A Study of Acts: The Healed Man Leaps for Joy
Acts 3:7-10 - Healing miracles are wondrous, but the changes they create need the Lord’s guidance!
“And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap 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 taking note of him as being 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 3:7-10 NASB1995
Peter spoke the powerful words of healing in the last passage. He now follows through with action - he grabs the man’s right hand and raises him up. Peter has complete faith and trusts God. At this immediate moment, the paralyzed man’s feet and ankles (ankle bones in some translations) were strengthened through God’s power. Of course the physician Luke would have the little details on how this miracle is possible when the man has been paralyzed his whole life. He stands upright with a leap and begins to walk.
He goes with the apostles into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God and is recognized by others as the one who begged for alms at the Beautiful Gate. Observers were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him. Here is commentary from Enduring Word on this passage:
And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up: It was one thing to say, “rise up and walk,” but it was a much greater thing to so boldly take the man’s hand and lift him to his feet. At this moment, Peter received the gift of faith described in 1 Corinthians 12:9 – a supernatural ability to trust God in a particular situation.
This wasn’t something Peter did on a whim or as a promotional event; he did it under the specific prompting of the Holy Spirit. God gave Peter the supernatural ability to trust Him for something completely out of the ordinary.
Immediately his feet and bones received strength: Strength did not come to the lame man until Peter said “rise up and walk,” and not until Peter took him by the right hand and lifted him up.
“Perhaps only medical men can fully appreciate the meaning of these words; they are peculiar, technical words of a medical man. The word translated feet is only used by Luke, and occurs nowhere else. It indicates his discrimination between different parts of the human heel. The phrase ankle-bones is again a medical phrase to be found nowhere else. The word ‘leaping up’ describes the coming suddenly into socket of something that was out of place, the articulation of a joint. This then is a very careful medical description of what happened in connection with this man.” (G. Campbell Morgan)
Entered the temple… walking, leaping, and praising God: As soon as he was healed, the formerly lame man did three good things. First, he attached himself to the apostles (entered the temple with them). Secondly, he immediately started to use what God had given him (walking, leaping). Finally, he began to praise and worship God (praising God).
Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms: This man was more than 40 years old (Acts 4:22), and had been crippled since birth. He was a familiar sight at this temple gate (Acts 3:10). Therefore, Jesus must have passed him by many times without healing him.
We can say that one reason why Jesus didn’t heal him is because God’s timing is just as important as His will, and it was for the greater glory of God that Jesus heal this man from heaven through His apostles.
A couple of key takeaways:
This man comes to God through healing; there is no evidence that he was a believer before this event.
It is quite possible that Jesus walked by this man many times and did not heal him; Acts 4:22 describes the man as more than 40 years old. The healing was intended to be done by His apostles for God’s glory.
While researching this passage, I ended up going down a couple of challenging bunny trails:
First Bunny Trail - Disability and Change
I thought about what would be this man’s reaction later, when things had settled down and the first exciting emotions from being healed were subdued. He has been begging alms for over 40 years and has no skills other than knowing how to lay on his mat and catch the attention of people heading into the temple. Now he is able-bodied and will be kicked to the curb if he starts begging again; too many people have seen the results of the miracle. He will now have to find a way to work for a living. I would hope that he ended up following the growing group of believers and plunged himself into service to the Lord. God changed his condition dramatically and he needs guidance from the Lord!
This observation led me to do some research on current thinking in our present culture around the “disabled”:
Many disabled people do not want a cure but are more interested in better accommodations for their disability or perhaps better pain management techniques. I found numerous articles, like this One that ranted against the need for cures. There are groups of deaf people, for example, who refuse to have treatments that could restore some or all of their hearing because they have a special “Deaf” culture. Many article writers also disliked the idea that Christians would approach them and ask to pray for them to be healed. This article from the BBC shows the resentment that many people have today that Jesus or His apostles wanted to heal those with disabilities, implying that the disabled (then and now) are somehow less than human. Some even hope their disability continues in the afterlife or they have found some way to believe that God or Jesus are not perfect (like the fact that Jesus still had the scars from the Crucifixion). The sense that I get from reading these articles is that many people would rather cling to disability than have to humble themselves and believe in a God who can heal.
There are actually people that are Transabled, who have a psychological aberration that makes them resent that they have healthy bodies, so they self-mutilate to gain a disability, like blinding themselves or cutting off limbs. Some of them start using wheelchairs even if they are physically able to walk. These people need our prayers, just like those who are being led down the primrose path on gender dysphoria.
This research caused some serious introspection. I have a long-term, chronic, incurable illness (Rheumatoid Disease) that causes a variety of problems, including joint issues, heart issues, fatigue and other systemic problems. My case is mild and goes into remission periodically, but I’ve had both knees replaced and have other joints with damage (no heart problems yet, thank the Lord). Because of this diagnosis, I have a permanent handicapped placard for our vehicles and I walk with a cane. Sometimes I have had to use a wheelchair in places like airports. Would I be thankful to be cured in this lifetime or would I secretly resent giving up the “privileges” that come with disability? I’m not sure how to answer that! I did have to retire earlier than I expected from my career because I became incapable, as I got older, of doing a job that would require a lot of standing, walking and traveling on my own, so I was downgraded on performance. I do think that disabilities can become idols and addictions if we are not careful. As Jesus would say, in John 5 to the paralytic at the pool in Bethesda, do you want to be healed? Healing is much more than physical restoration.
Second Bunny Trail - Cessationism versus Continuation
The other bunny trail that I encountered was the idea of cessationism versus continuation. Are the signs and wonders we see in Acts still available to believers or have they ceased (or mostly ceased) with the maturing of the faith? Here’s a definition of Cessationism from Gotquestions.org:
Cessationism is the view that the “miracle gifts” of tongues and healing have ceased—that the end of the apostolic age brought about a cessation of the miracles associated with that age. Most cessationists believe that, while God can and still does perform miracles today, the Holy Spirit no longer uses individuals to perform miraculous signs.
The biblical record shows that miracles occurred during particular periods for the specific purpose of authenticating a new message from God. Moses was enabled to perform miracles to authenticate his ministry before Pharaoh (Exodus 4:1-8). Elijah was given miracles to authenticate his ministry before Ahab (1 Kings 17:1; 18:24). The apostles were given miracles to authenticate their ministry before Israel (Acts 4:10, 16).
Jesus’ ministry was also marked by miracles, which the Apostle John calls “signs” (John 2:11). John’s point is that the miracles were proofs of the authenticity of Jesus’ message.
After Jesus’ resurrection, as the Church was being established and the New Testament was being written, the apostles demonstrated “signs” such as tongues and the power to heal. “Tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not” (1 Corinthians 14:22). Tongues were thus primarily a sign to unbelieving Jews, meant to capture their attention. Like other miracles, tongues could convince the unbelieving world that the new Christian religion was truly from God.
Obviously, the opposite viewpoint is that these signs and wonders continue in the present day, a perspective found primarily in Pentecostal and charismatic movements although it can also be encountered occasionally in other denominations. As someone raised in a “frozen chosen” Lutheran environment, signs and wonders were never discussed except as an artifact of Biblical scripture. In our later churches, this has been more prominent.
I’m not sure where I stand on the issue, being a stubborn skeptic about supernatural phenomena (I believe, but I also want to be discerning). However, I have seen some things that tell me that God is active and bringing His power to many on Earth in the present day, like in the way He spoke to me through another person (see this Devotional). We do need to be cautious, though, and I like these words from James F. Stitzinger in Precept Austin on sickness and healing and the half-truths associated with these teachings:
False teachings about healing have taken various forms but almost always contain a mixture of truth and error. Half-truths about divine healing fuel the injurious errors of our day. Let me alert you to some of these more frequent half truths so that you can be prepared to reject them.
Because God wills that Christians enjoy His blessings, sickness shows that you are out of His will.
Sin is the root cause of sickness; therefore you must resist sickness as you would sin.
Since Christ died for your sickness and your sin, you can be freed from both.
If you had enough faith, you would be healed.
What you confess is what you possess; so talk sickness and you will get sick; talk health and you will get well.
All adversity comes from Satan; so sickness, like Satan, should be rebuked.
If you only knew the secret fact of God’s healing power, you could be healed.
Since Christ and the apostles healed in their day, Christians can heal today.
Since sickness is from Satan, nothing good can come from sickness.
Since God wants you well, never pray, “Thy will be done” in regard to healing.
Since sin is the cause of sickness, if you are sick, then you have a pattern of sin in your life.
God has healed you, but the devil is not letting the symptoms leave.
Good tests for something that could be considered miraculous also come from Precept Austin, from the Society of International Missions:
In short, we accept the miraculous in ministry where:
It is in harmony with the Word of God.
It brings glory to the Lord Jesus and not to an individual.
It calls attention to the gospel and not to a person.
It does not impinge on the sovereignty of God.
It is subject to the judgment of others.
It does not pursue or overemphasize in a manner which could threaten the unity of our Mission.
Here’s one last short commentary from Precept Austin that I thought was quite good from Warren Wiersbe:
It is easy to see in this man an illustration of what salvation is like. He was born lame, and all of us are born unable to walk so as to please God. Our father Adam had a fall and passed his lameness on to all of his descendants (Rom. 5:12-21). The man was also poor, and we as sinners are bankrupt before God, unable to pay the tremendous debt that we owe Him (Luke 7:36-50). He was "outside the temple," and all sinners are separated from God, no matter how near to the door they might be. The man was healed wholly by the grace of God, and the healing was immediate (Eph. 2:8-9). He gave evidence of what God had done by "walking, and leaping, and praising God" (Acts 3:8) and by publicly identifying himself with the Apostles, both in the temple (Acts 3:11) and in their arrest (Acts 4:14). Now that he could stand, there was no question where this man stood!
Are you close to the door of the temple, but still separated from God? Where do you stand?
In my next devotional, we hear the first part of another sermon by Peter as I dive into Acts 3:11-16.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I thank You for the power that you gave the Apostles for healing and demonstrating Your will. I pray that the signs and wonders that I have witnessed are truly in harmony with the Word of God and Your sovereignty. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 8/12/2024 to answer the question, “What is cessantionism?”
Precept Austin was accessed on 8/12/2024 to review commentary for Acts 3:7-10.
Your compilation of materials was useful for me in researching this story. As someone else with a disabling chronic health condition, I appreciate your cautions about beliefs that are harmful. I like your list of ways to recognize God in a miracle, but i would add that we don't always see God's hand at work for years.
My husband was instantly healed of paralysis as a child, and his family didn't know the Lord. It just suddenly happened. But years later he is able to see how that set off a chain of events that clearly came from God, and his recounting of the miracle and subsequent effects in his life has led to numerous people's accepting Christ. But if you judged based upon the time of the miracle, you wouldn't see God in it yet.