And now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made of God to our fathers, to which promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. And concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, O king! Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead?”
He then declared the hope which was his, and in which he believed. It was a very Jewish hope. He was being judged ‘for the hope of the promise made of God to our fathers', that is, the hope of the coming Messiah Who would be raised from the dead (Isaiah 53:10-12; Psalms 16:8-11) and Who would raise others from the dead at the last day (Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2; John 5:29). This was what all Israel (the twelve tribes) also hoped for, the coming of the Messiah and the resurrection from the dead, ‘Jesus and the resurrection'. Let them therefore be aware that he stands to be judged before them this day, because is a Jew and as a Jew he has a Jewish hope. Paul is not shamming here. He believed that the church was the true Israel, the true Vine (John 15:1-6), the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16), and that they were God's true people.
Once again it is clear that Paul sees one of the main reasons why he is being so hounded as arising from the fact of his belief in the resurrection as especially revealed in the resurrection of Christ. It is this is that the chief priests are so bigoted against. And yet the promises of God concerning the Messiah and the coming resurrection are what all the people of Israel (the whole twelve tribes - apart from these few) hope to attain to by serving God faithfully. That indeed is why he himself is serving God faithfully! And this is the hope concerning which he is being accused. And then he challenges them as to why it should be thought so incredible that God can raise the dead. After all, if He is the living God, can He not do anything?
By facing them up with Christ and the resurrection he was bringing what was possibly a new message to the Gentiles among the audience, as he had in Athens (Acts 17:18; Acts 17:31-32), but at the same time he was wooing the supporters of the Pharisees who taught the resurrection from the dead, and linking it with the Messianic hope. Let all recognise that the living God will do this. He will raise men from the dead, and He has demonstrated this by raising Jesus Christ from the dead. For in the end Paul's purpose for both Jew and Gentile is eventually to introduce them to the fact that Jesus Christ, Whom all the trouble is about, did rise from the dead, and is now enthroned as Lord and Saviour.
His Wrongly Expressed Zeal in Serving the Lord In Which He Had Been Supported By His Accusers.