Acts 3:11-26 New International Version (NIV)
Peter Speaks to the Onlookers
11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.
17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’
24 “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
Solomon’s Colonnade was like a long walkway with a wooden roof, on the east side of the Temple. Jesus had walked there and he had taught there (John 10:23).
In verse 12, the people were staring at Peter and John. They had just seen Peter and John heal the lame man. But Peter gave all the glory to God. God may use us to help someone or witness to someone. But we must remember to give all the glory to God. God is the one that gave us the means and opportunity to do what we do.
Peter used the words ‘The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’. These are the same words that God used in Exodus 3:6, This was when God introduced himself to Moses. The miracle here in Acts had happened because God had glorified Jesus. Jesus was in a special place in heaven. He had given power to his disciples to act in his name. When Jesus was on earth, he had done miracles. Now the disciples had his authority to do miracles like those.
Peter wanted to convince the Jews that Jesus was their Messiah. So, he used language from the book called Isaiah in the Old Testament. It was from a part where the writer describes the Lord as a Servant who suffers (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). Like Isaiah, Peter said first that God had glorified his Servant (Jesus). Then Peter talked about how the Servant had suffered. He blamed the people for this. They were responsible. Pilate (a Roman ruler) had wanted to free Jesus. But the people had asked for Barabbas instead. They had wanted Jesus to die. Jesus was their Savior. He was completely good. But they had chosen a criminal instead.
The Jews had not expected the Messiah to die like a criminal. But Peter was saying that Jesus was innocent. God had known already how Jesus would die. The prophet Isaiah had described it all when he wrote about the Servant. This was the Servant who suffered. (See Isaiah chapters 42, 49, 50, 52 and 53.) The Servant who suffered was Jesus, the Messiah. God had proved this. He had made Jesus alive again after he had died. Peter and the apostles knew that this was true. They knew because they had seen it.
Everyone could see that the man’s legs were now strong. The man had not been able to walk. But Peter had told the man to walk by Jesus’ authority. And the man had done this. Christ’s power had made the man strong because of the man’s faith. Jesus was the Servant that God had glorified. This was evidence that they could all see.
The people in Jerusalem had killed their Messiah. But they had not known that he was their Messiah. Even their rulers had not realized this. They had not expected that their Messiah would suffer. Jesus’ death on a cross was one part in God’s purpose. Isaiah spoke about God’s Servant who suffered. The Old Testament also contains the stories about men like Joseph (Jacob’s son) and Elijah. These are examples of God’s servants who suffered. So, it should not surprise the people that the Messiah should suffer too.
They knew that they had done a terrible thing. They did not have an excuse. God wanted to forgive them. But first, they had to repent.
To repent means to realize you have sinned and turn away from that sin. We apologize for sins that we have done. And we decide not to do any more sins. We do what God wants. We change how we think and we change how we live.
Peter said that if the Jews repented, three good things would happen.
1. God would forgive their sins (verse 19). The Greek word here for ‘forgive’ means that God will ‘wipe off’ their sins.
2. The Lord will give to you times when you have spiritual strength (verse 19). God would not just take away their sins. He would give rest to their spirits. And he would give relief to them.
3. He would send Jesus. Jesus was the Messiah that God had already chosen for them (verse 20). Jesus will forgive them and he will give them strength. But he ‘must remain in heaven until a certain time. Then God will put all things back as they should be’ (verse 21). Christ would return. Then God would do wonderful things (Romans 8:19-21; Isaiah 11:6-9).
Moses was the first prophet for the Israelites. The words in verses 22-23 are from Deuteronomy 18:15. People believed that these verses were a prophecy about one particular prophet. This prophet would be like Moses. He would be like a bridge between God and the people. He would tell the people what God was saying. And he would tell God what the people wanted to say.
Samuel was the prophet who anointed David as king. To anoint means to mark a person with oil. And this shows that God has chosen that person. God made promises to David about a new kingdom. These promises became true when Jesus came. Many things that the other prophets had said about God’s kingdom happened, too.
Peter called the Jews the ‘sons of the prophets’. He meant that God’s promises belonged to them too. Abraham’s ‘children’ meant the Jews. Jesus, the Servant who came to save all the people on earth, was a Jew. He had gone to the Jews first but they had rejected him. God was giving a second chance to them. They had to accept Jesus as their Saviour. Otherwise they would not share in the blessing that God had promised.