Author Archives: Phillip

Monday 14 September:  Read Acts chapter 4:1-4:

V1:  While Peter and John are still speaking to the crowd after the healing of the lame beggar, the Jewish authorities come to the scene, the priests with the captain of the temple guard ( so, potentially prepared to take action ) and others of the Sadducee party. They were the “liberals” among the Jewish leadership, denying much of the OT and many spiritual truths, notably the resurrection, and the high priest, and many other priests were of their party.

V2:  They are angry, then, to hear Peter teaching in the Name of Jesus and declaring the resurrection. The verse suggests that he had spoken not only of Jesus’ own resurrection, but of the resurrection to come. Remember that the sermons we find in Acts give only a selection of what was said.

V3:  So the apostles are arrested and put into prison until the Jewish council ( the Sanhedrin ) can be summoned on the next day. It was illegal to call the council together in the evening – so, their summoning to condemn Jesus was itself illegal by Jewish law.

V4:  Yet for all their opposition, God’s grace is at work, and very many who have heard Peter preach have come to faith, about 5000 we’re told. Truly God was displaying His power and grace in a remarkable way, as He established His church.

Sat 12^th September              Read Acts chapter 3:24-26

V24:  So Peter again declares how all OT prophecy spoke of Jesus, and of the days that have now come – the days of salvation, but also of judgement. ( Luke 24:27; John 8 :56-58.)

V25:  The Jews to whom he speaks are the descendants of the prophets, part of God’s OT covenant established with their fathers, above all with Abraham – but even in that first giving of the covenant, God spoke not only of Israel as blessed, but of  the whole world, through Abraham’s seed. ( Genesis 12:1-3.)

V26:  God has now fulfilled this promise, sending His servant/child Jesus ( see v 13.), yes, to the Jew first – but that “first”  points, of course to the blessing of the whole world through the One who is indeed the Saviour of all who believe, both Jew and Gentile. All those who believe will be blessed with salvation through Christ. Yes, the address here is first to the Jews, but as this book of Acts continues Acts 1:8 will increasingly be fulfilled.

Fri 11^th September               Read Acts chapter 3:19-23:

V19-20:  Peter now calls on them to repent of their sin – to “turn back” -the literal meaning of ” to be converted”, to change direction, to turn your life around, only possible by the grace of God, of course. Then their sins will be blotted out ( Isaiah 44:22.) Not “brushed aside”, but covered over – covered by the blood of Jesus.The “times of refreshing” are surely God’s promise of forgiveness and new life, given through the sin-bearing death of Jesus to all who believe on the long-promised Christ.

V21:  Jesus is now risen and ascended, and heaven has received Him back until that last day, when He comes again and all will be restored as God has promised ( Ch 1:11; Isaiah 65:17; Romans 8:19-21.)

V22:  Peter quotes further OT prophecy, the promise that God would send another like Moses ( Deuteronomy 18:15,18.) – like Moses, but so much greater, of course, the fulfillment of which Moses was only a type. This is Jesus, whose Word must be heeded. (Consider John 6:68-69.)

V23:  Solemnly, to reject Jesus is to come under final condemnation ( see also John 3:18-19.) We must never fail to take seriously the full gospel, which speaks of the reality of judgement and condemnation – but praise God for the full salvation, which there is in Christ.

Thurs 10^th September                      Read Acts chapter 3:14-18:

V14:  So, Peter  declares how Israel rejected ” the Holy and Righteous One” – words that could only be applied to Jesus in His own right – asking instead for the release of the robber and murderer Barabbas ( Mark 25:6-11,)

V15:  Thus, they were instrumental in the death of Jesus, He who is ” the Author of life” – the source of all life, both physical from creation ( John1:3-4) and spiritual, through faith in His redeeming work ( John 1:12-13; 11:25-26.) 

V16:  The beggar has been healed through the Name of Jesus, called on by Peter in living faith. ( It is not clear if the beggar had faith in Jesus himself, perhaps, but we are told the man has received “perfect health” – complete healing, which in Christ is so much more than physical, it is salvation in the full sense, and suggests that by the grace of God, he did believe.)

V17:  And though Peter has pointed to their guilt in rejecting Jesus, he now says they were ignorant of the full enormity of what they did – even their rulers were ( though this may seem strange to us, when we consider the gospel records) – yet clearly even they failed to understand what they did fully ( though this does not deny their guilt.)

V18:  But all that happened was foretold in OT prophecy, and was of course the eternal plan and purpose of God in His amazing grace. The true Christ had to suffer these things ( Isaiah 53; Luke 24:25-27.) and this is now fulfilled in Jesus.

Wed 9^th September              Read Acts chapter 3:11-13:

V11:  The healed man clings – perhaps literally – to Peter and John, as a growing crowd gathers around them. The specific details, such as ” Solomon’s porch”, remind us that this is first an eyewitness account, its source must be the apostle’s own testimony. What Peter wrote years later, specifically about the Transfiguration, ( 2 Peter 1:16.) is true of all the NT records.

V12:  Peter now addresses the crowd, as fellow Israelites, to turn away at once any idea that the power they have witnessed was that of the apostles themselves.

V13:  Rather, God – the God who revealed Himself to and through their fathers, the Patriarchs,- has acted to glorify Jesus, called here His servant ( the true servant of God, fulfilling all OT prophecies and promises , see e.g. Isaiah 42:1-4; 52:13; 53:11-12.) but the word can also carry the sense of ” His child” – Jesus, truly the Son of God. God has glorified Him through suffering and death, rejected by the Jewish people and handed over to Pilate, even putting pressure on him to condemn Jesus to death ( John 19:12-13.) Though this was specifically the leaders of the Jews, they represented the whole nation in this. (So ” whom you delivered…”)

Tues 8^th September              Read Acts chapter 3:6-10.

V6:  So, how his hopes must have been dashed initially, when Peter and John told him they had no silver or gold to give – but how he must have then been amazed when Peter says he will give him something other than  ( and better than) money – and with the bold assurance of true faith, Peter then calls on him ” in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth”  to do what he has never been able to do – to get up and walk.

V7:  The apostle reaches out, takes his hand, and lifts him to his feet – and he finds those feet can and do support him! This is not Peter’s own power, of course, but the Lord working through His servant – in those first days of the apostolic age, God is still showing signs and wonders, to point to the truth about Jesus. We are not to presume on such signs today, though God is always sovereign.

V8:  Overjoyed, the man goes into the temple with them, ” walking and leaping and praising God” – praising God, note, not praising Peter – the apostles must have pointed away from themselves to their Lord, as we should all do in our Christian witness.

V9-10:  Those who see this, and recognise him as the lame beggar they have seen so often, are amazed and left wondering how this could be – as yet they have no way of explaining or understanding it.

Mon 7^th September              Read Acts chapter 3:1-5:

V1:  Still worshipping as devout Jews, Peter and John are going to the temple at one of the set times of prayer for pious Jews – the 9th hour is our 3pm. Presumably, they do this daily – as Jewish believers who have found the true Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ – but He who is also “the Saviour of the world” ( John 4:42; 1 John 4:14.)

V2:  They encounter a lame beggar, lame from birth, so friends carry him every day to the temple gates, where he would beg for alms – no doubt believing the devout on their way to worship would more readily give.

V3:  So, observing Peter and John, he asks them for their charity, as he does to all who enter the temple.

V4-5:  Peter tells the man to look at them, and no doubt this raises his hopes of receiving something from them. Remember, for such as him in that day, such gifts were his only means of support.