[13] Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. [14] But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. [15] And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.” [16] Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: [17] The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. [18] Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness. [19] And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment. [20] After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. [21] And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. [22] And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ [23] From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus— [24] after John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. [25] And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not [He]. But behold, there comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.’ [26] Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent.1
Messiah will have to come before the tribe of Judah loses its identity. This establishes a clear time period for the prophecy. The records by which tribal identities were maintained were kept in the Jewish Temple. All of these records were lost with the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. Within a few generations all the tribes of Israel, with the exception of Levi, had lost their identity. Immediately after 70 A.D. the rabbis passed laws which would preserve the identity of the priestly tribe of Levi, but Jews from the other tribes quickly lost their identity. In order for this prophecy to have significance to humans (God still knows the tribal identities), Messiah had to come before 70 A.D.4
If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist; If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist; If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer; But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.5
Endnotes:
1. | NKJV, Acts 13:13-26 |
2. | Ref-0617, τέλος [telos] |
3. | Ref-1307, p. 123 |
4. | Ref-0011, p. 22, emphasis mine |
5. | PSR, Sermon given at Camano Chapel, 12/9/2001 |
Sources:
NKJV | Unless indicated otherwise, all Scripture references are from the New King James Version, copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. |
PSR | Pastor Steve Redfern |
Ref-0011 | Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Messianic Christology (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 1998). |
Ref-0617 | James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997). |
Ref-1307 | Andrew E. Steinmann, From Abraham to Paul (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing, 2011). ISBN:978-0-7586-2799-5d. |