Acts 13:26-33. Paul continues testifying to the assembly in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia. Having just finished a short Jewish history, ending by saying that Jesus is the promised Savior, Paul goes on to say "to us has been sent the message of this salvation." Those in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize who Jesus was and did not understand the utterances of the prophets they read every week, so they ended up fulfilling those prophecies by condemning Jesus and having Pilate kill Him, even though they could bring no charge against Him. But after they laid him in a tomb, God raised Him from the dead, and He appeared for many days to those who had followed Him from Galilee, who are our witnesses. So Paul is now bringing "the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus."

The Jewish leaders did indeed fulfill the very prophecies they read every week by condemning and killing Jesus. It is so easy to look at them and think "Why didn't they see who He was? Why couldn't they put the pieces together? It should have been clearer to them than to anyone!" But I think we are all guilty of this blindness at some point in our lives, hopefully we just don't let it get to the point that the Jewish leaders got to. We have been told the truth of Christ, we see God's work and Word in reality and in creation, and yet we all turn away from it sometimes, we all sin. The Jewish leaders' sin in killing Jesus is just a greater manifestation of our sin.

Also, when we are very knowledgeable in a certain field or about a certain subject, we often become proud and therefore blind. Jesus was a nobody, and these Jewish leaders had been studying the Torah all their lives. The blindness of pride kept them from seeing what was right in front of them. As the truth became impossible to deny, as it always eventually does, they had to kill Jesus to hold onto their pride. Even then, when He was raised from the dead and witnesses testified to that, they continued in their state of blindness and tried to cover up even the Resurrection rather than admit they were wrong! (See, for example, their reaction to Stephen's testimony!)

The greatest lesson here for me is to always question my motivations and examine my conscience. I do not want to let myself get to the point that the Jewish leaders got, where I am so completely blind to the truth that I end up fulfilling the bad prophecies I am reading about in Scripture. So I have to ask myself, am I following Christ's true teachings, or am I following some warped version of them that society or my own pride has created? Examining my conscience really helps in this regard, as does remembering that Jesus promised us that following Him would lead to suffering in this life. If by following what I think are his teachings I am comfortable and fitting in with the world, that is a pretty sure sign that I am on the wrong track.