This is a challenge to you and me. It is the immediate follow up to the Day of Pentecost, when Peter, under the Anointing of the Holy Spirit, preached Christ for the very first time and 3000 were converted and baptised that same day! The new converts continued daily in the Temple, breaking bread together from house to house, praising God, having favour with the people – and the Lord added daily to the Church those that should be saved. Acts 2:41-47. I wish that this would happen today, daily!
Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 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 from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I 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. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. (Acts 3.1-8, NKJV.)
So now we find in Acts 3 Peter and John going up to the Temple ‘at the hour of prayer’ – they are still following the Jewish routine and traditions. And as they go in, they pass a certain man born as a cripple. Every day he was carried to the Temple and laid down at the gate called ‘Beautiful’ to beg for his living. Obviously, he expected that those who were entering to pray to God would be more willing to give him something… Seeing Peter and John, the cripple asked for money. That’s all he was looking for…
But Peter, along with John, fixed his eyes on the cripple and said, “Look at us!” The cripple looked at them, now he was definitely expecting to get some financial help, but Peter dashed his expectation saying, “Silver and gold have I none, BUT I will give you WHAT I HAVE: In the Name of Jesus, get up and walk!” It’s incredible. It wasn’t a matter of laying hands on him, praying over him and anointing him with oil. This was the direct approach of the evangelist that I use: Peter simply commanded, “In the Name of Jesus, rise up and walk!” – And he took the cripple by the hand, lifted him up onto his feet, and immediately his feet and ankle bones became strong! He leapt up, stood and walked with Peter and John into the Temple. I love the description: he was walking and leaping! You know, this man had never learned to walk, I picture him not knowing how to put one foot in front of the other, leaping and praising God in excitement at this miracle!
The crowds in the Temple saw him walking and praising God – they knew who he was and his condition, everybody had seen this cripple sitting every day at the Temple gate. They were so amazed, they rushed towards him to get a better look! But I find it interesting, if this man was lying daily at the gate, and this was the gate the Jesus so often used to enter the Temple area – He must have seen and passed by this man many times – why did He not heal him?!!
Sometimes we get the idea that Jesus just went about healing everybody, indiscriminately. He didn’t. Although, as John wrote in his Gospel, Jesus did so many things, that if everything were to be recorded, the whole world could not contain the books that would have to be written! John 21:25. Still, it is quite clear that Jesus didn’t heal everybody! It is actually recorded that when He went into His hometown, He could do no miracles there because of their unbelief… Sometimes it says He healed all, but there were times when miracles did not happen. In the purposes and plan of God, I believe it was God’s perfect plan that it should be Peter and John who would work this miracle with the cripple.
When Peter saw, v12ff, the reaction of the crowd to the healing of this cripple, he said, “Why are you so amazed at this? Why do you look on us, as if by our own power or holiness we made this man walk? The God of our fathers has glorified His Son Jesus! – Jesus whom you delivered up and whom you rejected when Pilate was determined to release Him. You denied the Holy One, you killed the Prince of Life whom God has raised from the dead – of which we are witnesses! It’s His Name, through faith in His Name that has made this man – whom you know – strong and given him perfect healing in front of you all. It is faith given him by Jesus that has created this miracle!”
Peter and John are trying to turn attention away from themselves: “It’s not us! We did not work the miracle! It’s the Name of Jesus, through faith in believing who Jesus is, that created the miracle.” When I pray with the sick, I teach the people that I am not a healer, I’m not a miracle-worker. Jesus is the Healer. I’m all the time turning attention away from myself, because people get the idea that I’m some kind of ‘miracle-worker’, someone special, some ‘holy man’. I’m not. And just as Peter and John had to turn the attention of the people to Jesus, I always try to make it quite clear that it’s Jesus and faith in Him that works the miracle, not us. He’s the Healer, and the miracles are the evidence that He is alive, and He’s the Son of God with Power!