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Acts 2:37 – What Shall We Do?
The judge reads the verdict – “Guilty.” The defendant has moved from defending himself to being judged un-defendable. Heads hang, tears are cried, anger soars, despair sets in.
On the Day of Pentecost, the judge through Peter declares – “Guilty.” After condemning the blameworthy, the condemned do not react in despair or anger. Unlike the listeners to Stephen (Acts 7), they do not stop up their ear and their hearts. Peter’s audience (Acts2) accepts their condemnation. And yet their thoughts are not “All is lost, God could not possibly love us after what we have done.” No, they respond in hope asking, “What shall we do” (Acts 2:37)?
I wonder what gave these people hope. Their view of God included compassion, mercy and grace. They did not see hopelessness in themselves and their situation. They saw a God of hope. Maybe why is because of the same OT book that Peter quoted to prove his case – Psalms. Several times the listeners are encouraged to “hope in God” or reminded that God is their hope (38:15; 42:5; 42:11; 43:5; 62:5; 71:5; 146:5).
What a loving God that when people are condemned, they can see sin in themselves, but hope in Jesus. “What shall we do?” the pierced in heart ask. The answer is, “Repent…and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38 HCSB).
Hear now, obey now, hope now, because one day the verdict cannot be revoked.
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