The Son of God came down
to this earth to bring man back to the life that God intended for him to
experience. With the Son of God being incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, He
would accomplish that which was necessary for the restoration of man.
Living in the likeness of a man, Jesus Christ (truly God) did not resist
or prohibit the Father from taking him (truly man) to the death of his
humanity. In the mystery of the God-man, Jesus Christ did what no other
man could do. He experienced the death of the flesh in order to experience
the life of the spirit.
Man in his foolishness hurt himself when he partook in what he thought
would be a grand and noble venture. Having experienced the breath of God
thereby becoming a breathing creature, a living soul, he thought that he
himself could take control of that breath of life. Although he was
experiencing life because he was experiencing God, he foolishly perceived
that he could manipulate the life he was experiencing.
Not understanding that it was not the circumstances of life that produce
the joy of living but the experiencing of God in those circumstances, man
began to think that he could experience life in the events of the
circumstances themselves. Desiring for the sensations of life through
experiencing certain desired circumstances, he became a slave to his own
passions. He became depraved.
It is to this depravity that Peter preached the second message that Luke
records in the Acts of the Apostles. The context of the message begins
when Peter and John meets a lame man at the gate of the Temple. As they
were entering the Temple at the hour of prayer, a beggar got their
attention. Although Peter and John had possibly seen this beggar many time
previously (he had been lame from birth and was carried daily to the
Temple to ask for alms), something unique would occur on this day. The man
would not receive alms from Peter and John but a miraculous healing of his
physical body (Acts of the Apostles 3:1-8).
When Peter told the man to look at John and himself, the man’s attention
became focused upon them. Expecting to receive alms from them, he knew
nothing of the miracle that was about to occur. Peter, making one of the
great statements recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, said, "Silver
and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee . . ." (3:6).
Peter had Jesus Christ abiding within him. Moreover, Christ had been
raised to become the essence of Peter’s life. Being baptized with the
Holy Spirit, Peter was living in the power of the risen Christ. He said,
". . . in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk"
(3:6). The resurrected Christ, through the mouth of Peter, told the man to
stand to his feet and be healed. The man immediately rose to his feet to
walk for the first time in his life.
Standing, leaping, walking, and praising God, the man caused much
astonishment and bewilderment among the people. They ran with amazement to
Peter and John who was being detained by the healed man. Peter then makes
a second great statement. He said, "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye
at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or
holiness we had made this man to walk?" (Acts of the Apostles 3:12).
There seems to be something within man that always makes him susceptible
to the temptation that he himself has the capability to produce the
wonders of life. Peter, who had been taken to his martyrdom by the Holy
Spirit (John 21:18,19), however, knew that it was not his power or his
holiness that had produced this miracle. It was Christ now being
manifested in his life for he had been baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Peter saw, spoke, and thought from a different realm of existence.
The Christ within Peter was the means of the miracle. As Peter said to the
people, concerning the lame man walking, "The God of Abraham, and of
Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son
Jesus" (Acts of the Apostles 3:13). The wonder of walking, the wonder
of a man walking as he should walk, is always produced by God through His
Son Jesus Christ. When Jesus becomes the Christ, the Holy Spirit baptizer
(Mark 1:8), in one’s life, right steps will always be taken by man.
It is not a coincidence that the healing of the lame man at the gate of
the temple occurred on this day. The miracle was not just the physical
miracle of a lame man being healed. It was also the revelation that the
risen Christ is the means by which all men can be turned from their evil
walk to the life of righteousness (Acts of the Apostles 3:26). It
indicated the power of the Holy Spirit to save man from his depravity.
The certainty of man being saved from his iniquities is the message of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the message of being baptized with the Holy
Spirit. With a new way of seeing, of speaking, and of thinking, man can
enjoy the life God intended for him to experience. As Peter said,
following the miracle, that God would send Jesus to man that man might
have "perfect soundness" (Acts of the Apostles 3:16). Jesus will
come into the life of every man to give him the abundant life for He is
the "Prince of life" (Acts of the Apostles 3:15).
Peter told the bewildered crowd that the Jesus whom they had crucified and
slain God had raised from the dead. Peter and John were witnesses to that
fact not only because He appeared unto them before He ascended but, more
importantly, because He had returned to them in the power of the Holy
Spirit. In their martyrdom (the coming to the end of themselves as
indicated by their behavior after Jesus was crucified [Luke 24:11; John
20:19; Mark 16:10,11]), Jesus would come to them and be raised out of them
in the free flow of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
The power to make a lame men walk is only in the name of Jesus Christ. The
faithfulness of Jesus to do what He said He would do is the means by which
all men can be made perfectly sound. As Peter said, "the faith which
is by him (Jesus) hath given him (the lame man) perfect soundness"
(Acts of the Apostles 3:16). Jesus Christ is the only man that has ever
been faithful. He is the only One that can produce perfect soundness in
man.
Jesus had told those early believers that "In my Father's house are
many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a
place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,
and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also"
(John 14:2,3). Then, He added, "Yet a little while, and the world
seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also"
(John 14:19). Again, He stated, "At that day ye shall know that I am
in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be
loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to
him" (John 14:20,21). Finally, Jesus said, "If a man love me, he
will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto
him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23).
The promise of the Father, the sending of Jesus Christ into to the lives
of the believer in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, reveals the
faithfulness of Jesus. He said that He must go away but that He would come
again. The death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Jesus Christ into
the lives of believers is the hope of every man.
It is always the ignorance of man that crucifies and entombs the life of
Christ (Acts of the Apostles 3:17). It is always the Father through the
power of the Holy Spirit that raises Jesus to life again (Ephesians
2:1-9). The death of Jesus was necessary not only as penalty for sin but,
more importantly, to fulfill the essence of all created life. As Paul
stated, "For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the
creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Romans 8:20,21).
The physical essence of creation does not have the capability to produce
life. It was created subject to vanity. All created beings
experience life only as they continually die off to enable the essence of
life within them to come forth. Jesus stated, as He approached His death,
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit" (John 12:24). Jesus is not only stating the truth of His death
and His resurrection but also the life principle of all creation: "He
that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal" (John 12:25).
All the prophets had stated that Christ must experience His passion before
God, the Father, could raise Him (Acts of the Apostles 3:18). With Jesus
being raised from the dead, all men now can experience that same
resurrection power. They, too, can experience newness of life.
The newness of life for man can only come, however, with the death of the
old life. Again, Peter stated to the bewildered crowd, after the miracle
of the lame man walking, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from
the presence of the Lord" (Acts of the Apostles 3:19). With repent
meaning "to think differently, or afterward, i.e. reconsider,"
newness of life can only come with a different way of thinking. The old
way of thinking must come to an end. A new way of thinking must begin.
It is only the presence of the Lord that brings the new way of
thinking. With presence meaning, "the front (as being towards
view), i.e. the countenance, aspect, appearance, surface," the secret
and mystery of life is once again revealed. From the first commandment of
God given to Moses ("Thou shalt have none other gods before
me" [Deut. 5:7]) to one of the last statement of God given to John
("And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their
foreheads" [Rev. 22:4]), man is told again and again that he
experiences life only when he is face-to-face with God. Man experiences
life because he experience God.
It is only when Jesus Christ, the fullness of the Godhead, comes forth out
of the life of man will man encounter the life that God intended for him
to experience. As Peter said, "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which
before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times
of restitution of all things . . ." (Acts of the Apostles 3:20,21).
Jesus Christ can be raised in the believer’s life only in the restitution
of all things.
With restitution meaning, "reconstitution," man has to be
restored to his original intention before the times of refreshing
(literal meaning "a recovery of breath ) can be experienced. Jesus
Christ must once again be the very breath of man. He must become man’s
way of life. Again, as Peter stated when he quoted Moses, "A prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me;
him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you"
(Acts of the Apostles 3:22).
Those who can hear this Prophet will be blessed. Those "which will
not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people"
(Acts of the Apostles 3:23). Once again the secret and mystery of life is
given, hear Jesus and be blessed (Acts of the Apostles 3:25).
The blessings of God (experiencing the life of God) can flow freely
because God has raised up his Son Jesus. The message of the
primitive church was simple yet powerful, Jesus Christ had been raised
from the dead. It was more than just a message. It was a new way of life.
They were witnesses unto Jesus. Encountering the martyrdom of their
humanity, they were experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit. They were
living what the Father had promise. He had raised His Son from the dead,
took Him into heaven, and sent Him back to bless them (Acts of the
Apostles 3:26). The death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Jesus
Christ was giving them a new way of speaking, a new way of seeing, and a
new way of thinking.
Just as the lame man who was healed to walk physically, Jesus Christ was
enabling those early believers to walk spiritually. They were being saved
from their depravity (iniquities). Jesus Christ had come into their
lives to be raised to be the essence of their thinking, their seeing, and
their speaking. They could now walk as kingdom saints in the power of the
Holy Spirit for they were being baptized with the Holy Spirit.
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