Acts 3:1-10: Healing at the Temple

Watch this lesson on YouTube, or listen to it here.     

Introduction

1)     Structure – This is a big section about a miraculous healing and the series of events that follow.

A)   3:1-10 – Healing. 

B)    3:11-26 – Peter addressed the people who saw it.

C)    4:1-22 (e.g. v. 9, 14, 21-22) – Peter and John stand before the Jewish leadership.

D)   4:23-31 – Conclusion

2)     Message – This text is about SO much more than a lame man who is given the ability to walk!

3:1-10 – Healing at the Temple

1)     vv. 1-3

A)   “The temple” found 4x here.

B)    This man was laid daily at the gate of the temple (outside).

1)     Law for priests – Lev. 21:16-20

2)     Law for firstborn sacrifices – Deut. 15:19, 21 (e.g. Mal. 1:6-8)

C)    He was laid daily at the Beautiful Gate.

1)     Almost every commentary I have wants to talk about what gate this was, and where was it?

2)     Ask this: Do you suppose the gate was beautiful to the lame man who had to stop there every single day of his life and could not pass through into the presence of God because he was born with something wrong with his feet! Probably the beautiful gate is not so beautiful to him.

2)     vv. 3-5

A)   Look!

1)     Text

(a)   v. 3 – “SEEING Peter…”

(b)   v. 3 – “Peter directed his gaze at him”

(c)   v. 3 – “Look at us!”

(d)   v. 4 – “He fixed his attention on them”

2)     When something is repeated like this it’s normally for a reason. PAY ATTENTION! I want you to SEE something here!

B)    Why are we paying attention?

1)     The lame man thinks his biggest need is money, and understandably so.

2)     Most of us would read this story and say that Peter gives him something better than money. He heals this man’s feet and changes his life forever.

3)     But there is even something more than this that is ultimately this man’s deepest need.

3)     v. 6 – Climax. At this point, it’s important to know a few things.

A)   First, don’t forget that we are not reading an isolated story about a man whose feet were healed. This story is a part of the bigger story of the entire Bible.

1)     OT promises of hope:

(a)   Jer. 31:7-9 (new covenant context in vv. 31-34)

(b)   Zeph. 3:17-20

(c)   Mic. 4:6-7

2)     This is exactly what Jesus did:

(a)   Lk. 4:16-21 – Jesus quote Is. 61:1-2 (no ref to “lame”)

(b)   Lk. 7:19, 22 – Jesus’ message to John

(c)   Lk. 14:13 – When you throw a banquet invite the lame.

(d)   Lk. 14:21 – Those who were “well” would not come to Jesus’ party, so the lame were invited.

(e)   “The lame are prominent in Jesus’s ministry (Matt. 11: 5; 15: 30– 31; 18: 8; 21: 14; Mark 9: 45; Luke 7: 22; 14: 13, 21; John 5: 3). The healing of the lame also appears elsewhere in Acts (8: 7; 14: 8).”[2]

3)     That Jesus is the source of healing for this man is symbolic that we have stepped into a new stage of history.

4)     This story is similar to the story in Lk. 5:17ff. where a paralyzed man’s friends bring him to Jesus. In that story, he was healed, but the healing is NOT the main point. Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven.” This healing was just to verify a deeper and more important spiritual reality.

B)    “In the name of Jesus Christ.”

1)     Remember that Acts is what Jesus continued to do and teach in the world.

2)     Let’s make sure we clearly see WHO does this miracle (3:12, 16; 4:10).

C)    “Jesus Christ of Nazareth.”

1)     One of my favorite things about The Chosen is any time someone says Nazareth, people grimace (e.g. Jn. 1:46 – Nathanael said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”)

2)     cf. Heb. 5:2-3, 7-8 – Jesus is a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses.

3)     POINT – Jesus is not just the all-powerful King of kings who is the center point of all history. He’s also the lowly human who can sit next to the lame man and personally understand all his deepest needs.

4)     vv. 7-8

A)   “He entered the temple with them praising God.”

1)     “Here the man has not only found physical healing, but he is now able to enter with the people of God into the presence of God.”[3]

2)     cf. Ps. 118:17-21

3)     Jesus IS the beautiful gate!

B)    Is. 35:6 (vv. 1-10)

C)    “and raised him up”

1)     Jesus’ resurrection is described in this way in Acts (3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30, 37; 26:8).

2)     cf. Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 2:12; 3:1

5)     vv. 9-11

Conclusion

1)     Quotes

A)   “In the setting of the old temple, the new temple people become the doorway to the future. Peter’s healing is a sign of messianic restoration and indicates the times of refreshment and resurrection extend past Pentecost. This lame man was socially and physically blemished; now he is welcomed. He was spatially cut off from the people of God; now he is able to enter the temple. He was economically destitute; now he has received riches from the true King. This man enters a new space because a new era has dawned.”[4]

B)    “In sum, this first miracle by the apostles shows how Jesus can give new life and brings the new era to people.”[5]

2)     2 take-aways

A)   We have what all people most desperately need.

1)     Our friends and family may not even know what their deepest need is.

2)     But we know that Jesus is the solution to their problem, and we can point them through the beautiful gate.

3)     Next lesson: Acts 3:19-20.

B)    YOU are the lame man in this story, and your disability that keeps you from God is your sin.

1)     Stop looking around for what you THINK you need.

2)     Open your eyes and SEE.

3)     That Jesus is the solution to our biggest problems.

[1] Bock

[2] Bock

[3] Schreiner

[4] Schreiner

[5] Bock