SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/7/2017 9:29 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Prince of Life
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 3:15-17
Message of the verses: “15
but put to death the
Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which
we are witnesses. 16 "And on the
basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this
man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him
this perfect health in the presence of you all. 17 “And now, brethren, I know
that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.”
These people who very
well could have been screaming “crucify Him, crucify Him,” are now feeling the
guilt of what they did as they were partly responsible for putting to death the
Prince of Life as Peter speaks of in verse fifteen. However Jesus is now alive as He was
resurrected through the power of the Holy Spirit and the miracle that they see
just happened was done through His power as Peter goes on to talk about. Peter speaks of “the basis of faith in His
name,” and John MacArthur writes “The faith in view here is not that of the
beggar but of Peter and John. Although
occasionally the faith of the one healed is noted (cf. Acts 14:9), the New Testament gift of
healing operated through the faith of the healer, rather than the one healed. To tell those who are not healed that it is
because they lacked the faith to be healed is another misrepresentation of the
biblical nature of apostolic healing. As
in verse 12, Peter, in spite of his strong faith in the risen Christ, refuses
to take credit for the healing. ‘It is
the name of Jesus,’ he tells them, ‘which has strengthened this man whom you
see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect
health in the presence of you all.’ The
healed beggar was living proof that the nation’s evaluation of Jesus was
wrong.” I have to say that a long time
ago when I was working at my regular job I spoke with a nurse who had cancer in
her foot and because she was going to a church that believed that God was
obligated to heal her if she had enough faith she took a very long time to have
this dealt with. She told me, and I
cringed at what she said, that her pastor asked her why she had to be operated
on, and her answer was that she did not have enough faith. This to me was a lie right from our arch
enemy and that answer still bothers me to this day. All she got out of that was a guilty
conscience of not being in control of what God would do for her. I have stated that God still does healings
today, but there is no one with the gift of healing like the Apostles had at
the beginning of the church age.
Peter brings forth a
transition in his sermon in verse 17 ““And now, brethren, I know that you acted
in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.”
He first convicted them for rejecting the Messiah as they took part in
His death, and then beginning with verse 19, he proclaimed the necessity of
repentance as we will see when we get to that verse. Peter is offering them hope in between verses
17-18. He addresses them as “brethren,”
as he is talking to them as fellow Jews showing his love and concern for them.
John MacArthur concludes
this section: “Peter offers them the
possibility of forgiveness because they had ‘acted in ignorance’ (cf. Acts
13:27). He may be alluding to the Old
Testament distinction between willful sins and sins done in ignorance (Num.
15:22-31). Jesus prayed for those who
crucified Him, saying ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are
doing’ (Luke 23:34). Paul wrote that if
the rulers had understood who Jesus was, ‘they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory’ (1 Cor. 2:8). Their ignorance
was certainly inexcusable, since the evidence that Jesus was the Messiah was
clear from the Old Testament, the words and works of Jesus, and His death and
resurrection. Yet, none of them were
beyond the reach of God’s grace, if they would repent and turn to Christ. Even the rulers who incited the people to cry
for the death of their Messiah are indicted for the less heinous motive of
ignorance. There is a note of mercy in
the fact that Peter focuses on the blindness and ignorance of the unregenerate
(cf. 2 Cor. 4:3-4).” “3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is
veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in
whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so
that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It truly is all about the grace of God, for
without the grace of God no one would ever come to understand that Jesus Christ
died for them, took their place on the cross becoming sin for them in order to
give them His righteousness. God is
still in the business of doing miracles today as everyday someone comes to know
the truth of what Christ had done for them and the miracle of the new-birth
comes to those whom the Spirit of God calls.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to use me to tell others about
His saving faith.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:
“Jordan” (2 Kings 5:14).
Today’s Bible question: “Give
the name of Moses’ mother”
Answer in our next SD.
9/7/2017 10:01 AM
SS Hope you had a very happy birthday!
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