Acts 3

This second volume of sacred history authored by the gospel writer Luke tells us the story of the early decades of the church. After the dramatic events of Pentecost there were thousands of believers who were meeting in various homes throughout Jerusalem, even on a daily basis. It is also clear that many of these Christian Jews continued to go up to the temple on the top of Mount Zion to participate in times of prayer, and to teach their followers in larger groups. In the temple vicinity there were those who faced trials of poverty or disease who relied on the kindness of others for their survival. One such man asked two of the apostles, Peter and John, for their alms, their gifts of charity for the needy, expecting that they might be able to give some small gift.

What the man received was far more than what he was requesting. They had no money to give to him, but they in some way had been entrusted at that moment with the power to heal in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, the risen and ascended Messiah. Jesus had earlier used the disciples as agents of healing. Now that same power was being extended into this world of sin and misery, even though the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection Man, had gone above to the present heavens. His power was not diminished because of His presence in that higher place.

There was a difference between the healings of Jesus, and these great works performed through the apostles. Jesus healed as by His own divine will. The apostles performed miracles in the Name of Jesus Christ. The actions were still, at root, His actions. It was in this humility of spirit that Peter was able to boldly pronounce, “Rise up and walk!” The healed man did more than that. He went forth leaping and praising God.

This amazing healing attracted immediate attention. People recognized this man as regular visitors to any place where poor people gather for help will tend to recognize those desperate ones they see every day. It is not a surprise to see someone in need, but it is a surprise when any one in such a condition is suddenly healed. Here was this man clinging to Peter and John, apparently in appreciation, and the crowd was gathering quickly. They might have been expected to be in awe of these two men who had apparently done this thing. The apostle’s immediate message was to give glory to His Savior, and to insist that this great blessing was not from their own power or spiritual merit.

As it was for the apostles, so it must be for all of us; our story is about Jesus from beginning to end. If people insist that our message be about us, then we would do well to note that it was because of our sins that Jesus was delivered over to the Gentiles. If the truth about us must be told, it is a fact that we have denied Him. As it was literally true of the Jews of His day, it can spiritually be said of all sinners who have found their hope in the blood of Jesus, “You killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.” Let that be our swift witness, but may we also be quick to acknowledge what our great God was doing in the death of Christ. May we be ready to say that the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus.” And then let it also be said that it is by faith in His Name that we have the life that we have, both now and forever; and that it is by this same faith that is through Jesus that any taste of the resurrection kingdom comes to any of us.

The suffering of Jesus Christ was in accord with the message of the prophets, as was His resurrection from the dead. It is ours to see His glory in this cross and this resurrection, and to be cut to the heart by this plain truth. As our focus is on the Name of Jesus, and not our own names, these great redemptive realities must always be at the center of our message concerning the Messiah. This must be the proclamation of the church. When we call people to repentance, it must be a call that proceeds from the cross and the resurrection.

There is no reason for anyone to be left in the prison house of sin without hope of forgiveness. Christ is our hope and our forgiveness. By the faith that is through Jesus, we repent and believe. Our expectation has become this: that the greatest times of refreshing have now come to us through our sovereign Lord. We experience that now in many ways, and at just the right time, the time for restoring all things, we will receive heaven’s fullness upon the earth.

This Jesus is the final Prophet, the final Word. Everyone needs to hear His Word and respond to Him. The issue has never been any lesser prophet or any subsequent minister of the Word. It is through the Name of Jesus, the hope of Abraham, that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”