The Preaching That Was The Result Of The Healing

The Preaching that was the result of the healing

Acts 3:11, “11They all rushed out to Solomon’s Colonnade, where he was holding tightly to Peter and John. Everyone stood there in awe of the wonderful thing that had happened.”

The man clung tightly which was a witness in and of itself of the nature of the miracle of which we examined last night. They stood in awe because perhaps they did not understand that this was of God, much like the ministry of Christ, the people hardened the hearts instead of turning towards God they were bound in legalism. Peter’s sermon was about to spark a wildfire of controversy in Jerusalem.

Acts 3:12, “12Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. "People of Israel," he said, "what is so astounding about this? And why look at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power and godliness?”

What the Apostle here is suggesting is the nature of all ministry. We cannot do ministry on our own power and strength. Though the Israelites were knowledgeable about Scripture they failed to understand and see that this miracle was really part of the miracle work God was revealing in this day and age through the proclamation of His Son. The reality was that the godliness that they held too while good and well meaning was misguided and ill-informed since the announcement of God’s love and holiness as revealed through the Cross, now, through His resurrection now, and through His Ascension. The Apostles were eye-witnesses to this event, the people of Jerusalem could not deny this fact nor did they try, they just tried to shut out the truth because the truth was piercing to the very fabric of our being. Once again when we hurt another believer, we do it unto the least of these, unto those who are hurting we do it to them. (Matthew 25:31-41). The point is that here Peter is trying to get the Israelites the Jews to see that the Good News while piercing is able to change them from being just Jews to now being completed in Him by faith in the Messiah whom they held too for so long.

Acts 3:13-15, “13For it is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of all our ancestors who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release him. 14You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. 15You killed the author of life, but God raised him to life. And we are witnesses of this fact!”

The Old Testament usage is pretty obvious here in Peter’s sermon. He uses the God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and Jacob to point the Jews towards God’s faithfulness to them as a nation. This is what that stood for in the times of the Jews what it would have meant to them was that God had not forgotten them, that He was still a covenant God, the God of Israel. Luke continues with the theme of Pilate as he did in Luke, yet this time points out that it was Pilate’s decision to release him. Yet Pilate did not release Christ instead giving him up which really points to responsibility in sin.

Each one of us in some way is responsible for killing the Author of Life. We have sinned each one of us in our own ways at our own times, done what we wanted and thus by violation violated God’s holy commands and thus suffered the consequences, of deserving hell but not perhaps understanding that we are but one breathe away from stepping into hell, from grace if not grace be to hell we would go. Oh that more Pastors would understand the dangers that they are preaching, and gasp in holy fear and tremble before God of holiness and judgment rather than the self preconceived notion of a God only of love, caught out of the proper biblical understanding of His attribute as Holy and Righteous. How dare we mislead our people and cause them to not fully understand who God is, for this is the primary mission and ministry of a Pastor-theologian which all Pastors are, to help the people of God understand God and to spark the flames of faith towards holiness and honor in God’s name. Yet this is exactly what the teachers in Jerusalem did not do, instead of pointing men and woman towards the Messiah, expected, they instead pointed them towards the tradition of men instead of pointing them to the sin as the Prophets did of old. This is why the Prophets of Israel each one of them was killed. This is exactly the point of Hebrews 11:32-34, “32Well, how much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.”