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These next few verses are actually part of the previous passage, Peter continuing his conversation with the people amazed at the lame man’s healing.  Let us continuing learning from from the apostles in  Acts 3:17-26.

¹⁷ “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸ But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. ¹⁹ Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, ²⁰ that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 

²² Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. ²³ And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ ²⁴ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. ²⁵ You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ²⁶ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Follow the series

 If you are interested in the rest of the series you will find them here eh?   

• Acts 1:1-5
• Acts 1:6-11
• Acts 1:12-26
• Acts 2:1-13
• Acts 2:14-41
• Acts 2:42-47
• Acts 3:1-10
• Acts 3:11-16
•  

Looking more closely at Acts 3:17-26

When we left Peter, he was telling the onlookers what they did.  It’s a damning statement, that they rejected the Holy One.  As Peter said “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.“

Acts 3:17

But then he goes on to say this “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.”  If I heard that, I would feel both ashamed and yet relieved.  He knew we were just being stupid!  Having a monumental brain fart. Can you imagine someone realizing our vast ignorance?  Granted, he first called us to account, but then said he realized we were just being ignoramuses.   But not just us, part of the generic masses, but also those in leadership over us.  All of us just being ignorant. 

Acts 3:18

I don’t know if this is meant to be a relief from the guilt of being ignorant or not, but Peter tells it straight up.  But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 

God knew this would happen.  He foretold it.  And then fulfilled it.  So the ignorance we showed in allowing Christ to be sacrificed was all part of God’s plan. 

Why was this all part of God’s plan?  

Acts 3:18

¹⁹ Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, ²⁰ that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 

So that when we come in repentance our sins can be blotted out.  So they won’t be seen anymore.  Blotters are used to absorb ink, or to document investment trades.   But we aren’t talking about that sort of blotting, but of sin being blotted out.. wiped away, stains being removed, not just covered up or documented in some way, but completely wiped away. 

Acts 3:22-24

²² Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. ²³ And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ ²⁴ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.

Do you see it?  Moses said what God was going to do.  God would raise up a prophet who should be listened to.  Not listening to him has grave consequences.  And every single prophet that followed Moses has spoken to that same truth.    

Acts 3:25

 ²⁵ You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 

So just who are we (the audience) that sacrificed Christ?   We are the offspring of Abraham, people with whom God made a covenant so that the all families of the earth are blessed.  Do you understand that?   If you are loved of by God, you are blessed.  

Acts 3:26

²⁶ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Hmmm… this verse eh? We who sacrificed Christ, who allowed a really bad guy to go free, are the first to have this chance.  What chance?  To be blessed as we are turned away from our wickedness.  It’s not us doing that turning but God turning us.  We just can’t do it on our own you know? That internal wickedness is so built into us, but then God comes along with this fantastic plan whose end result it to turn us from our wickedness. 

I can’t wait to see what we’re going to learn about next.  What about you? 

To see that despite our ignorance in killing God’s most beloved son, which he knew we would do, God’s plan for us hasn’t changed.  He wants to turn us away from our wickedness.    It’s an amazing story of love isn’t it?    Isn’t it good to learn more of God’s love for us and his plan for our lives? 

Technically the next section in Acts is Acts 3:11-26.  This is a rather large passage and rather than trying to tackle it all at once I’m going to divide it in half.   So this week we’ll do Acts 3:11-16, and then later we’ll do the rest. 

¹¹ While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. ¹² And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 

¹⁴ But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ¹⁶ And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

 If you are interested in the rest of the series you will find them here eh?   

• Acts 1:1-5
• Acts 1:6-11
• Acts 1:12-26
• Acts 2:1-13
• Acts 2:14-41
• Acts 2:42-47
• Acts 3:1-10

What Happened before Acts 3:11-16

Do you remember that just before this passage Peter, through the power of Christ within, had made a lame man whole again?  When we left them, the man was leaping around praising the Lord God for his healing.  The people surrounding them were so surprised and amazed.  Filled with wonder they were. 

Now moving forward. 

Acts 1:11

¹¹ While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s.

If like me you don’t know what a portico is, it is a structure consisting of a roof supported by columns at regular intervals, typically attached as a porch to a building.  

So  they must have been standing in the sheltered area at the temple.  A place where it would be easy for people to gather, a safe area for beggars to hang out in protected from the weather. Anyways, this portico is known as Solomon’s Porch.  If you want to know more about it, I found this helpful resource. 

So they are there, and he’s healed and the people are “utterly astounded”.  I don’t much blame them, they would have been coming to worship God, and expecting the same old same old, and then this man is healed.  And he wasn’t being quiet about it.  It was a miraculous gift from God! 

So everyone did what I would see as totally normal… they rushed over! 

Acts 3:12-16

¹² And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 

¹⁴ But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ¹⁶ And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

Peter took the opportunity to present Christ to the people. He gave them a bit of a history lesson and put them on notice for what they did. What we all did. We took this man, the son of God, and put him on trial.  Released a really bad guy. And let Jesus die.  

There were witnesses

BUT witnesses saw it! Christ rose from the dead!  There were witnesses!   So it’s true!  Christ is risen.  AND therefore through his name by faith miracles can happen!   

Do you see that caveat… it’s not just by saying the name of Jesus.  It’s the whole “by faith” clause.  One need to have faith in the Lord.   

It reminds me of that verse in Matthew where it says “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”” (17:20)

Faith is Pivotal

Without faith it’s just words you know?

Faith is what enables us as believers to do all the things that God calls us to do.  Even with a small, weak faith, it’s the faith that matters.  Not how big that faith is, just that we have faith.  

It was faith in God that enabled Peter to work a miracle.  It was faith in God that allowed Peter to talk to the crowd about why this miracle happened.  Faith in God is what allows missionaries to go out onto a foreign field.  Faith in God allows ministers to bring God’s word to us.  This faith that causes children to save up money to help other children. It is faith that helps Christian parents raise up their children to know the stories of God, the stories of faith.  Faith helps people do things that seem beyond them (like walking on water, forgiving enemies, apologizing to people wronged, loving the unlovable etc.). 

So the question is: what seemingly difficult thing can my faith let happen?  What can I ask for in the name of Jesus?  or will I let fear beat me?   

Right now, I don’t know.

Do you?