“But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—
“I say to you, get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home.”
Good News of Luke 5:44
Of course, a paralyzed man obeying Jesus’ command to ‘get up and walk’ is a miracle to the man who can now stand up and walk AND a sign of God to those who witness it!
Who can say such a thing to one born handicapped?
And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. And astonishment seized them all and they began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying,
And it happened that one day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.
After having healed others as well Jesus answered the Prophet John who had been baptizing in the wilderness of Judea with Good News sent by his messengers:
“Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.
Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” - Gospel of Luke 7:22b-23, LSB
But of course, these signs from the LORD God to the Jews were done by JESUS the Messiah.
These signs for the Jews where witnessed in regions of Roman Syria AND that had been years ago.
It’s about two decades later that Paul and Barnabas will enter Lystra.
But when Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him, he said, “Look at us!” – Acts 3:4
And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. And leaping up, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were recognizing him, that he was the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. – Acts of the Apostles 3:
More recent signs from God
Keep in mind that Luke's two-part account of these events is recorded for a Roman-Hellenist world after A.D. 60,
+ some thirty years after Jesus' resurrection [~A.D. 30],
+ perhaps twenty-five years after Saul's encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus,
+ about seven years [~A.D. 40] after the Apostle Peter baptizes a Roman Centurion in Caesarea Syria.
It’s a command of some significance — a command by faith also used by Peter and the Lord Jesus. And it is part of what the Apostle Paul is about to say to the lame man in Lystra.
to rise, stand up
of persons lying down, of persons lying on the ground
of persons seated
of those who leave a place to go elsewhere [of those who prepare themselves for a journey]
of the dead
GOD’S signs have many witnesses among the gentiles by the time Barnabas and Saul enter Lystra.
And at Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.
This man listened to Paul as he spoke, who, when he fixed his gaze on him and saw that he had faith to be [made well] said with a loud voice,
“Stand upright on your feet.”
Acts 14:10 of Paul commanding a lame man in Lystra
And he leaped up and began to walk.
And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language,
“The gods have become like men and have come down to us.”
Acts of the Apostles 14:11b – LSB
In fact, these Lycaonian pagans were partially right.
For the Gospel of Paul and Barnabas would reveal that the One God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ sent his only Son down to us for redemption of sins for those who have faith to believe — even pagan gentiles.
“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
What must it be like to be paralyzed, either from birth or as the result of a traumatic impact of this fragile flesh and bones at any time?
We have seen paralyzed men many times in Scripture. And Simon Peter had met paralyzed or lame men at various times in his lifetime. For this Apostle, who by faith had walked on water when Jesus had called out to him from their boat, Peter certainly would have had great empathy for any person who could not walk on the many roads of Galilee, Samaria and Judea or the streets of Jerusalem.
Luke has just shown us in Acts that now Peter and the Apostles are no longer confined to Jerusalem, but travel as missionaries for the Gospel of the risen Jesus throughout their beloved Israel.
32 Now it came to pass, as Peter went through all parts of the country, that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lydda.
Acts of the Apostles 9:32 NKJV
Please understand something of Simon’s mission from the Lord: Peter travels the same roads between the cities of his fellow Jews where the Apostle followed his Teacher and Lord, the Anointed One, Yeshua.
When the hour had come, he sat down with the twelve apostles..
“I have earnestly desired to eat this Pesach with you before I suffer..
.. “This is my body which is given for you.
Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you..
But you are those who have continued with me in my trials. I confer on you a kingdom, even as my Father conferred on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.
You will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Yisra’el.”
Πέτρος
Petros in Lud
Simon Peter’s journeys from the hills of Jerusalem bring him down to the plain of Sharon, which lead through Jewish towns approaching the Mediterranean ports controlled by Rome, like Joppa and Caesarea (from where they just sent Saul back to Tarsus).
32 Now it came about that Kefa, passing through all the parts of Eretz Yisrael, came down also to Moshiach’s kadoshim dwelling in Lud.
Simon was given the name Peter by Jesus. The apostles name translates as "ROCK." (for more info about the Aramaic form, Kefa, click HERE)
Λύδδα - Lydda [lud'-dah] Lydda = "strife" - a town 9 miles (15 km) from Joppa, and is the first town on the northernmost of the two roads between that place and Jerusalem
It's Hebrew name לֹד
lōḏ Lod = "travail" in the plain of Sharon in the territory of Benjamin was the head of a family of returning exiles from Babylon.
Aeneas of Lydda
33 There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. And Peter said to him,
“Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.”
Imagine that you are Aeneas, a paralyzedsaintin Lydda who believes that Yeshua IS the Anointed One of Israel who IS risen from the grave after His horrific Blood Sacrifice on a Roman Cross in Jerusalem.
And now, into your town of Lud on his way to Jaffa comes Simon Peter, who in Jerusalem had stood in the Temple with a man lame from birth clinging to his side as the Apostle preached to the crowds. Many witnesses have already passed through Lydda.
Like the man who had clung to John and Peter, YOU are no longer paralyzed!
So as the Apostle had done in the Temple, Peter continued to preach the gospel of Jesus the Christ to all in your town with you (Aeneas) as a sign of proof from God standing at his side.
35 So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
How about you? – Is YOUR faith paralyzed?
Jesus and the Apostles had seen it many, many times. After some sign from God many came to follow the Lord, the Anointed One of the Father. They could not deny the powerful sign — the miracle of God; YET some remained paralyzed – confined to their failing flesh of this brief life even as they marvelled at men and women of faith in Jesus doing what only God could empower.
We have all heard the amazing signs before, even as Peter or another Apostle or one of their many disciples came into our town.
A Man Lowered Through a Roof
Aeneas the paralyzed man may have heard of this man whose name we do not know and his faithful friends who we also do not know by name. YOU have heard the story of this great sign as Jesus taught to a houseful of those paralyzed in their faith.
From Luke's Gospel & also (Mat 9:2–8; Mar 2:1–12 )
Peter and the Apostles had been there..
One day He was teaching, and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the Law sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing..
.. because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.
“Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”
.. Who can forgive sins, except God alone?” ..
“Why are you thinking this way in your hearts? Which is easier, to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”
He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your own bed.” Immediately he got up.
Saul of Tarsus got up after he had seen the Lord Jesus. Apneas got up after the Apostle Peter commanded him in the Name of Jesus Christ.
IMMEDIATELY he got up, Scripture records of those men like the paralytic on the mat before Jesus.
So what keeps YOU from immediately wanting to TALK OF JESUS CHRIST to others?
Please comment on this sign of healing in the name of Jesus Christ TODAY.
May grace, peace and the love of our Lord heal your frozen witness for the only Gospel which raises the paralyzed perishing soul.
Roger@TalkofJESUS.com
ACTS of the Apostle Peter: to be continued...
You may have had a beggar at your door recently. My new neighbor asked me if he should expect any ‘trick or treaters’ invading our neighborhood. Probably not, I responded. We generally have sweets here for ourselves that I could give away to a beggar, I assured. But he thought it might be best to go out and buy some treats just in case.
My neighbor then left to buy some sweets so as to not disappoint some little child at his door expecting a blessing.
Continuing in Jerusalem from where we last left Peter:
You may ask what my neighbor buying a treat to bless some little beggar at his door has to do with Peter and the Apostles as they enter into the gates and public courtyards of the Temple in Jerusalem.
I can think of more than one parallel to our 21st century walk as disciples of Jesus Christ.
So as we resume our journey with Simon Peter in Acts of the Apostles, don’t miss the Apostles’ hearts of graciousness accompanying the powerful signs of the Holy Spirit continuing to attract crowds to yet another sermon by Peter.
Luke’s account begins with a brief look back at his first account, the Gospel.
To these [the Apostles] He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days.. – Acts 1:3a
[The risen Christ Jesus had assured them] “..but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.” – Acts 1:8
The Apostle Simon Peter has already preached to the crowds:
Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (a group of about 120 people was there together) [in an upper room in Jerusalem]. – Acts 1:15b
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. – Acts 2:2
.. they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with different [languages], as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out.. [Those in the crowds of Jerusalem were amazed and asked each other] And how is it that we each hear them in our own [dialectin] which we were born? – Acts 2:4,7,8 excerpt
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, [preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit from Old Testament scripture]:
And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
Acts 2:14a, 17a – Simon Peter preaching to the crowds of Pentecost in Jerusalem from the prophet Joel
[Simon tells the crowds: ] ..he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. It is this Jesus whom God raised up, a fact to which we are all witnesses. – Acts 2:32
.. the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you both see and hear.
Into this context and setting in first century Jerusalem we continue with Simon Peter and the Eleven as they obediently have remained in Jerusalem and the church continues to grow.
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
44 And all the believers were together
and had all things in common;
45 and they would sell their property and possessions
and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need.
46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple,
and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and
having favor with all the people.
HERE ARE SINNERS REPENTANT, BLESSING EACH OTHER AND OTHERS — DAILY — IN WORSHIP AND COMMUNITY.
THIS is the WITNESS OF THE CHURCH to ALL who encounter them, THAT, an evidence and sign in itself.
And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
The Day of Pentecost is past and three thousand souls have been worshiping day by day with the Apostles.
And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple
What will be the next ACT of the Apostles Peter and John?
Christian Witness with an Everyday Beggar
Imagine it — this is no child at your door, a costumed beggar charming you out of some candy.
NO, these desperate men of no means were as familiar at the entrances and exits of the public places as defeated men by the highway having no place to go with temporary signs – beggars asking alms of ANY who might help the invisible poor.
Yet Luke reveals that this beggar must had friends. They carried him to the place of worship daily. Or perhaps these men were part of his family who relied on his help by generated mercy of others.
The crowds who passed him by knew who he was; NOT a child, but a man handicapped from birth. No fault of his, but what could they do?
And mostly, their alms on occasion made them feel a little better about their own charity to him.
Note: Peter and John do not simply give the man something (or look away from him and move on, but the Apostles engage this beggar in conversation of lasting consequence.
Peter and John had witnessed the power of Jesus’ compassion
The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; but the one who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
Now the seventy-two returned with joy, saying,
“Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!”
Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see the things you see..
Eternal Life
25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law?
Jesus engages the man in conversation, meaningful conversation which the Lord illustrates with the now familiar to us parable of the Good Samaritan. (Remember, Judeans did not particularly like the Jews from Samaria and those from other distant states or regions.)
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers..
But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion.”
Gospel of Luke 10:30b,33 CSB + Jesus addressing the question: ‘Who is my neighbor?’
This man who was robbed on his journey to Jericho was no beggar. But Jesus points out that he certainly needs help.
Jesus asks, ‘Which of the the three helped the man;’ that is, ‘who was his neighbor’?
The Apostles knew both the parable and the accompanying miracles. Seventy-two disciples of Jesus had just worked many miracles when the lawyer had asked what to do to inherit eternal life.
Returning now to Peter and John headed to the temple for worship:
Peter’s ACT of compassion
Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms.
Do you suppose the two-way conversation between the eyes of the lame beggar and Peter continues in intense anticipation here?
You are the beggar at the door and the man says ‘I have no money.’
Peter is a neighbor who has gone out of his way to give a sweet blessing to this poor man…
So many do little or just pass by.. YOU lay there HELPLESS still.. you, a poor lame beggar.
Yet Peter and John continue with their own intense and compassionate stares…
They ACT personally, as if the two are alone in their transaction..
Then the man who has NOT passed by you, helpless at the gate of the place of worship continues:
In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!”
The command of Peter: Acts 3:6b
Peter had witnessed Jesus Christ the Nazarene make a man walk!
And Simon Peter had touched and seen the Lord’s hands and feet which had been nailed to a Cross!
Peter and John had a commission from Christ to build His church once receiving the Holy Spirit.
Yet another sign of the Holy Spirit
With John at his side, as they had both been observers of Jesus healing a man like this lowered by friends into a room full of Jews listening to Jesus preach, Peter now reaches down to the man near the crowds before him:
And grasping him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.
Act of Peter reaching down to a man lame from birth + Acts 3:7
Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s…
But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying,
“Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ..
And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching people.”
When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
This had been three years ago. Since then, Peter and John have seen MANY more miraculous things — unexplainable signs from God — ACTS of Jesus’ power and authority over men and creation.
While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” And He reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him.
One day He was teaching, and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the Law sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. And some men were carrying a man on a stretcher who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But when they did not find any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.
Simon Peter and John had witnessed the power of God through Jesus many times.
A Beggar Worshiping with the Apostles
And leaping up, he stood and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they recognized him as being the very one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg for charitable gifts, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
The very sight of this crippled man everyone knew LEAPING UP must have taken away the breath of those who witnessed this great sign!
REMEMBER the lame man lowered by his friends into a crowded room so that Jesus could heal him?
What was it the Lord had said?
And seeing their faith, He said,
“Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” .. “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
Gospel of Luke 5:20, 24b NASB + Jesus commanding a Lame man to walk
Peter and John saw a beggar’s faith
And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.
Acts of the Apostles 3:11 Authorized Version
Friend, your sins are forgiven you, or at least they could be — IF only you would come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
For by our admitted failings, like Peter, we are all sinful men and sinful women.
In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!”
The command of Peter: Acts 3:6b
Won’t you walk on in witness in the name of Jesus Christ beside John and Simon Peter and the Apostles? For they were, after all, just sinners like you and like me.
ALL are beggars before the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will greet us at the gate.
NEXT: Simon Peter walks to Solomon's Portico to preach to the crowds
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