Acts of the ApostlesChapter 3

Record this

John Reedy

Acts 3:1-10 (NASB) 1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. 2 And a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. As he did with every passerby, this man was begging money from Peter and John. He didn't look up and say, "Oh my goodness, here come two of Christ's Apostles.

4 But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!" 5 And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!" 7 And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. 8 With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. We discussed last time how much "healing" in this man's body and brain would have had to have taken place for him to be able to so suddenly begin to walk and jump around. Just think of how long it takes a baby to walk from the time it is born.

9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God; 10 and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. On the Day of Pentecost, thousands of Jews were in Jerusalem for the Feast. The fiery tongues and the roaring as of a mighty wind brought together the crowds. By the time Peter makes his next speech, the crowds that had come for the Feast of Pentecost had returned home, and the city had quieted down. But when a lame man, familiar to the whole city, who sat in the temple gate every day to beg, is healed by Peter and John—the city is all astir once again.

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Acts 3:11 (NASB) 11 While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.

Solomon’s Porch, which is better depicted in the next picture was used for teaching. And it was where the crippled man was healed.

The next drawing is an excellent depiction of Herod’s and the Temple.

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I’ll skip over the Antonia Fortress for now.

The Royal Stoa was an ancient basilica constructed by Herod the Great during his renovation of the Temple Mount at the end of the 1st century BCE. Probably Herod's most magnificent secular construction, the three-aisled structure was described by Josephus as deserving "to be mentioned better than any other under the sun." A center of public and commercial activity, the Royal Stoa was the likely location of Jesus' Cleansing of the Temple.

Court of the Gentiles: The entire Temple compound was considered holy, but it became increasingly more holy as one entered farther in, from east to west. King Herod had enclosed the outer court with colonnades and it was referred to as the Court of the Gentiles because the "gentiles" (non-Jews) were permitted to enter the Temple area. They could walk within in it but they were forbidden to go any further than the outer court. They were excluded from entering into any of the inner courts, and warning signs in Greek and Latin were placed that gave warning that the penalty for such trespass was death.

The Temple, of course was the more Holy area of the entire structure. It was where all the sacrifices took place, and contained the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.

Acts 3:12 (NASB) 12 But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, "Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? Peter makes sure the people understand who has done the healing...........it wasn't him and John.

13 "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. Some translations have "has glorified his son Jesus" instead of servant. Looking up the Greek indicates that the word is translated child, son, and servant. And to God, I suppose, Jesus was all three.

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Peter next passes down an indictment against these people for denying Christ, demanding that Barabbas be released instead of Jesus, and putting Jesus Christ to death.

14 "But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. 16 "And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. There is a sudden change in Peter's tone.

17 "And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. 18 "But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. This seems to create a paradox...........the people were ignorant, but at the same time, the facts about Jesus Christ were written in the scriptures and have been read and studied for thousands of years. 19 "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. Peter continues with a warning.......repent (change your minds,) and return (go back to the ways of the Fathers,) SO that your sins may be wiped away. Peter tells them that if they will repent, return to God's ways, and acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, their sins will be wiped clean and God will send his Son, Jesus Christ to begin a "time of refreshing." We understand this as the Kingdom of God, which will begin when Jesus Christ returns.

22 "Moses said, 'THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you. As Mark has mentioned, the Jews were looking for both a prophet like Moses to appear. This prophecy about Elijah, may be part of the reason. Malachi 4:5-6 (ESV) 5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

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Malachi mentions both a prophet AND the Messiah. Jesus tells us that John the Baptist is the Elijah to come. Is he saying he is the prophet Moses spoke of? Matthew 11:9-14 (ESV) 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. In the following scripture, when John was called to be a disciple, he also is telling his brother Nathanael that Jesus is the prophet Moses spoke of. John 1:45 (ESV) 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” But Peter gets it. He understands that Jesus is both the prophet to come AND the Messiah.

23 And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.

Listen again to Moses' words.........."every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people." It seems that Moses is saying that the only way to salvation is through this prophet. If so, wouldn’t he be speaking of the Messiah?

24 "And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. While the Jews may not have connected Moses' words with the promise of a coming Messiah, Peter did………….. "all the prophets who have spoken"..........announced these days.

Peter continues paraphrasing what Moses said………..

25 "It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.'

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The whole earth shall be blessed through Abraham’s seed. Everything I have ever read about this states that this is a prophecy of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

26 "For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways." Peter also says, "For you first........" to the Jews first, then to the rest of the world. Acts 4:1 (KJV) 1 And as they spoke to the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,

The captain of the temple came with the Pharisees and Sadducees to make the arrest. He was the commander of the guard stationed chiefly in the tower Antonia, especially during feasts. It was their duty to preserve order.

The Tower of Antonia, aka Antonia's Fort, was where the Captain and his Guard stayed. It was located south of a moat and on a rock 25 meters high

Drawing of Antonia-in the background, overlooking the Temple

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It is believed that this twenty-five foot high rock is the rock that the “Dome of the Rock” is built on.

Here is an artist’s rendering of the foundation that was under the Temple. The “Rock” can be plainly seen.

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Josephus describes the rock in his book, “Antiquities of the Jews.” He says that Antonia, where the Captain of the Guard was located, was over the Rock.

Acts 4:2 (KJV) 2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached about Jesus' the resurrection from the dead.

Being grieved. The Greek implies more than simple sorrow; it was a mingled emotion of indignation and anger. They did not grieve because they thought it a public calamity, but because it interfered with their authority, and opposed their doctrine. It means that it was painful to them, or they could not bear it.

The Sadduccees were "grieved" about two matters. First, the apostles were "teaching the people," an activity that the Sadducees saw as a threat to their authority. Like Jesus, Peter and John were rallying popular support and acting unofficially in such a way as to disrupt their established authority. Second, Peter and John were annoying the Sadducees because they were "proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead,” which the Sadducees denied.

3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now evening.

They had to keep them overnight in order to hold a hearing before the Sanhedrin the next morning.

4 But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

That last scripture shows that the Church Jesus Christ built was growing.There were One hundred twenty at the beginning of the Day of Pentecost. Three thousand at the end of that day, and now the Church is five thousand strong a few days later.

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