The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant, Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. (14) But you denied the Holy One and the Just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, (15) and killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
(17)”Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did your rulers. (18) But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. (19) Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord
The book, Acts of the Apostles, was written by Luke as a history of the early Church and serves as an eyewitness account of the spread of the Gospel from the day of Pentacost to the time of Paul’s house arrest in Rome – probably written between 61 AD to 64 AD.
Jesus had given the Apostles the great commission to preach in His name to all nations – (Matthew 28: 18-20). “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Today, our verses are from Chapter 3 of Acts. This Chapter opens with an account of healing of a lame man by Peter followed by Peter’s second sermon. Peter and the Apostle John were on their way to the Temple In Jerusalem for their daily prayers. As they passed the afflicted man, lame from birth, he called out to them for alms. This man was known to all the Jews who passed by him for he was daily carried to a place near the Beautiful Gate which was nearby the Temple. Instead of Alms, Peter fixed his eyes on the crippled man and, in the name of Jesus, he commanded him to rise and walk – and he did, “walking, leaping and praising God”. All the people ran to the portico of Solomon at the Temple where they marveled at this – the people knew the man and knew it was a miracle.
Peter took the opportunity to preach his second sermon since receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter, who just a short time before had, in great fear, denied Christ Jesus three times, addressed the crowd of Jews claiming the miracle had happened through the power of Jesus Christ. He spoke to the Jews using words and concepts they understood to proclaim the Gospel. He began by exalting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior – promised by the prophets of the Old Testament. He accused the Jews of disowning and denying Jesus – he denounced the Jews for choosing a murderer to be released over Jesus – a metaphor for choosing sin over life in Christ. Peter proclaimed that Jesus was crucified for our salvation and was raised from the dead. The denial of Jesus as Messiah not only showed the opposition of the Jews to God but was proof of the folly of this opposition: God has a plan and will not be thwarted.
The Bible tells us that so powerful were the words of the Spirit through the office of Peter that 2000 Jews accepted Christ that day as Lord and Savior. What a lesson for us to proclaim Christ and the Gospel – we are all commissioned to witness for our faith through the power of the Spirit.