God has glorified His servant Jesus

Acts 3 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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. 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. 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.

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. 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? 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. ²³ And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ ²⁴ And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. 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.’ 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.”

Once again in today’s text we see Peter being a faithful witness of Jesus Christ and we see the power of God released in miracles to confirm the word, to verify the witness of Christ. Peter takes no credit for the miracle which happens at his hand and his command. He says: “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?  The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus”     When I read this I can’t help but to think of the account in Matthew 16:13-20, when Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Christ.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”  He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”  Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

At that time Jesus warned the disciples that they should not tell anyone that He was the Christ. Jesus said though upon the rock of the revelation that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Lord and King, He would build His church. Jesus also said that the gates of Hell would not overpower His church and that He would give the keys to the kingdom of heaven, the authority to loose and bind on earth and in heaven. Now Jesus has changed the commandment, He has now called the disciples to be His witnesses, to tell everyone that Jesus is the Christ. The power, the authority which Jesus promised, the authority which He said would come with the revelation that Jesus is the Christ did and does. In today’s text it is that authority Peter is walking in. The authority that comes with the revelation and the testimony that Jesus is the Christ.

We too are called and commissioned by Jesus to walk in that same authority. In Mark 16:15-18 Jesus says:   “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.(Be witnesses that Jesus is the Christ)  He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.  These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;  they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”  

The power of God, miracles, signs and wonders are given as evidence that Jesus is the Christ. Many in the church today want to walk in the miraculous, they speak of and seek the signs and wonders, the healings and the provision, the power of God, without the witness that Jesus is the Christ.  Peter didn’t take this opportunity, the miraculous healing of a lame man, to promote the benefits, the love, grace and acceptance that comes from Jesus. Rather he used the opportunity to call others to repentance, to be a witness of the redemption found in the revelation that Jesus is the Christ. He says:     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.  But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,  but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses… But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 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;  and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you… God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.

The success of the early church was based on their obedience to the call and commission of Christ, that they would be His witnesses. Of all the things the church can do for and give to people, love, acceptance, fellowship; provision, there is really only one thing that matters in the scheme of eternity, that is that they believe that Jesus is the Christ. We should love and care for others. We should show them mercy and grace, just as God through Christ showed us mercy and grace. If we want to return to the power and authority displayed in the early church, we must like them be faithful witnesses. If we believe, if we have been given the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer, the Lord and King, if we believe that and fail to be a witness, if we fail to testify that Jesus is the Christ, we fail both Jesus and the world to which He sent us.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit awaken Your church, Your disciples to follow Your commandment and commission. Cause Your church to establish and build upon the same foundation upon which You said You would build Your church, the revelation that You Jesus, are the Christ. May I walk in love and mercy and grace, but most of all may I be a faithful witness, may I testify to the world that You are the Christ.    Amen