The Beautiful Gate, Part 3
Faith in the name of Jesus
Acts 3v13-16
13th November 2015
We've read about how a man who was crippled from birth (Acts 3v2) was healed in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth (verse 6) and how Peter began to address the Jews in the crowd that assembled in Solomon's Colonnade (verse 11) by asking them: "Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" (verse 12). Peter continued with these words:
Acts 3v13-16
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over
to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.
You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus's name and the faith that
comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.
Peter wasn't afraid to say it like it is. He could hardly be accused of anti-Semitism, because he was Jewish. More importantly - or it should be - what he said was true. Sadly, we can be accused of various politically incorrect thought crimes when we speak the truth. But that didn't stop Peter, and it shouldn't stop us.
God has indeed glorified his servant Jesus.
The Jews - both the religious/political leaders and the Jerusalem mob, but not every Jew - handed Jesus over to the Romans, who crucified him. They disowned Jesus when the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate offered to free him, and demanded that Barabbas be released instead.
They killed the author of life. It wasn't their cross, or their nails, or their spear. Those things belonged to the Romans. It wasn't their hands - it was Roman hands. But they were the ones who insisted Jesus be killed.
But it was also me - and you. If we hadn't sinned, Jesus wouldn't have needed to die for us. Jesus the Lamb of God (John 1v29, 36) died to take away the sin of the world - your sin and mine. Peter is addressing us, too. Like them, we didn't drive the nails in to Jesus's hands, but we made his death necessary.
Then Peter says, "but God raised him from the dead". God has indeed glorified his servant Jesus. God glorified Jesus by raising him from the dead. And God glorifies Jesus every time someone is healed, or saved from their sins and born again.
The crippled man was healed by faith in the name of Jesus. Jesus is the Holy and Righteous One. He is the author of life. And He has all authority in Heaven and Earth. The One who is without sin, the One who created the universe, gives us faith to heal others in His name.
It's not our own power or godliness that heals (verse 12). It's His name - His authority - and the faith that He gives, that brings healing. And the glory belongs to Him alone.