Read Acts 1:6. "When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, "Lord wilt thou at this time RESTORE AGAIN THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL?" They were inquiring as to THE KINGDOM and ISRAEL, not one word about the preaching of the cross.
I'm not going to go further into Cornelius until we can get through this part. It's just going to get mired. And if you cannot see this simple part, the rest will do nothing to help you, I'm certain. And I am not saying this in a rude way, Zuriel. It's just a fact. Until God's word is read EXACTLY as it is written, it will do no good to point these things out. You're reading what you THINK it says, or what someone told you it says, but not what it actually SAYS. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost is a prime example.
When Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost and declared that the last days had come (Acts 2:16,17) he demonstrated that he was totally ignorant of God's plan to usher in another dispensation. Of grace. That would be interjected between Acts and the tribulation period.
It wasn't a failing in Peter himself, on the day of Pentecost the followers of Christ were all FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST"(Acts 2:4).
What Peter said was, ACCORDING TO PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES, CORRECT. In the face of what had happened and what was happening, they were indeed in the last days.
This is clear if we simply remember not to ANTICIPATE REVELATION. If we remember that God's PURPOSE concerning THIS PRESENTY DISPENSATION was then STILL A MYSTERY. As far as God's REVEALED PROPHETIC PLAN was concerned, the last days- that had so long been prophesied and hoped for (Gen.49:1, Num. 24:14; Deut.4:30; Isa. 2:2; Dan. 2:28; Hos. 3:5; Mic. 4:1, Joel 2:28,29) had begun. Israel's long-promised Messiah had appeared, had died, and risen again, had ascended to God the Father's right hand and had sent the Holy Spirit to guide and empower His believers as they prepared to go through Daniel's 70th week, the tribulation. The next item on the prophetic program would be the tribulation period with the judgment of the nations (the gentiles) and Messiah's return, to set up His kingdom. (The kingdom they asked Him about in Acts1:6).
This is why Peter stood up and said "THIS IS THAT which was spoken by the prophet Joel:" (Acts 2:15-20). So this was the situation on the day of Pentecost. The apostles didn't preach Christ dying for our sins, because they didn't know that yet. They had a ministry of prophecy concerning Messiah and His kingdom, of which they were to rule in, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
This is the whole point of OT prophecies: the coming of Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom in the last days. Even the NT Scriptures view Christ's coming and kingdom as the great climax of the prophetic program (Mark 1:15, Luke `:68-75; Acts 3:21-24, 1 Peter 1:11).
Peter's great Pentecostal message was given to a large body of Jews from many countries who had gathered a t Jerusalem to observe the feast of Pentecost. It represented the beginning of the harvest for the nation of Israel, from a scattered nation to a complete nation.
When the Holy Spirit came and they began speaking in tongues, they knew what was happening. Joel's prophecy was being fulfilled. This is why you will not read of Peter stating that Christ died for our sins, and preaching the cross as good news, or declaring the gospel of the grace of God. He did not know this yet. And he would not know it until Paul. Paul was given the dispensation of the grace of God to minister to the Gentiles and believing Jews.
Peter and the 11 were doing exactly as Christ had commissioned them to do: Preach the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM.
Anticipating revelation is what confuses the situation. If Acts (and the whole Bible for that matter) is read just as it is written, you will see that the prophecy of the OT, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts up to the point of Acts 9, and Hebrews through Revelation is all about prophecy. The Messianic Kingdom. Only Acts 9-28, and Romans through Philemon speak of a mystery, hid in God from before the foundation of the world until revealed to Paul who revealed it to us. That was the commission Christ gave to him. Peter and the 11 could not preach of the mystery, and the grace of God, and the preaching of the cross as good news because it was HID IN GOD UNTIL IT WAS REVEALED TO PAUL.
Here is an example of this: "When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou AT THIS TIME RESTORE AGAIN the KINGDOM TO ISRAEL?" (Acts 1:6).
"And he said unto them, It is NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW THE TIMES OR THE SEASONS, which the FATHER HAS PUT IN HIS OWN POWER." (Acts 1:7.
Times and seasons. Dispensations. That God the Father has in His own power. That are given according to His purposes and will.
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>> “Read Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. And show me which scripture says that “Christ died for your sins”. Read it until you find it. It’s not there.” <<
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Wow!
That message is in the gospels. It had already been spread throughout the Mediterranean region by the hundreds of disciples that had been sent out well before Pentecost.
Peter and all the rest of the apostles preached to Israel because Yeshua was sent to Israel, specifically the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel. But that included all that sojourned with them.
Cornelius was a man that wanted to sojourn with them. Peter at first did not grasp that, having been raised in the falsehood of Phariseeism, and needed a personal wake-up call, which he got in the vision.
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Acts 2:
32 This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says:
‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Seems to me Peter is focusing on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ quite clearly.
Then of course Peter expands on his sermon a second time in Acts 3...
Acts 3:
17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. 18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. 24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.
25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
Looks like the same Gospel preached as Paul. But if that is not convincing, let's look at what Paul said.
1 Corinthians 15:
15 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.