He explained the Scriptures to show them that the Messiah had to die and then rise from death. He said, “This Jesus that I am telling you about is the Messiah.”

Having been among an assembly of academics, I can tell you that it is intimidating. One focusses on the methods and resources that must be applied to align with and persuade such an audience. It is good to practice this; however, the focus on method can derail one from his main source of strength, the Triune God!

A certain biblical scholar once shared a wonderful message written by the Apostle Paul; however, the sermon was Paul-centered, not Christ-centered. He quoted the name of Paul more than that of Jesus Christ. In contrast, we need to make sure that our message is always about the Good News of God’s love and grace upon the lost humanity, to reconcile us to Himself through Jesus Christ!

In Acts 8, Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch who needed an explanation to understand the scrolls he was reading. In verse 35, “Philip began to speak. He started with this same Scripture and told the man the Good News about Jesus.” Philip’s method is consistent with Paul’s method on this missionary trip in Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue (Acts 17:1). Beloved, the key mandate in witnessing is to point people to Jesus Christ, the Messiah! Philip simply explained the Good News about Jesus, and the prophecy of Isaiah made sense, and the man opened his heart to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior and was baptized! He became a member of the family of Christ through baptism. Hallelujah!

Jesus is not complicated, nor is the Gospel of grace. We are to live it, exercise it, be the light that brings those who are in the darkness to Christ, our Hope of Glory. “I assure you, anyone who hears what I say and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life. They will not be judged guilty. They have already left death and have entered into life,” (John 5:24).

In the context of today’s verse, Paul had preached at the synagogue on three Sabbath days consecutively, proving scripturally that Jesus is the Messiah, the one for whom they had waited, from the Old Testament. Messiah means the “anointed one,” “the chosen one.” Jesus is the set-apart one for salvation and to redeem humanity from eternal condemnation.

To demonstrate this, Paul and Silas might have quoted from Psalm 22 (a Messianic Psalm written by David thousands of years earlier) and the prophecies recorded in Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 12. These scriptures attest to the suffering, the crucifixion, death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus as proclaimed by the prophets in the Old Testament!

Ephesians 2:20 says, “You believers are like a building that God owns. That building was built on the foundation that the apostles and prophets prepared. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone in that building.” The apostles are the New Testament apostles of Jesus Christ, and the prophets are the Old Testament writers declaring the Anointed One who was to come.

Allow the Holy Spirit to convict you of the Truth in your heart. The Christian faith is founded upon the truth of prophecies and the apostles’ witness of Jesus Christ, the Messiah who tasted death for everyone and grants all who believe in Him eternal life!

By Christopher Thetswe, Bible League International staff, South Africa