Fulfilling Ignorance
"For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him."
The people and rulers spoken of by Paul fulfilled the most dastardly of all prophesied events by condemning and crucifying Jesus Christ. Would they have accomplished such a thing if they had understood the prophets?
Paul himself was found in the same situation of fulfillment of God’s design through ignorance. He did not understand the plan that was being accomplished when he zealously went to work persecuting the early believers, scattering them to the nations of the world.
In fact, every Sabbath, Paul would have sat under the same readings as those referenced in Acts 13:27, and he was guilty of the same ignorance he pointed out in the same verse. God used that same ignorance for His purposes and even brought Paul to a recognition of God’s grace delivered through Jesus Christ.
And what of those people of Jerusalem? They were the tools by which God made the greatest sacrifice. They delivered up the greatest gift ever offered. A Savior had come into the world but the Savior had to be sacrificed for the complete and final atonement of the sins of man. Those people, not seeing the Messiah and ignorant of the prophetic words, were the ones for the job.
The works of God continue to be accomplished through people who do not recognize Him and do not understand, yet fulfill the plan He has in the world.
Acts 13:27