Acts 4:1-13 4 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.
5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is“‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’[a] 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
The back story for this passage in Acts 4 involves the healing of a man who was lame from birth. He had been carried to the temple gate where he sat and begged money from those who were going to the temple. Peter and John were on their way to the temple and encountered the man who asked them for money. Peter replied by saying, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
Peter didn’t wait for the man to get up on his own, but he took the man by the hand to help him up. He wasn’t just asking for the man to exercise faith, but Peter added his faith to this healing moment. The man was instantly healed. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Muscles that didn’t work and had never been worked, were all of the sudden able to support him. Something I had not taken notice of before is that the man then went into the temple courts with Peter John. Once an outsider, he became an insider. He was given access to the worship of God. Listen, when God brings any kind of healing to our lives it will create access to the greater things of God. God doesn’t just heal to heal, but His healing involves a greater revelation of who He is and draws us closer to Him.
The lame man who was begging hadn’t been looking for healing and greater access to God. He just wanted to be supported in the condition that he was in. Jesus wanted to completely change his condition, and that is what happened. Some people settle for support when God desires to give them a complete transformation. Sometimes, we as believers settle for supporting someone with a little help here and there when God wants us to believe for the greater miracle of transformation that He longs to give people through us. Peter was willing to stick out his hand, to exercise faith along with the man, to believe that Jesus would perform a miracle of transformation. Too often we are content to give a hand-out in support rather than to put our hand out in faith to believe for a real-life change for people.
Just what are we willing to believe for those whose lives need more than support? One Bible scholar said, “It is not the Church’s business in this world to simply make the present condition more bearable; the task of the Church is to release here on earth the redemptive work of God in Christ.” (LaSor) Do you believe God wants to empower us to bring real life change to the world? Peter did. Had Peter and John had money to give the man and just been content to support him in his current condition, he wouldn’t have experienced the full transformation that he did. The healing changed his physical body, but the byproduct was a total life transformation.
The man was healed, gained access into the temple AND the people in the temple recognized him as the guy who used to sit at the temple gate and beg and they were totally astonished. They started gathering around Peter, John and the man. Notice what verse 11 says, “While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade”.
Notice that the man who was now capable of walking and leaping is holding on to Peter and John. He didn’t hold on because he needed strength or balance. The man was still trying to process what had happened to him. He held on because Peter and John had the answers to the people’s questions. He had been used to the stares of others. He had been used to people passing by him. He had been used to the pity of others, but he was overwhelmed now to be the center of attention for a different reason. He was now in the spotlight for something he couldn’t explain. He was overwhelmed by it all and held on to his new friends to steady him in the moment. He was going to need them to speak for him.
Peter seized the opportunity to begin explaining to the crowd that what happened to the man wasn’t just a healing. What happened to the man was an encounter with Jesus. The miracles that took place in the book of Acts, the miracles that take place in our day, aren’t just meant for the persons who experience God’s healing power, but they are for the glory of God to be displayed to those who hear about the miracle. The crowd in the temple was about to hear about far more than a change in the man’s physical condition. You see, When God brings healing to a life it provides an opportunity for others to be transformed.
Peter didn’t just tell the people that Jesus healed the man, but he explained who Jesus was. He said it was by Jesus’ power that the man was healed and listen to what he said next:
YOU handed him over to be killed, and YOU disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 YOU disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 YOU killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.
17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that YOU acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 REPENT, then, and turn to God, so that YOUR SINS may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, [a]
Look at the boldness of Peter to call out those who were present! They were astonished by a miracle from the very Man they had handed over to be killed, the very Man that they disowned before Pilate, the One they disavowed as the Messiah, and that they had worked to have killed. To put the icing on the cake, Peter called them “ignorant” and told them to repent and to turn to God so that their sins could be wiped out and that times of refreshing could come from the Lord.
Now, they weren’t the only ones who handed Jesus over to be killed or who rejected Jesus as the Messiah, but they were the ones Peter was able to talk to in that moment. Peter’s words may sound heavy-handed, but I think they were testimonial in nature. He, himself, had denied knowing Jesus, had abandoned Jesus in His darkest hour. His call to repentance, to having sin wiped out in-order to experience times of refreshing was a compassionate and compelling call from one who had experienced Jesus’ forgiveness personally. He knew what it was like to fail the Lord, to fail to follow the Lord, to put faith in self instead of in the Word of the Lord, and Peter knew what it was like to be restored, to be reinstated, what it was like to recover from having gotten it wrong. He didn’t want the crowd that was gathered there to miss that experience.
A greater miracle was happening than the miracle of the healing of the man. We read in chapter four that those who had converted to follow Christ had been about 3000 people before this healing and after this healing, the number became 5000. One man’s healing added 2000 more souls to the Kingdom.
The growing number of believers in the resurrection of Christ troubled the religious elite. Look at chapter 4: 4 The PRIESTS and the CAPTAIN OF THE TEMPLE GUARD and the SADDUCEES came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.
Skip to verse 5: 5 The next day the RULERS, the ELDERS and the TEACHERS OF THE LAW met in Jerusalem. 6 ANNAS THE HIGH PRIEST was there, and so were CAIAPHAS, JOHN, ALEXANDER and OTHERS of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”
Do you see how many people were part of the opposition, how many came against Peter and John and how many of them were part of the same players that had ganged up on Jesus? The same Peter who had cowered and denied knowing Jesus when a servant girl asked him if he was one of Jesus’ followers after Jesus was arrested was all of the sudden filled with courage and power to stand with Jesus and to stand for Jesus and to proclaim Jesus to the very people who had been part of the group that formally called for Jesus’ crucifixion. You would have thought that Peter and John would have been having déjà vu. You would think that they were fearful that the same thing that had happened to Jesus could happen to them, but they weren’t scared because their confidence was in the Resurrected and Ascended Christ. They were convinced that death was of no consequence to them. In addition to that, they had been filled on the inside with the Holy Spirit and had power to speak boldly for Christ.
Listen, when they seized Peter and John and put them into prison, the original language implies they handled them roughly. They were there overnight. They had a lot of time to think about how to get themselves out of the situation. I mean, if these people had the authority to put them in prison for healing someone, they were obviously very powerful. They had time to let their minds go to a dark place, but verse 8 tells us that they were as resolute and determined to share Jesus as they had the day before. They would not be intimidated by the questions. They would not be intimidated by the positions of the people who asked the questions. They would not be intimidated by the treatment they had received. They were in it all the way with Jesus.
Verse 8: 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’[a] 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
I love that astonishment is the response of both the temple crowd and the mob of people who tried to intimidate Peter and John into silence. The religious leaders made no attempt to disprove the resurrection of Jesus. If it had been possible to do so, they would have. Too many people had seen Him. Too many reports had been shared. They could have taken the wind completely out of the sails of this new Jesus’ movement if it had been possible, but it wasn’t. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was irrefutable and the transformation of Jesus’ followers as a result, the authority and power with which they were living, was ongoing proof that Jesus was alive. Not only was He alive, but He was living IN them!
Allow me some quick points:
Alignment with Jesus will produce great courage.
In the face of opposition, Peter stood tall. Just as he called out the temple crowd the day before, he also called out the religious leaders in verse 10 of chapter 4. He said they were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus, and even though they crucified Him, they told them that Jesus was still healing people. He was healing them because God raised Him from the dead. Peter’s response to the religious leaders challenged every practice, every protocol, every process they had put in place to maintain the religious status quo. Peter’s courage indicated his commitment to declare the truth no matter what the personal cost would be to himself.
Alignment with Jesus is enabled by the Holy Spirit.
Peter didn’t rely on self to perform the miracle. Peter didn’t rely on self to preach to the crowd. Peter didn’t rely on self to respond to the questions of the religious leaders. Verse 8 tells us he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he was filled in that moment. That is who he counted on to give him the ability to speak and to know what to say.
This wasn’t the first time Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and it wouldn’t be the last. Listen, the infilling of the Holy Spirit isn’t a one-time event that you sort of bank and borrow from for the rest of your life, but it is a constant filling, a continual asking to be filled, and a repeated receiving of the Spirit by faith. Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit aren’t bound or limited by fear. If you lack courage, if you are afraid of those who would question you or oppose your desire to live and speak for Jesus, ask yourself, “When was the last time I prayed to receive power from the Holy Spirit?” If you want to live in constant alignment with Jesus, ask daily to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Alignment with Jesus will compel us to talk about Him.
When Peter and John healed the lame man, they did so in the Name of Jesus. When they explained to the temple crowd in chapter 3:16 how the man was healed, they reiterated it was in the Name of Jesus. Their story was the same in chapter 4:10 as they said they had done the miracle in the Name of Jesus.
Listen to the rest of this story beginning with chapter 4:14: 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
How can you refute a healing you can see with your own eyes? They couldn’t!
15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.” 18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
They couldn’t help but speak about Jesus who had died for them and had been raised to new life so that they and we could have a new and living way of relating with God the Father.
When commanded to cease using the name of Jesus, Peter responded with, 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Church, there is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain. His name is the name above every name. Salvation is found in no other name. Healing comes through no other name. Restoration comes through no other name. No other name is worthy of worship and honor. The name of Jesus has the authority of Heaven. Jesus is the hope for the world. Speak the name of Jesus, and if you haven’t been speaking Jesus’ name, if you lack a desire to talk about Jesus, check your alignment with Him. Does your life speak “Jesus?”
Alignment with Jesus will result in miracles that bring other people to Jesus.
2000 more people put their belief in Jesus after the healing of the lame man. I am glad the lame man received healing, but I am even more ecstatic that 2000 more people came into the Kingdom of God because that is a greater miracle. The salvation of souls are the greatest miracles we could be used of God to see completed in people’s lives.
Is anyone taking note that you have been with Jesus? Does your life reflect courage to live for Christ? Do people see the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you a name dropper when it comes to working Jesus into conversation? Are people coming into the Kingdom because of your commitment to let Him live His life through you?
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