This man had family or friends who brought him to the temple every day and laid him at the Beautiful Gate to beg from those going into the temple complex. (2) Since he was crippled, he could not work. Begging was the only way he had to get money.
Peter, however, had no money. So, when the beggar looked at Peter and John expecting alms, Peter did something else. He gave the man the gift of health. He healed him from his crippling disease or injury. And, he did it in the name of “Jesus Christ of Nazareth”. (6)
The man was healed instantly. He walked and leaped.
He followed Peter and John into the temple. He was walking and leaping and praising God. (9) You can imagine his joy. And, he was quite noticeable. As others tried to project dignity and piety, this man expressed joy without reservation. As people watched him, they recognized him as the man from the gate. And they were amazed that he had been healed. (10) He literally fulfilled Isaiah 35:6, “then shall the lame man leap like a deer”.
Peter’s Second Sermon
3:11-26
The miracle, or sign, accomplished by the Holy Spirit through Peter and John again brought attention to them. Verse 11 says they were utterly astounded. Many had likely known and seen the crippled man for years and here he was walking around, praising God. Others had seen him every day at the gate while they had been there for Pentecost. They all gathered at Solomon’s Portico, an area on the east side of the temple, bordered with columns.
The miracle provided another opportunity for Peter to preach about Christ, and he took it. He was quick to point out that the man was not healed through any special power of Peter or John. (12) Just as the miracles point to Christ, Peter’s sermon pointed to Christ.
Again, Peter declares that the Jews killed God’s Christ. Peter referred to God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a formula for naming God as the God who made a covenant with Abraham that made the Jews who they were, God’s chosen people. It was also the way God introduced himself to Moses in the burning bush. (Exodus 3:6) They were chosen to bear witness to the real and only God. Their God glorified Jesus (13), meaning he raised him from death and gave him glory in heaven. (14) Peter again says the apostles were witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus.
In speaking of Jesus’ exaltation, Peter referred to Isaiah 52:13-53:12, a passage about God’s suffering servant. God spoke through Isaiah, saying “he shall be high and lifted up and he shall be exalted”.
Look at the names Peter uses for Jesus: servant, the Holy and Righteous One, and the Author of life. Jesus served the Father by doing his will in life and death. He was holy, as he was fully God. He was righteous in that he never sinned. He is the author of life, both the agent of creation and the giver of eternal life to believers.
Peter declared that this Jesus, the Christ, healed the crippled man through faith in his name, meaning faith in Christ. It is Peter’s faith that he could do what Jesus told him he could do, not the crippled man’s faith. We see no evidence of faith in that man before he was healed. He simply wanted money from Peter.
The Jews bore the guilt of his murder because they denied him and delivered to Pilate and the Romans to be killed. (13-14) Jesus requires repentance, along with faith, for us to receive salvation. In order for a person to repent, he or she must understand that they have sinned. In order for a person to understand he or she has sinned, the preacher must point it out to them. Peter does that here, focused on their guilt in killing Christ. Once the preacher explains sin, the Holy Spirit convicts.
And Peter called for repentance. (19) He called for them to repent so that their sins could be blotted out and they could be saved. And the Father would later send Jesus for them at the second coming.
Peter continued to apply the Old Testament scripture to the situation. He said that God foretold through the prophets that his Christ would suffer, and God fulfilled that through the actions of the Jews. (18) So you see here that men sinned and God used that sin to fulfill his word and bring his plan to fruition. (18)
He also referred to Moses. The Jews revered Moses as leader of the exodus from Egypt, giver of the law and covenant, and prophet. Moses said God would raise up a prophet like him from their brothers and they must listen to him. Everyone that does not listen shall be destroyed from the people. (23) That is a reference to Deuteronomy 18:15. Peter shows them they are condemned by their own great prophet. He means that Jesus was the prophet Moses spoke of. They did not listen to him. So, they are in danger of being destroyed from the people of God.
Peter went on to say that all the prophets proclaimed this. He singled out Samuel as the beginning of this. The Jews considered Samuel the next prophet after Moses. The Jews were “sons of the prophets”. (25) Their ancestors heard the prophets speak. They wrote down those words and preserved them. Every Jew in Jesus’ time heard those words read in the synagogue on the Sabbath, heard to rabbi teach them, and memorized many of them. They professed to believe those words.
The Jews were also sons of the Abrahamic covenant. The took pride in calling themselves the children of Abraham. Peter recited the covenant promise to them, although they knew it by heart: in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. When Peter said “God, having raised up his servant”, he means Jesus is that offspring of Abraham that will bless all the families of the earth. (25) God sent Christ to the Jews first, before sending him to the rest of the earth through the apostles preaching. He did this bless them and turn them from their sin, that is, to repent, believe and receive salvation.
Paul referred to this promise in Galatians 3, pointing out that the promise was made to Abraham and his offspring. He wrote that this said offspring in the singular, not plural, and that offspring was Jesus. (Galatians 3:15-16) Paul also wrote that the gospel was for the Jews first, then the Greek. (Romans 1:16)
The signs of Jesus and the apostles pointed to Jesus’ divine power, testifying that he is the Son of God. They are also eschatological signs. They point to the time when Jesus will make all things new, when there will be no suffering or pain.
As God sent Jesus to the Jews for salvation, he also sent him to us Gentiles through the preaching of the gospel. If you have not done so, repent today, put your faith in Jesus, and receive eternal life.
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