Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. “People of Israel,” he said, “what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of all our ancestors—who has brought glory to His servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release Him. You rejected this holy, righteous One and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact! Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed—and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes.
Acts 3:12-16
Notice the way Peter has arranged what he said. We have a shock sandwich here. Notice he starts and ends with:
“What is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness?” Acts 3:12
Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed—and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes. Acts 3:16
Then in the middle of the sandwich where the meat goes, we have:
For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of all our ancestors—who has brought glory to His servant Jesus by doing this.
This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release Him.
You rejected this holy, righteous One and instead demanded the release of a murderer.
You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead.
And we are witnesses of this fact!
Acts 3″13-15
These few words contain high octaine impact. Imagine being there listening to them if you were a Jew. if you were implicated in the accusations.
Notice by the adversative words: despite – instead – but. Peter sets one list of the facts against the other. It is a masterful use of language from a humble fisherman. Where is he getting this from? There are some who criticise the Bible because they claim this can’t be a fisherman talking. They say, “Because of that you can’t trust the text of the Bible. This must have been redacted / edited after the fact. It is a doctored account.”Ha ha, yes it is a doctored account – but not in the way they mean. Why can’t Peter be a smart fisherman? He is at a very significant moment in his life when everything is about to change. Furthermore he now has the Spirit of the Living God within him. There is no reason to doubt any of this. Besides, Peter says at the end, “and we are witnesses of this fact”.
Note the use of: The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob
the God of all our ancestors
it is He who is doing this!
Peter appeals to the covenant terms used in the Old Testament promises. What is ironic about that is that this is the God they are all waiting on to act. Well, He has and you have got in the way of His action. The very One you have been waiting to act for centuries, has done this. He is the One who has glorified Jesus.
Object / Patient | Subject | Verb / Action | Extenuating Circumstances |
---|---|---|---|
This same Jesus | you | handed over / rejected | despite Pilate’s decision to release Him |
This holy, righteous One | you | rejected | instead demanded the release of a murderer |
This Author of Life | you | killed | but God raised Him from the dead |
YOU who should have known better having read your Scriptures, were the author of His demise.
He is the Author of Life and yet you KILED Him.
You handed over / rejected and killed Him despite Pilate’s (a Roman governor) desire to release Him.
Instead you demanded A MURDERER be released and even more shocking, you killed the One who created us all.
You KILLED the AUTHOR OF LIFE.
These words would be poetic if they were not so shocking in their content. BUT GOD raised Him from the dead. What else could God have done when you stood in the way of His Eternal plan down through the ages? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? How could God not do these things and how could He leave this HOLY RIGHTEOUS JESUS, this AUTHOR OF LIFE in the grave to decay? He had already promised you He would not allow that. Read the Psalms. So God is the One doing all of this. Why then does it shock you? Why do you find it so surprising? This same God who acted on Jesus’ behalf is still at work. It is He who is doing all of this. Why do you stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? It is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of all our ancestors, the One we have been following as Jews since the beginning. The inference is: He who does this is The One of whom His Book is full of His exploits. You all know about this One. He is the One in action now before you. You, on the other hand, have done all these shocking things to oppose Him. Look at this man, you know how crippled he was. This man has been healed by faith in Jesus name, before your very eyes and we are witnesses of the fact.
Wow, what masterful words. Peter skilfully sets them on one side of the ledger in opposition to God on the other side. Now that is fuel to provoke them to think about which side of this contest they find themselves on. That would be a pretty heavy challenge to you if you were part of that audience. But friend, you are. You are implicated in the events and you are a party to the decision making process. You are involved, God lover. You too are involved as a God rejector. We are all implicated. This reminds me of what I wrote when dealing with the sublime statement in John 1:11 of God coming to His own created beings and yet allowing them to reject Him. It is unheard of. It reminds me of what I wrote about regarding, “They crucified Him there”. I have given you the link to the relevant Gems below for you to read and think about.
Bible Gems 1267 and 1272
THEY ( Gem 1268)
Who constitutes the “they”? It struck me that there is more to it than this. In my mind I saw the meaning of this simple word rippling out in ever increasing circles. Yes, the soldiers were given the task but who gave them the task and who do they represent? Take time to think about it again now that I have given you my perspective.
CRUCIFIED (Gem 1269)
What a shocking word! Take some more time to take in the horror of what is wrapped in that word. Consider also THEY applied this action to HIM
HIM (Gem 1270)
This horrific death sentence was applied to the One who sustains the Universe by the power of His Word, by the beings He created. And more to the point, He allowed it to happen.
THERE (Gem 1271)
Like the ripple effect was applied to “They”, so too with “There”. Remember the address – ending with Earth.
When you investigate these four words one by one as we did over the four Gems above, you realise again how deep the significance is of that event on the cross. Remember that is the event which split time – BC and AD. An event like no other in human history. We measure time by it and so we should. The most significant event for each one of us personally and the most shocking for us to contemplate. I would suggest that you put the four words together now and ponder the significance deeply of the sum of the concepts expressed. It is staggering.
He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognise Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him.
John 1:10-11
What a hugely sad statement. Jesus, its creator, entered this world and dwelt in it and yet the creatures he created rejected him.
Verse 11 repeats the thought but adds intensity to it.
John very skilfully uses a Greek grammatical construction to shock his readers.
He says, He (Jesus) came to His “ta idia” but his “hoi idioi” rejected Him. Wow. Effectively He came to his inanimate created things (neuter plural objects – puppets) [his things] and after he had given them life, his (masculine plural people) [his creation] rejected him. Imagine the scene with me. God takes the clay of the ground and fashions it into a man-shaped object and then he takes it and breaths life into that THING. God gives it life. He makes it into a living, breathing person from inanimate clay. Imagine a table top filled with these puppet creatures who are now living, breathing and running around. He breathed life into them and then He came to them seeking relationship but they rejected Him. That is a huge thought. If I were God I know what I would have done. I would have crushed them right then and made a new lot. But God didn’t. In His great grace He allows you to reject Him. Do you see now the degree to which you too are culpable?
You too are part of the human race and therefore implicated in His crucifixion. We are also part of Peter’s speech to the Jews after the healing of the man at the temple.
The mere fact of our humanity stamps us with the taint of sin and responsibility for that sin.
Ian Vail
The only place in the universe you find atheists is on earth. God lets you deny him your entire life, but then he’ll deny you.
Ian Vail
Each of us is a mixture of dust and deity.
Anon
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
Benjamin Franklin
You are involved, now is the time to learn.
Ian Vail