2023—Week21: Ezra01-Nehemiah11; John19-Acts04

Ezra-Nehemiah 11: In the Jewish Canon, Ezra and Nehemiah are one book, and, although the division in ours makes sense, it’s clear that they cover the same basic period. They form one answer to the question at the end of 2 Chronicles’ hanging question, “Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem.” (2 Chronicles 36:23, ISV) Yet despite their trust, the people are greatly weakened until the ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah (and Haggai and Zechariah, Ezra 5:1) encourage them. Ezra’s trust is clearly represented in 8:22, where he is ashamed to request a protective guard for the fortune in treasures he carries, instead trusting in the hand of God for protection. Ezra’s prayer in Ezra 9, Nehemiah’s prayer in Nehemiah 1:5-11, and the people’s covenant prayer in 9:5-37 are the outcome. Faith precedes confession, because we don’t fully understand how badly we fall short until it’s revealed to us. Even then, we need it to be revealed to us with conviction before we can respond with true repentance. Ezra and Nehemiah both make the same point Peter does, that God continually sent overtures to the people through the prophets (Ezra 9:10-13, Nehemiah 9:30, Acts 3:18-21). In Acts 3:24-26, Peter also alludes to the ultimate fulfillment of the Old Testament rhetorical question in 2 Chronicles 36:23: it’s through the Seed of Abraham (His Son Jesus) that God promises all the people of the earth will be blessed. (See also Neh. 9:7-8) 

John 19-Acts 4: Although on many points, the Luke-Acts transition is a more seamless one, the traditional canonical order reading pattern of John-Acts provides crucial context for what is truly being said in Acts 4. Jesus Himself makes it plain to Pilate that the earthly ruler’s authority comes from above, so that puts Acts 2:23’s claim that Christ’s crucifixion was “by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God” in His own words, while His statement about the Jewish High Priest having delivered Him up being “the greater sin” (John 19:11) speaks to the second half of Acts 2:23’s indictment of the “wicked hands” that crucified Him. (See also Acts 3:13-15) John is careful to footnote the prophecies about Jesus, linking to Psalms’ messianic claim in 34:20 as well as demonstrating that He is the Passover Lamb (Ex. 12:46, Num. 9:12). Zechariah 12 begins with, "The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him,” and makes the one pierced first-person in v. 10, which John references when His side is pierced. (John 19:37) Thomas’ exclamation “My Lord and My God” to Jesus is affirmed as belief by Jesus in John 20:28-29. In his sermon in Acts 2, Peter connects Jesus to the “LORD” in Psalm 16:8-11, the Holy One Who will not see corruption. And when Peter and John are questioned in Acts 4 about the healing of the lame man from the previous chapter, at issue is “the name” they had proclaimed (3:6, 16, 4:7, 10, 12), which hearkens back to the Pentecost sermon when Peter’s call to action was Acts 2:21, a quote of Joel 2:32, "everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh Will be delivered."