Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Acts 3:3

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

3:1-5:42 RAPID GROWTH AND GREAT POPULARITY

Preaching in the temple (3:1-26)

On one of their visits to the temple, Peter and John healed a crippled beggar. The man had been lying at the gate that led from the outer public court to the inner courts where only Jews were allowed, but as soon as he was healed he followed the apostles into the temple, jumping and praising God (3:1-10).

After prayer the three men returned to the public court, where they found that a crowd of curious onlookers had gathered. Peter took the opportunity to tell the people that this healing was further proof that the Jesus whom they crucified was the Messiah. Jesus had healed cripples, and his messianic power was continuing to work through his disciples (see v. 6; cf. Matthew 11:2-6). But that power was available only through faith in him as the Messiah who, having died, was now victoriously alive (11-16).

If the Jews repented of their sin in crucifying Jesus, God would forgive them. They would then experience all those blessings of the messianic age that they longed for and that the prophets of Old Testament times had spoken of. The climax of those blessings would be the return of Jesus Christ himself (17-21). The Jews of the New Testament era were the ones who, above all others, could experience the fulfilment of the covenant promises God gave to their ancestors; but first they had to turn from their sins and believe in Jesus as their Messiah. To reject him would bring destruction (22-26).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked to receive an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him, with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them.

The beggar is not here represented as having any faith in Christ, or indeed that he had any other concern than the hope of receiving gifts from those entering the temple. McGarvey flatly declared that "It is evident from the account of the cure that previous to it he had no faith at all." J. W. McGarvey, New Commentary on Acts (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1892), p. 55.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Who, seeing Peter ... - There is no evidence that he was acquainted with them or knew who they were. He asked of them as he was accustomed to do of the multitude that entered the temple.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

3.He asketh an alms. We see how God restored this lame man to his limbs contrary to his expectation. Because he thought that his disease was incurable, he was only careful for maintenance. That is given him which he durst never have asked. In like sort God doth oftentimes prevent us, neither doth he stay until he be provoked. ⁽¹⁶⁸⁾ And hence can we not gather any occasion of slothfulness, as if the Lord did therefore meet us of his own accord, that being idle and slothful we may suffer the Lord to do good unto us. For we are commanded to pray, and therefore let us not foreslow [neglect] our duty. ⁽¹⁶⁹⁾ But, first of all, under the person of the lame man, we have set before us an example of a man that is not yet illuminated by faith, that he may know how to pray aright. Such doth God prevent, as it is needful, even of his own accord. Therefore, when as he restoreth our souls not only to health, but also to life, he himself is to himself the cause hereof. For this is the beginning of our calling, that he may make those things to be which are not; that he may show himself unto those who seek not after him, (Romans 4:17.) Furthermore, howsoever we be already taught by faith to pray unto God, yet, because we do not always feel our miseries, it cometh not into our mind to seek for remedy; therefore the Lord bringeth the same freely and unlooked for. Finally, howsoever we be bent to pray, yet doth he exceed our hope and petitions with his goodness.

(168) “A nobis povocetur,” until he is urged by us.

(169) “Partes nostras non omittamus,” let us not omit our part.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Shall we turn to Acts, the third chapter.

Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour ( Acts 3:1 ).

The day started at six o'clock in the morning, sun up, so the ninth hour would be three o'clock in the afternoon. At two-thirty in the afternoon the evening sacrifices were offered. They did not go to the temple for the sacrifices. Following the sacrifices as the smoke of the sacrifice was ascending into heaven, it would be the hour of prayer and the people would stand and praise the Lord or pray unto God as the smoke of the sacrifices ascended heavenward. I think it's significant that they didn't go for the sacrifice; they knew that that was no longer valid. But they waited for the hour of prayer and went into the temple.

In the early church in Jerusalem, Christianity was not considered separate from the Jews except for the belief that Jesus was the Messiah. There's a common misconception among Jews today that to become a Christian you have to become a non-Jew. That was not so in the early church. They remained very Jewish. Going to the temple, worshiping in the temple, observing still; the feast, however, the feast now to them had an entirely new meaning. But they did not seek to make a radical break from Judaism. But only seek to proclaim that Jesus Christ is indeed the Messiah that God had promised.

With Peter and John you have contrasting personalities: Peter the doer, and John the dreamer. Peter always translated everything into activity. Remember the last question that he asked Jesus concerning John, "What shall this man do?" Peter always thought about doing things. John wasn't a doer; he was a dreamer. And so the Lord said to Peter, "Look, if I will that he remains till I come again, what's that to you?"

I can imagine that Peter was often irritated with John because John was the dreamer. And it could very well be that John in turn was very well irritated with all of Peter's activity because the dreamer likes more quiet, and a serene atmosphere around him. Contrasting personalities, and yet, made one in Christ. That's always the way it goes; Christ is the common meeting ground for all men. Though we may have contrasting personalities, still there is that beautiful unity in Christ.

And so we see them going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.

The first characteristic of these men is that they are men of prayer. It is so important that we be men and women of prayer.

Now there was a certain lame man from his mother's womb who was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple ( Acts 3:2 );

The Beautiful gate of the temple is often thought to be the eastern gate of the temple. And here's quite a contrast, this man lame from birth, an ugly sight, lying at the Beautiful gate begging.

And when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look at us. And so he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them ( Acts 3:3-5 ).

No doubt holding out his hand, which is, of course, the typical gesture of the beggar.

And Peter said, Silver and gold have I none ( Acts 3:6 );

And I imagine that the fellow at that point was disappointed, and probably even wondering, "Well, then why are you trying to get my attention?" But Peter continued,

such as I have I will give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God ( Acts 3:6-8 ).

This Greek here in the description of his feet and ankle bones and the word leaping up are medical terms. They are used only here by Luke who was a physician. And he is actually describing a condition of an ankle that was twisted completely out of joint. Lame probably with the ankle twisted completely and flat ways, because the word indicates coming into it's socket and being straight. The medical term itself is "being brought back into its socket and straightened." So here's this man lying there with this crippled condition, unable to walk from birth because of this problem with an undeveloped anklebone and all, and yet, Peter with that faith that the Lord planted in his heart took hold of the man and lifted him to his feet and immediately the ankle came into joint and the man began to leap and praise God. And he walked and entered with them into the temple walking and leaping and praising God. I can imagine the stir and excitement that this must have created.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God: and they knew that it was the man who sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all of the people ran together unto them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly wondering ( Acts 3:9-11 ).

So here's a very notable miracle that attracted immediately the attention of all the people, because this man had no doubt been there for years and was a common sight to those who went in to worship. And they saw this deformed condition of his feet and now the feet are straight; now the man is walking and leaping and praising the Lord, and he's hugging Peter and John so that the people relate the miracle to Peter and John. They realized somehow, someway Peter and John are responsible for this man's ability to walk. And so a great crowd of people, at least 5000 men, gathered there on Solomon's porch, greatly wondering at what had happened.

And when Peter saw it, he answered the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? ( Acts 3:12 )

They marveled at it because they had lost the sense of the greatness of the God that they served. If they really believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then that God should do such a thing should not cause them to wonder, because they would know that He is the God of miracles by reading the Old Testament. The question is, "Why marvel ye at this? Now other people may marvel at it. The Gentiles may marvel at it. But you're the sons of Israel; you're the sons of the most high God, why should you marvel at this?" Second question,

And why do you look so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we have made this man to walk? ( Acts 3:12 )

People so often relate the work of God with the instrument through which God works. This is wrong. "Why look ye on us? As though we through our own power or holiness have done this thing." Unfortunately, there are many evangelists, healing evangelists that try to give off the feeling that it is as a result of their righteous or their holiness that marvelous works are wrought. I get so tired of these evangelists that come along with these big spectacular miracle campaigns. Having the sheep come up and say, "Oh, what do you think about reverend so and so, or brother so and so, you know." "Oh, I hear he's got a meeting over here and people are being healed and the blind are seeing and all kind of things are going on." I remember awhile back I was told about one of these evangelists, and it so happened that he was on T.V. So I had had so many people question me about him, I thought I would listen. And I listened about as long as I could--about five minutes. And I heard all I needed to know in about five minutes, for this particular evangelist who is now serving time in a federal penitentiary for several felonies. This particular evangelist was saying, "Do you have faith in me? I have power with God and all you have to have is faith in me." And he was going on, and I thought that that does it, I don't need to listen any further.

Several years ago my wife and I went to a meeting up in the Buena Park area. That used to be were all the evangelists would set up their tents here in Orange County. Another healing evangelist and some people wanted us to go with them to the meeting, and so we obliged them. And I've never been in such a circus in all my life. All of the gimmicks in the world to whip the crowd into a frenzy and get them all excited. They were boasting about all kinds of miracles. In fact, it was called a miracle rally. That particular evangelist ended up dying from alcoholism in a hotel room in San Francisco. Drawing attention to themselves. I'm always leery when a person names buildings or universities or evangelistic associations after their own names. I pray, God, that when He takes me that my name will be quickly forgotten. If they dare put my name of any kind of a building as a memorial, I'm going to ask the Lord to send an earthquake to shake it down.

"Not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us but unto Thy name bring glory." These men were not looking for a name for themselves. "Why look on us as though we through our own power or holiness have done this thing?" It's not that I'm a righteous man, but yet that is often the implication that is given. "I have this power because I'm so holy; I am so righteous." What's that do for the rest of us who know we're not holy or righteous? We think, "There's no way I can expect God to do anything for me because I'm not holy or righteous." But that's not so. For God will work an answer to your prayer and respond to your call just as quick as to the Pope or anyone else. God is no respecter of persons. Man is a respecter of persons, God isn't. And when I get to heaven I can't say, "Well, Lord, you know who I am. I'm Chuck Smith. After all, I was pastor of Calvary Chapel and all." "There's a backseat over there, go sit down, son." Man respects a person; God doesn't.

"Why look ye so earnestly on us, as if by our own power or holiness we have made this man to walk." By something within us, by something we possess. It's nothing that we have. Peter is saying that, "I'm nothing! I have nothing! This is the work of God that you are seeing in response to faith that He has given. Not that I even have myself." So careful not to receive glory or credit for the work that God had done. For it is foolish to exalt the instrument.

When we were living out in Los Serranos pastoring the community church out there, we had a lady that had begun to come to one of the Bible classes that I was teaching in Upland. She said, "Chuck, I want you to witness to my husband. He is the finest psychiatrist in the whole Pomona Valley area. He's recognized as one of the greatest neurosurgeons in this area. But he needs help. He needs the Lord. And I want you to witness to him." So she arranged for Kay and I to come over to their house on a Friday evening to have dinner with them. Then after dinner, she and Kay disappeared into the kitchen and left Bud and I to talk together. We spent several hours talking together about God, about life. He professed to be an atheist. He was a very brilliant man. And we planted seed. And then she had us come over again on a Friday evening. She said that he had started to do some reading, and that he was beginning to search. So we went over again, and after dinner, she and Kay disappeared into the kitchen and left Bud and I to talk again. And I finally said, "Bud your a psychiatrist; you've probably examining and evaluating me in the questions and all that you've been asking and you've got a pretty good understanding of me by now. You know my attitude towards life, you know the kind of a person I am, you know the joy that I possess, you know the peace that I have." I said, "Tell me, what if that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God? What if all that I believe is not true, and the joy that I have and the peace that I have are based upon a false premise? Yet knowing the joy and the peace that I have as a person, what do you feel that I have lost by believing what I believe?" And he looked at me very straight and studied me for a moment and studied the question. And he finally said, "Not a damn thing. I wish I was as happy and peaceful a person as you are." I said, "Well then, tell me this Bud, what if what I believe is true? What have you lost by not believing?" He said, "You trapped me, didn't you!" I said, "No, I think the Lord trapped you." So we got down on our knees and he asked Jesus Christ to take over his life. Had a beautiful conversion experience as God changed his life dramatically.

The next morning as I got to the office, his wife was waiting for me. She's a very demonstrative person. She grabbed hold of me and began to just say "Chuck, Chuck, I knew you could do it. I knew you could do it. Oh, Chuck, it's so wonderful. This morning Bud was reading the Bible before he went. Oh, Chuck, I knew you could. Oh, Chuck, you're so wonderful." And I said, "Hold on Edie. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Your husband is a neurosurgeon, isn't he?" And she said, "Oh, yes, he's the finest." I said, "What if after an operation the patient should come back to his office, and say he has opened up his skull and tied off an aneurysm. So the patient comes into the office and he picks up the scalpel and says, 'Oh you're such a marvelous scalpel. You did such a beautiful job in making that incision in my skull. Oh, you're marvelous; you're marvelous. You did such an excellent job.'" I said, "Your husband would think that the patient was ready for the couch. Because you don't exalt the instrument, you exalt the one who used the instrument. Therefore, Edie, exalt the Lord. It was the Holy Spirit that convicted Bud. It was the Holy Spirit that drew him, and it was the work of God's Spirit within his life. God just used me as His instrument and that was all that I was, an instrument in God's hands. Don't give me any credit; don't tell me how wonderful I am. Just know how wonderful God is."

People have the tendency to exalt the instrument because they can see, touch, and feel the instrument. Though we may feel God, it's hard to see Him and it's hard to touch Him except through the eyes of the Spirit. And thus, man has the tendency to exalt the instrument rather than God who has used the instrument. But if you are an instrument that God uses, be careful that you don't take glory for the work of God. "Why look on us, as though through our power or holiness this man was healed?"

Now he starts on their level.

The God of Abraham ( Acts 3:13 ),

Oh yes, we know Him.

of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers ( Acts 3:13 ),

In his preaching he started out at the level that the people understood where they were at. And I think this is something that we need to learn from. When Paul was asked to give a speech on Mars' hill, there at the Areopagus, when Paul started his speech to these Epicureans, philosophers, he didn't start off with the concept of justification by faith. He started his message at the level where the people were at. "Ye men of Athens, I realize that you men are very spiritual. You're aware of the spirit realm. For as I've been walking through your streets, all over I see these little idols and these little altars to the various gods. And I happened to notice one of your altars and inscribed above it was, 'To the Unknown God.' That's the God I'd like to tell you about. You see, He is the God who created the heaven and the earth and everything that is in them" ( Acts 17:22-24 ). He started out where they were at and then brought them along. Peter is starting out where they're at. Make sure you start out where people understand and bring them into the spiritual dimensions, but start out where they are at.

The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; who you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go ( Acts 3:13 ).

They were all aware of what had transpired within the year there in Jerusalem. They were all aware of the crucifixion of Jesus, and it is interesting that Peter here lays the blame squarely upon them. Pilate was wanting to let Him go. And, of course, in John's gospel this certainly indicated: Pilate's desire to release Jesus. "But when Pilate was determined to let Him go, you insisted on His death."

You denied the Holy One and the Just One, and you desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and you killed the Prince of life ( Acts 3:14-15 ),

The word prince is probably a poor translation. You remember in Hebrews where it talks about Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. That is the very same Greek word that in Hebrews is translated author. The word literally means, "a file leader," but that word doesn't do too much for us in English. We get a picture in our minds of the files in the office and the one in front is the file leader. But the word actually means, "one who is first in a new order." Jesus, the author of the new life, or as we read, "He is the first begotten of those who rise from the dead." So He is the author, the prince, the file leader of life. That new eternal life that has been promised to us who believe in Him. He's the author of that eternal life. Even as He is the author and finisher of our faith, so He is the author of this life that we possess through Him.

What a contradiction, isn't it? "You killed the author of life." It really is a paradoxical type of a sentence. But,

God has raised him from the dead; whereof we are witnesses ( Acts 3:15 ).

Now remember, the first sermon that Peter preached was centered in the resurrection. Again, as he has an opportunity to preach to them, his message centers in the resurrection. Remember when Paul was preaching there on Mars' hill, he had to get to the resurrection, and when he got to the resurrection is when it broke the meeting up. They said, "Ah, that's weird. Nobody rises from the dead." It broke up the meeting with the Epicurean philosophers. But Peter again is preaching the resurrection. This was the heart of the message of the early church, that there is hope for eternal life because Jesus rose again. And if Christ is not risen, then we're still in our sins. And we are in a hopeless condition. Those who have died have perished. And we of all men are most miserable. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Gospel in the New Testament. Our hope is premised upon the fact that Jesus rose.

So Peter said, "Thanks be unto God who has begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." It's the heart of the message of the Gospel; you can't take it away. If you do, you have no Gospel. So Peter gets to this favorite theme, "God has raised Him from the dead whereof we are witnesses." And so they are bearing witness to the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And his name ( Acts 3:16 ),

The power of the name of Jesus. Jesus said, "If you shall ask anything in My name, I will do it" ( John 14:14 ). "Henceforth you've asked nothing in My name: ask that you might receive, that your joy may be full" ( John 16:24 ).

There is tremendous power in the name of Jesus. When it falls from the lips of the weakest saint. You're probably thinking, "Oh, yes, the name of Jesus, but I don't have enough holiness or righteousness to utter that name." I don't care how weak you are, the power isn't in you; it's in the name of Jesus. You can be weak, that doesn't matter, the power isn't in you; it's in the name. And so Peter said,

And his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong ( Acts 3:16 ),

"Now don't look at me. Jesus Christ, the one you crucified, who God raised from the dead, it is His name and through the faith in His name that this wonder was wrought upon this lame man. He's the one that made the leg straight; He's the one who gave him the ability to walk."

gave him this perfect soundness [this perfect health, this completeness] in the presence of you all ( Acts 3:16 ).

Then he went on to say, " Yes, the faith which is by Him has given him perfect soundness in the presence of you all."

Now, "the faith which is by Him," notice the preposition. Peter isn't saying, "It was my great faith." Peter is saying, "It is the faith that is by Him. He's the one who gave me the faith." Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. We so oftentimes talk about faith as something that we can develop, something that we work up, something that we can sit and meditate and develop faith or something. And we find ourselves in these attempts to increase our faith through, more or less, a mesmerization and different ways. "I'm trying to just, you know, increase my faith."

Faith is a gift. "By grace are you saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves [that is, the faith is not of yourselves]: it is a gift of God: and not of works, lest any man should boast" ( Ephesians 2:8-9 ). Even the faith is a gift. And as Paul is listing the manifestations of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12 , and to some there is this gift of faith that God imparts at certain times for certain conditions.

And it's interesting, because it is a gift of faith there are times that I'm facing a certain situation and I have complete faith that it's going to work out. I have no qualms, no worries. The Lord has given me faith and I'm just confident that it's going to work. Now, there are other times I'm facing similar situations and God hasn't given me the faith, and I'm worried and I'm wondering what's going to happen now. What if this doesn't happen? What if that? And it's all troublesome because God hasn't given me the faith in that particular situation. It's a gift. It isn't something that I just possess can exercise anytime I want. It isn't a "allah kazam" kind of a magic word that can bring to pass any kind of situation that I desire. It is something that God puts in my heart in certain times, for certain situations, and it's just glorious when it's there. And it's disastrous when it isn't there. The gift of faith: it is the faith that is by Him. He's the one who gave me the faith. When Peter was walking up, he saw that man and the Lord gave him the faith. He said, "Peter, give him what you've got." What did he have? God gave him at that instant the faith for the man's healing. So Peter said, "Hey, I don't have silver and gold, but what I have I'll be glad to give you." And took him and lifted him up and said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth stand up." The power of the name. Faith in the name. The faith that God gave Peter at that moment.

And now, brethren, I know that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers ( Acts 3:17 ).

Now is Peter addressing them more personally. Talking of the crucifixion of Jesus, he said, "I know that in ignorance you did it." How did he know that? Because Jesus, when He was being nailed to the cross, said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" ( Luke 23:34 ). So, "I know in ignorance you did it. You didn't know what you were doing." Jesus confessed that. Points out another interesting thing. In a little bit we'll read that five thousand of them were converted. Five thousand of those who were guilty of crucifying Jesus, but didn't know what they were doing, are now brought to Jesus Christ to trust in Him as their Lord and Savior. And the prayer of Jesus was then answered when He was being nailed to the cross and said, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." His prayer was answered on this day when Peter said to these people, "I know through ignorance you did it."

But those things, which God before had shown by the mouth of all of his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled ( Acts 3:18 ).

In other words, that which transpired was not an accident. That which transpired in the crucifixion of Jesus was something that God had planned, actually, because it was predicted in the scriptures. The suffering of the Messiah spoken of by the prophets. So then Peter gets to the application.

Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord ( Acts 3:19 );

So his call unto the people for repentance, for conversion, that they might receive forgiveness for their sins and that glorious work of God's Spirit in the times of refreshing.

And he [that is God] shall send Jesus Christ, which was before preached unto you ( Acts 3:20 ):

Jesus is coming again. The Father is going to send Him again. Jesus said, "If I go away, I will come again." Last week in our lesson, Acts, chapter 1, as Jesus ascended into heaven and they were standing there looking up into heaven into the cloud that had received Him out of their sight, two men in white apparel standing by said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing into heaven? For this same Jesus shall come again in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven" ( Acts 1:11 ). He's coming again! God is going to send Jesus Christ who was preached unto you.

Whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all of the holy prophets since the world began ( Acts 3:21 ).

Now upon this one little scripture a whole doctrine has been developed of the final restitution of all things. And that final restitution of all things will take place when Satan finally kneels down and confesses his guilt and is brought in again as a child of God and God has finally restored everybody and everything, all sinners and everybody will be saved. The final restitution of all things. This particular heresy has been based upon this one little scripture. That he is not referring to the restoration of the wicked at some future date is obvious by the fact that he said it is something that all of the prophets have spoken about.

And as we go back to the prophets of the Old Testament and they're speaking of the restitution of all things, what are they referring to? They're referring to the restoration of the nation Israel into divine favor again. Israel, because of their rejection of God is to be cut off. They are to be dispersed. They are to be scattered into all of the world. They are to become a curse and a byword. They are to be burned in ovens as the prophets foretold. But each of them who foretold the awful tragic misery that the Jews would endure during the great dispersion, they all saw through the darkness to the light on the other side when God would once again take His unfaithful bride, clean her up, dress her up, and receive her again as His wife. And restore the unfaithful wife to her previous position. And Hosea and all of the prophets speak to this restoration of God's work and grace to the nation of Israel and that is what is referred to and not that God is going to restore all of the wicked, including Satan. That's what all of the prophets speak about. You won't find this other doctrine, the restitution of all things, that is, all men are to be saved. That is ultimately . . . you won't find that in any of the prophets in the Old Testament. But it's always dealing with the nation of Israel. And you remember he's addressing, "ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this?" So this restitution is God's restitution of His work with Israel which shall come.

Paul the apostle, in the eleventh chapter of Romans, said, "Blindness has happened to Israel in part until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. But at that point, then all Israel will then be saved. For there shall come the deliverer out of Zion," ( Romans 11:25-26 ) to turn the hearts of the children unto the fathers. And he makes reference to this restitution of the work of God among the Jewish people that shall take place. Jesus said, "You're not going to see Me again until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord'" ( Matthew 23:39 ).

The earth has one more seven-year period to endure. For there were seventy sevens determined upon the nation Israel to finish the transgressions, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to finish up the prophecies for the Messiah to come, and to anoint the most Holy Place. And there would be sixty-nine seven-year periods from the time that the prophecy would go forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah the Prince. But that leaves one seven-year period unfulfilled which is yet future. During this seven-year period, God is going to deal with the nation Israel, and that blindness that had been over their eyes for almost 2000 years will be removed.

Now, blindness has happened to Israel in part, that is, for the most of them. There are part of them who have not been blind. There are part of Israel today that God has opened their eyes to see the truth. What evangelists they usually make when God opens their eyes and they can see that Jesus indeed was the promised Messiah. But it's amazing how blind that most of the people are. And they really don't know their own scriptures that well. But they know the traditions, and they know the dietary laws and all, the Sabbaths, but they're really blind to the true work of God. And having forsaken the way of God, they have gone about to establish a righteousness through works, through good works. The Bible tells us that, "By the works of the law no flesh shall be justified in His sight" ( Galatians 2:16 ). The Bible also tells us, "For without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins" ( Hebrews 9:22 ).

God is going to restore Israel. He's going to work again. He's going to put His Spirit upon Israel, according to Ezekiel, at the time that God destroys the invading Russian army who moves into the Middle East in the last days to take over the Middle East. In those days, God is going to destroy Russia, and when He does, He'll put His Spirit on the nation of Israel. The beginning of the end, the last seven years, when God will be working with Israel. And during this period of time, the world around them will be going through a holocaust. At least the last three and a half years of this period of time. A time of trouble such as the world has never seen before or will ever see again. The time of the great Tribulation.

Now, during this time God dealing with the nation of Israel, they will begin to weep over their blindness as a woman who weeps over the loss of her only son. They will weep that they were blind to the grace and goodness of God and to the Messiah that God provided. For they will recognize that Jesus indeed is the Messiah. As they see the scriptures coming to pass as they were predicted, they'll realize that they made a mistake in their national rejection of Jesus, and they will accept Him, and they will be saying, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." And at that point, Jesus will return with ten thousands of His saints to establish His kingdom upon the earth. "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints," and, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory" ( Colossians 3:4 ). As we come with Him to establish God's kingdom here upon the earth.

So, the heavens must keep Him until the times of restitution of all things which God has predicted in the prophets since the beginning of the world. All the way back to the Garden of Eden where God promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the heel of the serpent.

For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your own brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all of the things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all of the prophets from Samuel and those who follow after him, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. And ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all of the kindreds of the earth be blessed. And unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you of his iniquities ( Acts 3:22-26 ).

So, God has kept His promises that He has made through the Old Testament prophets. They spoke of these days; they spoke of the Messiah. And He came. "And it shall come to pass that if you won't hear Him, that you'll be destroyed from among the people. You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenants that God made with our fathers. And so, unto you first God has revealed." So Paul, in talking about the Gospel, he said, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" ( Romans 1:16 ).

The Gospel came to the Jew first. "You shall bear witness on Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria." To the Jew first, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. And when the Jew rejected the Gospel, Paul turned and said, "From henceforth I go to the Gentiles. Since you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, I'm going to the Gentiles." And the door was opened to us who sat in darkness to come into the glorious light of God's love and truth.

"

Contending for the Faith

Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.

The cripple evidently knows nothing more about Peter and John than he would anyone else going into the temple. He requests of them a gift as is his custom.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The healing of a lame Man 1:3-10

Luke had just referred to the apostles’ teaching, to the awe that many of the Jews felt, to the apostles doing signs and wonders, and to the Christians meeting in the temple (Acts 2:43-44; Acts 2:46). Now he narrated a specific incident that included these elements. The Gospel writers also chose a healing to illustrate the nature of Jesus’ early ministry (Matthew 8:2-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16; Luke 5:24; John 4:46-54). The healing of this man resulted in the leaders of the Jews changing their attitudes toward the disciples from favorable to antagonistic (Acts 4:1-4). The Christians were not able to continue to enjoy favor with all the people (Acts 2:47).

This is the first of 14 miracles in Acts (by Peter: Acts 3:1-10; Acts 5:1-11; Acts 5:17-26; Acts 9:32-42; by an angel: Acts 12:1-19; Acts 12:20-23; and by Paul: Acts 13:4-12; Acts 14:8-11; Acts 16:16-40; Acts 20:7-12; Acts 28:3-8). These include four healings (three paralytics and one involving fever), two raisings from the dead, four liberations (two from physical bondage and two involving exorcisms), three acts of judgment, and one preservation miracle. There are also 10 summary notices of miracles in Acts (Acts 2:43; Acts 5:12; Acts 5:15-16; Acts 6:8; Acts 8:6-7; Acts 8:13; Acts 14:3; Acts 19:11-12; Acts 28:9). [Note: Bock, Acts, p. 157.]

"This event shows the community’s compassion and how it meets needs beyond merely material concerns [cf. Acts 14:8-11; Luke 5:17]." [Note: Ibid., p. 158.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

"In the East it was the custom for beggars to sit begging at the entrance to a temple or a shrine. Such a place was, and still is, considered the best of all stances because, when people are on their way to worship God, they are disposed to be generous to their fellow men." [Note: Barclay, p. 28.]

Peter told the beggar to look at him and John so Peter could have his full attention. Peter than gave him a gift far better than the one he expected to receive. This is typical of how God deals with needy people. When we give people the gospel, we give them God’s best gift.

"In effect, Peter has given him a new life, which is precisely what the miracles represent, as Peter’s subsequent speech will show." [Note: Bock, Acts, p. 161.]

". . . the Church’s opportunity is lame humanity, lame from its birth." [Note: Morgan, p. 82.]

The name of a person represented that person. When Peter healed this man in the name of Jesus, he was saying that it was Jesus who was ultimately responsible for the healing, not Peter. Peter healed him in the power of and with the authority of Jesus of Nazareth (cf. Acts 3:16).

This was the first of three crippled people that Luke recorded the apostles healing in Acts (Acts 9:32-34; Acts 14:8-10; cf. John 5; John 9).

The gift of healing as it existed in the early church was quite different from the so-called gift of healing some claim to possess today. Examples of people using this gift in the New Testament seem to indicate that the person with this gift could heal anyone, subject to God’s will (cf. Matthew 10:1; Matthew 10:8; Acts 28:8-9; et al.). The sick person’s belief in Jesus Christ and in God’s ability to heal him or her also seems to be a factor (Acts 3:16; cf. Mark 6:5-6). There is a similar account of Paul healing a lame man in Lystra in Acts 14:8-10 where Luke said the man’s faith was crucial. Jesus Christ gave this gift to the early church to convince people that He is God and that the gospel the Christians preached had divine authority. He gave it for the benefit of Jewish observers primarily (1 Corinthians 1:22).

"The New Testament gift of healing is a specific gift to an individual enabling him to heal. It is not to be confused with the healing performed by God in answer to prayer.

"There is little correspondence between modern-day charismatic ’healings’ and the healings recorded in the New Testament. The differences are so vast that many of today’s healers are careful to point out that they do not have the gift of healing, but are merely those to whom God often responds with healing." [Note: Thomas R. Edgar, "The Cessation of the Sign Gifts," Bibliotheca Sacra 145:580 (October-December 1988):376, 378.]

Of course, many other modern healers do claim that their healings are the same as what the New Testament records.

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 3

A NOTABLE DEED IS DONE ( Acts 3:1-10 )

3:1-10 Peter and John used to go up to the Temple at the hour of prayer at three o'clock in the afternoon, and a man who had been lame from the day of his birth was in the habit of being carried there. Every day they used to put him at the gate of the Temple which is called the Beautiful Gate, so that he could beg for alms from the people who were going into the Temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the Temple he asked to be given alms. Peter fixed his eyes on him with John and said, "Look at us." He paid attention to them because he was expecting to get something from them. Peter said to him, "Silver and gold I do not possess, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk!" And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up. Immediately his feet and ankle bones were strengthened, and he leaped up and stood and walked about; and he went into the Temple with them, walking about and leaping and praising God. Everyone saw him walking about and praising God; and they recognized him as the man who had sat at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple to receive alms. They were filled with amazement and astonishment at what had happened to him.

The Jewish day began at 6 o'clock in the morning and ended at 6 o'clock in the evening. For the devout Jew there were three special hours of prayer -- 9 a.m., 12 midday and 3 p.m. They agreed that prayer was efficacious wherever it was offered; but they felt that it was doubly precious when offered in the Temple courts. It is very interesting that the apostles kept up the customs in which they had been trained. It was the hour of prayer and Peter and John were going into the Temple to observe it. A new faith had come to them but they did not use that as an excuse for a licence which broke all law. They were aware that the new faith and the old discipline could walk hand in hand.

In the East it was the custom for beggars to sit at the entrance to a temple or a shrine. Such a place was considered the best of all stances because when people are on their way to worship God they are disposed to be generous to their fellow men. W. H. Davies, the tramp poet, tells how one of his vagrant friends told him that, whenever he came into a new town, he looked for a church spire with a cross on the top and began to beg in that area. Love of man and love of God must ever go hand in hand.

This incident brings us face to face with the question of miracles in the apostolic times. There are certain definite things to be said.

(i) Such miracles did happen. In Acts 4:16 we read how the Sanhedrin knew that they must accept the miracle. The enemies of Christianity would have been the first to deny miracles if they could; but they never even try.

(ii) Why did they stop? Certain suggestions have been made. (a) There was a time when miracles were necessary. In that age they were needed as a guarantee of the truth and the power of the Christian message in its initial attack on the world. (b) At that time two special circumstances met. First, there were living apostolic men who had had an unrepeatable personal intimacy with Jesus Christ. Second, there was an atmosphere of expectancy when faith was in its floodtide. These two things combined to produce effects which were unique.

(iii) The real question is not, "Why have miracles stopped?" but, "Have they stopped?" It is the simple fact that any doctor or surgeon can now do things which in apostolic times would have been regarded as miracles. God has revealed new truth and new knowledge to men, and through that revelation they are still performing miracles. As a great doctor said, "I bandage the wounds; but God heals them." For the Christian there are still miracles on every hand if he has eyes to see.

THE CRIME OF THE CROSS ( Acts 3:11-16 )

3:11-16 As he clung to Peter and John everyone came running to them in the colonnade which is called Solomon's, in a state of complete astonishment. When Peter saw them he said to them, "Men of Israel, why are you surprised at this? Or why do you keep staring at us, as if we had made him walk by our own power or goodness? The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, your fathers' God, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and disowned before Pilate, when he had given judgment for his release. You disowned the holy and the just one and you asked for a man who was a murderer to be given to you as a favour. You killed the pioneer of life but God raised him from the dead; and we are his witnesses. And his name, through faith in his name, has given strength to this man whom you see and know. It is the faith which is through him, which has thus given him back his health in presence of you all."

Here sound three of the dominant notes of early Christian preaching.

(i) The early preachers always stressed the basic fact that the crucifixion was the greatest crime in human history. Whenever they speak of it there is a kind of shocked horror in their voices. They tried to stab men's minds with the realization of the sheer crime of the Cross. It is as if they said, "Look what sin can do."

(ii) The early preachers always stressed the vindication of the resurrection. It Is simple fact that without the resurrection the Church would never have come into being. The resurrection was proof that he was indestructible and was Lord of life and of death. It was the final proof that behind him there was God and therefore a power which nothing could stop.

(iii) The early preachers always stressed the power of the Risen Lord. They never regarded themselves as the sources of power but only as channels of power. They were well aware of their limitations but were also well aware that there was no limitation to what the Risen Christ could do through them and with them. Therein lies the secret of the Christian life. So long as the Christian thinks only of what he can do and be, there can be nothing but failure and frustration and fear. But when he thinks of "not I, but Christ in me" there can be nothing but peace and power.

THE NOTES OF PREACHING ( Acts 3:17-26 )

3:17-26 "Now, brothers, I know that it was through ignorance that you did it, just as your rulers did. But God has thus fulfilled those things which he foretold by the mouths of all the prophets that his anointed one should suffer. Repent, then, and turn so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come to you from God, and so that he may send Jesus Christ who has already been preached to you. It is necessary that heaven should receive him until the times when all things shall be restored, times of which God spoke through the mouths of his holy prophets since the world began. Moses said, 'The Lord, your God, will raise up from your brethren a prophet like me. You must listen to him in everything that he will say to you; and it will be. that everyone who will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from the people.' And all the prophets who spoke from Samuel and those who succeeded him, also announced the tidings of these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers when he said, 'In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed.' It is to you first that God, when he raised up his son, sent him to bless you by making each one of you turn away from your evil deeds."

Almost all the notes of early Christian preaching are sounded in this short passage.

(i) It begins with a note of mercy and warning combined. It was in ignorance that the Jews perpetrated the terrible deed of the crucifixion; but that ignorance is no longer possible, and, therefore, there can be no excuse for their further rejection of Jesus Christ. This note of the terrifying responsibility of knowledge sounds all through the New Testament. "If you were blind. you would have no guilt; but now that you say 'We see,' your guilt remains" ( John 9:41). "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin" ( John 15:22). "Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin" ( James 4:17). To have seen the full light of the revelation of God is the greatest of privileges, but it is also the most terrible of responsibilities.

(ii) The obligation this knowledge brings is the obligation to repent and to turn. The two words go closely together. Repent might simply mean to change one's mind; and it is an easier thing to change one's mind than to change one's life. But this change of mind is to issue in a turning away from the old way and a faring forth upon a new.

(iii) This repentance will have certain consequences. It will affect the past--sins will be wiped out. This is a vivid word. Ancient writing was upon papyrus and the ink had no acid in it. It therefore did not bite into the papyrus like modern ink, but simply lay on top of it. To erase the writing a man simply wiped it away with a wet sponge; so God wipes out the sin of the forgiven man. It will affect the future; it will bring times of refreshing. Into life will come something which will be a strength in weakness and a rest in weariness.

(iv) Peter goes on to speak of the coming again of Christ. Whatever else that doctrine means, it means that history is going somewhere.

(v) Peter insists that all that has happened has been foretold. The Jews refused to assimilate the idea of a Chosen One of God who must suffer; but Peter insists that if they search their own scriptures they will find it all there.

(vi) Peter reminds them of their national privilege. In a very special sense the Jews were God's chosen people.

(vii) Finally, he lays down the inescapable truth that that very special privilege brings very special duty. It is the privilege not of special honour but of special service.

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

Acts 3:3

Seeing Peter and John -- He looks toward the two entering, and the next verse shows the two looking back at him steadfastly.

Asked an alms -- His routine plea. Making eye-contact gave him his opportunity. Likely those going to worship would tend to be grateful to God for their blessings and more sympathetic to this ailing man.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple,.... Just as they were entering through the gate at which he lay, he looked at them; and though they were strangers to him, he concluded they were Israelites by their going into the temple at that time:

asked an alms; of them; prayed them to give him something for his relief and support.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.   2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;   3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.   4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.   5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.   6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.   7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.   8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.   9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:   10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.   11 And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.

      We were told in general (Acts 2:43; Acts 2:43) that many signs and wonders were done by the apostles, which are not written in this book; but here we have one given us for an instance. As they wrought miracles, not upon every body as every body had occasion for them, but as the Holy Spirit gave direction, so as to answer the end of their commission; so all the miracles they did work are not written in this book, but such only are recorded as the Holy Ghost thought fit, to answer the end of this sacred history.

      I. The persons by whose ministry this miracle was wrought were Peter and John, two principal men among the apostles; they were so in Christ's time, one speaker of the house for the most part, the other favourite of the Master; and they continue so. When, upon the conversion of thousands, the church was divided into several societies, perhaps Peter and John presided in that which Luke associated with, and therefore he is more particular in recording what they said and did, as afterwards what Paul said and did when he attended him, both the one and the other being designed for specimens of what the other apostles did.

      Peter and John had each of them a brother among the twelve, with whom they were coupled when they were sent out; yet now they seem to be knit together more closely than either of them to his brother, for the bond of friendship is sometimes stronger than that of relation: there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Peter and John seem to have had a peculiar intimacy after Christ's resurrection more than before, John 20:2. The reason of which (if I may have liberty to conjecture) might be this, that John, a disciple made up of love, was more compassionate to Peter upon his fall and repentance, and more tender of him in his bitter weeping for his sin, than any other of the apostles were, and more solicitous to restore him in the spirit of meekness, which made him very dear to Peter ever after; and it was good evidence of Peter's acceptance with God, upon his repentance, that Christ's favourite was made his bosom friend. David prayed, after his fall, Let those that fear thee turn unto me,Psalms 119:79.

      II. The time and place are here set down. 1. It was in the temple, whither Peter and John went up together, because it was the place of concourse; there were the shoals of fish among which the net of the gospel was to be cast, especially during the days of pentecost, within the compass of which we may suppose this to have happened. Note, It is good to go up to the temple, to attend on public ordinances; and it is comfortable to go up together to the temple: I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go. The best society is society in worshipping God. 2. It was at the hour of prayer, one of the hours of public worship commonly appointed and observed among the Jews. Time and place are two necessary circumstances of every action, which must be determined by consent, as is most convenient for edification. With reference to public worship, there must be a house of prayer and an hour of prayer: the ninth hour, that is, three o'clock in the afternoon, was one of the hours of prayer among the Jews; nine in the morning and twelve at noon were the other two. See Psalms 55:17; Daniel 6:10. It is of use for private Christians so far to have their hours of prayer as may serve, though not to bind, yet to remind conscience: every thing is beautiful in its season.

      III. The patient on whom this miraculous cure was wrought is here described, Acts 3:2; Acts 3:2. He was a poor lame beggar at the temple gate. 1. He was a cripple, not by accident, but born so; he was lame from his mother's womb, as it should seem, by a paralytic distemper, which weakened his limbs; for it is said in the description of his cure (Acts 3:7; Acts 3:7), His feet and ankle bones received strength. Some such piteous cases now and then there are, which we ought to be affected with and look upon with compassion, and which are designed to show us what we all are by nature spiritually: without strength, lame from our birth, unable to work or walk in God's service. 2. He was a beggar. Being unable to work for his living, he must live upon alms; such are God's poor. He was laid daily by his friends at one of the gates of the temple, a miserable spectacle, unable to do any thing for himself but to ask alms of those that entered into the temple or came out. There was a concourse,--a concourse of devout good people, from whom charity might be expected, and a concourse of such people when it might be hoped they were in the best frame; and there he was laid. Those that need, and cannot work, must not be ashamed to beg. He would not have been laid there, and laid there daily, if he had not been used to meet with supplies, daily supplies there. Note, Our prayers and our alms should go together; Cornelius's did, Acts 10:4; Acts 10:4. Objects of charity should be in a particular manner welcome to us when we go up to the temple to pray; it is a pity that common beggars at church doors should any of them be of such a character as to discourage charity; but they ought not always to be overlooked: some there are surely that merit regard, and better feed ten drones, yea, and some wasps, than let one bee starve. The gate of the temple at which he was laid is here named: it was called Beautiful, for the extraordinary splendour and magnificence of it. Dr. Lightfoot observes that this was the gate that led out of the court of the Gentiles into that of the Jews, and he supposes that the cripple would beg only of the Jews, as disdaining to ask any thing of the Gentiles. But Dr. Whitby takes it to be at the first entrance into the temple, and beautified sumptuously, as became the frontispiece of that place where the divine Majesty vouchsafed to dwell; and it was no diminution to the beauty of this gate that a poor man lay there begging. 3. He begged of Peter and John (Acts 3:3; Acts 3:3), begged an alms; this was the utmost he expected from them, who had the reputation of being charitable men, and who, though they had not much, yet did good with what they had. It was not many weeks ago that the blind and the lame came to Christ in the temple, and were healed there, Matthew 21:14. And why might not he have asked more than an alms, if he knew that Peter and John were Christ's messengers, and preached and wrought miracles in his name? But he had that done for him which he looked not for; he asked an alms, and had a cure.

      IV. We have here the method of the cure.

      1. His expectations were raised. Peter, instead of turning his eyes form him, as many do from objects of charity, turned his eyes to him, nay, he fastened his eyes upon him, that his eye might affect his heart with compassion towards him, Acts 3:4; Acts 3:4. John did so too, for they were both guided by one and the same Spirit, and concurred in this miracle; they said, Look on us. Our eye must be ever towards the Lord (the eye of our mind), and, in token of this, the eye of the body may properly be fixed on those whom he employs as the ministers of his grace. This man needed not to be bidden twice to look on the apostles; for he justly thought this gave him cause to expect that he should receive something form them, and therefore he gave heed to them,Acts 3:5; Acts 3:5. Note, We must come to God both to attend on his word and to apply ourselves to him in prayer, with hearts fixed and expectations raised. We must look up to heaven and expect to receive benefit by that which God speaks thence, and an answer of peace to the prayers sent up thither. I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

      2. His expectation of an alms was disappointed. Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none, and therefore none to give thee;" yet he intimated that if he had had any he would have given him an alms, not brass, but silver or gold. Note, (1.) It is not often that Christ's friends and favourites have abundance of the wealth of this world. The apostles were very poor, had but just enough for themselves, and no overplus. Peter and John had abundance of money laid at their feet, but this was appropriated to the maintenance of the poor of the church, and they would not convert any of it to their own use, nor dispose of it otherwise than according tot he intention of the donors. Public trusts ought to be strictly and faithfully observed. (2.) Many who are well inclined to works of charity are yet not in a capacity of doing any thing considerable, while others, who have wherewithal to do much, have not a heart to do any thing.

      3. His expectations, notwithstanding, were quite outdone. Peter had not money to give him; but, (1.) He had that which was better, such an interest in heaven, such a power from heaven, as to be able to cure his disease. Note, Those who are poor in the world may yet be rich, very rich, in spiritual gifts, graces, and comforts; certainly there is that which we are capable of possessing which is infinitely better than silver and gold; the merchandise and gain of it are better, Job 28:12; Proverbs 3:14, c. (2.) He gave him that which was better--the cure of his disease, which he would gladly have given a great deal of silver and gold for, if he had had it, and the cure could have been so obtained. This would enable him to work for his living, so that he would not need to beg any more nay, he would have to give to those that needed, and it is more blessed to give than to receive. A miraculous cure would be a greater instance of God's favour, and would put a greater honour upon him, than thousands of gold and silver could. Observe, When Peter had no silver and gold to give, yet (says he) such as I have I give thee. Note, Those may be, and ought to be, otherwise charitable and helpful to the poor, who have not wherewithal to give in charity; those who have not silver and gold have their limbs and senses, and with these may be serviceable to the blind, and lame, and sick, and if they be not, as there is occasion, neither would they give to them if they had silver and gold. As every one hath received the gift, so let him minister it. Let us now see how the cure was wrought. [1.] Christ sent his word, and healed him (Psalms 107:20); for healing grace is given by the word of Christ; this is the vehicle of the healing virtue derived from Christ. Christ spoke cures by himself; the apostles spoke them in his name. Peter bids a lame man rise up and walk, which would have been a banter upon him if he had not premised in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth: "I say it by warrant from him, and it shall be done by power from him, and all the glory and praise of it shall be ascribed to him." He calls Christ Jesus of Nazareth, which was a name of reproach, to intimate that the indignities done him on earth served but as a foil to his glories now that he was in heaven. "Give him what name you will, call him if you will in scorn Jesus of Nazareth, in that name you shall see wonders done; for, because he humbled himself, thus highly was he exalted." He bids the cripple rise up and walk, which does not prove that he had power in himself to do it, but that if he attempt to rise and walk, and, in a sense of his own impotency, depend upon a divine power to enable him to do it, he shall be enabled; and by rising and walking he must evidence what that power has wrought upon him; and then let him take the comfort, and let God have the praise. Thus it is in the healing of our souls, which are spiritually impotent. [2.] Peter lent his hand, and helped him (Acts 3:7; Acts 3:7): He took him by the right hand, in the same name in which he had spoken to him to arise and walk, and lifted him up. Not that this could contribute any thing to his cure; but it was a sign, plainly intimating the help he should receive from God, if he exerted himself as he was bidden. When God by his word commands us to rise, and walk in the way of his commandments, if we mix faith with that word, and lay our souls under the power of it, he will give his Spirit to take us by the hand, and lift us up. If we set ourselves to do what we can, God has promised his grace to enable us to do what we cannot; and by that promise we partake of a new nature, and that grace shall not be in vain; it was not here: His feet and ankle-bones received strength, which they had not done if he had not attempted to rise, and been helped up; he does his part, and Peter does his, and yet it is Christ that does all: it is he that puts strength into him. As the bread was multiplied in the breaking, and the water turned into wine in the pouring out, so strength was given to the cripple's feet in his stirring them and using them.

      V. Here is the impression which this cure made upon the patient himself, which we may best conceive of if we put our soul into his soul's stead. 1. He leaped up, in obedience to the command, Arise. He found in himself such a degree of strength in his feet and ankle-bones that he did not steal up gently, with fear and trembling, as weak people do when they begin to recover strength; but he started up, as one refreshed with sleep, boldly, and with great agility, and as one that questioned not his own strength. The incomes of strength were sudden, and he was no less sudden in showing them. He leaped, as one glad to quit the bed or pad of straw on which he had lain so long lame. 2. He stood, and walked. He stood without either leaning or trembling, stood straight up, and walked without a staff. He trod strongly, and moved steadily; and this was to manifest the cure, and that it was a thorough cure. Note, Those who have had experience of the working of divine grace upon them should evidence what they have experienced. Has God put strength into us? Let us stand before him in the exercises of devotion; let us walk before him in all the instances of a religious conversation. Let us stand up resolutely for him, and walk cheerfully with him, and both in strength derived and received form him. 3. He held Peter and John,Acts 3:11; Acts 3:11. We need not ask why he held them. I believe he scarcely knew himself: but it was in a transport of joy that he embraced them as the best benefactors he had ever met with, and hung upon them to a degree of rudeness; he would not let them go forward, but would have them stay with him, while he published to all about him what God had done for him by them. Thus he testified his affection to them; he held them, and would not let them go. Some suggest that he clung to them for fear lest, if they should leave him, his lameness should return. Those whom God hath healed love those whom he made instruments of their healing, and see the need of their further help. 4. He entered with them into the temple. His strong affection to them held them; but it could not hold them so fast as to keep them out of the temple, whither they were going to preach Christ. We should never suffer ourselves to be diverted by the utmost affectionate kindnesses of our friends from going in the way of our duty. But, if they will not stay with him, he is resolved to go with them, and the rather because they are going into the temple, whence he had been so long kept by his weakness and his begging: like the impotent man whom Christ cured, he was presently found in the temple, John 5:14. He went into the temple, not only to offer up his praises and thanksgivings to God, but to hear more from the apostles of that Jesus in whose name he had been healed. Those that have experienced the power of Christ should earnestly desire to grow in their acquaintance with Christ. 5. He was there walking, and leaping, and praising God. Note, The strength God has given us, both in mind and body, should be made us of to his praise, and we should study how to honour him with it. Those that are healed in his name must walk up and down in his name and in his strength, Zechariah 10:12. This man, as soon as he could leap, leaped for joy in God, and praised him. Here was that scripture fulfilled (Isaiah 35:6): Then shall the lame man leap as a hart. Now that this man was newly cured he was in this excess of joy and thankfulness. All true converts walk and praise God; but perhaps young converts leap more in his praises.

      VI. How the people that were eye-witnesses of this miracle were influenced by it we are next told. 1. They were entirely satisfied in the truth of the miracle, and had nothing to object against it. They knew it was he that sat begging at the beautiful gate of the temple,Acts 3:10; Acts 3:10. He had sat there so long that they all knew him; and for this reason he was chosen to be the vessel of this mercy. Now they were not so perverse as to make any doubt whether he was the same man, as the Pharisees had questioned concerning the blind man that Christ cured, John 9:9; John 9:18. They now saw him walking, and praising God (Acts 3:9; Acts 3:9), and perhaps took notice of a change in his mind; for he was now as loud in praising God as he had before been in begging relief. The best evidence that it was a complete cure was that he now praised God for it. Mercies are then perfected, when they are sanctified. 2. They were astonished at it: They were filled with wonder and amazement (Acts 3:10; Acts 3:10); greatly wondering,Acts 3:11; Acts 3:11. They were in an ecstasy. There seems to have been this effect of the pouring out of the Spirit, that the people, at least those in Jerusalem, were much more affected with the miracles the apostles wrought than they had been with those of the same kind that had been wrought by Christ himself; and this was in order to the miracles answering their end. 3. They gathered about Peter and John: All the people ran together unto them in Solomon's porch: some only to gratify their curiosity with the sight of men that had such power; others with a desire to hear them preach, concluding that their doctrine must needs be of divine origin, which thus had a divine ratification. They flocked to them in Solomon's porch, a part of the court of the Gentiles, where Solomon had built the outer porch of the temple; or, some cloisters or piazzas which Herod had erected upon the same foundation upon which Solomon had built the stately porch that bore his name, Herod being ambitious herein to be a second Solomon. Here the people met, to see this great sight.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

First of all we see man in an entirely new place man risen from among the dead and ascending to heaven. The risen ascended man, Christ Jesus, is the new starting-point of the dealings of God. The first man afforded the great and solemn and saddening lesson of human responsibility. The cross had just closed the history of the race; for Jesus in no way shrank from all that was connected with the creature responsible here below, but met it to God's glory. He alone was capable of doing all; He alone solved every question; and this as a perfect man, but not a perfect man only, because He was very God. Thus was glory brought to His Father all through His life, to God as such in His death; and glory to God not merely as one who was putting man to the test, but who was removing from before His face the root and the fruits of sin; for this is the wonderful specialty of the death of the Lord Jesus, that, in Him crucified, all that had hindered, all that had dishonoured God, was for ever met, and God infinitely more and after a better sort glorified than if there never had been sin at all.

Thus on the setting aside of the old creation, the way was clear for man in this new place; and we shall see this in the blessed book before us-the Acts of the Apostles, although I am far from meaning that the title is an adequate statement of its contents: it is but its human name, and man is not capable even of giving a name. It is a book of deeper and more glorious purpose than acts of the apostles could be, however blessed in their place. Flowing down from the risen man in heaven, we have God Himself displaying fresh glory, not merely for but in man, and this so much the more because it is no longer a perfect man on earth, but the working of the Holy Ghost in men of like passions as ourselves. Nevertheless, through the mighty redemption of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Ghost is able to come down holily and righteously, willing in love to take His place, not merely in the earth, but in that very race that had dishonoured God down to the cross of Christ, when man could go no lower in scorn and hatred of that one man who in life and death has thus changed all things for God and for us.

Accordingly this first chapter, and more particularly the verses (1-11) that I have read, show us the groundwork, by no means unconnected with all that follows, but the most fitting introduction, as the facts were the necessary basis of it; and this the more strikingly because at first sight no man perhaps could have understood it thus. Indeed I doubt that any believer could have scanned this until there was a fair measure of intelligence in the revealed truth of God. And I do not mean merely now that truth which, being received, constituted him a believer, but the large infinite truth which it is the object of the Holy Ghost to bring out in this book as also throughout the New Testament. At first sight many an one may have found a difficulty why it was that the Spirit of God, after having in the gospel of Luke shown us Jesus risen and Jesus ascended, should take it up again in the beginning of the Acts. If we have had such questions, we may at least learn this lesson, that it is wise and good, yea, the only sound wisdom for us, and that which pleases our God, to set it down as a fixed maxim that God is always right, that His word never says a thing in vain, that if He appear to repeat, it is in no way repetition after a human infirm sort, but with a divine purpose; and as the resurrection and the ascension too were necessary to complete the scheme of truth given us in the gospel of Luke, so the risen man ascending to heaven was necessary to be brought in again as a starting-point by the very same writer, when God gives by him this new unfolding of the grace and ways of God in man.

We see then the Lord Jesus risen from the dead. We have the remarkable fact that He does not act independently of the Holy Ghost in His risen character any more than as man here below. In short, He is man, although no longer in that life which could be laid down but risen again; and the blessedness of man always is to act and speak by the Holy Ghost. So with the Lord Jesus, until the day in which He was taken up, it is said, after that He, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen. Resurrection does not supersede the Holy Ghost. The action of the Holy Ghost may be very different in resurrection, but there is still the blessedness of the power of the Spirit of God working by Him even though risen from the dead. It is not only that the disciples needed the Spirit of God, but that Jesus was pleased still through the Holy Ghost to deal with us so. But this is not all. Assembled with them, He explains that the Holy Ghost was to be given to themselves, and this not many days hence. It was the more important to state this great truth, because He had said a short time before "Receive ye the Holy Ghost;" and the ignorance that is natural to us might have used the words in John 20:1-31 to deny the further power and privilege that was about to be conferred in the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. They were both of the deepest importance. It is not for us to compare for our preference. But of this I am persuaded, that to have the Holy Ghost according to the Lord's words on the resurrection-day has its own blessedness as decidedly as the gift of the Holy Ghost sent down from above: the one being more particularly that which forms the intelligence of the new man; the other, that power which goes forth in testimony for the blessing of others. I need not say the order too was perfect, not in power for others first, but as spiritual intelligence for our own souls. We are not fit vessels for the good of others until God has given us divine consciousness of a new being according to Christ for ourselves.

But there is more still. It was necessary too that they should know the vast change. Their hearts, spite of the blessing, had little realized the ways of God that were about to open for them. Thus not only do we hear the Lord intimating that the promise of the Father must be poured out upon them, but further, even after this, they asked Him whether He was at this time about to restore again the kingdom to Israel. This furnishes, as our foolish questions often do, the inlet for divine instruction and guidance. We need not always repress these enquiries from the Lord: it is well to let that which is in the mind come out, especially if it be to Him. Nor must His servants be impatient even at the curious questions of those that least understand; for the importance is not so much in that which is asked as in the answer. Certainly this was ever the case with our Lord and the disciples. "It is not for you," says He, "to know the times and the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own authority, but ye shall receive power." The measures and the fit moments that had to do with earthly changes were in the sole control of Him to whom all belonged. "But ye shall receive power" (for the two words are different), "after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me." It was not the time for the kingdom in the sense of manifested power; and this was in their desires. The kingdom in a mysterious form no doubt there is, and we are translated into it., and it is in the power of the Spirit. But emphatically it was to be a time of testimony till He returns in glory. Such is our place. Blest perfectly according to all the acceptance of Christ exalted in the glory of God, our business is to be witnesses to Him. And so the Lord tells the apostles, "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

Then we have the finishing touch, if one may so say, to this introduction. The Lord ascends to heaven, but not with whirlwind nor with chariot of fire. It is not simply that He was not, for God took Him, as is said of Enoch, but in a way more suitable to His glory it is written here that "he was taken up, and a cloud" (the special token of the divine presence) "received him out of their sight."

While they looked steadfastly toward heaven, they hear from the angels who stood by them in white, that this Jesus that was taken up from them should thus come in like manner as they had beheld Him going into heaven.

Thus the only true foundation is laid, and heaven becomes the point of departure not the earth, nor the first man, but the second man, the last Adam, from the only place that was suitable for Him according to the counsels of God. Such is the basis of Christianity. Altogether vain and impossible, had not redemption been accomplished, and a redemption by blood and in the power of resurrection. Redemption in se does not give us the full height and character of Christianity: man risen, and ascended to heaven, after the full expiation of sins on the cross, is necessary to its true and complete expression.

A further scene follows, by no means possible to be absent without a blank for the spiritual understanding. It must be proved manifestly that God had given even now a new place of blessing, and a new power too, or spiritual competency, to the disciples. At the same time they would have to wait for power of the Spirit in gift to act on others. Accordingly we see the disciples together, "continuing with one accord in prayer and supplication;" and in those days Peter stands up, and brings before them the gap made in the apostolic body by the apostasy and death of Judas. Observe how he brings out with an altogether unwonted force the scripture that applied to the case. This was in virtue, not of the promise of the Father for which they were waiting, but of that which they had already from Jesus risen from the dead. Hence without delay the disciples proceed to act. Peter says, "Of these men which have companioned with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be a witness with us of his resurrection."

It will be noticed that the words "ordained to be" are left out. Every one ought to be aware indirectly, if not from his own knowledge, that there is nothing in Greek to represent them. There is not, and there never was, the smallest pretence of divine authority for their insertion. It is hard to say how godly men endorsed so pure an interpolation with what object can be easily surmised: it does not require a word from me.

"And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias." For these two had qualifications, as far as man knew, suitable to the requirements for an apostle, being the companions of the earthly path of the Lord Jesus. They had seen Him risen from the dead. Unable to judge between them definitely, the rest spread the matter before the Lord who must choose His own apostle. The mode of the disciples in this case, it is true, might seem peculiar to us; but I have no doubt that they were guided of the Lord. There is no reason from scripture to believe that Peter and the others acted hastily, or were mistaken. The Spirit of God in this very book sanctions the choice that was made that day, and never alludes to Paul as the necessary twelfth apostle. To do so would be, in my judgment, to weaken if not to ruin the truth of God. Paul was not one of the twelve. It is of all consequence that he should be permitted to retain a special place, who had a special work. All was wisely ordered.

Here then they prayed, and said, "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen." Man never chooses an apostle; apostles did not, could not, elect an apostle: the Lord alone chose. And so they gave forth their lots after a Jewish fashion. The twelve apostles were clearly, as it seems to me, in relation to the twelve tribes of Israel, "and they gave forth their lots." This was sanctioned of God in the Old Testament when Israel was before Him; it will be sanctioned of God when Israel returns on the scene in the latter day. No doubt, when the assembly of God was in being, the lot disappears; but the assembly of God was not yet formed. All would be in order in due time. "They gave forth their lots;* and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles." We shall find a little later, yet before Paul appears, that "the twelve" are recognised. So says the Spirit of God.

* The true reading, as arrested by , A, B, C, D (corr.), and many ancient versions, is αὐτοῖς (not αὐτῶν , as in D, E, the mass of cursives, etc.). The meaning is, "they gave lots for them." This meets the chief reasoning founded on the common text which Mosheim urges with his usual force against the view in which, he confesses, and the commentators agree (i.e., in representing Matthias as having been chosen an apostle by lot, agreeably to the ancient Jewish practice). It is evidently of no consequence who they were that set forth or appointed ( ἔστησαν ) the two: some, like Alford, arguing that the whole company thus produced them; others, like Mosheim, contending that it must in all propriety have been the eleven apostles. I think that the vagueness of the phrase, without a defined subject, shows that the stress laid on either side is a mistake. It suffices to say, that two candidates were brought forward, possessed, as far as either apostles or disciples could say, of adequate qualifications. The Lord alone could decide: to Him all looked after the manner so familiar to the people of God. But Mosheim's conclusion destroys the whole point, besides doing violence to the text by confounding κλῆρος "lot" with ψῆφος vote or suffrage. It would bring in man's will and voice where the prayer just offered was an abandonment of it for the intervention of the heart-searching God. This, no doubt, was natural to one who was swayed by Lutheran prejudice, and strengthened by the practice which undoubtedly prevailed (from the third century at latest), the assembly deciding by suffrage, not by lot, between the candidates proposed by those who took the lead in their affairs. There seems little difficulty in understanding. a Hebraistic extension of the word "gave" (1 Samuel 14:41) for the more common "cast"; and as to the pronoun, it is as intelligible and correct in the dative, as in the genitive it is perplexing in sense, and, I think, inaccurate in form; for the article would be requisite with the substantive if it were the true reading. Compare J. L. Moshemii de rebus Christianorum ante Const. M. Comm. Saec. Pr. § xiv. pp. 78-80.

But now, when the day of Pentecost was running its course, they were all with one accord together; for God put the disciples in waiting in the attitude of expectation and prayer and supplication before Him. It was good that they should feel their weakness; and this was indeed the condition of true spiritual power, as it always is for the soul (if not for testimony, certainly for the soul). "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." The manner of the Holy Spirit's appearing thus it is well to notice. It was exactly adapted to the intent for which He was given. It was not, as in the gospels, a testimony to the grace of the Lord, although nothing but grace could have given Him to man. It was not, as we find it afterwards in the Revelation, where mention is made of the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. The tongues were parted; for it was not a question of people being now made to speak of one lip. God was meeting man where he was, not setting aside the ancient judgment of his pride, yet graciously condescending to man, and this to mankind as they were. It was no sign of government, still less of government limited to a special nation. The parted tongues clearly showed that God thought of the Gentile as of the Jew. But they were "as of fire;" for the testimony of grace was none the less founded on righteousness. The gospel is intolerant of evil. This is the wonderful way in which God now speaks by the Holy Ghost. Whatever the mercy of God, whatever the proved weakness, need, and guilt of man, there is not nor can be the least compromise of holiness. God can never sanction the evil of man. Hence the Spirit of God was thus pleased to mark the character of His presence, even though given of the grace of God, but founded on the righteousness of God. God could afford fully to bless. It was no derogation from His glory; it was after all but His seal on the perfectness of the work of the Lord Jesus. Not only did He show His interest for man, and His grace to the evil and lost, but, above all, His honour for Jesus. There is no title nor ground so secure for us. There is no spring of blessing that we are entitled so to boast of as the Lord: there is none that so delivers from self.

At this time too there were dwelling at Jerusalem men from all nations, we may say, generally speaking, under heaven "Jews, devout men." And when it was noised abroad that the Holy Ghost had thus been given to the congregated disciples "the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speaking in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all of these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new the (or sweet) wine. But Peter, standing up with eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem." For he first addresses them on a narrower ground than that into which he afterwards branches out, and both with a wisdom that is not a little striking. Here he is about to apply a portion of the prophecy of Joel. It will be seen that the prophet takes exactly the same limited ground as Peter does. That is, the Jews, properly so called, and Jerusalem, stand in the foreground of Joel 's prophecy: so admirably perfect is the word of God even in its smallest detail.

The point he insists on, it will be noticed, was this that the wonder then before them in Jerusalem was after all one for which their own prophets ought to have prepared them. "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." He does not say that it was the fulfilment of the prophet. Men, divines, have so said, but not the Spirit of God. The apostle simply says, "This is that which was spoken." Such was its character. How far it was to be then accomplished is another matter. It was not the excitement of nature by wine, but the heart filled with the Spirit of God, acting in His own power and in all classes. "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." There he stops, as far as Joel is concerned.

Then, verse 22, he addresses them as "men of Israel," not merely of Judea and Jerusalem, but now breaking out into the general hopes of the nation, he at the same time proves their common guilt. "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it."

And this the apostle supports by what David had spoken inPsalms 16:1-11; Psalms 16:1-11: "I foresaw the Lord always before my face." The same psalm affords the clearest proof that the Messiah (and no Jew could doubt that the Messiah was in question there) would be characterised by the most absolute trust in God through an His life; that he was to lay down His life with trust in God just as unbroken and perfect in death as in life; and finally that He would stand in resurrection. It is the psalm therefore of confidence in God that goes right through life, death, resurrection. It was seen in Jesus, and clearly not applicable to David its writer. Of all whom a Jew could have put forward to claim the language of such a psalm, David would have been perhaps the uppermost one in their hearts. But it was far beyond that famous king, as Peter argued: "Men [and] brethren,* let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses."

* It may be well to guard the English reader from supposing that two classes are intended. The phrase is literally "men-brethren," and means simply men who were brethren. Let me add, that the true text in the last clause of verse 30 is simply, "to seat from the fruit of his loins on his throne."

Thus the fresh and notorious facts as to Jesus, and no one else, completely agreed with this inspired testimony to the Messiah. Nor was it confined to a single portion of the Psalms. "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." But David is not ascended into the heavens. Thus Peter cites another psalm to show the necessary ascension of Messiah to sit at the right hand of Jehovah, just as much as he had shown resurrection to be predicted of Him as of no other. "for he says himself, Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool." Who was the man that sat at God's right hand? Certainly none could pretend it was David, but his Son, the Messiah; and this entirely corresponded with the facts the apostles had beheld personally. "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Thus the proof was complete. Their psalms found their counterpart in the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. God had made Him "both Lord and Christ;" for here the testimony is very gradual, and the wisdom of God in this we may well admire and profit by. In meeting the Jews, God condescended to put forth the glory of His own Son in the way that most of all attached itself to their ancient testimonies and to their expectations. They looked for a Messiah. But apparently all was lost. for they had refused Him; and they might have supposed that the loss was irretrievable. Not so: God had raised Him from the dead. He had shown Himself therefore against what they had done; but their hope itself was secure in the risen Jesus, whom God had made to be Lord and Christ. Jesus, spite of all that they had done, had in nowise given up His title as the Christ; God had made Him such. After they had done their worst, and He had suffered His worst, God owned Him thus according to His own word at His own right hand. Other glories will open there too; but Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, as Paul says, was to be raised from the dead according to his gospel. Timothy was to remember this; and Paul can descend to show the connection of the glorious person of the Lord Jesus with the Jew on earth, as he loved for his own relationship to behold Him in heavenly glory. Thus the link with the expectations of the earthly people, though broken by death, is reset for ever in resurrection.

Surprised, grieved, alarmed to the heart by that which Peter had thus forcibly brought before them, they cry to him and the other apostles, "Men [and] brethren, what shall we do?" This gives the opportunity for the apostle to set out in the wisdom of God a very weighty application of the truth for the soul that hears the gospel: "Repent," says he, which is a far deeper thing than compunction of heart. This they had already, and it leads to that which he desired for them: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." There is no true repentance unto life without faith. But it is according to God that repentance is put forward here rather than faith. The Jews had the testimony of the gospel, as well as the law; and now it had been pressed on them by Peter. Because they believed that testimony, brought home to their consciences, as we have seen, their hearts were filled with sorrow.

But the apostle lets them know that there is a judgment of self that goes far below any outburst of grief, any consciousness and hatred, even of the deepest act of evil, as undoubtedly the crucifying of Jesus was. Repentance is the abandonment of self altogether, the judgment of what we are in the light of God. And this was to be marked, therefore, not only by the negative sign of giving themselves up as altogether evil before God, but by receiving the rejected and crucified man, the Lord Jesus. Hence, to be baptized each one of them in His name for the remission of sins follows; "and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

This, therefore, is entirely distinct from faith or repentance. Believing, they had of necessity a new nature they had life in Christ; but receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is a privilege and power beyond; and in this case it was made to be attendant on one's being baptized as well as repenting, because in Jews it was of the utmost moment that they should give a public witness that all the rest and confidence of their souls lay in Jesus. Having been guilty of crucifying the Lord, He must be manifestly the object of their trust. And so it was that they were to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

But indeed this gift is always consequent on faith never identical with it. This is as sure as it is important to assert and to insist on, as well as to believe. It is no question of notion or tradition, the subject of which runs in quite another direction. I do not even allow it to be an open question, nor a matter of opinion; for plainly in every instance of each soul, of whom Scripture speaks, there is an interval however short. The gift of the Holy Ghost follows faith, and is in no way at the same instant, still less is it the same act. It supposes faith already existing, not unbelief; for the Holy Ghost, though He may quicken, is never given to an unbeliever. The Holy Ghost is said to seal the believer; but it is a seal of faith, and not of unbelief. The heart is opened by faith, and the Holy Ghost is given by the grace of God to those that believe, not in order to their believing. There is no such thing as the Holy Ghost given in order to believe. He quickens the unbeliever, and is given to the believer. Although we do not hear of faith in the passage, yet from the fact that the converted only were called on to repent, we know that they must have believed. True believing necessarily goes along with true repentance. The two things are invariably found together; but the gift of the Holy Ghost is consequent on them both.

And so the apostle explains. He says, "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." His words seem to carry a sense beyond Israel: how far he entered into the force of them himself it is not perhaps for any of us to say. We know that afterwards, when Peter was called upon to go to the Gentiles, he found difficulties. It is hard to suppose, therefore, that he fully understood his own words. However. this may be, the words were according to God, whether or not fully appreciated by Peter when he uttered them. God was going to gather out of the Jews themselves and their children, but, more than that, "those that were afar off, as many as the Lord our God should call."

And then we have the beautiful picture that the Spirit of God gives us of the scene that was now formed by His own presence here below, "Then they that [gladly]* received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." They were added to the original nucleus of disciples, and "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, [and] in breaking of bread and prayers."

* It appears to me that ἀσμένως , "gladly," was inserted in the commonly received text against the best testimony, as well as internal reasons. For the great uncials (M, A, B, C, D, etc.), supported by the Vulgate and Aethiopic, omit the word, which was probably suggested byActs 21:17; Acts 21:17, where it falls in as admirably as here it sounds somewhat out of season. Nearly the same authorities concur in omitting καὶ , "and," between "the fellowship" and "the breaking of bread." This serves to strengthen the view that "the fellowship" goes with "the teaching of the apostles," though put as two objects instead of being combined by a single article in one idea; and it would throw the breaking of bread and the prayers similarly together.

Thus, after being brought into the new association, there arose a need of instruction; and the apostles were pre-eminently those that God vouchsafed in the infant days of His assembly. Inasmuch as it was of the utmost importance that all should be thoroughly established in the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ, they had a place peculiar to themselves, as above all others chosen of the Lord to lay the foundation of His house, and to direct and administer in His name, as we see through the New Testament. And then as the fruit of it, and specially connected, there was "the fellowship" of which we next read. Next followed the breaking of bread, the formal expression of Christian fellowship, and the special outward sign of remembering Him to whose death they owed all. Finally, but closely following the Lord's supper, come "the prayers," which still showed that, however great might be the grace of God, they were in the place of danger, and needed dependence here below.

"And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common." This peculiar feature is found in Jerusalem, beautiful and blessed in its season, but, I have no doubt, special to the Jerusalem condition of the church of God. We can easily understand it. in the first place all that composed the church were at that time in the same place. We can feel readily, therefore, that there would be a real and strong family feeling, but I doubt whether their mutual affections then rose higher than the sense of their being God's family. They really did constitute the body of Christ; they were baptized by one Spirit into one body; but to be that one body, and to know that such they were, are two very different things. The development was reserved for another and still weightier witness of the glory of the Lord Jesus. But having in its strength the sense of family relationship, the wonderful victory of grace over selfish interests was the fruit of it. If he or she belonged to the household of God, this was the governing thought not one's own possessions. Grace gives without seeking a return; but grace on the other side seeks not its own things, but those of Christ.

Another trait is, that all savoured of divine as well as family life. The breaking of bread every day, for instance, was clearly a striking witness of Christ ever before their hearts, though also a kindred effect of the same feeling. Thus they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, as one might have need.

And they "continued daily with one accord in the temple." This is another peculiarity. There was by no means as yet a manifest severance of the tie with Judaism, at least with the circumstances of its worship. We know that in principle the cross does make a breach, and an irreparable one, with all that is of the first man; but the power of old habits with the joy that overflowed their souls made them for the moment to be, I may say, better Jews. There was that now within which was far stronger liquor than had ever filled the old skins of the law, and these were sure to be broken in no long time. But for the present nothing was farther from the disciples' minds: they continued daily with one accord in the temple. Along with it was joined this new element breaking bread at home; not "from house to house," as if it were a migratory service. There is no real ground to infer that they shifted the scene of the Lord's supper from one place to another. This is not the meaning. The margin is correct. They broke bread at home, in contrast with the temple. It might be the very same house in which the breaking of bread always took place. They would naturally choose the most suitable quarters, which combined convenience as to distance with commodiousness in receiving as many brethren and sisters as possible.

Thus these two features were seen to meet together in the Pentecostal church the retaining of Jewish religious habits in going up to the temple for prayer, and at the same time the observance of that which was properly Christian the breaking of bread at home. No wonder the new-found joy overflowed, and they were found "eating their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." There is no reason to confound the breaking of bread with eating their meat. They are two different things. We find the religious life, so to speak, expressed in their going up to the temple, and in their breaking bread at home. We find the effect upon their natural life in their "eating their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people." There is the same double character.

"And the Lord added to the church," or " together," (for there is a fair question that may be raised as to the text in this last clause) "daily such as should be saved," or those that God was about to separate from the destruction that was impending over the Jewish nation, and, further, to bring by a blessed deliverance into the new Christian estate. The word σωζομένους does not express the full character of Christian salvation which was afterwards known. Of course we know that they were saved; but this is not what the word in itself means. It is simply that the Lord was separating those that were to be saved. The English version gives it on the whole very justly. Carefully remember that the meaning is not that they were saved then. The phrase in Luke has nothing to do with that question; it refers simply to persons destined to salvation without saying anything farther.

In the next chapter (Acts 3:1-26) a miracle is related in detail, which brought out the feelings of the people, especially as represented by their leaders (Acts 4:1-37). In going up to the temple, (for the apostles themselves went there,) Peter and John met with a man that was lame; and as he asked for alms Peter gave him something better (as grace, poor in this world's resources and estimate, always loves to do so). He tells the expecting man, "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have given thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." The man instantly rises, according to the power of God, and is found with them, "walking, and leaping, and praising God; and all the people saw him."

This arrests universal attention, and Peter preaches a new discourse that which has been justly enough called a Jewish sermon. It is thus evident that his indication of the Christian place of blessing in the chapter before (Acts 2:1-47) does not hinder him from setting before the men of Israel (for so he addressed them here), first, their awful position by the rejection of Jesus, and, next, the terms that God in His grace sets before them in answer to the intercession of Christ. "The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his" not "son," but " servant Jesus." We know Him (and the Spirit of God, who wrote this book, infinitely better knew Him) to be the Son of God. But we must always hold to what God says; and the testimony of God did not yet and especially in dealing with the Jews set forth all the glory of Christ. It was gradually brought out; and the more that man's unbelief grew, so much the more God's maintenance of the Lord's glory was manifested. And so, if they had with scorn refused Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go, if they had denied the Holy One and Just, and desired a murderer to be granted, if they had killed the Prince [leader, originator] of life, whom God raised from the dead, they had simply shown out what they were. On the other hand, His name, through faith in His name, (and they were witnesses of its power,) had made this man strong, whom they saw and knew: "Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled."

And then he calls upon them to repent, and be converted, that their sins might be blotted out, so that times of refreshing might come from the presence of the Lord. "And he shall send Jesus Christ, who was fore-appointed for you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." God has accomplished His word by Moses the prophet; for Moses in no way took the place of being the deliverer of Israel, but only a witness of it, a partial exemplification of God's power then, but looking onward to the great Prophet and Deliverer that was coming. Now He was come; and so Peter sets before them, not only the coming, the Blesser's arrival and rejection in their midst, but the awfulness of trifling with it. Whoever would not bow to Him was to be cut off by their own Moses's declaration: "Every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people." And so it was that all the prophets had testified of those days: and they were the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with their fathers, saying unto Abraham, "And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." The Seed was now come. It was for them, therefore, to declare themselves. Alas! they had already set up their will against Him; but at His intercession (what grace!) God was willing to pardon it all, did they but repent and be converted for the blotting out of their sins.

Thus we have here an appeal to the nation as such; for in all this it will be observed he does not speak a word to them of the Lord Jesus as Head of the church. We have no hint of this truth yet to anybody. Nay, we have not Jesus spoken of even in the same height as in the preceding chapter 2. We have Him in heaven, it is true, but about to return and bring in earthly power, blessing, and glory, if Israel only turned with repentance to Him. Such was the testimony of Peter. It was a true word; and it remains true. When Israel shall turn in heart to the Lord, He who secretly works this in grace will return publicly to them. When they shall say "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of Jehovah," the Messiah will come in fulness of blessing. The heavens will retain Him no more, but give Him up who will fill earth as well as heaven with glory. No word of God perishes: all abides perfectly true.

Meanwhile other and deeper counsels have been brought to light by the unbelief of Israel. This unbelief comes out in no small measure in the next chapter, which follows but might properly have formed a part of Acts 3:1-26; for in sense it is a continuous subject. "And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand." Then, on the morrow, we have the council; and Peter, being by the chiefs demanded by what power or name they had wrought the deed, filled with the Holy Ghost, answers, "Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all," (he is throughout bold and uncompromising) "and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner." Thus again reference is made to their own testimonies. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

Unscrupulous as they were, they were thus confounded by the calm confidence with which the truth armed the apostles; and the more so, because their tone and language gave evidence that, whatever the power of the Holy Ghost wrought, it did not set aside 'their condition as illiterate men. Their words, etc., bore no polish of the schools; and truth spurns, as it needs not, dialectic subtlety. This magnified, therefore, the power of God so much the more, as man's skill was null. But at the same time there was the witness of the miracle that had been done. In presence, then, of the apostles clothed with the irresistible might of the Lord, and of the man whose healing silently attested it even as to the body, they could only command them to go aside, while they conferred together. A guilty conscience betrays its conscious weakness, however wilful. God invariably gives sufficient testimony to condemn man. He will prove this in the day of judgment; but it is certain to our faith now. He is God, and cannot act below Himself when it is a question of His own revelation.

On such occasions even those who profess most are apt to speak together, as if there were no God, or as if He did not hear them saying, "What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it." They would, if they could. Their will was engaged (sad to say!) against God, against the truth, against Jehovah and His anointed. "But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they may speak henceforth to no man in this name." Thus their lack of conscience could not be hid: witness their opposition to facts that they knew, and to truth that they could not deny. The apostles cannot but take the real seat of judgment, searching the hearts of their judges: "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. And being let go, they went to their own [company]." It is seen in this passage bow truly it has been said that we have a new family. They went to their own [company], and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them." Accordingly we find them speaking to God in a new manner, and suitably to the occasion: "Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen race, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together in this city [these last words being wrongly omitted in the received text] against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy servant [again it is servant ] Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy servant Jesus." And God answered. "When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." They had received the Holy Ghost before; but to be "filled" with Him goes farther, and supposes that no room was left for the action of nature, that the power of the Holy Ghost absorbed all for the time being. "They were filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness." Such was the effect. They were to be witnesses of Him.

"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things in common." The Spirit of God repeated this, I suppose, as having a further proof of His action on their souls at this time, because many more had been brought in. "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet," a slightly different development from the second chapter. There we find that there was what might seem a greater freeness, and perhaps to some eyes a more striking simplicity. But all is in season, and it seems to me that, while the devotedness was the same (and the Spirit of God takes pains to show that it was the same, spite of largely increased numbers, by the continued mighty action of the Holy Ghost), still with this advance of numbers simplicity could not be kept up in the same apparent manner. The distribution made to each before was more direct and immediate; now it takes effect through the apostles. The possessions were laid at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made to every one according as he had need. Among the rest one man was conspicuous for the heartiness of his love. It was Barnabas, of whom we are afterwards to hear much in other ways of still more lasting moment.

But there is rarely a manifestation of God in the church without a dark shadow that accompanies it from the evil one. And farther we find this immediately. We are not to be alarmed by the presence of evil, but rather to be sure that where God works Satan will follow, seeking to turn the very good in which the Spirit acts into a means for introducing his own counterfeit to the dishonour of the Lord. Thus in the present instance Ananias and Sapphira sell some of their property, but keep back part of the price; and this was done deliberately by concert for the purpose of gaining the character of devotedness without its cost. in principle they made the church their world, in which they sought to give the impression of a faith that confided in the Lord absolutely, while at the same time there was a secret reserve for themselves. Now the manifest point of that which was then wrought by the Spirit of God was grace in faith: there was in no way a demand. Nothing could more falsify the fruit of the Spirit of God here than converting it into a tacit rule: there was no compulsion whatever in the case. Nobody was asked to give anything. What was gold or silver, what houses or lands, to the Lord? The worth of it all depended on its being the power of the Spirit of God the fruit of divine grace in the heart. But Satan tempted them in the manner here described; and Peter, by whatever means he arrived at the conviction of it, arraigns the husband alone first. "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost

It is a solemn thing to remember, that all sin now is against the Spirit. There may be, no doubt, the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against Him; but in truth all sin is sin against the Holy Ghost; and for this simple reason, that He has taken His place here. In Israel the sin was against the law, because the law was the testimony that God set in His sanctuary. By the law sin was measured in Israel; but it is not so for the Christian. There is now a far more serious and searching and thorough standard. Those that use the law now as a measure among Christians lower the test of judgment incomparably. Such a misuse of the law for righteous men does not at all prove that they are anxious about holiness or righteousness; it is a proof of their ignorance of the presence of the Holy Ghost, and the just and necessary effects of His presence. One has no thought, I repeat, of implying that it is not well meant. To be sure it is. It is simply that they do not understand the distinctive character of Christianity.

But this is a most serious error; and I doubt much whether all who in appearance and by profession take the place of owning the presence of the Spirit of God have by any means an adequate sense either of the privileges which are theirs or of the gravity of their responsibility. Now, Peter had. The days were early. There was much truth that had yet to be communicated and learnt; but the power of the presence of the Holy Ghost made itself felt. He at least seems to have realised the bearing of all, and so he deals with the sin of Ananias as one who had lied to the Holy Ghost. He bad kept back part of the price of the land. "Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?" It was still his own. "Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God."

Forthwith Ananias comes under the judgment of the Lord. He fell asleep, and great fear came upon all them that heard these Words. "And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter said to her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?" Thus there was an appeal to her conscience, without an atom of harshness in it. She had longer time to weigh what they were about; but in truth it was a conspiracy; not so much to injure others as to exalt themselves; but the end was as bad as the means were evil and odious in the sight of God. Christ entered into none of their thoughts or desires. Many a thing has been said untruly since, which was not so judged of God. But there was an especial offence at this time, in that, He having wrought so wondrously in blessing man with the best blessings through Christ our Lord, the practical denial of the presence of the Spirit should have so deliberately and quickly manifested itself for the express purpose of exalting the flesh which Christianity has set aside for ever. Hence Peter says, "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out . . . . And great fear came upon all the church."

Then we find the Lord accomplishing His word: greater works were to be done by them than even He Himself had wrought: never do we hear of the Lord's shadow curing the sick. And believers were the more added to the Lord. The unbelievers were warned, "and of the rest durst no man join himself unto them." Souls that bowed to the word were attracted, multitudes both of men and women; and the enemy was awed, in some quarters alarmed, and irritated in others. "The high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, and were filled with indignation. They laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison."

But the angel of the Lord shows his power; for this chapter is remarkable in giving us a picture not merely of the sweet activity of grace, but of divine power in presence of evil. We have seen the positive interference of the Spirit of God. At the end of the chapter before we had the second witness of it, after the foundation laid, and first witness given, in chapter 2. But here we have the proofs of His presence in other ways power in dealing with the evil, and judging it within the church of God; next, power by angelic deliverance; thirdly, power by men in providence. Gamaliel in council is just as truly the effect of God's power working by man, as the angel in opening the doors of the prison and bringing the apostles out, not, of course, so wonderful, but as real a part of God's working in behalf of His assembly and servants.

But there is another case. The very same men who were delivered by divine power are allowed to be beaten by man. Nay, not only do they take it quietly these men about whom all the power of God was thus seen in action in one form or another; but they rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer. Are we prepared for the same thing? Be assured, brethren, if we have any tie with Christ by grace, we belong to the same company: it is our own company; it is a part of our own heritage of blessing. It is not, I admit, according to the spirit of the age to deal with us after the same sort; but there is no real change for the better in the world to hinder the outbreak of its violence at any time. Is it not well therefore for us to realize to what we belong, and what the Lord looks for from us, and what it is He has recorded for our instruction as well as comfort?

After all this then we find that "they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." It is impossible that a human authority could be entitled to set aside the direct command of the Lord Jesus. The Lord had commanded them to go and preach the gospel to every creature. Men had forbidden this. It is very clear that the apostle Peter gives the prohibition only a human place now (Acts 5:29). If men had told them to be silent, and the Lord bid them preach, the highest authority must be paramount.

Another form of evil betrays itself in the next chapter (Acts 6:1-15); and here again we find in the very good that God had wrought evil murmuring is found. It is not merely individuals as before; in some respects it is a more serious case: there are complaints heard in the church the murmuring of Grecians against the Hebrews (that is, of the foreign speaking. Jews against the Jews, proper of the Holy Land), because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. This forms the occasion for the provisional wisdom of the Spirit of God.

We have already seen with abundant evidence how truly the church is a divine institution, founded upon a divine person (even the Holy Ghost) coming down and, making it, since redemption, His dwelling-place here below. Besides, we may now learn the working of this living power that is drawn out by the circumstances which call it forth. It is not a system of rules; nothing is more destructive of the very nature of the church of God. It is not a human society, with either the leaders of it or the mass choosing for themselves what or whom they think best, but the Spirit of God who is there meets in His wisdom whatever may be necessary for the glory of Christ. All this is preserved in the written word for our instruction and guidance now.

Here we have the institution of seven men to look after the poor who were in danger of being forgotten, or in some way neglected at any rate, so they had complained. To cut off the appearance of it, and at the same time to leave the apostles free for their own proper work of a more spiritual kind, "the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

Thus we find two things: not only the apostles formally appointing, but the multitude of the believers left to choose, where it was a question that cone the distribution of their gifts. On the part of that governed the church of God, there ought not to be the appearance of coveting the property of God's people, or the disposal of it. At the same time the apostles do appoint those who were thus chosen over this matter. They were called of God to act, and so they do. "But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word."

The principle of the choice too is striking; for all these names, it would appear, were Grecian. What gracious wisdom! This was clearly to stop the mouths of the complainants. The Hellenists, or Grecians, were jealous of the Palestinian Jews. The persons appointed were, judging from their names, every one of them Hellenists, or foreign-speaking Jews. The troublers ought to have been not only satisfied but somewhat ashamed. Thus it is that grace, while it discerns, knows how to rise above evil; for murmuring against others is not the way to correct anything that is wrong, even if it be real. But the grace of the Lord always meets circumstances, and turns them to a profitable account, by a manifestation of wisdom from above. The field was about to be enlarged; and although it was but a poor root of man's complaints which led to this fresh line of action, God was moving over all, could use these seven, and would give some of them a good degree, as we find in Stephen soon and in Philip later. But He marked it in another way too, which showed His approbation. "The word of God increased," spite of murmuring; "and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly;" and a new feature appears "a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith."

Stephen then, full of grace and power (but One could be said to be full of grace and truth), is found doing great wonders. This draws out the opposition of the leaders of the Jews, who "were not able to resist the spirit and the wisdom with which he spake. Then they suborned men, who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, and set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: for we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us."

Accordingly, thus accused, Stephen answers the appeal of the high priest, "Are these things so?" And in his wonderful discourse (Acts 7:1-60), on which I can but touch, he sets before them the prominent facts of their history, which bear on God's question with the Jews at this moment. God had brought out their forefather Abraham, but He never gave him actually to possess this land. Why, then, boast of it so much? Those who, according to nature, vaunted loudly of Abraham and of God's dealings, were clearly not in communion with God, or even with Abraham. Spite of the love and honour that God had for their forefathers, he never possessed the land. Why, then, set such stress on that land?

But more than this. There was one of the descendants of the fathers who stands out most especially, and above all of the family of Abraham, in the book of Genesis one man who, more than any other, was the type of the Messiah. Need I say it was Joseph? And how did he fare? Sold by his brethren to the Gentiles. The application was not difficult. They knew how they had treated Jesus of Nazareth. Their consciences could not fail to remind them how the Gentiles would have willingly let Him go, and how their voices and will had prevailed against even that hardened governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. Thus it was manifest that the leading points of Joseph's tale, as far as the wickedness of the Jews, and the selling to the Gentiles, were rehearsed again in Jesus of Nazareth.

But, coming down later still, another man fills the history of the second book of the Bible, and indeed has to do with all the remaining books of the Pentateuch. It was Moses. What about him? Substantially the same story again: the rejected of Israel, whose pride would not hear when he sought to bring about peace between a contending Israelite and his oppressor, Moses was compelled to fly from Israel, and then found his hiding-place among the Gentiles. How far Stephen entered intelligently into the bearing of these types it is not for one to say; but we can easily see the wisdom of God; we can see the power of the Holy Ghost with which he spake.

But there was another element also. He comes down next to their temple; for this was an important point. It was not only that he had spoken of Jesus of Nazareth, but they had also charged him with saying that He would destroy this place, and change their customs. What did their own prophets say? "But Solomon built him a house. Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in [places] made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things?" In short, he shows that Israel had sinned against God in every ground of relationship. They had broken the law; they had slain the prophets; they had killed the Messiah; and they had always resisted the Holy Ghost. What an awful position! and the more awful, because it was the simple, truth.

This brought out the frenzied rage of Israel, and they gnashed on him with their teeth; and he that charged them with always resisting the Holy Ghost, as their fathers did, full of the Holy Ghost looks up into heaven, and sees the Son of man, and bears witness that he sees Him standing at the right hand of God. And thus we have what I began with: we have the manifestation of the character of Christianity, and the perception of its power, and the effect produced upon him that appreciated it. We have not merely the Lord going up to heaven, but His servant, who saw heaven, open, and Jesus, the Son of man, standing at the right hand of God.

But there is more: for while they rushed now to silence the mouth which so completely proved their nation's habitual sin against the Spirit, they stoned him indeed, but they stoned him praying, and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." They could not silence the words that told how deeply he had drunk into the grace of the Lord Jesus. They could not silence his confidence, his peaceful entrance into his place with Christ, associated consciously with Him as he was. And then we learn (it may be without a thought on his part) how grace conforms to the words of Jesus on the cross, and certainly without the smallest imitation of it, but so much the more evincing the power of God. For Jesus could say, and He alone could say rightly, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Jesus alone fittingly could say, "I commend my spirit." He who could lay down His life, and could take it again, could so speak to the Father. But the servant of the Lord could say, and rightly and blessedly, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Nor was this all; the same heart that thus confided absolutely in the Lord, and knew his own heavenly portion with Jesus, kneels down and cries with a loud voice. This was not directed to Jesus only: no loud voice was needed there: a whisper would be enough for Him. The loud voice was for man, for his dull ears and unfeeling heart. With a loud voice he cries, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." What simplicity, but what fulness of communion with Jesus! The same who had prayed for them reproduced His own feelings in the heart of His servant.

I shall not now develop this subject more than other scenes of the deepest interest, but just simply and shortly commend to all that are here the beautiful witness that it affords us of the true place, power, and grace of a Christian.