Crippled

Acts 3

The Jewish people were chosen by God to produce the Messiah. When the Messiah came, they rejected Him. The hope for the Jewish people is that they might soften their hearts and repent.

God helps them see the truth of Jesus through the healing of the crippled man. This was prophetic, that the lame would walk in the new Kingdom (Isaiah 35:6). Now the crippled are walking and yet, they are still resisting.

The first thing Peter does is redirect their attention. It was not by the disciple’s power or godliness that the man was healed. As a matter of fact, the reason for the man’s healing goes back to the birth of the Israelite people (Acts 3:13). Israel played a major role in making this healing possible. This however, is not by their own choice, because Peter next proves that Israel delivered up and denied the Messiah before Pilate. Pilate determined that He was innocent and undeserving of death. To pour salt on the wound, they denied Jesus and then allowed a guilty man to go free. This One who originated life, they put to death. This is a horrible tragedy. The people that produced the Messiah, also murdered Him. They have crippled themselves spiritually, and there is nothing that they can do to right this wrong.

And yet, belief in this Messiah has produced the crippled to walk. The Jews were ignorant. They did not know what they were doing. They did not understand the gravity of the sin that they were committing. Now the call is that they repent, receive spiritual healing, and allow God to come into their lives (3:19).

The prophets of Israel have been talking about this day for hundreds of years. Moses (~2000BC) wrote the book of Genesis speaking concerning the blessing through Abraham (Genesis 12:3) and the Prophet they must obey (Deuteronomy 18:15ff). Now that Jesus is raised from the dead and raised to sit on the throne, the blessing is available to Israel, “…in turning away every one of you from your iniquities” (Acts 3:24). In other words, you do not have to be crippled anymore either.