Acts 3:1-12, Lots of Good News in “The Gospel” (1)

 The 3000 believers from the Day of Pentecost were meeting in the temple area in the colonnade called Solomon’s Porch or Portico.  The man who was healed by Peter, in the name of Jesus, was placed every day at what Dr. Luke calls the “Beautiful Gate.”  There is some difference of opinion as to the exact gate that went by that name, but the man was there and was healed.  What a sight this must have been, for a man lame from birth to be walking, leaping, and praising God.  The effect of it all was that a large crowd gathered around Peter and John.  Peter, fresh from the sermon perhaps a few days earlier on Pentecost was again moved by the Spirit of God to use the occasion to announce the gospel.  He began by addressing them, “Men of Israel,” reminding us that this was addressed to the Jews. 

The first thing Peter had to do was to bring the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, into clear focus.  He did this by making it clear that the miracle of the healing of the man was not done his work (v12).  Yet, it was Peter who had said to the man, “rise up and walk.”  Miracles always had the potential of making the miracle the issue rather than the Person to whom the miracle pointed.  Moses encountered this with the people of Israel.  After all the great powers of God performed in Egypt, the faith of Israel in the wilderness was only as good as the latest miraculous provision of God for their physical needs.  They struggled to come to faith in God.  Every time they were in need they complained against Moses and God, wishing they had stayed in Egypt.  No matter how often God provided, they still doubted Him.  Jesus had the same issue, the most notable being in John 6.  After feeding the 5000 the people came running after Jesus the next day.  Jesus rightly diagnosed their reason: you have come that you might get fed again!  The signs were necessary, but they were only effective if people understood that a “sign” is never the real thing; it points to the real thing.  God was affirming His Son and His Son’s gospel message! 

It is interesting that throughout the book of Acts, and the rest of the NT, the Apostles did not deal with this problem of being “fixated” on signs.  Perhaps it was because, in the course of time, the “miracle” that came to be the primary evidence of God’s power was not a physical healing or exorcism or resurrection but was rather the miracle of the changed life.  This was Jesus’ plan: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Mt. 5:16).  The healing of the lame man by the gate aroused curiosity among the people.  So should the life of Christ seen in the lives of His followers. Peter knew this too: But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.  For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil (1 Pt. 3:15-17).