40 Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets
should come about: “‘Look, you scoffers,
be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you
will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’” (Acts 13:39-41 (ESV)
So Paul finishes, and he finishes with a warning, another
prophecy, a prophecy fulfilled by the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The scoffers won’t believe. They will
be astounded and perish.
It’s all too true. They won’t believe even if one tells it
to them. Their unbelief is their fault. It isn’t that God doesn’t want them to
believe. He does. He wouldn’t give them this prophecy otherwise. But the cross will be a stumbling block to the
Jews, (the legalists of every culture who think they can earn salvation, that
they should earn salvation) and it’s folly to the Greeks, the scoffers of every
generation who think they know physics better than the creator of the world,
the nature of biology better than he who molded us from clay. They see the
death as the end. They refuse to believe. They scoff at the cross, they stand
astounded that others would believe the resurrection. They can scoff all they
want. And they will. But the tomb stands empty, defying all explanation but
resurrection.
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