Acts 2:37 Now when they heard [“this Jesus whom you crucified” 2:36] they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ESV
Jesus had said many times that “anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!”a And with good reason! God’s truth demands more than a robotic response to powerful words and signs, even His own. God had spoken that same challenge long before this day through Isaiah 6:10 “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” God made it clear “this people” was already in His sights. His challenge was unless “this crooked generation” consciously chose to understand what their ears heard and their eyes saw of His truth it would never lead to their hearts being changed and an unchanged heart would never lead to His promise of healing and “the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Peter stood before his brothers proclaiming God had satisfied His own challenge. “Now when they heard” him say “this Jesus whom you crucified”…“they heard”…and “they were cut to the heart.”
This Jesus/God, through His life and resurrection had done everything necessary to cure heavy ears, blind eyes and dull hearts. Peter’s challenge to them was to “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for forgiveness of their sins. God had provided the challenge and the conditions of His promise to remove those barriers and breathe new life into a dull heart with His Holy Spirit so they could “understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.b And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in [me] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.c”
a Matthew 11:15
b Galatians 2:20
c Philippians 1:6 [you]
Read and Ponder - Faith in Daily Life 