CHAPTER 3
Verses 1-10 Peter heals a man
We would like to know how long after the coming of the Holy Spirit this
healing took place. We do not know because Luke does not tell us. The year
is not later than AD.36. We do not know as much as we would like to know
about the Temple either. The Romans destroyed it about 40 years after this.
We are not always sure whether writers like Josephus are quite right in what
they say about the Temple.
Most of the large space round the Temple was the ‘Court of the Nations’ or
‘Gentiles’. Any one could go into that part. Inside this was a wall. Only
Jews could go through the gates in this wall into the Court of Women. Then
there was another wall and beyond it was the Court of Israel. Only men could
go in there. Some Bibles have maps at the back. You may find a plan of the
Temple there. This will help you to understand this.
This is the Third Temple. King Herod the Great had this built. [3.1] See
John 2:20. Building work started about the year 20BC and work did not end
until the year 63AD. 18,000 men worked on it. It seems that the Beautiful
Gate was the same as the Nicanor or Susa Gate. This was the main gate in the
wall between the Court of the Women and the Court of Israel. There were also
eight other gates. This one faced east and the man on the steps might find
some shade from the sun there in the afternoon.
So in verse 1, Peter and John are together. They do not seem to be much like
each other. Yet they seem to be close friends. The Temple was a place of
prayer. It was also the one place where the priests killed animals as part
of the worship of God. The ‘synagogues’ were meeting places for the Jews.
They were places for worship and teaching, but it seems that they were not
so much places for prayer. For prayer in the Temple, see Luke 1:10, and
18:9-14.
(Verse 2) As Peter and John go in, a man who has never been able to walk
comes, too. His friends carry him to the steps up to the gate. We learn from
4:22 that he was more than forty years old. If we do not use any part of our
body, it becomes weaker. So there was always something wrong with this man’s
feet and legs. More, he had never been able to use them. So each day friends
carried him to the Temple and home again. He asked for money as people went
in. It was a good place to beg!
(Verse 3) He saw Peter and John and (verse 4) Peter and John looked hard at
him. We wonder whether he had ever seen Jesus as He went in and out of the
Temple. (Verse 5) He too looks hard at Peter and John. He does not hope for
anything except some money. (Verse 6) Peter has no money to give to the man.
He has something which is far better. He has the power to heal the man in
the name of Jesus.
Sadly, it is often the other way round with the church. Often the church has
money. It has church buildings and colleges. Yet it has no power. When the
church lacks power, we need to ask why this is. When we have Christ’s power,
we must do what Peter did. We must give. So Peter does not just tell the man
to try to stand up. He tells him to walk. (Verse 7)
For forty years, this man had not been able to walk. Forty years after this,
the Romans came and knocked down this Beautiful Gate. They robbed the Temple
of all its gold and silver. How much better it would have been if the Jews
had used all that wealth to help the poor. It is never good for the church
to be rich. If we give to the poor, God will give to us.
Many English Bibles are not quite right here. Luke does not say that the
man’s feet and ankles became strong. He says ‘ankle bones.’ They had been
weak. Now they were firm. He does not use the word for ‘feet’. He uses the
Greek word which gives us our English word ‘basis’. This is not used
anywhere else in the New Testament. It means the bottom of the feet, that
is, the soles.
Now when we walk, the soles of our feet become hard. Hard skin forms on them
. This happens over a long time. This man had never walked. So the skin on
his soles would be soft. God not only healed the man. It seems that also He
gave him hard skin on the soles of his feet. (Verse 8) Peter had only told
him to walk. (Verse 9) He did that, but he ran and jumped too. He had never
done these things before. It may take a young child months or even years to
learn to do these things. He did them at once.
We remember that it was ‘the time of prayer’. See Luke 18:10-14 and also
Luke 1:8-22. There were some very serious Jews in the Temple. They wanted to
be quiet and to pray. Instead of that, this man came along. He jumped. He
ran. He praised God. It was not quite what the people at prayer wanted.
(Verse 10) All the people in the Temple could see that this was the same man
who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate. Luke often uses words like ‘wonder’
to tell us how people feel. [3.2] But they really could not understand the
change in the man.
Verses 11-26 Peter speaks in the TempleIt seems likely that
Peter and John went into the Court of Israel. The man whom God had healed
went with them. Then later in the afternoon they came out again through the
same gate. Now they were in the Court of the Gentiles. Along the south wall
of this Court there was the Royal Porch. This was to their right. Along the
other three walls of the court there were rows of posts or pillars which
held up a roof. So there was a walkway. People could shelter from the heat
of the sun and if it ever rained, they could keep dry there. We might call
it a ‘cloister’. People called the part of this on the east side Solomon’s
‘Portico’ or ‘Colonnade’. Solomon was king of Israel about a thousand years
before this. The name did not mean that he had built it.
(Verse 11) There might not be many people in the Court of Israel. There
would perhaps be more in the Court of the Gentiles. The people who had come
to pray were now on their way out through this Court. We would like to see
people today running to hear God’s word preached! That was what happened
then. Soon, there was a crowd round Peter and John and their new friend.
(Verse 12) We think that most of the visitors to Jerusalem at Pentecost had
left by now. Peter has a rather different crowd to speak to. They are mostly
people who live in Jerusalem. Many of them know the man whom God has healed.
So Peter has a starting point when he tells the crowd the Good News. On the
day of Pentecost, the visitors to Jerusalem had heard the followers of
Jesus. They spoke in the languages which they did not know, but which the
visitors did know. The wonders or ‘miracles’ were just right for the people
who saw them.
Verse 12 may make us think about the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:16. Or
we may think about Psalm 115:1. ‘Not I but Christ’ is a good saying. Peter
and John do good, and let their light shine. But they make sure that all the
glory is God’s. In verse 13, Peter assures the crowd that he speaks about
their God. His God is the God of their ‘fathers’. Peter will not speak about
any strange ‘god’.
God has given glory and honour to Jesus now. Peter says that Jesus is God’s
servant. This is because Jesus did God’s work. No one else could do God’s
work. Only Jesus could die for us. Peter also says this because Isaiah spoke
about the Servant of the Lord. See Isaiah 42:1; 49:1-5 and 52:13-53:12. We
believe that in those verses, Isaiah speaks about Jesus. He calls Him the
Servant of the Lord. And this was about 700 years before Jesus was born.
God honoured Jesus, but the people of Jerusalem had shamed Him. Most of the
time, the Jews and Romans could not work together. When Jesus died, they
did. The Roman judge, Pontius Pilate, could find no reason to punish Jesus
or put Him to death. Peter remembers that he had said three time that he did
not know Jesus. The Jews made Pilate put Jesus to death. The Jews denied
Jesus before the face of Pilate, that is, ‘in his presence’. See verse 19.
(Verse 14) The Jews would not have Jesus. He was the one man who was holy
and just. The Jewish crowd asked instead for Barabbas, who was a killer.
They wanted Pilate to set him free.
In verse 15, Peter makes his point even more strongly. Jesus is the Son of
God. All life comes from Him. He is also the Son of Man, and they killed
Him. They killed Him, says Peter, but God raised Him up to new life. God’s
way is often to undo or reverse what men do. The apostles met Jesus after He
rose from death. They talked with Him and ate with Him. They are
‘witnesses’.
In verse 16 Peter says again what he said in verse 12. It is not the power
of Peter and John which healed the man who had never walked. The apostles
had faith in Jesus. The name of Jesus is His character. He is faithful to us
when we put our faith in Him. Peter tells his hearers how the power of the
risen Jesus worked then. It still works that way now.
{Verse 17) In our English courts of law, people often say that ‘Ignorance of
the Law is no defence’. If you have broken a law, it does not help you to
say that you did not know what the law was. Peter says that the leaders of
the Jews and the other people did not know who Jesus was. See 1 Corinthians
2:8. This was the way that God worked. God in years gone by spoke ‘through
the mouths of prophets‘. This was the Good News, before its time. God had
said that His Messiah, the Christ, would suffer. See most of Isaiah 53. So
no one could say: ‘Jesus died: He cannot be the promised Messiah’. The fact
that Jesus suffered and died rather proves that He is the Messiah.
In verse 19, Peter moves on to say what his hearers must do now. When we
preach the Good News, it is not enough to tell people who Jesus is and what
He has done. We must tell people that they are sinners and that they must
change. So Peter tells them to ‘change their minds’ or repent. They have to
repent of what they had done to Jesus. Their way of life will not bring them
to God. Even their religion will take them away from Him. They must turn
right round. They must ‘convert’. Peter tells the people what will happen if
they do repent, and turn round to God.
A. First, God will wipe away their sins. People in those days wrote with ink
which did not ‘eat into 'the paper. You could wipe it away with a wet cloth
or sponge. So God would wipe away their sins.
These Jews had two special sins. One was their sin when they put Jesus to
death. The other was that they thought that they could save themselves. They
wanted to keep the law and to do lots of good works. Then they thought that
they would be righteous. They would make themselves so righteous that God
would have to accept them. It is wrong to think in that way. We must come to
God as sinners. God must save us by His grace for Christ’s sake. We can
never tell God how good we are. See Matthew 7:22 and 23; Ephesians 2:8 and 9
and Romans 4:2.
B. Second, times of ‘refreshing’ will come from the ‘face’ or presence of
God. [3.3] This word ‘refreshing’ is only used here in the New Testament. It
is also used in the Greek of Exodus 8:15. Paul uses a word like it in 2
Timothy 1:16. The picture in the word is of a day when it is too hot. Then
comes evening. It is less hot now, and people feel much better. They feel
‘fresh’. They are ‘refreshed’ and ready to do more.
Peter says that if the Jews turn to God and they believe the Good News, God
will bless them. He does not say that Jesus would come again. The Jews have
had any number of times of bitter suffering. This has gone on for almost two
thousand years. Peter says that instead, God would have given them many good
times.
C. (Verse 20) So Peter says that God had promised to give the Jews a
Messiah. He made this promise long ago. The Messiah would save them. But God
had done more than promise. His hand also picked out or ‘appointed’ the
Messiah long ago. ‘Messiah’ means the same thing as ‘Christ’. It means one
that God has honoured by pouring oil on their head. Now, Peter says, Jesus
is the promised Messiah. If you look for someone else, or wait for someone
different, it will do no good. God has kept His promise. A word rather like
the word for ‘appointed’ here is used in Acts 22:14 and 26:16. It is another
unusual word. So at last God would send Jesus back from heaven to the Jewish
people.
These then are things that God would do if Israel turned to Him. What God
would not do (verse 21) is to send Jesus back from heaven any sooner. God
has His own time, and His time is right. Peter uses another word which we
only find here in the New Testament. The time when Jesus comes again is
God’s time to put things right in the world.. We know that many things are
not right now. Some of them must wait until Jesus comes again. These are
things which have ‘fallen down’. God will stand them up again.
Then in verses 22 and 23, Peter uses some words which Moses had said. These
come from Deuteronomy 18:15-19. Jesus is, of course, the ‘prophet like
Moses’. Peter uses these words to tell the people that they must listen to
Jesus. We know that Jesus is much more than ‘a prophet’. It is when we
listen to Him that we find out that He is God’s Son.
Verses 24-26 are the last part of Peter’s speech. He says these things:-
1. God spoke to Abraham (verse 25). This was about 1800 years before Peter’s
time.
a) God made a ‘covenant’ or agreement with Abraham. See Genesis 17.
b) God made this covenant with ‘the fathers’ too. Here ‘the fathers’
means mostly Isaac and Jacob.
c) God also made a promise to Abraham. We can see this promise in
Genesis 12:1-4 Through Abraham’s family, God promised to do good to all
nations. When we read Genesis, we find there was always trouble.
Abraham’s family never seemed to bring good to other people. Only
Joseph, who saved the people of Egypt, did any good. So God had not yet
kept His promise. His promise was still true.
2. Then the prophets had spoken to the Jewish people. Samuel lived about
1000 years before Peter. Many other prophets came after him. Some of them
left their work in the books of the Old Testament. Peter says that their
message was about the time when Jesus would come.
Peter only names Samuel. This may be because Samuel (1 Samuel 16:13) poured
oil on David. He anointed him to be king. Jesus is ‘David’s greater Son’.
3. Then see the first part of verse 25. Peter tells his hearers how they fit
in. They are the people who must listen to what the prophets said. They must
do what God told Abraham to do in the ‘covenant’. They live in the very time
that the prophets had pointed forward to. There had been no prophets for
several hundred years.
4. So God ‘raised up His Servant’, that is Jesus. Peter now uses the same
word which he used in verse 22. The word is one which could mean that Jesus
rose from the dead. Here is means that God raised up Jesus as a prophet. He
is not only a prophet. He is God’s servant. He does not just speak. He does
God’s work.
5. God sent Jesus first to the Jews. The good which God wanted to do them
was to turn them from sin.
6. God sent Jesus to the Jews first. God did not send Him only to the Jews.
After the Jews, the Good News about Jesus would go to all the peoples on
earth. This was the promise of God. Peter had to tell the Jews this, because
they thought that the blessing of God was for them alone.
As we leave Chapter 3, we need to say these things. [3.4]
a) Peter spoke here to Jews. What he said is part of the Word of God. We
should use it. Yet we need to be careful how we use it.
b) There is no real break between Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. This must not
hide the truth from us. The healing of the man should have made people
thankful to God. Instead, the Jews put Peter and John in prison. We may
expect miracles and healing to lead some people to faith. Other people will
only grow in their hatred of the truth. |