INSIGHT INTO THE SCRIPTURES
Acts 1:15-16 NKJV
15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, 16 "Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus;
The book of Acts, authored by Luke, is the account of what transpired after Jesus ascended back into heaven. He had appeared off and on to the disciples for 40 days after the resurrection. Jesus spoke to them of the Kingdom of God and told them to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father. That promise was the baptism and subsequent empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told them not to leave Jerusalem without the power to be His witnesses to the world.
In this first chapter, we find 120 of Jesus' disciples praying and seeking God in an upper room. Numbered with that group was Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Jesus' brothers. The brothers must have caught on to who Jesus was after the resurrection. To this group, Peter is speaking in our verses for today.
Peter's wording is what we want to pay attention to. First, Peter left out the women when he addressed only the men and brethren. Typically, the Jews separated the men and women, so maybe Peter's audience was the men only. Jesus was way ahead of His time in His treatment of women as valuable and not second-class citizens.
But it was Peter's choice of words as he described the scriptures that is so important. "…this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas,…" Peter is giving the credit for the scriptures to the Holy Spirit. He acknowledges that the Holy Spirit spoke by David's mouth. David was a vessel that the Holy Spirit used to speak. In this instance, the Scripture related to a prophetic word concerning Judas, his betrayal of Jesus, and his resulting death. Hundreds of years before Judas was born, the Holy Spirit spoke these words, and they were fulfilled.
Peter did not exalt David. David was a wonderful servant of God but not without faults. The Holy Spirit used David to speak words that would later be revelation to Jesus and to the disciples. Peter knew the words spoken by David originated with the Holy Spirit.
APPLICATION
The reason this verse is important is because we should acknowledge the Holy Spirit's role in authoring the Scriptures. The Scriptures are not an ancient book of wisdom. The Scriptures are a supernatural book written by numerous authors over a multitude of centuries. If we acknowledge the Holy Spirit as the author of the Bible, it puts to rest the voices of the critics who claim it was only a product of man. God used man, but the inspiration was from Him.
We often talk about Paul, John, and the other authors of the Scriptures. But we must always keep in mind that these men were used by God to write and speak the words that we still cherish and depend on today. Peter would later write that God's Word lives and abides forever. And it is still so!