God Keeps His Promises: How Paul Pointed to Jesus in Acts 13

 “And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to our fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’”

Acts 13:32–33

Dear Friends,

Don’t you love it when someone keeps a promise?

It seems that all too often people commit to something and fail to follow through.

Abigail experienced this a number of months ago when she hired a professional to help with a project she was working on. After paying the money, she received some of what she expected—but not all. After numerous messages, excuses, date changes, and empty promises, she eventually lost hope.

Sometimes people just don’t come through.

People May Break Their Promises

While people may fail us from time to time, there is Someone who will never let us down. We can confidently rely on God to keep His promises.

Numbers 23:19 tells us, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

Unlike humans, God keeps His promises.

The gospel is one of the greatest examples of God’s faithfulness. After sin entered the world, God promised to send a Savior to provide salvation and forgiveness. He revealed this plan to mankind many years before it came to pass through His prophets and the Holy Scriptures. And when the time was right, He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to fulfill His promise.

God Keeps His Promises

The gospel, which means good news, is the best news ever. It reveals that God keeps His promises.

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, called the gospel the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. He and his companions were determined to share this message of God’s faithfulness with everyone they met on their travels—and they did!

After John Mark left their missionary team, Paul and Barnabas continued on to Pisidian Antioch. There, as would become their customary pattern throughout their ministry, they first visited the local synagogue on the Sabbath. After the usual readings from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue officials asked if Paul and Barnabas would like to speak.

Paul gladly agreed and stood up to address the crowd.

Starting with what was familiar – their nation’s history – he set out to show them how God had kept His promise to their forefathers. He spoke about their slavery in Egypt and how God rescued them with a strong and mighty arm. He reminded them of God’s faithful provision and protection during their forty years of wilderness wandering and how He eventually brought them into the Promised Land.

He spoke of the judges who led the people until God directed Samuel the prophet to anoint Saul in response to their request for a king.

Continuing on, Paul told how God removed Saul from the throne and raised up David, a man after His own heart, to be their king.

Everyone was familiar with these stories and likely followed along, anticipating the next historical event.

Paul Connects the Dots to Jesus

But instead, Paul began to connect the dots between Israel’s history and the recent events that fulfilled God’s promise of salvation.

Speaking of King David, he told them, “From the descendants of this man, according to the promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus.”

Out of David’s genealogical line, just as had been foretold, God brought the Messiah.

Then Paul moved from Israel’s history to recent events, explaining how the Scriptures were fulfilled in Jesus. The Scriptures they heard read every Sabbath clearly showed that the promised Messiah would come and die for the sins of the people.

But those living in Jerusalem and their rulers failed to recognize the truth of these ancient words. Instead, they fulfilled them by condemning Jesus to death.

But God raised Him from the dead.

Over many days, the risen Christ appeared to those who now witnessed to the people by preaching the good news of the promise made to their fathers.

Paul continued by showing how the Old Testament Scriptures proved his point. At first glance, one of the Psalms he referenced seemed to speak about David, Israel’s beloved king. But after David fulfilled God’s purpose for his life, he died like every other human being, and his body eventually decayed in the grave.

God Kept His Promise Through Jesus

But David’s descendant, the Savior Jesus Christ, was no longer dead.

His body did not decay in the tomb because He had been resurrected. He was alive, and through Him the world could receive something they could never accomplish on their own by trying to obey the Law of Moses—salvation and the forgiveness of sins.

Paul finished his message with a warning from the prophets. He called his listeners to respond to the good news of salvation rather than reject it.

God kept His promise to deliver them, and they needed to believe.

Respond to the Good News

As the meeting ended, the people urged Paul and Barnabas to return the following Sabbath and tell them more.

Unlike the empty promises Abigail had experienced, this was a promise they could trust. God had promised to send a Savior, and He had done exactly what He said He would do. Jesus had come, died for their sins, and risen again so that they could receive forgiveness and salvation through Him.

God kept His promise.

And He offers that same salvation to us when we place our faith in Jesus.

That is good news.

That is the gospel!

Love,

Mama

This reflection is part of my Walking Through the Book of Acts devotional series, where we explore the early church, the work of the Holy Spirit, and what it means to follow God with courage and faith.