“For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,”
My Notes
What Does Acts 2:34 Mean?
Peter makes an argument from Psalm 110:1 — the same passage Jesus used to stump the Pharisees (Matthew 22:44). David wrote: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand." Peter's point: David didn't ascend into heaven. David is in the tomb (verse 29). So when David wrote "my Lord," he wasn't talking about himself. He was talking about someone else — someone who would sit at God's right hand. That someone is Jesus.
The logic is airtight: Psalm 110 describes someone seated at God's right hand. David didn't occupy that position. He's dead and buried. So who is "my Lord"? Peter's answer: Jesus — raised from the dead, ascended to heaven, and now seated at the Father's right hand.
This is Peter's concluding argument at Pentecost: the resurrection and ascension of Jesus fulfill what David prophesied. The empty tomb + the ascension + Psalm 110 = Jesus is Lord. The syllogism changed history.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does Peter's argument (David prophesied, David's still dead, so the prophecy is about someone else) strengthen the case for Jesus' lordship?
- 2.What does Peter's transformation — from denier to Pentecost preacher — tell you about what the resurrection does to people?
- 3.Does the logical tightness of Peter's argument affect your confidence in the gospel's truthfulness?
- 4.How does the outpouring of the Spirit function as evidence (not just experience) that Jesus is at God's right hand?
Devotional
David didn't go to heaven. He's in his tomb. Peter knows where it is. So when David wrote 'the LORD said to my Lord,' he wasn't writing about himself. He was writing about Jesus.
Peter's Pentecost sermon builds to this argument and it's devastating in its simplicity. David wrote a Psalm about someone sitting at God's right hand. David is dead and buried — his tomb is right here in Jerusalem, you can visit it. So David wasn't describing his own experience. He was prophesying about someone else's. Someone who would die, rise, and ascend to the position David described.
That someone is Jesus. Raised from the dead (which Peter and the apostles witnessed). Ascended to heaven (which they watched happen). And now seated at the Father's right hand (which the outpouring of the Spirit confirms — verse 33).
The argument Peter constructs is rock-solid: David's prophecy + David's tomb + Jesus' resurrection + the Spirit's outpouring = Jesus is the Lord that David saw. The one on the throne. The one at God's right hand. Not someday. Now.
This sermon — delivered by an uneducated fisherman who had denied Jesus three times weeks earlier — converted three thousand people in a single day. Not because Peter was eloquent. Because the argument was undeniable. The evidence locked together like a puzzle no one could take apart.
Jesus is Lord. David said so. The tomb proves it. The Spirit confirms it. And Peter — once the denier — became the proclaimer.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For David is not ascended into the heavens,.... In his body, that being still in the grave, in his sepulchre, which…
For David is not ascended into the heavens - That is, David has not risen from the dead and ascended to heaven. This…
David is not ascended - Consequently, he has not sent forth this extraordinary gift, but it comes from his Lord, of whom…
We have here the first-fruits of the Spirit in the sermon which Peter preached immediately, directed, not to those of…
For David is not ascended Better ascended not. He went down to the grave, and "slept with his fathers."
but he saith…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture