:

“Behold, I am setting a plumb line

In the midst of My people Israel;

I will not pass by them anymore.

The third vision involves a metaphor for construction or demolition. The Hebrew word translated “plumb line” is unique to this passage, so the precise meaning is uncertain. Related words in other Semitic languages suggest a meaning of “lead” or “tin.” The association of the word with a wall in this context supports the meaning of “plumb line,” where a small metal weight is attached to a string to determine whether a wall is straight. The plumb line metaphorically represents an external standard to distinguish right from wrong. Faithlife BIble.

A plumb line is a string with a weight tied to one end, used to establish a vertical line so that a wall can be built straight. God asked Amos what he saw, then explained the vision’s meaning. Unlike the first two visions, God did not give Amos opportunity to intercede, nor did He relent. These judgments would be executed. The plumb line of God’s revelation in the law had been set in the midst of … Israel for many generations. Now God would stretch a plumb line to demonstrate how “crooked” the people’s observance of His commands had been. The high places refer to temples, groves, and other shrines dedicated mostly to pagan deities. Isaac, the father of Jacob, represented all Israel in Amos’s day. NKJ Bible.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

In You alone I trust. In You alone all praise and honor is due. In You is peace, not as the world gives peace, but Your unfailing peace. In good times and in bad times. In prosperity and in lack. You will never leave or forsake those who place themselves in You! 

Where two or more are gathered in Your name there You are.

I love you!

Habakkuk 3:17-19

17 Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls—

18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19 The Lord God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer’s feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.

To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.

Habakkuk was overcome with a sense of awe at God, as well as a sense of his own weakness. The prophet encouraged the godly not to be anxious in adversity. God will strengthen those who trust in Him. He will give those who live by faith the same confidence that a surefooted deer has in climbing mountains. Like a victorious army, the righteous with God’s strength will occupy the high hills. NKJ Bible.

Deuteronomy 32:13 | “He made him ride in the heights of the earth, that he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock;

Deuteronomy 33:29 | Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD,The shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! Your enemies shall submit to you,And you shall tread down their high places.”

Psalm 18:33 | He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places.

Isaiah 38:20 | “The LORD was ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of the LORD.”

The biggest weapon that Satan has to use against Christ followers is deception through division. If he can divide us we will fall. Christ within believers is the only hope for the Church and in the unity of Holy Spirit we can do all things. Sin in the form of pride and hatred binds us to the power of darkness.

The same is true of all nations that divide themselves.

Mark 3:23-26

23 So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.

Jesus’ reply in parables was actually a threefold message that contrasted unity and disunity. Nothing—including Satan’s kingdom—can stand if it is divided. NKJ Bible.

Matthew 12:25 | But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

Matthew 12:26 | If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

Matthew 12:27 | And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

Matthew 12:28 | But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Matthew 12:29 | Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

The finished work of the Trinity will transform you into the image of the Son, Jesus Christ.

God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Philippians

1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

As Paul explains later, love (agapē) involves putting others before oneself. Faithlife Bible.

The love that Paul sought for the believers is the highest form of Christian love, based on a lasting, unconditional commitment, not on an unstable emotion. The first of two terms on which a directed love is built, knowledge suggests an intimate understanding based on a relationship with the person. Here the focus of this knowledge is God. Found only here in the NT, the Greek word for discernment, means moral or ethical understanding based on both the intellect and the senses. The word implies perception or insight into social situations. NKJ Bible.

4:10-16 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

14 Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. 15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.

The Philippians showed their concern for Paul by sending Epaphroditus to care for him while he is in prison. Paul testifies to the sufficiency of Christ’s strength. He is prepared to endure any circumstance in life because Christ empowers him to do so. Faithlife Bible.

Paul uses an agricultural word found only in the NT to picture a plant that “shoots up” or literally means “self-sufficient.” In Stoic philosophy this Greek word described a person who dispassionately accepted whatever circumstances brought. For the Greeks, this contentment came from personal sufficiency. But for Paul true sufficiency is found in the strength of Christ. Paul considers the relationship between himself and the Philippians to be a two-way street, with both parties actively involved in the sharing of both material and spiritual gifts. NKJ Bible.

1 Corinthians 2:9-11

Our better days are coming!

Teach me Holy Spirit the ways of Your Son, Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 2: 9-11

9 But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 

Paul uses Isaiah to assert that people cannot understand the things of God through human faculties they must rely on the Spirit graciously given to believers by God. He emphasizes that love for God—not love for wisdom or knowledge—yields an understanding of the things of God, including His plan of salvation through the cross. Yet Paul later explains that God grants wisdom and knowledge as spiritual gifts. What the Corinthians desire (and overemphasize at the detriment of the gospel and Christ’s lordship over their lives) will come after they’ve accepted Christ and recognized who He is and what He has done for them. God grants insight regarding His work to those who follow Him and do His will.

God has shown the hidden wisdom of God to those who follow Christ. Paul argues that people desiring to know more or have greater wisdom should seek to walk more closely with Christ, as God reveals His eternal work to people this way.  Just as people know their own minds, so the Spirit (pneuma in Greek) knows the things of God. Faithlife Bible.

Only the Holy Spirit could reveal the truths of God. The first verb refers to innate knowledge; the second refers to experiential knowledge. We could never have discovered the mysteries of God or the benefits of Christ’s death by ourselves. But we can know them by experience because they have been freely given to us by God. NKJ Bible.

Job 32:8 | But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.

Proverbs 20:27 | The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 | Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Isaiah 64:4 | For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him.

Isaiah 65:17 | “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.

Isaiah 59:1-8

The first time I was led to this passage was Trump’s first speech to the joint congress. Today it is in response to his first  reelection rally in Oklahoma.

Holy Spirit keeps calling to my mind “Be wise as the serpent but as gentle as the Dove”. Lord help us!

Isaiah 59:1-8 (evil and oppression)

59 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,

That it cannot save;

Nor His ear heavy,

That it cannot hear.

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;

And your sins have hidden His face from you,

So that He will not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood,

And your fingers with iniquity;

Your lips have spoken lies,

Your tongue has muttered perversity.

4 No one calls for justice,

Nor does any plead for truth.

They trust in empty words and speak lies;

They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.

5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;

He who eats of their eggs dies,

And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.

6 Their webs will not become garments,

Nor will they cover themselves with their works;

Their works are works of iniquity,

And the act of violence is in their hands.

7 Their feet run to evil,

And they make haste to shed innocent blood;

Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

Wasting and destruction are in their paths.

8 The way of peace they have not known,

And there is no justice in their ways;

They have made themselves crooked paths;

Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

Sin strains Israel’s relationship with God to the point of total separation. Israel’s actions required the separation—it was not what God wanted. 

Paul describes separation from God as spiritual death and demonstrates that Christ’s atoning sacrifice provides the bridge over the separation created by sin. Separation from God was a common theological motif used to describe the consequences of sin. The concept there seems indebted to this passage in Isaiah. People hid their faces from the Servant in Isaiah 53:3 as a sign of rejection. Here, Yahweh is forced to turn His face away from them because He cannot look on sin. The most sought-after blessing was for Yahweh’s face to shine upon them, not be turned away. In the Psalms, the poets regularly appeal to God to stop hiding His face and answer them. 

The justice system is corrupt, with people seeking their own gain instead of doing what’s right.

Poisonous serpents signify the severity of the dangerous game the leaders were playing—they were using the justice system to entangle and trap people. Snakes were feared because their venom was deadly in most cases. In the Bible, the snake was the ultimate personification of evil due to the fall narrative of Genesis 3. In this case, wickedness is likened to hatching a plot leading to still greater wickedness. Aqash, denotes twisting and is always used to describe turning away from what is considered good or right. Deviating from righteousness is often described with the metaphor of a twisted path or crooked road. Faithlife Bible.

Calls for justice probably means to help the poor in the law courts. No one would plead the case of the poor fairly. Conceive evil and bring forth iniquity is translated “conceive trouble and bring forth futility”. The wicked power structures would prove worthless. The people run without forethought into evil. Those who deny peace to others will themselves not know peace. NKJ Bible.

Job 8:14 | Whose confidence shall be cut off, and whose trust is a spider’s web.

Job 8:15 | He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure.

Job 15:35 | They conceive trouble and bring forth futility; their womb prepares deceit.”

Isaiah 1:15 | When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

Matthew 28:16-20

June 19th, 2020

All authority has been given to Jesus. 

His command to love God above all and others as yourself is the same today and will remain until the day He returns. It is His right alone to judge, not ours. Every man stands to be approved and must answer to God. Until the day Christ returns we need to show the love of God to all people…period. Knowing that the love we show, even to our enemies, can draw them to the only One who can give them salvation. 

    The love of God never returns void.

Matthew 28:16-20

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

The Greek verb used for doubt implies hesitation or indecision, rather than unbelief. The disciples are struggling to comprehend what they are witnessing. The resurrection is the ultimate validation of Jesus’ divine authority. He extends this authority to His disciples to continue the work of the kingdom of heaven. Matthew emphasizes this theme throughout his Gospel. Jesus has repeatedly demonstrated His authority over all things—the human body, demons, natural elements (such as wind and water), the Sabbath, sin, and even death. The disciples’ task was to reproduce themselves by going, baptizing, and teaching. Faithlife Bible.

When the eleven disciples went away into Galilee they were probably accompanied by many more people. This may be the appearance to more than five hundred people mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians. This may explain why some doubted; after all, the Eleven were confirmed believers in the resurrected Christ by this time. All authority has been given to Jesus, although He is not yet exercising all of it. He will manifest this power when He returns in all His glory. The word authority normally refers to delegated authority. The Father would give this authority to the Son. The Great Commission rests on the authority of Christ. Because He has authority over all, everyone needs to hear His gospel. NKJ Bible.

Isaiah 52:10 | The LORD has made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Daniel 7:14 | Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.

Mark 16:15 | And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:16 | He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

The Harmony of the Gospels

Flesh cannot be made into spirit. A person must experience a spiritual rebirth. For Jesus, the idea of coming to God through His saving work is about transitioning from the earthly kingdom to God’s kingdom as articulated in a transformed life lived out of love for God and other people. The Greek word, pneuma, can mean “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit.” John uses the metaphor of the wind as a power that is felt but unseen to explain the power of the Spirit of God.

John’s arrest anchors the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in historical time and demonstrates the connection between John  and Jesus. John’s ministry was decreasing, but Jesus’ was increasing. As soon as John the Baptist is arrested, Jesus emerges from the wilderness to declare the arrival of God’s kingdom on earth.  Mark begins his account of Christ’s ministry with events after John was put in prison, as do the other synoptic Gospel writers.

Jesus begins His mission in the most ethnically and culturally diverse portion of Israel. The rest of the Jewish people viewed Galilee  as only moderately Jewish. 

Jesus begins where He is most needed—among the marginalized.

The central region of Palestine between Judaea and Galilee had been the heart of the northern kingdom of Israel until the Assyrians deported many Israelites in 722 bc. The shortest route from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north went through Samaria. The journey took three days. Christ needed to go through Samaria if He wanted to travel the direct route. The Jews often avoided Samaria by going around it along the Jordan River. The hatred between the Jews and Samaritans went back to the days of the Exile. When the northern kingdom was exiled to Assyria, King Sargon of Assyria repopulated the area with captives from other lands. The intermarriage of these foreigners and the Jews who had been left in the land complicated the ancestry of the Samaritans. The Jews hated the Samaritans and considered them to be no longer “pure” Jews. Jesus, however, had no such bias.

The Greek word for time kairos, indicates a period of time predetermined by God. Since Jesus announces the advent of a new kingdom, belief in the gospel entails allegiance to the new king, Jesus.

The normal time to draw water was morning or evening during the cooler hours of the day. This woman is coming to draw water at a time when no one else would normally be at the well. An inhabitant of the region of Samaria who was of mixed Israelite and foreign descent. The Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. The woman was surprised that Jesus would speak to her, much less ask her for a drink. The woman misunderstands Jesus as speaking of literal water; this is reasonable based on the use of “living water” as an idiom for spring water. Misunderstanding often comes before spiritual insight in John’s Gospel. The woman’s identification of Jacob as her ancestor shows the Samaritans believed themselves to be the rightful descendants of Jacob and true Israelites. The Greek word for husband can mean “man” or “husband.” If the woman had five previous husbands who either died or divorced her, she would have exceeded the traditional limit of three husbands in Jewish law (according to the rabbinic text Babylonian Talmud Yebamot 64b; Niddah 64a). However, the ambiguity of the word suggests the possibility that none of the five was a legal husband just as the current man is not her husband. This comment also reveals a reason why Jesus chose to speak with her about her place before God. Jesus’ exceptional knowledge of her affairs yields the concession that He must be a prophet. The Samaritans expected a prophetic Messiah.

Jesus stays with the Samaritans for two days before continuing on to Galilee. The Jews of Jesus’ day taught that to approach God one first had to be a Jew. By including this incident in the Gospel, John demonstrates that Jesus is for all people of the world. Having no honor or reception in Nazareth, Jesus went elsewhere in Galilee. The feast refers to the Passover. The Galileans who had gone to the feast received Jesus when He came to Galilee.

NKJ Bible and Faithlife Bible commentary

John 3:1-8

3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Matthew 4:12

12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.

Mark 1:14

14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

Luke 4:14

14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 

John 3:22

22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.

John 4:1-4

4 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.

Mark 1:15

15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Luke 4:15

15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

John 4:4-26

4 But He needed to go through Samaria.

5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

John 4:43-45

43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.

Acts 21:37-39

Things are not always as they are portrayed! Study and educate yourself to know the truth. Biblical knowledge is power and as we know better, we can do better. there is  power in the name of Jesus. Just as Paul was enlightened on the road to Damascus which changed his religious, cultural  views…we can also be changed. Jesus stood for the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized of society. Satan seeks to divide and conquer. Do not let him. The battle is spiritually won!

Be as wise as the serpent but as gentle as the Dove.

Acts 21:37-39

37 Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I speak to you?” He replied, “Can you speak Greek? 38 Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?”

39 But Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.”

When Paul spoke Greek, the commander realized that he was not the Egyptian assassin who had come to Jerusalem in a.d. 54 claiming to be a prophet. This Egyptian had led four thousand fanatical Jews up to the Mount of Olives, promising that at his word the walls of Jerusalem would fall and the Roman Empire would be destroyed. Felix, the governor of Jerusalem at the time, ordered his men up the Mount of Olives, where they killed some four hundred Jews and captured another two hundred. However, the Egyptian and some of his followers slipped away into the desert. These followers were called sicarii, meaning “dagger men.” They would mingle with the crowds in Jerusalem during festivals and murder pro-Roman Jews. NKJ Bible.

Acts 5:36 | For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing.

Acts 22:3 | “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.

2 Corinthians 11:22 | Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.

Acts 10:34-43

God shows no partiality! 

Every person who believes in Jesus receives remission of sins. At our rebirth we receive Holy Spirit and He reveals the intentions of the heart. Hatred is evil in God’s eyes. He will heal us from racism, prejudice and discrimination. Division is the works of satan. Out of God’s love for us we will learn our lessons the easy way by repenting of our sins or the hard way with protests and riots over the hatred in mens hearts. 

He corrects those He loves!

Acts 10:34-43

34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. 36 The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—37 that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39 And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. 40 Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. 43 To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

Peter realizes that God does not exclude people from joining his people. Salvation in Jesus is not based on ethnicity or culture but is an offer to all. He acknowledges that faith and a transformed life, not ethnicity or keeping the old testament laws, authenticates a person as one of God’s own. Peter is about to explain how salvation in Jesus makes this possible. He emphasizes certain details of the gospel message that specifically relate to God’s plans for non-Jewish people. Foremost is the theology that Jesus’ lordship extends over all; He is not a cultural or national king, but the true king for everyone in the world.  Peter assumes those present are familiar with Jesus’ earthly ministry, perhaps because the broad outlines of the events were widely known, or because Cornelius and his family believed in Yahweh and would keep informed of Jewish religious developments.

Peter’s summary here of Jesus’ identity, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection is similar to the one he provides in his Pentecost sermon. The implication is that, by taking on Himself God’s curse on the cross, Jesus satisfied the penalty of the law on behalf of all who will put their faith in Him. Jesus is the one to whom all will give account on the day of judgment. Faithlife Bible.

The good news of the gospel is not for a certain population. In every nation every kind of person is welcome into the kingdom of God. This is precisely what Christ had told the apostles. In order to receive remission of sins, one has to believe—nothing more, nothing less. NKJ Bible.

Isaiah 61:1 | “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed MeTo preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

John 14:17 | the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.