Acts 3:11-26--Peter Speaks in Solomon's Portico

Acts 3:11-26
English Standard Version

Peter Speaks in Solomon's Portico
11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. 12 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? 13 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. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 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.

​17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 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. 22 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. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 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.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

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We start this passage where we left off last time.  The lame beggar has been healed as Peter and John were on their way to the Temple to pray (as was their daily routine), but now this man wants to follow them wherever they go.  Peter and John make their way to Solomon's Porch.  The people who had gathered there at that hour were fixated on Peter and John and the man they knew had been lame since birth that was following them and they wondered if somehow it was by Peter's or John's own power that this man had been healed.

Peter opens his mouth to speak to the audience gathered there to ask them why they might think this.  Then Peter gives glory to God--the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of their fathers.  Now here's where Peter changes that topic.  He then says God glorified His servant, Jesus, whom they delivered over to be crucified, and they denied Him (as their Messiah and King) in the presence of Pilate when Pilate had decided to release Him.  They would not take Pilate's "not guilty" verdict for an answer and insisted that Jesus be put to death for crimes that He never committed.  Instead, they insisted that a murderer, Barabbas, be released to them, and they denied the one who is Holy and Righteous and the Author of life.  It is this same Jesus whom God raised from the dead on the third day which Peter and John were witnesses to (remember, they were the first male witnesses to see the empty tomb on Resurrection Sunday),  It is by this name and by faith in this name that is above every name, the name of Jesus, that this man had been healed.

It was not enough for Peter to simply give glory to God here though.  For now he had a captive audience to share the gospel with, so he once again starts by convincing them that they are sinners, but that they don't have to be counted as guilty of the murder of Jesus, for this was all part of God's plan from the very beginning and even Jesus prophesied that this would happen.  However, to be declared "not guilty" before God they needed to repent of their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, so that their sins could be blotted out, so that they might experience times of blessing and refreshing.

Now, what are we to make of Peter's next statement about "...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."  I'll do my best here, but there is some indication in the Old Testament that once Israel as a whole accepts Jesus as their Messiah and King that it will be time for Him to return to them.  The clearest passages on this topic are Luke 13:34-35 and Romans 11:23-28.  I don't have time to expound on these right now, but I believe I have done so on each of these passages already as we have already studied the book of Luke and the book of Romans.  I think the passages are pretty clear here, and those passages inform my interpretation of this passage.  The time of Christ's return is dependent on when His people who are called by His name will repent, believe on His name and confess Him as Lord and Savior.

Peter then tells the people how Jesus' first coming was a fulfillment of Scripture.  He was the Prophet promised in the book of Deuteronomy, and He is the promised Messiah that all the prophets from Samuel forward had spoken of.  These gathered here in front of Peter this day are the beneficiaries of the Law and the Prophets (what Peter probably means by "sons") in that they have heard the words of the Law and the Prophets and their words have been fulfilled in the midst of this generation.  Then Peter goes for one of the greatest promises that every Jew would be familiar with--the Abrahamic Covenant.  "And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed."  Paul will make note in Romans that this word of "offspring" is singular, and not plural, meaning that God is talking about a single man that would one day be a descendant of Abraham that would somehow bring blessing to the whole world--that descendant is Jesus, because He has provided the way of salvation both to the Jew and the Gentile.

Peter then makes the argument that the gospel is first for the Jew and then for the Gentile and that is why Jesus was sent back to the Jewish people after His Resurrection.  God's hope was that the Jews would see their sin and repent and receive eternal life in Jesus, the Son of God.  We also see this playing out in that the Holy Spirit came first to the Apostles (who were all Jews) and then to the nation of Israel at Pentecost, but the gospel will be going to the whole world through the book of Acts and we will see that pattern that the gospel is to the Jew first and then to the Gentile.  We should not take offense at this, and this is still God's intended pattern for us to follow today.  Oh how I wish that my fellow Gentile believers would learn their Old Testament Scriptures well enough to share the gospel with God's elect from the people of Israel, both the ethnic Jews that are living among us in our nations and those who are Jewish by religion and those who are Jewish by nationality.  God loves all of these people who call themselves Jewish and wants to see all of them come to Christ.