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the people, ‘Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why
do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made
him walk?’” Peter said, “Look at us.” And then when they
accused him he said, “Why are you looking at us?” When he
said, “Look at us, he didn’t mean that.” He said, “Look at us
and see somebody else. See Jesus. We can’t do this in our own
power. We can’t make a lame man walk.”
Peter and John were conscious that Christ was living in
their lives. Jesus had come to live again, but now in His church.
Our Lord Jesus, when He lived on earth for thirty three and a
half years, said, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”
Now, you are a Christian. Others should look at you and if they
see you, they should have seen Christ. If they see me, they’ve
seen Christ.
I want you to picture the scene as it happens. Acts 3:7,
“And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up and
immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.” The
point I want you to see is that Peter, the big fisherman, reached
down with his right hand and grabbed him by the hand and
stood him on his feet. Later when he prayed in Acts 4:30,
“…while Thou dost extend Thy hand to heal, and signs and
wonder take place through the name of Thy holy servant Jesus.”
He prays, “Lord, keep reaching forth Your hand to heal.”
Whose hand was it? Was it Peter’s hand or the Lord’s hand?
The answer is yes, it was both. “Don’t look at us; look at us!
I’ll reach my hand but it’s not my hand. It’s the Lord living in
me reaching through me.” That’s fruit. That is the source from
the Lord.
I want to show you how powerful that miracle was. Acts
3:2, “And a certain man who had been lame from his mother’s
womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down
every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in
order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.” He
was lame from his mother’s womb. Acts 4:22, “…for the man
was more than forty years old on whom this miracle of healing
had been performed.”