Peter preaches a powerful sermon giving all glory to God and to Christ for the prior healing, calling upon the listeners to repent of their sins and to believe the gospel.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode. This is episode 8 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. This episode is entitled Peter’s Sermon in the Temple, where we’ll discuss Acts 3:11-26. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
So, this is an amazing example of the apostolic preaching of the gospel. We’re going to hear Peter give one of the best presentations of the gospel that we ever hear in the Book of Acts, a very clear presentation tied in with prophetic scripture and a very strong and convicting application directly to the people of Jerusalem. And we see the boldness. We see how far Peter’s come himself as a man, as a person, since just a short time before that he denied even knowing who Jesus was because he was afraid for his life. The power of the Holy Spirit is on him, both to give him a supernatural boldness but also a clarity in the proclamation of the gospel. And we’re going to be able to walk through his words and see how the Lord would have us preach the gospel in our day.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read Acts 3:11-26.
While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 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? 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. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 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.
“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 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. 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. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.
“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.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
Andy, what use does Peter make of the healing in Acts 3 that we talked about last time, and what does this teach us about our modern evangelism?
Andy
Okay, so right away in verse 11, the beggar is standing there. He’s very well known. He was put or placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful to beg from the people going in there. Huge numbers of them must have put a few coins in his cup or dish or however he collected them. And so, they knew him. There’s no doubt about it that they recognized him. And now he’s standing- he’s walking, leaping and praising the Lord, and a huge crowd gathers. And so, to answer your question, what use he made of it, was he used the assembly of the crowd to preach the gospel. We’re going to see this again and again. The healings that would be done by the apostles, whether Peter or Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas, the healings would gather a crowd, and the apostles would preach.
Wes
Now, why did the crowd react so strongly to the healing?
Andy
Well, I think the crowd was amazed because they knew this man. And I mean, it’s a miracle. It’s a miracle. People like this don’t just suddenly jump up and begin walking and running and jumping. And so, they’re amazed. And we saw this again and again in Jesus’ ministry as well. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the people are stunned. They don’t know what to say. It’s incredible. And so that’s their reaction.
Wes
I think one of the things that this teaches us right away about evangelism even in our own day, is that Peter was aware of what was going on around him. He was paying attention; his eyes were open. And I could even imagine that in praying for boldness, as we’ll see them do later in the book of Acts, that they were constantly praying that the Lord by the Spirit would open their eyes to see opportunities like this. So here, Peter, it says at the beginning of verse 12, Peter saw it and then he goes on to address the people.
Andy
Yeah, that’s a good point. That’s a good point. I think for us to just be aware of what’s happening in our society, in our culture, if there’s a national calamity or a disaster like 9/11, it’s good for Christians to address it, to speak to it, to talk about the fears that people have of the future or Covid or other things. It’s like be aware of what’s happening and weave the gospel into that.
Wes
Now, it does seem a bit odd based on what we just said about how incredible it was that this man was now walking and leaping and praising, it seems a bit odd that Peter would say, “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?” Why does Peter ask this and what does Peter not want them to think concerning this healing based on verse 12?
Andy
Right. So, first of all, it is amazing. One translation says, “Why are you surprised?” But keep in mind, this is after three plus years of Jesus’ supernatural ministry. Jesus to some degree banished sickness at some level from Palestine for three years. I’m not saying no one died, but I’m just saying if you were sick of something and you made the effort to go where Jesus was, you were going to get healed. And so huge crowds came, and they all knew Jesus. This is going to be essential to Peter’s gospel presentation. You knew him, you were involved in his death, you are guilty, his blood is on you. The very thing that they said to Pilate, “Let his blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25), Peter went with that. So, they had seen the miracles Jesus had done, and so therefore they should not have been surprised.
They should have known the power of Jesus was now at work in them. Now what does he not want them to think? He doesn’t want them to think that they are anything special. “Why do you stare at us as if by our own piety or godliness we had made this man walk?” It’s not because we’re so holy and righteous. Now just pause there for a moment and see the humility in Peter. Peter was a prideful man. And when he said, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will” (Matthew 26:33) he thought himself to be the greatest believer that there was. James and John angled for positions at Jesus’ right and left. They regularly debated or argued about which of them was the greatest.
There’s all this arrogance going on, that seems to have been stripped from Peter at this point. He’s saying, “It’s not because I’m godly that God used me to do a miracle, not at all.” And so, the humility of that, like Paul says very plainly in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth.” What does that mean? We’re nothing. We’re nothing. And Peter, I think, saw that.
Wes
Now as Peter continues, why does he use the title the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, when he gives God credit for this healing?
Andy
Well, this isn’t a new religion. When he quotes Deuteronomy 18 about the prophet as he will later, Moses gives indications of how you can identify a true prophet from a false prophet. And basically, fundamentally, you have to follow and listen to the prophet that God raises up. So, we’ll get to that later in this podcast. You have to listen to him, or you will be cut off from your people. But if the prophet presumes to speak in the name of another religion or of gods that neither you nor your forefathers have known, you must put him to death. So, Jesus put people at the fork of the road, either you must worship me or you must kill me.
And they didn’t believe in him, so they killed him. And in that they thought he was a blasphemer that was completely appropriate, but they were wrong. And so, I think what he’s saying here is the God that we have worshiped, the God that we Jews have known, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified Jesus. This is not a new religion. As Jesus himself said, “Do not imagine that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). And so, Peter is fitting in with that fulfillment motif.
Wes
Now, in what way did God the Father glorify God the Son by this healing? And why does Peter refer to Jesus as God’s servant?
Andy
The resurrection is the greatest event in all of human history. It’s the greatest display of God’s glory.
Okay, so he glorified his servant Jesus by raising him from the dead first and foremost, and they are testifying, that’s the number one way. So, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus by raising him from the dead. But now a lesser glory has come through this healing, and so it is a lesser thing. The resurrection is the greatest event in all of human history. It’s the greatest display of God’s glory. And I take them together, the crucifixion and resurrection are just two sides of the exact same coin of glory. But this lesser glory is now the spreading out of Jesus’ merciful healings now through his apostles. And so, in this way, he has glorified Jesus; he’s exalted him. And this is the very thing that Jesus prayed for in John 17. He said, “Father, the hour has come. Now glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you.”
And then he said, “Give me the glory I had with you before the world began.” So, Jesus laid his glory by, as Charles Wesley put in Hark, the Herald Angels Sing… mild he lays his glory by... and so he laid it aside. That’s the Philippians 2 emptying. And then by God raising him from the dead, and he ascended into heaven, that’s the glory of God. Now, in Jesus’ name, in the name of this One who was condemned but actually was the Son of God, new miracles are happening. That’s just more glory to the name of Jesus.
Wes
And He’s also called here the Servant. Is there any connection we should make there? I think what immediately comes to my mind is Isaiah 53. So, the suffering of Christ connected then with this incredible power at work, but is there anything else we should acknowledge or learn from that title?
Andy
No, that’s it. Wes, you put your finger right on it, the servant of the Lord. And there are a number of prophecies in those chapters of Isaiah. Isaiah 53 is the most famous, but there are a number of Servant songs or Servant prophecies. And so, the idea here is that Jesus did the Father’s will. Again, it’s going to go to Philippians 2:7-8, that “he made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient, obedient to death, even death on a cross.” And so that’s Jesus as servant. He did his Father’s will even to the point of death on the cross. So that’s Jesus as the servant of God.
Wes
What’s Peter’s goal in verses 13-15 toward his audience, and what role does the resurrection play in the case that Peter makes throughout the message?
Andy
Okay, fundamentally, he’s bringing the hammer down on them. He wants them convicted very, very clearly. And so, here’s the thing, there is a breaking or a smashing work done by the Holy Spirit, a razing of the building. It’s an odd word in English- to raze a building means to level it, but there’s a razing of the building here, a leveling of their pride and of their arrogance by getting them to come face to face with their wickedness and their sin. He’s going to say it at the end, their wickedness. And so, they have been wicked, they have been rebels and they must be convicted. And so, he uses very, very clear language, and he hangs the death of Jesus around their necks as will be later said in just a few chapters in the Book of Acts. “You are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood,” that is in Acts 5. So yeah, I mean you are responsible.
But then if you read the account in Matthew, when Pilate tries to rid himself of the problem and then eventually famously washes his hands of the problem, the Jewish people standing there who are crying out, “Crucify, crucify,” said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children.” So, we are taking responsibility. Peter’s like, Fine, then you are responsible. You killed him. You demanded that a “murderer be released to you, you killed the Author of life.” And so, he wants them to feel the weight of this. And I think this tells us something about evangelism. We have to be careful how we do it, but the fact of the matter is the Holy Spirit will use us to bring people to conviction. We have to use the law, the 10 Commandments or the two Great Commandments and make people realize the seriousness and the prevalence and the abundance of their sinfulness so that they seek a Savior in Christ. And I think that’s what Peter’s doing here.
Wes
How does verse 16 give glory to Jesus Christ, and what does this verse teach us about faith- its power and its origin?
Andy
So, by faith in the name of Jesus this man whom you see and know was made strong. So fundamentally Peter’s own faith is what he’s talking about here. But also, we could argue that there was some faith in the beggar. Frequently, like we’re going to see later in the Book of Acts, where Paul saw that an individual had faith to be saved and called on him to stand to his feet. So that’s in the healing that he did in Acts 14, I think. So, at any rate, fundamentally by faith in the name of Jesus, this healing happens. Now Jesus, again and again… not always, but again and again… links faith to the healing ministry.
So, according to your faith it will be done to you, this kind of thing. And so fundamentally he does this because we know that it is by faith in the name of Jesus that our sins are forgiven. This is the fundamental characteristic of the human soul that must happen for us to be saved. And so again and again, Jesus, and then the apostles, zero in on faith. It is by faith in the name of Jesus that he was healed, and it’s going to be by faith in the name of Jesus that they will be healed from their wickedness, from their sins.
Wes
For the rest of the chapter Peter’s going to be calling for repentance and faith based on the prophets, like you mentioned a while ago. Peter almost seems to let them off the hook in verse 17 after working so hard to convict them of sin in the verses that we were just looking at. Does ignorance reduce guilt in this case? And if it does, how is that even possible?
Andy
Well, I don’t really know the answer to the question. I think it’s pretty clear that he’s laying it on very heavily that they knew exactly who he was. They had every reason to know who he was. But all of us act in ignorance. I mean, the fact of the matter is, if Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate in the full radiance of his true glory as the Son of God, would Pilate have condemned him? Pilate would have been on his face.
Wes
He’d be crushed, might even lived.
Andy
Absolutely. So fundamentally, we all act in ignorance. And I think what he’s doing here is, I don’t think he’s letting them off the hook, he’s basically diagnosing their sickness. They didn’t know who he was. And if you look at that fundamentally, that’s what ignorance is, to not know something that you could know, that is knowable. And so, Jesus himself, and again in that high priestly prayer in John 17:3, he said, “Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” So, he equates knowing God and knowing Christ with eternal life. Then later he cries out in the anguish of his heart, “Righteous Father, though the world has not known you, I have known you and I revealed you to those whom you have given me” (John 17:25).
So, there’s this whole theme of knowing God. And so, they did not know him, they did not know who Jesus was, and the best thing to call that is ignorance. But I don’t think he’s letting them off the hook. He is saying that they acted in ignorance and so did their leaders. They’re all guilty for what they did, plainly they are. But the fact of the matter is, the issue is, what you really need to know is who Jesus is. You need to be cured of your ignorance.
Wes
How does Peter use Old Testament prophecy, that you mentioned in verses 18-25, to make his points, and why is this an especially powerful appeal to the Jews?
Andy
It’s all written in prophetic scripture. This is the greatest, the most enduring, the most permanent form of evidence of the deity of Christ there is.
Okay, so this is foundational to Jesus’ credentials. The fact that Moses wrote about him, John 5:46, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” And He’s quoting scriptures again and again, the prophecies concerning his birth, his life, his death and his resurrection. It’s all written in prophetic scripture. This is the greatest, the most enduring, the most permanent form of evidence of the deity of Christ there is. The evidence of the scriptures, of the prophecies. And so, we know that in the 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and his ascension, he saturated the apostles in the Old Testament in these prophecies, and they were ready to go. By the time Peter gets up and preaches on the day of Pentecost, it’s scripture after scripture. And so fundamentally he’s quoting, he’s going to go to Deuteronomy 18 and the whole God will raise up a prophet like me passage.
So, Jesus taught them the scriptures. And remember the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, how beginning with a specific prophecy and on he showed them everything that was written in the law of Moses and the Psalms and the prophets about himself, concerning himself. And so, he’s using prophecy here saying that God had fulfilled what he had said through the prophets saying that he would suffer. Now, that’s what Peter will later write in his epistle where he said that the Spirit of Christ in the prophets was predicting the sufferings of Christ and his subsequent glories. I think Psalm 22 is the best example of that. That actually is a perfect two-part division of Psalm 22, the sufferings of Christ and subsequent glories. So, you’ve got, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?… They’ve pierced my hands and my feet. I’m poured out like water. My bones are out of joint. All my enemies surround me like strong bulls of Bashan growling at me.” That’s crucifixion, no doubt about it.
And then it ends with all nations of the earth seeing his glory and praising him and being raised up from the dust of death and in celebration, it’s just subsequent glory. So, what he’s saying is suffering, then glory. This is exactly what the Lord had predicted. And then clearly Isaiah 53:5, the suffering servant. “He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” So, this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through the prophet saying that Christ would suffer. Based on that then he calls on them to repent, to turn away from their sins and to turn to Christ in repentance and faith for the forgiveness of their sins.
Wes
What does Peter promise to them if they do repent, if they are willing to turn back from this, what is promised to them in that?
Andy
Okay, an amazing phrase. What do you have? I have times of refreshing may come from the Lord. What does your translation say?
Wes
Times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
Andy
Okay, so times of refreshing. Okay, read about it in Revelation 21 and 22. It’s called the new heavens and the new Earth. All right, that’s times of refreshing. What an understatement. But basically, with the second coming of Christ and with the consummation of Judgment Day and all of that, some people believe in a literal physical millennium. I believe in that sometimes and other times I don’t know what to think. But either way, even when the millennium is done, when all things are finished, we will have a new heaven and a new earth, and that will be very refreshing. I mean, think about that. We’ll be done forever with death, mourning, crying and pain. And I believe that it will be this Earth, this sin cursed Earth, this cursed planet that we live on, that will be in some mysterious sense resurrected through fire, resurrected through the purifying of the elements, melting in the heat and being brought through all of that into a new existence such that it is the same Earth that was promised to Abraham but perfected.
So that’s times of refreshing. And how refreshing will it be for you and me, brother, to be free forever from our sin nature, to never sin again and to never have any corrupting thoughts again? So that’s times of refreshing. And so that’s going to come with the second coming of Christ, but he’s got to stay in heaven until the time comes for that.
Wes
And that’s what Peter teaches in verse 21. What is he teaching exactly about Christ here and what’s the restoring of all things?
Andy
So, the second we’ll answer, I just spoke about it. It’s the times of refreshing equals the restoring of all things. And so, the idea here is that God didn’t intend a cursed world when he made the world beautiful. Theologians speak of a world that was on probation. At that point there was still a testing that had to happen. And Adam, on behalf of the earth, failed, and dragged the world down into a curse. And so, the creation has been groaning as in the bondage of decay until this present time. But God didn’t create a world to be groaning in the bondage of decay. He created a world to be beautiful and radiant with his glorious… Habakkuk 2:14 says the “earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” So that to me is what he means when he says he will restore all things.
In other words, make them what God intended when he originally created it. I would say better than the garden of Eden, better than the Earth on probation will be the new heaven, new earth, a perfected world. And so, he’s got to stay up in heaven until the time comes for that. Now, Peter doesn’t say when that is. Now, they thought it was right now. At the resurrection of Christ, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” And he’s like, “It’s not for you to know the times or dates.” So, he’s going to stay there until the time set by the Father, but he is coming back.
Wes
In verses 22 and 23, Peter introduces this quotation from Moses. How does Christ fulfill the role of the prophet and how does Peter’s threat in verse 23 to the unrepentant influence how we should warn people of eternal consequences of rejecting Jesus?
Andy
Okay, so this is a very important text. It’s in Deuteronomy 18:15 and following, and Moses promised that the Lord would “raise up a prophet like me from among your own people.” So, what is a prophet like me? What does that mean? Well, it goes back to the earlier time when God descended on Mount Sinai in fire, and the ground was shaking as a massive earthquake, and all of the people were terrified. And then God spoke the 10 Commandments. People think that the 10 Commandments were first engraved in stone on tablets. No, they were first spoken by the voice of God. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods besides me,” et cetera. So that’s the 10 Commandments. Well, as this is speaking, this voice, the voice of God is speaking, the people were overwhelmed with terror.
They couldn’t handle it. They were afraid that if they listened to the voice any longer, they would die. And so, they begged Moses, they said, “Please, you go up onto the mountain and hear God’s words and then come back and tell them to us.” That’s what a prophet does. That is the office of prophet. Now, I’m not saying that Abraham wasn’t a prophet or Isaac or Jacob, in some sense they were. But Moses was the first national prophet to Israel, to the nation of Israel. He went up into the glory cloud, heard God’s words, and came down and spoke them to the people, or he wrote them to the people. There were writing prophets and speaking prophets, and he was both. And what he’s saying is, the Lord will raise up another prophet like me, or a whole line of them. So, it’s somewhat like the Davidic covenant where David’s immediate son, Solomon, was a partial fulfillment of the promise made that God would raise up one of David’s sons to sit on his throne, and he would reign on it forever.
Well, the immediate fulfillment, Solomon, did not reign forever but he was in the lineage of Jesus, and Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment. And so also when it came to the office of prophet there would be other prophets, like Joshua for example, who wrote the book of Joshua, that would come along and would speak God’s words to the people and tell them what to do. And other prophets, Samuel and others would come along. And then the writing prophets who gave us the New Testament prophetic writing such as Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel, Ezekiel, et cetera, all of those prophets were in partial fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18. The key for the Jews to maintain a healthy relationship with God was to listen to the prophets and do what they said. But they didn’t. They persecuted them. They turned their backs on them. Stephen is going to make this point in Acts 7. “Was there ever a prophet you didn’t persecute? And now you’ve killed the Son.”
One prophet after the next, but they are all coming in a lineage or a line that was opened in Deuteronomy 18:15 and following. So, this office of prophet was opened up for the people and the people must listen to them or they would be cut off from the people, from the nation. So that was essential to continuing as a Jewish nation. The ultimate fulfillment of the office was Jesus. He was the ultimate messenger or apostle. The author to Hebrews calls this the apostle whom we confess. Jesus came, having stood in the presence of his Father and received words from his Father. He came, turned, and then spoke them to the people. “I say nothing except what the Father has told me to say” (John 12:49, paraphrase). That’s a prophet.
You asked about the threat. It’s a clear threat that he gives. Anyone who does not listen to him will be cut off from among the people. This is not an option. They have to listen to Jesus. They have to follow his words. It goes right to John 5:24. Jesus himself said, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life.” If you do not hear his word and do not believe, you’re still in death. You’re under condemnation. So that’s what it means that you would be cut off from the people.
Wes
And that’s helpful for us as we consider in sharing the gospel, bringing people to a point of decision. What are you going to do about Jesus, about what he said, about who he said that he was? Will you believe or will you turn away from that?
Andy
And it’s quite an amazing thing, as I said, Jesus put them at the fork in the road. They either needed to kill him as a blasphemer or worship him as the Son of God and the perfect prophet from God. You can’t have some middle road like C.S. Lewis talks about: Lord, liar, lunatic. You’ve got to make your choice. He’s either Lord or he’s a crazy man or a liar, but he’s not some middle of the road kind of good person, et cetera. Jesus forced them to make a decision, and the right decision was to fall down and worship him.
Wes
How does Peter sum up their Jewish heritage and connect it to Christ in verses 24 and 25?
Andy
Okay, so that goes to the lineage of the prophets I just mentioned. Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And that’s what he says fundamentally. So, after Moses came a whole lineage of prophets. I started with Joshua, but Peter starts with Samuel here. And so yeah, there’s this whole lineage of prophets who predicted the coming of Christ. So, again and again when Peter or Paul would go into a synagogue they would point to the prophets. They would try to explain and prove from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one that was being awaited and say, “Look, all the prophets have spoken about these days, and you, my Jewish brothers and sisters, you my fellow countrymen, you’re heirs,” he says, “of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. And he said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'”
And so, the idea is we are in the lineage now of the Jewish nation, but you can’t remain in that lineage if you don’t believe in Jesus, you’ll be cut off. Paul gives this image of a cultivated olive tree with a root system, a developed root system, that’s the Jewish heritage including the prophets, and it culminates in Jesus. Any natural branch that does not believe in Jesus gets stripped off in Romans 11, the same image that Peter gives us here.
Wes
Do you think Peter fully understood that final prophecy that he gave in verse 25 there, that all the nations would be blessed through them?
Andy
Not yet, but God’s going to educate him with this sheet of unclean animals. We’ll get to that. And he doesn’t quite understand and he struggles, too, as in the Book of Galatians 2 where he withdraws from table fellowship with the Gentiles. But the prediction is that through Jesus all nations on earth would be blessed. So, the gospel is going to the ends of the earth. So, he should have known, but it just took a while for him to break out of that pattern of thinking.
Wes
Now, verse 26 begins this final verse of the chapter that we’re looking at, with this significant word first, saying that Jesus came first to them. And this is a consistent pattern, first to the Jews and then to the Greeks. That’s how Paul describes the gospel, the power of God. What’s the significance of that in this context?
Andy
It’s just the way God chose to do it. And so same thing with the Syrophoenician woman where she comes and falls at his feet and begs Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. And in Mark’s gospel he said, “First, let the children eat all they want, for it’s not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs” (Mark 7:27). So, there’s the word first. First the Jews. So, it’s God’s way. It’s what he chose to do. And God’s ways are not our ways, but he chose to give us a Jewish Savior. He chose to graft, Wes, you and I as Gentiles… I have Irish ancestry, a Celtic background, I don’t know what your background is, maybe similar.
Wes
Scotts, Irish-
Andy
Scotts, Irish, yeah.
Wes
A little German.
Andy
So, some of that, all right, but we’re grafted into a Jewish tree and we’re sons of Abraham. We’re honorary Jews. It’s through Abraham that all peoples on earth will be blessed. And so fundamentally then the genetic Jews, the racial Jews that are literally, physically descended from Abraham, got the gospel first. It started in Jerusalem and then spread out. So that’s what the word first means. When God raised up his servant, he calls him, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning you from your wickedness. So, the wickedness is rebellion against God and against his Christ.
Wes
How is repentance and the fruit in keeping with it essential to salvation according to verse 26, and what final thoughts do you have for us on this passage?
Andy
When God saves you, he turns you from wickedness. This is the calling. Again in 2 Timothy 2, there’s this inscription, the Lord’s work, like a structure, is sealed with his inscription. The Lord knows those who are his, and let all those who are godly turn away from wickedness. And so that’s fundamental to salvation. It’s some of the works that James told us. Faith without works is dead. And the works are holiness, that we put sin to death. Again, Romans 8:13 says plainly, “If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you’ll live.” But if not, you’ll die. And die means go to hell. So fundamentally, when God saves you, he turns us from wickedness. Final word here is I think this section of Acts is a phenomenal example of how we can and should preach the gospel in our generation.
Wes
Well, this has been Episode 8 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast, and we want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 9 entitled Peter and John Arrested for Healing a Man, where we’ll discuss Acts 4:1-12. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys Podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
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Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode. This is episode 8 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. This episode is entitled Peter’s Sermon in the Temple, where we’ll discuss Acts 3:11-26. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
So, this is an amazing example of the apostolic preaching of the gospel. We’re going to hear Peter give one of the best presentations of the gospel that we ever hear in the Book of Acts, a very clear presentation tied in with prophetic scripture and a very strong and convicting application directly to the people of Jerusalem. And we see the boldness. We see how far Peter’s come himself as a man, as a person, since just a short time before that he denied even knowing who Jesus was because he was afraid for his life. The power of the Holy Spirit is on him, both to give him a supernatural boldness but also a clarity in the proclamation of the gospel. And we’re going to be able to walk through his words and see how the Lord would have us preach the gospel in our day.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read Acts 3:11-26.
While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 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? 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. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 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.
“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 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. 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. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.
“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.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
Andy, what use does Peter make of the healing in Acts 3 that we talked about last time, and what does this teach us about our modern evangelism?
Andy
Okay, so right away in verse 11, the beggar is standing there. He’s very well known. He was put or placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful to beg from the people going in there. Huge numbers of them must have put a few coins in his cup or dish or however he collected them. And so, they knew him. There’s no doubt about it that they recognized him. And now he’s standing- he’s walking, leaping and praising the Lord, and a huge crowd gathers. And so, to answer your question, what use he made of it, was he used the assembly of the crowd to preach the gospel. We’re going to see this again and again. The healings that would be done by the apostles, whether Peter or Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas, the healings would gather a crowd, and the apostles would preach.
Wes
Now, why did the crowd react so strongly to the healing?
Andy
Well, I think the crowd was amazed because they knew this man. And I mean, it’s a miracle. It’s a miracle. People like this don’t just suddenly jump up and begin walking and running and jumping. And so, they’re amazed. And we saw this again and again in Jesus’ ministry as well. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the people are stunned. They don’t know what to say. It’s incredible. And so that’s their reaction.
Wes
I think one of the things that this teaches us right away about evangelism even in our own day, is that Peter was aware of what was going on around him. He was paying attention; his eyes were open. And I could even imagine that in praying for boldness, as we’ll see them do later in the book of Acts, that they were constantly praying that the Lord by the Spirit would open their eyes to see opportunities like this. So here, Peter, it says at the beginning of verse 12, Peter saw it and then he goes on to address the people.
Andy
Yeah, that’s a good point. That’s a good point. I think for us to just be aware of what’s happening in our society, in our culture, if there’s a national calamity or a disaster like 9/11, it’s good for Christians to address it, to speak to it, to talk about the fears that people have of the future or Covid or other things. It’s like be aware of what’s happening and weave the gospel into that.
Wes
Now, it does seem a bit odd based on what we just said about how incredible it was that this man was now walking and leaping and praising, it seems a bit odd that Peter would say, “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?” Why does Peter ask this and what does Peter not want them to think concerning this healing based on verse 12?
Andy
Right. So, first of all, it is amazing. One translation says, “Why are you surprised?” But keep in mind, this is after three plus years of Jesus’ supernatural ministry. Jesus to some degree banished sickness at some level from Palestine for three years. I’m not saying no one died, but I’m just saying if you were sick of something and you made the effort to go where Jesus was, you were going to get healed. And so huge crowds came, and they all knew Jesus. This is going to be essential to Peter’s gospel presentation. You knew him, you were involved in his death, you are guilty, his blood is on you. The very thing that they said to Pilate, “Let his blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25), Peter went with that. So, they had seen the miracles Jesus had done, and so therefore they should not have been surprised.
They should have known the power of Jesus was now at work in them. Now what does he not want them to think? He doesn’t want them to think that they are anything special. “Why do you stare at us as if by our own piety or godliness we had made this man walk?” It’s not because we’re so holy and righteous. Now just pause there for a moment and see the humility in Peter. Peter was a prideful man. And when he said, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will” (Matthew 26:33) he thought himself to be the greatest believer that there was. James and John angled for positions at Jesus’ right and left. They regularly debated or argued about which of them was the greatest.
There’s all this arrogance going on, that seems to have been stripped from Peter at this point. He’s saying, “It’s not because I’m godly that God used me to do a miracle, not at all.” And so, the humility of that, like Paul says very plainly in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth.” What does that mean? We’re nothing. We’re nothing. And Peter, I think, saw that.
Wes
Now as Peter continues, why does he use the title the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, when he gives God credit for this healing?
Andy
Well, this isn’t a new religion. When he quotes Deuteronomy 18 about the prophet as he will later, Moses gives indications of how you can identify a true prophet from a false prophet. And basically, fundamentally, you have to follow and listen to the prophet that God raises up. So, we’ll get to that later in this podcast. You have to listen to him, or you will be cut off from your people. But if the prophet presumes to speak in the name of another religion or of gods that neither you nor your forefathers have known, you must put him to death. So, Jesus put people at the fork of the road, either you must worship me or you must kill me.
And they didn’t believe in him, so they killed him. And in that they thought he was a blasphemer that was completely appropriate, but they were wrong. And so, I think what he’s saying here is the God that we have worshiped, the God that we Jews have known, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified Jesus. This is not a new religion. As Jesus himself said, “Do not imagine that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). And so, Peter is fitting in with that fulfillment motif.
Wes
Now, in what way did God the Father glorify God the Son by this healing? And why does Peter refer to Jesus as God’s servant?
Andy
The resurrection is the greatest event in all of human history. It’s the greatest display of God’s glory.
Okay, so he glorified his servant Jesus by raising him from the dead first and foremost, and they are testifying, that’s the number one way. So, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus by raising him from the dead. But now a lesser glory has come through this healing, and so it is a lesser thing. The resurrection is the greatest event in all of human history. It’s the greatest display of God’s glory. And I take them together, the crucifixion and resurrection are just two sides of the exact same coin of glory. But this lesser glory is now the spreading out of Jesus’ merciful healings now through his apostles. And so, in this way, he has glorified Jesus; he’s exalted him. And this is the very thing that Jesus prayed for in John 17. He said, “Father, the hour has come. Now glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you.”
And then he said, “Give me the glory I had with you before the world began.” So, Jesus laid his glory by, as Charles Wesley put in Hark, the Herald Angels Sing… mild he lays his glory by... and so he laid it aside. That’s the Philippians 2 emptying. And then by God raising him from the dead, and he ascended into heaven, that’s the glory of God. Now, in Jesus’ name, in the name of this One who was condemned but actually was the Son of God, new miracles are happening. That’s just more glory to the name of Jesus.
Wes
And He’s also called here the Servant. Is there any connection we should make there? I think what immediately comes to my mind is Isaiah 53. So, the suffering of Christ connected then with this incredible power at work, but is there anything else we should acknowledge or learn from that title?
Andy
No, that’s it. Wes, you put your finger right on it, the servant of the Lord. And there are a number of prophecies in those chapters of Isaiah. Isaiah 53 is the most famous, but there are a number of Servant songs or Servant prophecies. And so, the idea here is that Jesus did the Father’s will. Again, it’s going to go to Philippians 2:7-8, that “he made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient, obedient to death, even death on a cross.” And so that’s Jesus as servant. He did his Father’s will even to the point of death on the cross. So that’s Jesus as the servant of God.
Wes
What’s Peter’s goal in verses 13-15 toward his audience, and what role does the resurrection play in the case that Peter makes throughout the message?
Andy
Okay, fundamentally, he’s bringing the hammer down on them. He wants them convicted very, very clearly. And so, here’s the thing, there is a breaking or a smashing work done by the Holy Spirit, a razing of the building. It’s an odd word in English- to raze a building means to level it, but there’s a razing of the building here, a leveling of their pride and of their arrogance by getting them to come face to face with their wickedness and their sin. He’s going to say it at the end, their wickedness. And so, they have been wicked, they have been rebels and they must be convicted. And so, he uses very, very clear language, and he hangs the death of Jesus around their necks as will be later said in just a few chapters in the Book of Acts. “You are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood,” that is in Acts 5. So yeah, I mean you are responsible.
But then if you read the account in Matthew, when Pilate tries to rid himself of the problem and then eventually famously washes his hands of the problem, the Jewish people standing there who are crying out, “Crucify, crucify,” said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children.” So, we are taking responsibility. Peter’s like, Fine, then you are responsible. You killed him. You demanded that a “murderer be released to you, you killed the Author of life.” And so, he wants them to feel the weight of this. And I think this tells us something about evangelism. We have to be careful how we do it, but the fact of the matter is the Holy Spirit will use us to bring people to conviction. We have to use the law, the 10 Commandments or the two Great Commandments and make people realize the seriousness and the prevalence and the abundance of their sinfulness so that they seek a Savior in Christ. And I think that’s what Peter’s doing here.
Wes
How does verse 16 give glory to Jesus Christ, and what does this verse teach us about faith- its power and its origin?
Andy
So, by faith in the name of Jesus this man whom you see and know was made strong. So fundamentally Peter’s own faith is what he’s talking about here. But also, we could argue that there was some faith in the beggar. Frequently, like we’re going to see later in the Book of Acts, where Paul saw that an individual had faith to be saved and called on him to stand to his feet. So that’s in the healing that he did in Acts 14, I think. So, at any rate, fundamentally by faith in the name of Jesus, this healing happens. Now Jesus, again and again… not always, but again and again… links faith to the healing ministry.
So, according to your faith it will be done to you, this kind of thing. And so fundamentally he does this because we know that it is by faith in the name of Jesus that our sins are forgiven. This is the fundamental characteristic of the human soul that must happen for us to be saved. And so again and again, Jesus, and then the apostles, zero in on faith. It is by faith in the name of Jesus that he was healed, and it’s going to be by faith in the name of Jesus that they will be healed from their wickedness, from their sins.
Wes
For the rest of the chapter Peter’s going to be calling for repentance and faith based on the prophets, like you mentioned a while ago. Peter almost seems to let them off the hook in verse 17 after working so hard to convict them of sin in the verses that we were just looking at. Does ignorance reduce guilt in this case? And if it does, how is that even possible?
Andy
Well, I don’t really know the answer to the question. I think it’s pretty clear that he’s laying it on very heavily that they knew exactly who he was. They had every reason to know who he was. But all of us act in ignorance. I mean, the fact of the matter is, if Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate in the full radiance of his true glory as the Son of God, would Pilate have condemned him? Pilate would have been on his face.
Wes
He’d be crushed, might even lived.
Andy
Absolutely. So fundamentally, we all act in ignorance. And I think what he’s doing here is, I don’t think he’s letting them off the hook, he’s basically diagnosing their sickness. They didn’t know who he was. And if you look at that fundamentally, that’s what ignorance is, to not know something that you could know, that is knowable. And so, Jesus himself, and again in that high priestly prayer in John 17:3, he said, “Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” So, he equates knowing God and knowing Christ with eternal life. Then later he cries out in the anguish of his heart, “Righteous Father, though the world has not known you, I have known you and I revealed you to those whom you have given me” (John 17:25).
So, there’s this whole theme of knowing God. And so, they did not know him, they did not know who Jesus was, and the best thing to call that is ignorance. But I don’t think he’s letting them off the hook. He is saying that they acted in ignorance and so did their leaders. They’re all guilty for what they did, plainly they are. But the fact of the matter is, the issue is, what you really need to know is who Jesus is. You need to be cured of your ignorance.
Wes
How does Peter use Old Testament prophecy, that you mentioned in verses 18-25, to make his points, and why is this an especially powerful appeal to the Jews?
Andy
It’s all written in prophetic scripture. This is the greatest, the most enduring, the most permanent form of evidence of the deity of Christ there is.
Okay, so this is foundational to Jesus’ credentials. The fact that Moses wrote about him, John 5:46, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” And He’s quoting scriptures again and again, the prophecies concerning his birth, his life, his death and his resurrection. It’s all written in prophetic scripture. This is the greatest, the most enduring, the most permanent form of evidence of the deity of Christ there is. The evidence of the scriptures, of the prophecies. And so, we know that in the 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and his ascension, he saturated the apostles in the Old Testament in these prophecies, and they were ready to go. By the time Peter gets up and preaches on the day of Pentecost, it’s scripture after scripture. And so fundamentally he’s quoting, he’s going to go to Deuteronomy 18 and the whole God will raise up a prophet like me passage.
So, Jesus taught them the scriptures. And remember the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, how beginning with a specific prophecy and on he showed them everything that was written in the law of Moses and the Psalms and the prophets about himself, concerning himself. And so, he’s using prophecy here saying that God had fulfilled what he had said through the prophets saying that he would suffer. Now, that’s what Peter will later write in his epistle where he said that the Spirit of Christ in the prophets was predicting the sufferings of Christ and his subsequent glories. I think Psalm 22 is the best example of that. That actually is a perfect two-part division of Psalm 22, the sufferings of Christ and subsequent glories. So, you’ve got, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?… They’ve pierced my hands and my feet. I’m poured out like water. My bones are out of joint. All my enemies surround me like strong bulls of Bashan growling at me.” That’s crucifixion, no doubt about it.
And then it ends with all nations of the earth seeing his glory and praising him and being raised up from the dust of death and in celebration, it’s just subsequent glory. So, what he’s saying is suffering, then glory. This is exactly what the Lord had predicted. And then clearly Isaiah 53:5, the suffering servant. “He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” So, this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through the prophet saying that Christ would suffer. Based on that then he calls on them to repent, to turn away from their sins and to turn to Christ in repentance and faith for the forgiveness of their sins.
Wes
What does Peter promise to them if they do repent, if they are willing to turn back from this, what is promised to them in that?
Andy
Okay, an amazing phrase. What do you have? I have times of refreshing may come from the Lord. What does your translation say?
Wes
Times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
Andy
Okay, so times of refreshing. Okay, read about it in Revelation 21 and 22. It’s called the new heavens and the new Earth. All right, that’s times of refreshing. What an understatement. But basically, with the second coming of Christ and with the consummation of Judgment Day and all of that, some people believe in a literal physical millennium. I believe in that sometimes and other times I don’t know what to think. But either way, even when the millennium is done, when all things are finished, we will have a new heaven and a new earth, and that will be very refreshing. I mean, think about that. We’ll be done forever with death, mourning, crying and pain. And I believe that it will be this Earth, this sin cursed Earth, this cursed planet that we live on, that will be in some mysterious sense resurrected through fire, resurrected through the purifying of the elements, melting in the heat and being brought through all of that into a new existence such that it is the same Earth that was promised to Abraham but perfected.
So that’s times of refreshing. And how refreshing will it be for you and me, brother, to be free forever from our sin nature, to never sin again and to never have any corrupting thoughts again? So that’s times of refreshing. And so that’s going to come with the second coming of Christ, but he’s got to stay in heaven until the time comes for that.
Wes
And that’s what Peter teaches in verse 21. What is he teaching exactly about Christ here and what’s the restoring of all things?
Andy
So, the second we’ll answer, I just spoke about it. It’s the times of refreshing equals the restoring of all things. And so, the idea here is that God didn’t intend a cursed world when he made the world beautiful. Theologians speak of a world that was on probation. At that point there was still a testing that had to happen. And Adam, on behalf of the earth, failed, and dragged the world down into a curse. And so, the creation has been groaning as in the bondage of decay until this present time. But God didn’t create a world to be groaning in the bondage of decay. He created a world to be beautiful and radiant with his glorious… Habakkuk 2:14 says the “earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” So that to me is what he means when he says he will restore all things.
In other words, make them what God intended when he originally created it. I would say better than the garden of Eden, better than the Earth on probation will be the new heaven, new earth, a perfected world. And so, he’s got to stay up in heaven until the time comes for that. Now, Peter doesn’t say when that is. Now, they thought it was right now. At the resurrection of Christ, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” And he’s like, “It’s not for you to know the times or dates.” So, he’s going to stay there until the time set by the Father, but he is coming back.
Wes
In verses 22 and 23, Peter introduces this quotation from Moses. How does Christ fulfill the role of the prophet and how does Peter’s threat in verse 23 to the unrepentant influence how we should warn people of eternal consequences of rejecting Jesus?
Andy
Okay, so this is a very important text. It’s in Deuteronomy 18:15 and following, and Moses promised that the Lord would “raise up a prophet like me from among your own people.” So, what is a prophet like me? What does that mean? Well, it goes back to the earlier time when God descended on Mount Sinai in fire, and the ground was shaking as a massive earthquake, and all of the people were terrified. And then God spoke the 10 Commandments. People think that the 10 Commandments were first engraved in stone on tablets. No, they were first spoken by the voice of God. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods besides me,” et cetera. So that’s the 10 Commandments. Well, as this is speaking, this voice, the voice of God is speaking, the people were overwhelmed with terror.
They couldn’t handle it. They were afraid that if they listened to the voice any longer, they would die. And so, they begged Moses, they said, “Please, you go up onto the mountain and hear God’s words and then come back and tell them to us.” That’s what a prophet does. That is the office of prophet. Now, I’m not saying that Abraham wasn’t a prophet or Isaac or Jacob, in some sense they were. But Moses was the first national prophet to Israel, to the nation of Israel. He went up into the glory cloud, heard God’s words, and came down and spoke them to the people, or he wrote them to the people. There were writing prophets and speaking prophets, and he was both. And what he’s saying is, the Lord will raise up another prophet like me, or a whole line of them. So, it’s somewhat like the Davidic covenant where David’s immediate son, Solomon, was a partial fulfillment of the promise made that God would raise up one of David’s sons to sit on his throne, and he would reign on it forever.
Well, the immediate fulfillment, Solomon, did not reign forever but he was in the lineage of Jesus, and Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment. And so also when it came to the office of prophet there would be other prophets, like Joshua for example, who wrote the book of Joshua, that would come along and would speak God’s words to the people and tell them what to do. And other prophets, Samuel and others would come along. And then the writing prophets who gave us the New Testament prophetic writing such as Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel, Ezekiel, et cetera, all of those prophets were in partial fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18. The key for the Jews to maintain a healthy relationship with God was to listen to the prophets and do what they said. But they didn’t. They persecuted them. They turned their backs on them. Stephen is going to make this point in Acts 7. “Was there ever a prophet you didn’t persecute? And now you’ve killed the Son.”
One prophet after the next, but they are all coming in a lineage or a line that was opened in Deuteronomy 18:15 and following. So, this office of prophet was opened up for the people and the people must listen to them or they would be cut off from the people, from the nation. So that was essential to continuing as a Jewish nation. The ultimate fulfillment of the office was Jesus. He was the ultimate messenger or apostle. The author to Hebrews calls this the apostle whom we confess. Jesus came, having stood in the presence of his Father and received words from his Father. He came, turned, and then spoke them to the people. “I say nothing except what the Father has told me to say” (John 12:49, paraphrase). That’s a prophet.
You asked about the threat. It’s a clear threat that he gives. Anyone who does not listen to him will be cut off from among the people. This is not an option. They have to listen to Jesus. They have to follow his words. It goes right to John 5:24. Jesus himself said, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life.” If you do not hear his word and do not believe, you’re still in death. You’re under condemnation. So that’s what it means that you would be cut off from the people.
Wes
And that’s helpful for us as we consider in sharing the gospel, bringing people to a point of decision. What are you going to do about Jesus, about what he said, about who he said that he was? Will you believe or will you turn away from that?
Andy
And it’s quite an amazing thing, as I said, Jesus put them at the fork in the road. They either needed to kill him as a blasphemer or worship him as the Son of God and the perfect prophet from God. You can’t have some middle road like C.S. Lewis talks about: Lord, liar, lunatic. You’ve got to make your choice. He’s either Lord or he’s a crazy man or a liar, but he’s not some middle of the road kind of good person, et cetera. Jesus forced them to make a decision, and the right decision was to fall down and worship him.
Wes
How does Peter sum up their Jewish heritage and connect it to Christ in verses 24 and 25?
Andy
Okay, so that goes to the lineage of the prophets I just mentioned. Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And that’s what he says fundamentally. So, after Moses came a whole lineage of prophets. I started with Joshua, but Peter starts with Samuel here. And so yeah, there’s this whole lineage of prophets who predicted the coming of Christ. So, again and again when Peter or Paul would go into a synagogue they would point to the prophets. They would try to explain and prove from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one that was being awaited and say, “Look, all the prophets have spoken about these days, and you, my Jewish brothers and sisters, you my fellow countrymen, you’re heirs,” he says, “of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. And he said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'”
And so, the idea is we are in the lineage now of the Jewish nation, but you can’t remain in that lineage if you don’t believe in Jesus, you’ll be cut off. Paul gives this image of a cultivated olive tree with a root system, a developed root system, that’s the Jewish heritage including the prophets, and it culminates in Jesus. Any natural branch that does not believe in Jesus gets stripped off in Romans 11, the same image that Peter gives us here.
Wes
Do you think Peter fully understood that final prophecy that he gave in verse 25 there, that all the nations would be blessed through them?
Andy
Not yet, but God’s going to educate him with this sheet of unclean animals. We’ll get to that. And he doesn’t quite understand and he struggles, too, as in the Book of Galatians 2 where he withdraws from table fellowship with the Gentiles. But the prediction is that through Jesus all nations on earth would be blessed. So, the gospel is going to the ends of the earth. So, he should have known, but it just took a while for him to break out of that pattern of thinking.
Wes
Now, verse 26 begins this final verse of the chapter that we’re looking at, with this significant word first, saying that Jesus came first to them. And this is a consistent pattern, first to the Jews and then to the Greeks. That’s how Paul describes the gospel, the power of God. What’s the significance of that in this context?
Andy
It’s just the way God chose to do it. And so same thing with the Syrophoenician woman where she comes and falls at his feet and begs Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. And in Mark’s gospel he said, “First, let the children eat all they want, for it’s not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs” (Mark 7:27). So, there’s the word first. First the Jews. So, it’s God’s way. It’s what he chose to do. And God’s ways are not our ways, but he chose to give us a Jewish Savior. He chose to graft, Wes, you and I as Gentiles… I have Irish ancestry, a Celtic background, I don’t know what your background is, maybe similar.
Wes
Scotts, Irish-
Andy
Scotts, Irish, yeah.
Wes
A little German.
Andy
So, some of that, all right, but we’re grafted into a Jewish tree and we’re sons of Abraham. We’re honorary Jews. It’s through Abraham that all peoples on earth will be blessed. And so fundamentally then the genetic Jews, the racial Jews that are literally, physically descended from Abraham, got the gospel first. It started in Jerusalem and then spread out. So that’s what the word first means. When God raised up his servant, he calls him, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning you from your wickedness. So, the wickedness is rebellion against God and against his Christ.
Wes
How is repentance and the fruit in keeping with it essential to salvation according to verse 26, and what final thoughts do you have for us on this passage?
Andy
When God saves you, he turns you from wickedness. This is the calling. Again in 2 Timothy 2, there’s this inscription, the Lord’s work, like a structure, is sealed with his inscription. The Lord knows those who are his, and let all those who are godly turn away from wickedness. And so that’s fundamental to salvation. It’s some of the works that James told us. Faith without works is dead. And the works are holiness, that we put sin to death. Again, Romans 8:13 says plainly, “If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you’ll live.” But if not, you’ll die. And die means go to hell. So fundamentally, when God saves you, he turns us from wickedness. Final word here is I think this section of Acts is a phenomenal example of how we can and should preach the gospel in our generation.
Wes
Well, this has been Episode 8 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast, and we want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 9 entitled Peter and John Arrested for Healing a Man, where we’ll discuss Acts 4:1-12. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys Podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
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