The ministry of the apostles, including the healing of the lame man, was based on the grace of God. The Spirit of God moved through the apostles and accomplished works that “glorified his servant Jesus.” On the Temple Mount in Acts 3 the crowd of people were ready to accept Peter as a spiritually powerful man, and they assumed that John’s holiness and purity could cause God to perform miracles. But, Peter addresses the people in order to redirect their focus away from his mere humanity and to focus clearly on the meaning, method and motivation of this miraculous sign:
“Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.” – Acts 3:12
Peter identifies God as the very God who is worshipped on the Temple Mount where the Most Holy Place in the Temple covered the very spot where Abraham had offered Isaac and heard the Lord speak. Peter points out to the people that it was the God that Abraham, the same God who was worshipped by the forefathers of the that day’s crowd, who healed this man in order to confirm that God has honored and glorified Jesus. Peter then uses the Isaiah’s title for the Messiah to identify Jesus when he calls Jesus God’s “servant.”
Peter then gives the crowd of Jews and their leaders another chance to repent by confronting them with their rejection of Jesus. Peter compares their “judicial” decision to crucify Jesus with God’s decision to raise him from the dead and glorifiy him here on the Temple Mount by healing a lame man in Jesus name. Peter says:
“You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.” – Acts 3:13
Both the court of Rome and God’s court in heaven declared Jesus innocent, yet these Jews demanded Jesus be crucified. Here within a few weeks of Jesus crucifixion at the hands of the Jews God has performed an incredible miracle in Jesus’ name through Peter. The Jews will now need to rethink their decision, and then repent or continue in rebellion. |
