«　WEEK 3　DAY 6　»

　　Acts 10:36 The word which He sent to the sons of Israel in announcing the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ (this One is Lord of all).

　　42 And He has charged us to proclaim to the people and solemnly testify that this is the One who was designated by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.

　　In Acts 10:36 Peter speaks of Christ as the One who is "Lord of all." All refers here to all men, all peoples (1 Tim. 2:4). Christ in His ascension is the Lord not only of the Jews but also of the Gentiles. He is the Lord of all the different races and peoples on earth. With Him there is no respect of persons. As the Lord of all, Christ is the Lord of the Jews and the Gentiles for all of them to be saved. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2991)

　　Acts 10:39-43 indicates that Christ was done away with on a tree by the Jews, raised on the third day by God, and designated by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead; whoever believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.

　　In verses 39 through 41 Peter speaks to Cornelius concerning Christ's crucifixion and resurrection: "We are witnesses of all the things which He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom also they did away with by hanging Him on a tree. This One, God raised on the third day; and He has made Him manifest, not to all the people, but to witnesses appointed beforehand by God, to us, ones who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead." In verse 40 Peter says that God raised this One, but in verse 41 he says that the Lord rose from the dead. Regarding the Lord as a man, the New Testament tells us that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 8:11). However, considering Him as God, the New Testament tells us that He Himself rose from the dead (14:9).

　　In Acts 10:4 2 Peter says, "He has charged us to proclaim to the people and solemnly testify that this is the One who was designated by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead." Here we see that Christ has been designated the Judge of all mankind....The resurrected Christ at His second coming will be the Judge of the living before the millennium on His throne of glory (Matt. 25:31-46; 2 Tim. 4:1). He will also be the Judge of the dead after the millennium on the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). Therefore, the Lord will exercise God's judgment over all men, over the living and the dead.

　　Christ, who is the Judge of the living and the dead, can also be experienced and enjoyed as the Redeemer into whom we may believe to receive forgiveness of sins.

　　Christ is a man to judge the world, designated by God in righteousness, and proved by God's raising Him from the dead.

　　In Acts 17:30 and 31 Paul says, "Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now charges all men everywhere to repent, because He has set a day in which He is to judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has designated, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead."...This day of Christ's judgment on earth will be brought in by His coming back. He was designated by God to execute this judgment, and God's raising Him from the dead is strong proof of this.

　　Acts 16:31 says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household." Here Christ is revealed as the Lord Jesus. As such, He is the object of the believer's faith for the salvation of the believer and his household. To believe in the gospel is mainly to believe in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, to believe is to believe on, to take the ground and stand on, the Lord Jesus to be saved. We believe not only into Christ but also on Christ. This is to take the ground and the standing on the person of Christ and all that He has accomplished, both of which constitute the belief, the faith, of God's New Testament economy. We believe on Christ as the ground and standing so that we may be saved. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2991-2992, 3004, 3003)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 294