Bible Truth #257 - Acts 10:36-41

Acts 10:36-41

36  The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) —

37  you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed.

38  “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

39  “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.

40  “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible,

41  not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.

Here we have another classic example of God sovereignly choosing people. In this case, God chose who would see Jesus after He rose from the dead. The Arminian may say, “Well, He couldn’t appear to everyone.” Don’t tell me that. When He returns EVERY EYE will see Him (Revelation 1:7) so if God wanted Jesus to be seen by everyone after His resurrection, it would have happened. But that wasn’t His plan and because it wasn’t, God chose a select group to see Him, even though at one time that “select group” numbered over 500 people (1 Corinthians 15:6). And He did His choosing long before any of these events transpired.

The point is God is unchangeable, immutable; He works the same way now as He did almost 2,000 years ago. He chooses to whom He will reveal Christ. A man who is lost is DEAD in his trespasses and sins, spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5, Colossians 2:13). As such, he can do NOTHING in spirit and truth. Spiritually, he can’t hear, he can’t see, he can’t speak, he’s DEAD. This is why he can’t please God, it’s impossible. There is NOTHING a lost man can do that will please God (Romans 8:8). And even worse than that, everything he does is sin. Paul writes that everything that is not of faith, is sin (Romans 14:23) and since the lost have no faith they sin every second of every day of their lives.

Bottom Line - God is sovereign and He does the choosing. Those He chose, He draws, and those He draws, Jesus raises up - every single one. (John 6:44)