Unstoppable! 'God's Servant for God's People' — Acts 3:22-26

Jesus' coming was rooted in the curse of the serpent in the creation story (Genesis 3:15) and in God's promises given to the patriarchs, Moses, and the prophets of Israel. Jesus is the promised prophet like Moses. He is the seed of Abraham, God's promise sent to bless ALL the nations of the earth. Notice, however, that Jesus was sent FIRST to the Israelites, who are physical descendants of Abraham. The Good News was preached FIRST to the Jews. This was always God's plan after people had made the world corrupt (the story of Genesis chapters 3-11). God intended Abraham‘s descendants to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3). Jesus was sent to his own people, the Jews, and they were given the opportunity to accept him and to be born anew as children of God (John 1:9-13). While some in history have persecuted Jews, who are some of the descendants of Abraham, because their ancestors rejected and killed Jesus, the early church extended grace to those ancestors and invited them to see Jesus as their Messiah. God also wanted those who are not children of Abraham by race to receive his grace, which they accept through faith, as they become his children (Ephesians 2:1-10; Galatians 3:6-7).