A Time For Miracles

What an amazing miracle we read in Acts 3.  It must have been an incredible sight to see the crippled man walking, jumping and praising God in the temple.

As I read this story and what happened afterwards, I began to look at this story from the crippled man’s point of view.  Often, we focus on Peter and John, the words they spoke, and the power that was released as they stepped out in faith.  However, I began to notice some other parts of this story that I hadn’t seen before.

Jerusalem had got used to Jesus performing miracles but now there were others doing the same thing! This wasn’t in a quiet back alley; this was in public, at the temple entrance. 

The healed man didn’t run home to tell his friends, he ran in to the temple courts.  He made such a loud noise that the crowds gathered around and in verse 11 we read that the man held on to Peter and John. He started the morning being a nobody that people walked past.  Hardly anyone would have looked him in the eye, they would have passed by, maybe tossing an obligatory coin in his bowl.  Now, late afternoon, he was a somebody that everyone wanted to see. No wonder he held on to Peter and John.  For over 40 years he had only known begging, and now he was the attention of everyone.  His life was changed for ever. 

We read that Peter and John were put in prison and the next morning they were brought before the rulers, elders and teachers.  Where has the healed man gone? We read in Acts 4:14 “they could see the man … standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.”

Was he put in prison too?  Did he go home with his friends?  Scripture doesn’t say. However, we do know that he was with Peter and John in front of the rulers.

The rulers couldn’t deny the miracle because the miracle was right in front of them.

We don’t read of the healed man again, but after Peter & John were sent away, they went straight to the other believers and we read in Acts 4:31 that all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Reading how he held on to Peter & John and that he was there with them the following morning, I would imagine that as he had to learn to live a whole new way, that the safest place for him to be was with the believers.  Did he encounter the shaking building and was he filled with the Holy Spirit?

Miracles are not confined to Christians.  God loves to impact people’s lives with His mercy, love and power.  Just like the healed man held on to Peter & John, I believe that many will “hold on” to us and will found themselves in a place where they encounter the Holy Spirit.

Miracles transform and change our lives.  Mark 16:20 says “Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.”

Let’s pray today for more miracles that confound the wise and learned, that cannot be denied (v16).