Acts 2:37 “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
When we are made to know that it is our sins that “crucified” our “Jesus”, it severely pains us deep within our “heart”, we are miserably “pricked” in our “heart” with shame’s severe pain. When those who were hearing Peter’s powerful words heard that it was they who “crucified” the Savior, “they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”! Peter, having personal experience with such pain in his “heart” (Matthew 26:75; Luke 22:62), “said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38)! To “Repent” is to knowingly confess to the Lord, “O wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24). To “be baptized … in the name of Jesus Christ” is to openly and physically proclaim; that, although I am a sinner, My “Jesus” Suffered, Shed His Blood, and Gave His Beloved Life to pay my sin debt (that I could not possibly pay) and shed His Precious Blood to Eternally Justify me before God The Father. By His Sacrificial Death alone, I am made “white as snow” and “white as … wool” (Isaiah 1:18). When the Lord’s Minister laid me into the baptismal waters it was my declaration that my “Jesus” gave His Life for me and His Body was laid in a tomb affirming His Death. When the Lord’s Minister raised me from the water, it was my declaration that my “Jesus” raised His Body from the tomb to Eternal Life (Romans 6:1-11) and in like manner, one Blessed Day, He will raise me, along with all His “elect” Children, to “everlasting life” with Him (John 6:39-40). And, the immediate blessing is the “the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38); that is, experiencing “the fruit of the Spirit” which “is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). Furthermore, the pain in our “pricked”-“heart” is soothed knowing that, day by day, “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (I John 2:1)!