Call to Commitment

 Chapter 3:1-10

  

The Healing of a Lame Man

1. Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
2. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;
3. who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.

4.  And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." 

5. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 

6. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." 

7. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 

8. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 

9. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 

10. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 

11. Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. 

12. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 

 God had commanded His people, through Moses, before their entrance into the Promised Land, that He would choose a place, where they would worship. Once this place was shown to them, they could only worship there: “Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; but in the place which the LORD chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and, there you shall do all that I command you.” (It would be good to read the entire portion in Deuteronomy 12:5-14 to see the strict rule concerning worship at that place.)

  

38. Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

39. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." 

40. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." 

41. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 

42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 

43. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 

44. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 

45. and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 

46. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 

47. praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. 

 I believe that it is necessary to repeat and reemphasize, the fact that Peter declared that the promise of God was universal, concerning the Holy Spirit. What had happened on the day of Pentecost was not only for Peter’s audience of Jews and proselytes from many different areas of the known world. When he said that it was for their children, he must have been referring to the following generation, many of whom stayed behind and did not make the long journey from their homes in different lands to Jerusalem. 

The astounding part, that the reader of Acts must consider, is that the latter part of the statement, is God’s promise to “all who are afar off.” His promise crosses every border and stretches across the globe, restricting no area nor any people. It is a universal call. The first apostles were commissioned to go into all the world, preach and open the door of the gospel to the world’s population. This was the call to all people, “as many as the Lord our God will call." The apostle John continues with the call at the end of the New Testament canon: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Rv.22:17). 

14. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of
Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.

 

 

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit

1.      When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 

2.     And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 

3.     Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 

4.      And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

5.     And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 

6.     And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 

7.     Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 

8.     And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 

9.     Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 

10.  Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 

11.  Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 

12.  So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” 

13.  Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”  

The expression, “When the day of Pentecost was fully come,” described the counting of 50 days from the Feast of Firstfruits, marking the fact that the required 50^th day had arrived since Firstfruits. I will attempt to show the entire law, concerning this Old Testament feast day, as a background to our present study of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost (Gr. Fiftieth) was the Greek term, for which the Hebrews called the Feast of Weeks. The purpose of the feast was a joyful celebration for the first fruits of the wheat harvest.

 You may study the sequence of events leading up to Pentecost in Leviticus 23:5-16. Passover took place on the 14^th of the first Jewish month, The day after Passover, the 15, was the Feast of Unleavened Bread and on the following day, the 16^th of the month began the counting of seven weeks, or 49 days, and the following day after the seventh week, the 50^th day, was the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.

 Several times, the Old Testament mentions that every Jewish male must be present in Jerusalem three times a year… “All your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles” (Dt. 16:16). According to our calendar, these feasts occurred in March, May and September. 

  

The ascension and promise of His return

6.  Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 

7.     And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 

8.     But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." 

9.     Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 

10.  And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 

11.  who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." 

 The disciples were preoccupied with the question posed in verse 6 the entire time that they followed Christ..."Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" For that reason, James and John asked to sit on His right and left hand in His glory (Mr.10:37). It expressed the same concept, which the Jews, in general, had concerning the coming of the Messiah. They thought that He should be a great Prince of Peace, who would deliver Israel from the oppression of their enemies, especially the Romans, who ruled over them, during His time on earth. After He fed 5,000 men, plus women and children, there was a strong contingent among the people, who wanted to make Him king: “Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone” (Jn.6:15). He refused to walk the road that led to popularity and for that reason, He commanded those, who had experienced His miraculous power, that they should restrain from publicizing the good that had been done to them.  

 Why then have these good deeds been publicized in our Bibles and commonly proclaimed among the nations? The reason is clearly understood by the command given to Peter, James and John, as they descended from the Mount of Transfiguration: "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead" (Mt.17:19). The admonition not to declare His supernatural works was a matter of timing, not principle. His immediate mission was a cross, not a throne. His physical reign would come in the Millenium; at the time of the book of Acts, He was beginning to develop a spiritual kingdom. One composer wrote, “He surveyed His kingdom from a cross.”