CHAPTER 3

(A.D. 33)

HEALING

¹Now Peter and John went up together into the Temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour(3 oclock in the afternoon).

²And a certain man lame from his mothers womb was carried, whom they laid daily (seemed to be a daily occurrence which had taken place in one way or the other since the man was a child; little did he realize that this would be the greatest day of his life) at the gate of the Temple which is called Beautiful (according to Josephus, it was made of costly Corinthian brass; it was said to be about 62 feet wide and 31 feet high), to ask alms of them who entered into the Temple (he was a beggar);

³Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the Temple asked an alms.

⁴And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John (indicates they were moved upon by the Holy Spirit to do this thing), said, Look on us (Peter wanted him to hear what he was about to say).

⁵And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them (expecting to receive money).

⁶Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none (I wonder how this statement as given by Peter concerning silver and gold relates to the modern greed message?); but such as I have give I thee (presently, the modern Church has silver and gold, but doesnt have the Power of God): In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk (it is not in the name of Mohammed, or Confucius, etc.).

⁷And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up (was not presumption, but rather Faith in action): and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength (this was a Miracle).

⁸And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the Temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God (constantly praising God):

¹⁰And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple (he had been coming there, no doubt, for years): and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him (his healing was indisputable).

¹¹And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John (he didnt want to let Peter and John out of his sight; it was as if his malady would return when they left, or so he thought), all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomons, greatly wondering (it drew a crowd, which the Holy Spirit intended).

THE SERMON

¹²And when Peter saw it(the crowd gathering), he answered unto the people, You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? (In essence, he is saying that Jesus is alive, and His Work is continuing.) or why look you so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we have made this man to walk? (He turns the attention from himself and John to the Lord Jesus Christ.)

¹³The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Son Jesus (Chrysostom said, He thrust himself upon the Fathers of old, lest he should appear to be introducing a new doctrine.); Whom you delivered up (pertains to the Chief Priest delivering Jesus to Pilate to be Crucified), and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go (the Holy Spirit puts most of the blame on the religious leaders of Israel).

¹⁴But you denied the Holy One and the Just (proclaims the terrible sin of Israel, and the terrible sin of most of humanity as well, and for all time), and desired a murderer to be granted unto you (speaks of Barabbas [Mat. 27:15-26], and murderers have ruled them ever since!);

¹⁵And killed the Prince of Life (Peter minced no words, not at all softening his Message), Whom God has raised from the dead (the Resurrection, as would be obvious, ratified what was done at the Cross); whereof we are witnesses (means that they had personally seen the Resurrected Christ; there is no greater witness than an eyewitness).

¹⁶And His Name through Faith in His Name has made this man strong (presents the key to all things!), whom you see and know (there was no denying the Miracle): yes, the Faith which is by Him (Jesus) has given him (the crippled man) this perfect soundness in the presence of you all (no partial healing, but a total healing, which is the way the Lord does things).

¹⁷And now, brethren, I reckon that through ignorance you did it, as did also your Rulers (while they were ignorant, regrettably it was a willful ignorance; in other words, they had no desire to know the Truth about Jesus).

¹⁸But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all His Prophets (in other words, had they known the Bible, which they certainly should have known, they would have known about Jesus), that Christ should suffer (the entirety of the story of the Bible is Jesus Christ and Him Crucified), He has so fulfilled (proclaims that His Death was predestined, but not who would commit the deed).

¹⁹Repent ye therefore, and be converted (Repentance is an admittance that God is right, and we are wrong; he was speaking to the Rulers as well as to the people), that your sins may be blotted out (speaks of Justification by Faith), when the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord (should have been translated, In order that the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord);

²⁰And He shall send Jesus Christ (pertains to the Second Coming [Rev., Chpt. 19]), which before was preached unto you (through the Prophets, and as well the public Ministry of Christ to Israel for some three and a half years):

²¹Whom the Heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things (refers to Jesus remaining in Heaven until this Dispensation of Grace has run its course, after which He will return to this Earth), which God has spoken by the mouth of all His Holy Prophets since the world began (once again, had they known the Word of God, which then consisted of Genesis through Malachi, they would have known all these things).

²²For Moses truly said unto the Fathers (Deut. 18:15-19), A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me (the Promise of the Messiah); Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you (could not be clearer).

²³And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that Prophet (refers to the entirety of the world), shall be destroyed from among the people (will be eternally lost!).

²⁴Yes, and all the Prophets from Samuel (even though there were Prophets before Samuel, he was the first one to stand in the Office of the Prophet), and those who follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days (speaks of all the Prophets, at least in one way or another, pointing to the coming Redeemer, Who would be the Lord Jesus Christ).

²⁵You are the children of the Prophets (means that they should have known what the Prophets had said), and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers (refers to the Abrahamic Covenant [Gen. 12:1-3]), saying unto Abraham, And in your seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed (speaks of Jesus Christ as that Seed).

²⁶Unto you first (refers to the offer of Salvation being made first to the Jews [Lk. 24:47; Rom. 1:16; 2:10]) God, having raised up His Son Jesus (refers to the Resurrection), sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his (your) iniquities (only Jesus could do this, which He did by His atoning Work at the Cross [Eph. 2:13-18]).