Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
This is the conclusion of the very first Christian sermon ever preached — Peter standing before a large crowd in Jerusalem just weeks after Jesus had been publicly crucified. Peter makes a startling declaration: the Jesus who was executed as a criminal — with the crowd's approval — has been vindicated and made by God both "Lord" and "Christ." The Greek word for "Lord" (kyrios) was used for both God and the Roman Emperor, so the claim carried enormous political and religious weight. "Christ" is the Greek word for Messiah, the long-awaited anointed king the Jewish people had been expecting for centuries. Peter is looking directly at the crowd and saying: you misidentified who this man was, and God has answered that verdict.
God, it's easy to keep Jesus at a comfortable distance — to respect him without fully reckoning with who he actually is. Give me the courage to take Peter's claim seriously, not just as a theological position but as something that changes how I live every ordinary day. Amen.
There is almost nothing subtle about this moment. Peter is standing in the city where Jesus was killed, weeks after the execution, addressing people who may have stood in the very crowd that demanded it — and he says: you got it wrong. Not a good man who was misunderstood. Not a prophet who met a tragic end. Lord. Messiah. The one the entire arc of Israel's story had been building toward. And what makes this moment extraordinary is what happens next: the crowd doesn't shout him down. They're cut to the heart. Something about the unvarnished directness of it breaks through the noise. We live in a time when the identity of Jesus gets endlessly softened, negotiated, and reframed into something less demanding and more comfortable. Peter offers no such renegotiation. His claim is total: history turned on this person. The question that has pressed out from this verse for two thousand years is still the same one — who do you actually think Jesus is? Not the answer you'd give to keep things comfortable. Not the version that sidesteps the cost. What do you honestly believe?
Why is it significant that Peter makes this declaration in Jerusalem — the very city where the crucifixion happened — rather than somewhere safer?
Peter says God "made" Jesus both Lord and Christ — does that mean Jesus became something he wasn't before, or is something else being declared? What do you think?
This sermon confronts people directly with something they got badly wrong — how do you personally respond when truth implicates you rather than someone else?
How does your actual, working belief about who Jesus is shape the way you treat and speak to the people in your everyday life?
If someone asked you directly who you believe Jesus is, what would you honestly say — and is there a gap between that answer and the way you actually live?
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Acts 5:31
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Matthew 28:18
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
Romans 14:8
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Mark 1:15
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Acts 5:30
But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool ?
Hebrews 1:13
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly , triumphing over them in it.
Colossians 2:15
Therefore let all the house of Israel recognize beyond all doubt that God has made Him both Lord and Christ (Messiah, Anointed)—this Jesus whom you crucified."
AMP
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
ESV
'Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-- this Jesus whom you crucified.'
NASB
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
NIV
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
NKJV
“So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
NLT
"All Israel, then, know this: There's no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross."
MSG