Acts 3 Devotional
By Pastor Lawrence

At three o’clock in the afternoon, or the ninth hour after sunrise, Peter and John went to the temple in order to pray, which was their custom having devoted themselves to “the prayers,” as it reads in Acts 2:42. There were three daily prayers that these first Jewish Christians kept in accordance with tradition praying at the third, sixth and ninth hour of the day. And when Peter and John were making their way, along with a very large crowd, to pass through the beautiful gate into the temple complex, they saw a man lame from birth that they likely had seen before given the fact that he was laid there daily in order to ask alms from those entering the temple.

This man was in dire straits for a number of reasons. As an invalid from birth, he would not have been allowed into the temple courts himself because of his physical blemish that would profane the holiness of the earthly sanctuary; hence, he was stationed just outside the gates of the temple. Additionally, because of his lameness he could not carry out the normal responsibilities of a man living in an agrarian society. But instead of being helped by his family or friends who likely sat him there in order to profit off of his deformity, and instead of being assisted by the princes and priests of the land, no one seemed to have any qualms with a son of Abraham begging for bread and silver from anyone passing through the gates. And his position would seem to be ideal to receive some monetary aid given not only the size of the crowds and the location near the gate of the temple but also the time in which he was there, the very hour that these Jews were seeking to show their love for God in prayer.

But on this particular occasion, Peter and John were close enough to touch him as they walked in, and when he asked them for money, the Holy Spirit came upon Peter to direct his conversation and to perform a miracle that would cause all the people in the temple that day to pay attention to the Word of God. When Peter responded to the lame man, he didn’t offer him any gold or silver, but instead, he offered hope and healing in the name of Chirst. He said, “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And immediately, Peter grabbed his arm and began to raise him up on his feet, which were made strong by the Spirit. And when this took place, not only did the man walk, but he began to dance and to leap praising God for his mercy. Of course, the crowd saw all of this unfold and were amazed because they had passed by this same figure numerous times and knew that this was not an act but a divine transformation that they had seen with their own eyes.

Unlike many so-called prophets today who put on mere parlor-tricks, this was a genuine miracle that took place merely by the power of the word spoken by the apostle. It should be understood that this is not any ordinary activity that occurs amongst the saints today. No, these signs and wonders were performed by the apostles for the specific purpose of gaining such an audience that the crowd might hear and believe the message of the gospel. The very reason that they were called wonders is because they were not ordinary miracles performed by all, and they were called signs to signify a future age in which all our diseases will be healed and where there will be no more death or dying when Christ returns to consummate his kingdom. You’ll notice that the mission of the apostles was not simply to go out healing everyone in the name of Christ. If that were the case, they would simply go to all the houses of the sick and perform those acts again and again. Rather, these miracles were performed at very pivotal moments to gain a hearing for the gospel and to show the powers of the age to come.

Even what is offered to the man points us to a heavenly blessing rather than mere earthly benefits. They do not offer him gold or silver, for those things would never satisfy. Instead they offer him grace and healing not merely so that he could then go on long walks, but so that he could finally enter into God’s holy temple, so that he too could serve as a witness to the power of Christ and so that he could be a blessing to others through the ministry that God would call him to. Instead of asking for alms in the future, this man would seek to give the gospel freely to others. This would be a total transformation in the life of a man who used to be lame but now who leaps for joy in the name of Jesus.

We are never really given a reason why Christ chose to heal one man and not another when he walked upon the earth, but it is plain that each one that he healed was later used to bring glory to God the father. And it is the same for us; we will never be able to give a particular reason why God opened our eyes and opened our ears to the gospel, or why he caused us to walk and to leap for joy for any other reason than to give glory to his name. So, we are those who have been touched by God merely to declare the excellencies of the one who has brought us out of lameness and out of deafness and out of blindness into his marvelous light. May we who now have the right and access to approach a holy God through faith in Jesus be just as eager to walk through the gates of his holy temple and to leap for joy at the goodness and mercy of God.