whom
God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope; because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay. You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
Acts 2:24-28
Acts 2 [22.] “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him among you, even as you yourselves know, him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed; whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
Acts 2 [25.] For David says concerning him,
‘I saw the Lord always before my face,
For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced.
Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;
because you will not leave my soul in Hades,
neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.
You made known to me the ways of life.
You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
Acts 2 [29.] “Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was his soul left in Hades, nor did his flesh see decay. This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.
Meaning:
Peter has told the crowd that Jesus was handed over by God’s plan and crucified by lawless hands (Acts 2:23). Now he announces the great reversal: God raised him up. Death could not keep him. To prove it Peter quotes Psalm 16:8-11, a psalm of David that speaks of a Holy One whose body would not see decay.
- “Whom God raised up”
The resurrection is God’s answer to the cross. People killed Jesus, but God raised him. The same contrast returns in Peter’s next sermon: you killed the Prince of life, but God raised him (Acts 3:15). The resurrection is God’s verdict that Jesus was innocent and that he is who he claimed to be.
- “Having freed him from the agony of death”
The word translated “agony” was used for the pains of childbirth. The Psalms speak of death as a trap that binds: “The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me” (Psalm 116:3; compare Psalm 18:4-5). God loosed those cords. Some see in the image a hint that the pains of death became like birth pains, giving way to new resurrection life.
- “It was not possible that he should be held by it”
Death had no rightful claim on Jesus. He was without sin, and death is the wages of sin. He was the Son of God, the Author of life. He had said, “I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me” (John 10:17-18). God’s promise in Scripture also made his resurrection certain. Now he declares, “I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades” (Revelation 1:18). Paul writes that “Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no more has dominion over him!” (Romans 6:9).
- “I saw the Lord always before my face”
In Psalm 16 David writes, “I have set Yahweh always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Peter quotes the Greek form of the psalm. The speaker lives in close fellowship with God, trusting him completely. This describes Jesus perfectly: he always did what pleased the Father and trusted him even on the cross.
- “My flesh also will dwell in hope”
Because the Lord is near, the speaker’s heart is glad and his tongue rejoices, and even his body rests in hope. The reason is stated next: “you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.” Hades is the Greek word for the realm of the dead, used here for the Hebrew Sheol. The PIB footnote notes that it can also be rendered “Hell.”
How could David say this? Peter explains in the next verses that David died, was buried and saw decay, so the words find their full meaning in the Christ (Acts 2:29-31). Paul makes the same argument in Antioch: “But he whom God raised up saw no decay” (Acts 13:37). Christians have described the psalm in two main ways: as a direct prophecy spoken by David about the Messiah, or as David’s own hope which reached its complete fulfilment in Jesus. Peter calls David a prophet who, “foreseeing this,” spoke of the resurrection, and both views agree that only Jesus fully fulfils the words.
- “You made known to me the ways of life”
The psalm ends with joy in God’s presence: “You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). For Jesus this joy came through the resurrection and his exaltation to the Father’s right hand. Hebrews says that “for the joy that was set before him” he “endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2).
The Significance of Acts 2:24-28
- Death has been defeated
Because death could not hold Jesus, it cannot finally hold those who belong to him. Through his death he set free those “who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15).
- Living with the Lord before us
Psalm 16 invites believers to set the Lord always before them, to rest in hope and to look forward to the fullness of joy in his presence.
Cross-References:
Psalm 16:10: "For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption." The psalm Peter quotes.
Revelation 1:18: "I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades." The risen Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:55: "Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?" Victory over death.
Conclusion: Peter proclaimed that God raised Jesus and freed him from the pains of death, because death could not hold him. He supported this from Psalm 16, where David spoke of a Holy One who would not see decay and who would know the ways of life and the joy of God’s presence. Jesus’ resurrection fulfils those words and gives his people a living hope.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible