STORY' SETTING AND BACKGROUND

 

A LAME MAN HEALED

 

Peter and John as they enter the Gate Beautiful heal a man lame from birth and as a result are hauled before the Council.

 

Acts 3: 1-4:22

Sometime after Pentecost, Peter and John were going into the temple to at­tend the late afternoon sacrifice. Luke tells us that it was about the ninth hour or around 3 P.M. The Iamb for this sacrifice was slain around 2: 30 P.M. and the pieces for the sacrifice were laid on the altar about an hour later. The whole sacrifice with its ritual and prayers lasted for about I ]/2 hours or until about 4 P.M.

Crossing one of the bridges over the deep Tyropoean Valley which lay be­tween the temple and the city, John and Peter entered the Court of the Gentiles. They walked through an opening in a low stone fence beyond which non-Jews were forbidden to go under pain of death. Here on the east side facing the Mount of Olives was one of the huge doorways

, leading into the holy building of the tem­ple proper. This doorway was known as "the Gate Beautiful." According to Jo­sephus it was covered with very precious Corinthian bronze, whereas the other gates were covered with gold and silver.

 

Everyday a man who had been lame for over 40 years since birth was laid at this gate by his friends so he could beg from the many people passing through this busy entrance. To give to the poor was considered an important duty.

When the lame man looked at them

expectantly, Peter and John healed him by the power of God and he walked the first time in his life! Verse 8 indicates that in a dramatic manner he entered the holy part of the temple for the even­ing sacrifice.

 

Many people recognized the man, who found joy in using his new and much ­yearned for ability to walk. Leaving the temple proper after the sacrifice, they walked with Peter and John into the Court of the Gentiles to the colonnade on the east side known as Solomon's Porch.

 

PETER'S ADDRESS

 

The people were amazed and impress­ed by the healing of the lame man. The fact that Peter and John had performed this miracle emphasized that supernatural power was working through them. In his address, Peter stressed that the miracle was due to the power of the name of Jesus Christ who had been crucified only some weeks ago. He showed them that Jesus of Nazareth was the fulfillment of the messianic age of Israel.

Since Peter was going to speak about a new redemption and a new covenant of grace, he used terms which recalled for his hearers God's covenant relationship made first with Abraham and later with their forefathers at Mount Sinai. God, their covenant God, had given glory to Jesus by raising Him from the dead. They and their rulers had denied Him, God's Son and the Holy One, whom God had sent to fulfill the prophecies, to be holy and righteous in the stea_ of His sinful people.

 

Although executed by crucifixion at their insistence, Jesus rose from the dead. He was the first to rise and because He rose from the dead as the Savior of man­kind, all who would believe in Him would also rise to eternal life. He is the Prince of Life, for He also has conquered the power of death and "brought life and immortality to life" (2 Tim. 1: 10).

Peter told the people that they had acted in ignorance, a remark which re­calls the words of Jesus on the cross (Luke 23: 34). Peter urged them to re­pent of their sin and turn to Jesus so that their guilt might be blotted out. Although the Jewish view of the Messiah did not include a suffering Messiah, Peter stressed that the prophets had foretold that Christ had to suffer to pay for the guilt of man­kind (see Isaiah 53). In Him the pro­phecy of Moses had been fulfilled (Deut. 18: 15). As the Savior of mankind, He is the mediator of the new covenant of grace which had been announced by the prophets.

 

THE ARREST

 

The time had come for the people to leave the temple. The gates were about to be closed.

The temple authorities heard about the gathering in Solomon's Porch. They heard Peter and John tell the people that in Jesus the prophecies of the Messiah had been fulfilled. Any mention of the Messiah stimulated the national hopes and dreams of the people. The Council saw it as their responsibility to keep peace in the land. Its members knew that rebellion against Rome would only result in brutal punishment. The Phari­saic members of the Council felt that only by earnestly striving to live as God's covenant people could God be prompted to send the Messiah and deliver them from the rule of Rome.

 

The Captain of the Temple Police himself came with high ranking members of the Council to arrest Peter and John. Those who were Sadduccees were an­noyed to hear them speak about Jesus as the risen Christ and the certainty of the resurrection of the dead.

 

Peter and John were arrested and held in prison overnight. The next day they were brought before the Council in a pre­liminary hearing. The lame man who had been healed was also present. Peter frankly and boldly told them that Jesus had been raised from the dead and that through His power working through them the man had been healed. Salva­tion was possible only through Him and His Name.

 

The Council was amazed at what Peter and John said. They recognized that they had no special training in the schools of the rabbis. They were ordinary citi­zens. But what they said could not be disproved. In the end they forbade them to speak about Jesus. Peter and John replied, ". . . we cannot help speaking about what we have actually seen and heard!"