Atos 3
Steven Cole · Citado em PreceptAustin
Atos 3
Cole applies this physical healing to the spiritual healing the lame man received and which we all also need... It was not just a miracle of physical healing; it is also a picture of the spiritual healing that God brings to a spiritually lame world. It teaches us that … God’s miraculous gift of salvation should cause us to praise Him with exuberant joy so that others will marvel at His mighty power. There are three lessons for us to consider: 1. Salvation is a miraculous gift from Jesus, not a human self-improvement project. We often underestimate what happens when God saves a soul. We view it in human terms, as a human decision that requires human follow up so that the decision “sticks.” I’m not denying that a person needs to make a decision and receive proper follow up so that he can begin to grow in his new faith. Rather, I’m emphasizing, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature…” (2 Co 5:17). Salvation is nothing less than God imparting life to a person who was dead in sin. God’s mighty creative power is involved in saving a soul! It’s a far greater miracle than healing lame legs. A. The human race has been spiritually lame from birth due to the fall. This man had been lame from his mother’s womb. He is a sad picture of the human race, maimed by the fall. This was not a day when there were concrete wheelchair ramps for those who were crippled. In fact, there were no wheelchairs or handicapped parking places! If this man left his house, it was only because more than one friend came over, put him on a stretcher, and carried him. They often took him to the gate at the temple called Beautiful, where worshipers would take pity on him and toss him a few coins so that he could survive. While the temple gate was beautiful, this man with his useless legs was anything but beautiful. He is a sad picture of how sin cripples humanity. In 1987, Marla and I went to Hong Kong, Macau, and China on a ministry trip. We were walking around on some crowded back streets in Guangzhou, China. It had rained recently, so there were puddles and mud. As we walked along with the crowd, suddenly, we almost stepped on a poor beggar who had no legs. He was on the dirty street, pulling his torso along by his arms, crying out for money. He was a shocking picture of humanity, scarred by sin. The Bible uses many different metaphors to picture the fallen condition of the human race: dead in our sins (Eph 2:1); blinded by the god of this world (2Co 4:4); ignorant and unable to understand spiritual truth (1Co 2:8, 1Co 2:14); deceived and deluded (2Th 2:10-11); deaf and dumb (Mk 7:32-37); leprous (Mk 1:40-42); and, lame (Mk 4:1-12). B. There is nothing that spiritually lame people can do to heal their spiritual condition. There were no operations available that could cure his congenital condition. No physical therapy or efforts at self-improvement could help him. He had no hope that he could ever walk. And so he did the best he could to get by—he begged for money. The Bible teaches that as sinners, there is nothing that we can do to heal our alienation from the holy God. We can embark on a program of self-improvement. We can give away all of our money and possessions to feed the poor. We can enter a monastery where we spend hours every day in prayer and fasting, denying ourselves the normal pleasures of life. We can devote ourselves to a life of selfless service, as Mother Teresa did. At the end of all our efforts, we are not one fraction of an inch closer to God, because we have not eradicated the sin that we inherited from Adam. The Bible says that “all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment” (Isa 64:6) in God’s holy presence. Presenting our good deeds to God only reveals the depth of our pride. This attempt to save ourselves is probably the biggest barrier that keeps people away from God’s salvation. Except for biblical Christianity, it is an essential part of every religion, including Roman Catholicism, which teaches that we must add our works to what Christ has done in order to be saved. But the Bible plainly states, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). C. God heals the spiritually lame by His mighty power, as His free gift, apart from our merit or works. The power for healing this man came from “the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene” (Ac 3:6). Peter attaches the despised name, “Nazarene,” both to show that God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise (1Co 1:27), and to emphasize that it was the man Jesus from this village of Nazareth who is still living, who imparted from heaven the power to heal this cripple. Sometimes in the Gospels and in Acts, a person was healed because he had the faith to be healed. But in many instances, the person was healed as an act of sovereign grace, without any indication of faith on his part. Here, there is no indication that the man had faith in Jesus to be healed. In Ac 3:16, Peter explains to the crowd that it was on the basis of faith in the name of Jesus that this man was healed, but Peter seems to be referring to his own faith, not to the man’s faith. The man was not expecting a healing; he was only expecting a handout (Ac 3:5). Peter also makes it clear that the faith that he exercised “comes through [Jesus].” In other words, Jesus gave Peter the faith to believe that He would heal this lame man. Peter simply responded to the prompting of the Lord. The healed man knew where his healing had come from. He didn’t shout praises to Peter and John. He didn’t praise his own mental attitude, saying, “I knew that if I kept a positive mental attitude, someday I’d be healed!” He didn’t boast in his great faith as the cause of his healing. No, he simply praised God. God and God alone, by His great mercy, was the cause of his cure. When God mercifully saves your soul, He doesn’t do it because of anything that He sees in you. He doesn’t do it in cooperation with your best efforts. He doesn’t see great potential lurking beneath the surface of your life and save you because He knows that you’ll make a great disciple. He doesn’t see that you really mean well, in spite of your many mistakes, and save you because of your basically good intentions. He doesn’t see great faith and save you because He knows that you will be a model believer. He saves you because of one reason: His undeserved favor. It is totally by His power and grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Eph 2:8-9). All the praise must go to God. D. When God saves our soul, He always gives us far more than we expect. This lame man was not expecting a miracle. He only wanted a handout to get him through another day. Isn’t that a picture of so many who come to God? They are overwhelmed by life’s problems. Perhaps their family life is a mess or they’ve failed in business or they have a life-threatening illness. They come to God just hoping for a handout, something to get them through another day. But in His great mercy, God imparts to them the miracle of regeneration. They are born again to a living hope, and they obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for them (1Pe 1:3-4)! They just wanted a little handout, but they become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ of all the riches that God can bestow (Ro 8:17)! As Paul exclaims, God is “able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us” (Eph 3:20). All that we can say is, “To Him be the glory!” 2. God’s salvation should cause those who have received it personally to praise Him with exuberant joy. I love the description of this man, “Walking and leaping and praising God” (Ac 3:8). I realize that he didn’t leap down the street for the rest of his life. But I’ll bet that he often thought as he walked somewhere, “Praise God for His abundant mercy in healing me!” He often felt the joy of what God had done welling up within him. George Morrison observes, It takes a little time to find one’s feet after a great experience like that. Give the man ten or twenty years of city life, and he will walk as sedately as any other citizen. First they shall mount up with wings as eagles, says the prophet; then they shall run (as children always do); and then, when time and experience have wrought their sobering work, they shall walk and (thank God) shall not faint. Do not object to preliminary leaping. Do not be hard on a little wild enthusiasm in the man who has really been healed by Christ. Time will convert that spiritual electricity into a driving and illuminating power. Emotion will be translated by the years into the strength of action and of character (Morrison on Acts [AMG Publishers], p. 34, italics his). We see in this man three reasons why salvation fills us with exuberant joy: A. Salvation fills us with exuberant joy because it is received unexpectedly. God takes us by surprise. This man’s friends had been bringing him to the temple for years. He had been lying there when Jesus taught in the temple precincts, but for some reason Jesus had not healed him. No doubt Peter and John had walked by him on previous occasions, since they were still in the habit of going up to the temple to pray at the set hours for Jewish worship. But it had not been God’s timing. Even this day, Peter and John didn’t set out for the temple and say, “Let’s see if we can find someone to heal.” They would have passed the man by, except that on this day, the Lord sovereignly acted. The man caught Peter and John’s attention. The Lord prompted Peter’s heart that He would heal this man for His glory. Peter stopped and the man’s life was forever changed. If we could go around the room and share testimonies, many of you would tell of how you did not see salvation coming until it hit you blindside. You were going through another day, trying to cope with your problems and scrape by, when by God’s providence, you heard the gospel. Maybe you had heard it many times before, but this time it was different. This time God took you by surprise. He moved into your life with His power and you were changed inside. You’ve never been the same. With the psalmist, you can exclaim, When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with joyful shouting; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad (Ps 126:1-3). B. Salvation fills us with exuberant joy because it is received instantly. This man was healed instantly. Peter grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet and before he was upright, the strength pulsed through his feet and ankles. He didn’t have to go slow until he built up his weak leg muscles. He didn’t have to go for months of physical therapy to learn how to walk (remember, he had never walked before!). He not only could walk, he could leap, and leap he did, over and over again! He was instantly healed. That’s how God saves a soul—instantly. There is no process of being born again. You are born again in a moment of time, even if you do not remember that moment (as I do not). You could walk into this church service as a person enslaved to some of the worst sins imaginable, get saved, and walk out a new creature in Christ Jesus. The instant that God changes your heart, you are changed forever. This is a major difference between the Bible’s teaching on salvation and the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. They teach that justification is a process in which we cooperate with God’s grace. But in this life, we can never be sure that we are justified because we can never be sure that we have done enough. Thus our relatives need to pray for our souls after death and give money to the church, so that we will be able to get out of Purgatory, where we need to suffer for our sins. But Scripture declares that God instantly justifies the one who has faith in Jesus’ death on his behalf. As Paul explains in Ro 4:4-5, “Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.” The one who has been justified by God’s grace through faith cannot go on living as he formerly did. He is changed within, so that he begins to pursue a life that pleases God. There is no going back to the old ways. This man would never go back to his friends and say, “Please carry me to my begging spot. I miss my old life.” They would say, “You don’t have any reason to beg now.” With his healing came new responsibilities. All he knew was how to beg for a living, but now he had to learn to work for his keep. The healing of God’s salvation brings new responsibilities. We can no longer excuse our sins. We must face them and deal with them God’s way. But that new way of life can be traced back to the instant that God imparted new life to us in Christ by His sovereign grace. One minute we were congenital spiritual cripples; the next minute, we could walk and leap for joy. The pivotal change in our standing before God took place in an instant. C. Salvation fills us with exuberant joy because it is received completely. When God saves us, He gives us the whole package. Like a man who inherits a fortune from an unexpected source, it all becomes his at once. It may take him a lifetime to explore it and to enjoy the benefits of it. But he possesses it all at once. In Eph 1:3, Paul tells us that God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” 2 Pe 1:3 tells us that God’s “divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” It will take us all of this life and maybe all eternity to realize the abundant riches of God’s grace in Christ. But the point is, He poured it all on us at the moment of salvation. For this reason, we can now “greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1Pe 1:8). 3. The exuberant joy of our salvation should provide an entrance for the gospel with others. I love this man’s unrestrained expression of joy! Imagine, leaping in the sacred temple precincts! How improper! Can’t you see the disapproving frowns as he shouted, “Hallelujah! Praise God! Glory to His name!” “Hey, keep it down! You’re interrupting other people’s prayers!” But he would say, “Don’t you realize, I have never walked before this day, but God healed me! Praise His holy name!” He couldn’t keep it to himself! The people who knew this man’s sad past were amazed. Their amazement didn’t get them saved, but it did open them to listen to Peter’s sermon that followed, and God used that sermon to save 2,000 more (Ac 4:4). People need to hear the content of the gospel message and repent of their sins to be saved, but a testimony of how God saved someone who was hopelessly lost can open their hearts to listen. If you have received God’s mercy in Jesus Christ, then you can and must tell others. Your joy that comes from being saved should provide openings to tell the good news, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Conclusion - I used to have a friend, whom I’ve lost track of, named Glenn. He was saved while he was in Tehachapi Prison, doing five years to life for drug dealing. His godly mother was at home praying for her wayward son at the very moment that he wandered into the prison chapel and got saved. This man in Ac 3 reminds me of Glenn. He was totally exuberant and open about what God had done for him. If you were easily embarrassed, you would be uncomfortable knowing Glenn. He would walk into a crowded restaurant, see you across the room, and yell, “Praise the Lord, brother Steve!” Then, having everyone’s attention, he would hand out tracts at every table on his way across the restaurant, telling people, “God saved me while I was in prison. Here, read this. It will tell you how you can be saved.” He always used to say, “I’ve been forgiven much, so I love Jesus much.” This story of the healing of the lame man should make each of us ask ourselves three questions: (1) Have I received God’s gift of healing for my soul through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? (2) If I have received Christ, does the joy in my life reflect what God has done for my soul? (3) Am I looking for opportunities to share the joy of new life in Christ with those around me who are spiritually crippled? Steven Cole - Acts 3:1-10 The Exuberant Joy of God’s Salvation Acts 3:9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God; KJV Acts 3:9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God: Acts 14:11; Mk 2:11,12; Lk 13:17 Acts 3 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries THE IRREFUTABLE TESTIMONY OF A LAME MAN F F Bruce comments that "It was marvelous enough, to be sure, but it was more than a marvel: it was a sign. For the two apostles had not cured him by any power of their own; it was when they invoked the Name and authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that he sprang up and found his feet for the first time in his life...public confirmation of His authority to forgive sins as well as to heal the sick (Mk 2:10ff)...mark of the advent of the Messianic Age (Isa 35:6+). That which Jesus’ personal mighty works had signified was corroborated by this mighty work performed through His disciples: He was indeed Lord and Messiah (Acts 2:36+)." And all the people saw him walking and praising God - This was a visual and audible sign (as in Acts 2) of supernatural intervention. All the people would be the Jews and the Jewish proselytes who had gathered at the Temple for prayer. Luke had described in the previous chapter that "Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles." (Acts 2:43+) Walking (peripateo) and praising (aineo) God - This is the second time these actions are mentioned. Both verbs are in the present tense. The focus of the healed man continues to be on God not the apostles. As
Atos 3
Cole - Peter begins his sermon by deflecting the glory for the miracle away from John and him, as if they had either the power or piety to make a lame man walk (3:12). If God uses us to bring physical healing to another person or to lead that person to saving faith in Christ, it is not because of anything in us. We are just the clay vessels that the Potter uses for His own purposes. To take any credit for anything that God does through us is to rob Him of the glory rightly due to His name. As Paul tells the proud Corinthians (1 Cor. 4:7), “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” If someone praises you for something that you have done, there is nothing wrong with saying, “Thank you.” The person means it as an encouragement, and it is proper to thank them for their kind words. But if they go on and on, or if there is any danger that you are robbing God of glory, you should say, “Thank you for your encouragement, but the Lord should get all the glory. He alone enabled me to minister to you.” We see a similar response by Paul and Barnabas at Lystra when men attempted to worship them... At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. 9 This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he leaped up and began to walk. 11 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.” 12 And they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out 15and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, WHO MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM. (Acts 14:8-15). J
Atos 3
Cole says "Peter’s sermon is full of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so should our witnessing be. People must consider, Who is Jesus Christ? Is He a mere man who had some good moral teachings? If so, people may choose to adopt some of His teachings and reject others, according to their own preferences. But if He is the Savior and Lord, prophesied of in the Old Testament, crucified in accordance with God’s plan, but risen from the dead as He predicted, then He is also the coming Judge of the whole earth. This Christ imposes some inescapable claims on every soul. People may reject Him at their own peril, or they may follow Him as Savior and Lord. But everything in witnessing hinges on exalting the person of Jesus Christ. We do not proclaim the gospel rightly unless we exalt Him." John Stott said,“The most remarkable feature of Peter’s second sermon…is its Christ-centeredness." (Message of Acts) Jesus (2424)(Iesous) is a transliteration of Iesous which is a transliteration of the Hebrew Jehoshua (Yehoshua) (Jeshua -Yeshua) which means Jehovah is help or Jehovah is salvation. Stated another way the Iesous corresponds to the OT Jehoshua (Yehoshua) which is contracted as Jeshua (Yeshua). Matthew tells us the meaning of the Name writing "you shall call His name Jesus, for (THE ANGEL EXPLAINS THE MEANING OF HIS NAME) He will save His people from their sins.” (Mt 1:21) In short, Jesus means Savior. And Matthew clearly identified Him as Messiah writing "The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham....Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. (Mt 1:1, 16). Spurgeon said “The angel spoke to Joseph the name in a dream. That name so soft and sweet that it breaks no man’s rest, but rather yields a peace unrivaled, the peace of God. With such a dream, Joseph’s sleep was more blessed than his waking.” As an aside the reader should realize that any attempt to "define" Iesous is fraught with huge gaps, for this Name (when applied to our Lord Jesus Christ) is indeed "the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth" (Php 2:9-10+) and "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other Name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12+) Indeed, His very Name "Iesous" conveys His supreme purpose for coming to earth -- to save men dead in their trespasses and sins (Mt 1:21) Our goal should be to "fix our eyes on Jesus the Author and Perfecter of faith." (Heb 12:2+) One of my favorite (older) choruses is Jesus, Name Above All Names - YouTube Jesus, Name above all names, Beautiful Savior, glorious Lord. Emanuel, God is with us, Blessed Redeemer, Living Word. Looking at the entire NT we find Jesus in several combinations… Jesus Christ (137x in 134v) Christ Jesus (91x in 86v) All except one use (Acts 24:24) are by Paul. Lord Jesus Christ (63x in 63v). Lord Jesus (without Christ) (38x in 38v) Jesus the Christ occurs in Acts 3:20. Jesus is the Christ (Acts 9:22, cp Acts 17:3). Jesus was the Christ (Acts 18:5, 28). Jesus Christ the Nazarene (Acts 4:10). Jesus Christ our Lord (Ro 1:4) Iesous is found 72x in 71v in the book of Acts. Acts 1:1; Acts 1:11; Acts 1:14; Acts 1:16; Acts 1:21; Acts 2:22; Acts 2:32; Acts 2:36; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:6; Acts 3:13; Acts 3:20; Acts 4:2; Acts 4:10; Acts 4:13; Acts 4:18; Acts 4:27; Acts 4:30; Acts 4:33; Acts 5:30; Acts 5:40; Acts 5:42; Acts 6:14; Acts 7:45; Acts 7:55; Acts 7:59; Acts 8:12; Acts 8:16; Acts 8:35; Acts 8:37; Acts 9:5; Acts 9:17; Acts 9:20; Acts 9:27; Acts 9:34; Acts 10:36; Acts 10:38; Acts 10:48; Acts 11:17; Acts 11:20; Acts 13:23; Acts 13:33; Acts 15:11; Acts 15:26; Acts 16:7; Acts 16:18; Acts 16:31; Acts 17:3; Acts 17:7; Acts 17:18; Acts 18:5; Acts 18:25; Acts 18:28; Acts 19:4; Acts 19:5; Acts 19:13; Acts 19:15; Acts 19:17; Acts 20:21; Acts 20:24; Acts 20:35; Acts 21:13; Acts 22:8; Acts 24:24; Acts 25:19; Acts 26:9; Acts 26:15; Acts 28:23; Acts 28:31 As John
Atos 3
Cole asks "What is repentance? It is a change of mind that results in a change of one’s entire life. It means to turn to God from our sin.
Atos 3
Cole - After Peter’s indictment of his audience, you would expect him to say, “You’re all going to burn in hell for crucifying Jesus,” and walk off and leave them. But rather, he exhorts them (Ac 3:19), “Repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away.” If they would repent, God would send Jesus to bring times of refreshing and to restore all things (Ac 3:19, Ac 3:21), a reference to the millennial kingdom. There will be a major revival in Israel just before the return of Christ (Mt 23:39; Ro 11:26; see Zec 12:10; Zec 14:9). He tells them that God sent His Servant Jesus “to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways” (Ac 3:26). If God is so gracious as to offer forgiveness and His kingdom blessings to those who crucified His Son, then surely He offers grace to every sinner who will repent. The apostle Paul was the chief of sinners, but he found mercy, so that in him as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life (1Ti 1:15-16). God sent His Servant Jesus to bless you, by turning you from your wicked ways! (How to Proclaim the Gospel) G Campbell Morgan on restoration of all things - If we take these words as applicable to the house of Israel, at once the sequence is seen. The restoration of all things is intimately associated with the coming of Christ to the house of Israel, the Messiah for them, and to them; and His coming to them waits for the repentance and turning to Him of the house of Israel. Or, to take it in the other order, when the house of Israel repents and turns to Jehovah, then the sins of the house of Israel will be blotted out; and then there will come to the house of Israel seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; then there will come through the house of Israel the restoration of all things, and that in connection with the advent of Messiah. We speak of it as a second advent, but it will be the first advent in which He will be received by His own people. If I am asked if I believe that what Peter expected will be so, without any hesitation, I say Yes. I do not think Israel is a lost and abandoned nation. I believe that Israel is to be found and gathered together. It is because I so believe, that I cannot accept any theory that robs Israel of its present living identity, and merges it in some other nation. Israel will yet repent and turn to Him, and He will blot out their sins. Until this time there has been no repentance of Israel; but there will be a day of repentance, and a day of turning to Him (ED: e.g., See Zechariah 12:10-14+). What, for us, is the teaching of this address, delivered so distinctly and particularly to the house of Israel? It seems to me there are three lessons as to the economy of God. First, that His ancient purposes are unchanged; secondly, that the restoration of all things waits the Advent of Jesus; and thirdly, that this will be the time of the recovery of Israel. (Acts of the Apostles - 1924) Wikipedia on restoration of all things - The usual view taken of Peter's use of the "apokatastasis of all the things about which God spoke" is that it refers to the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel and/or the Garden of Eden and not "all things that ever existed." (ED: Even Wikipedia's comments are more accurate than many modern evangelical comments!) HCSB Study Bible note - Early Christians looked with expectation to the second coming of Jesus and the restoration of all things that accompanies the establishment of His earthly kingdom. God had foretold the time of "restoration" through the prophets, starting as far back as Moses (Acts 3:22; see also Ro 8:18-25). There is a chapter in the book The Gospel as Center Renewing Our Faith and Reforming Our Ministry Practices (Edited by D. A. Carson & Timothy Keller) entitled The Restoration of All Things a most promising title, but it fails to deliver! It is written by a well known pastor Sam Storms and sadly when one reads his chapter, although he does at least make some mention of Israel, he gives absolutely no suggestion that the question the disciples of Jesus asked in Acts 1:6 (see commentary) will be answered with restoration of the Kingdom to Israel. Sadly, this genre of teaching by names that are greatly respected in evangelicalism (note the editors of the book) has gained increasing traction and avoids attempting to answer the question of the disciples "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” It is very important to note that Jesus did not correct His Jewish disciples, "You are mistaken, for the Kingdom will be given to the Church (as implied in Storms' article!) and not to the nation of Israel when she experiences national repentance." Beloved, God is is a covenant keeping God and He is not finished with the nation of Israel, and to suggest that He is finished requires one to twist many Scriptures that are prophetic promises to Israel (such as Acts 3:19-26). Dear reader, do not believe everything you read, even if the names of the authors are famous! (See Wikipedia on Supersessionism) Acts 3:22 "Moses said, 'THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you. KJV Acts 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. Moses Acts 7:37; Dt 18:15-19 A prophet Luke 13:33; 24:19; John 8:12; 12:46; Rev 1:1 from your brethren Ro 8:3; 9:5; Gal 4:4; Heb 2:9-17 To Him you shall give heed Isa 55:3,4; Mt 17:4,5; Mark 9:4-7; Luke 9:30-35; John 1:17; 5:24,39-47; Heb 1:1,2; 2:1; 5:9 Acts 3 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries A MESSIANIC PROPHECY - A PROPHET LIKE MOSES Moses said - Literally this reads more like the KJV "Moses truly" or like Young's Literal which has "Moses indeed..." Our English word "indeed" conveys the sense of "in truth" (often tends to intensify) or "used for adding a statement that supports and increases the effect of what you have just said." Peter had just said God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time (Acts 3:22) and now proceeds to give them a specific example, using Israel's greatest prophet through whom God spoke about the coming Messiah. As