1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.In the story of Peter healing the lame man who sat in the temple gate, I used to wonder about the speech that Peter gave to those who ran together to marvel over the miracle. It was hard for me to see if Peter’s words had something, if anything, to do with it.
2 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;
3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
11 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.
12 ¶And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people,…(Acts 3:1-12)
After some pondering, I decided if we only look at the healing of the man at the door of the temple as an attention-getting device for the sermon, then we have an impoverished view of the Lord’s purpose for this miracle. But, if we trust that the healing was necessary to the message, we gain a deeper sense of the effectiveness of Peter’s words. Do we see any hint of “healing” in the doctrine that Peter preaches?
12 ¶And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?Peter's speech is full of references to healing, both physical and spiritual.
13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
19 ¶Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
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.
23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.
25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. (Acts 3:12-26)
One thing people are consistently puzzled by in this block of verses is the "times of refreshing" and the "times of restitution" and what those terms refer to.
Bruce R. McConkie maintains that the "restitution" is the restoration of the gospel. This may be true, and it may be a testimony thereof, but I wonder if that was what the people were thinking Peter meant.
My personal opinion is that the “times of refreshing” and “times of restitution of all things” were simply two different terms for the same thing—the time of healing to come, which we know as the Millennium. This gives Peter’s speech a much stronger connection to the healing miracle. By referring to the imminent Millennium as a time of healing, Peter makes the healing of the lame man at the temple gate an example of the healing that will come to the whole earth at the Millennium at the return of Christ to the earth. It is a type or shadow of healings to come in that glorious day.
Peter speaks of healing in more ways than just the Millennium.
“Jesus was crucified, but God raised him up.” -- After seeing the lame man raised up (to walk again), Peter’s words about God raising up Jesus would not seem so farfetched and impossible.
“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.” -- Notice how Peter hammers the phrase "raise up" to strengthen his point. He says Christ is the prophet that Moses was referring to, so Christ must be listened to. By referring to Moses, Peter evokes the memory of healings and miracles Moses did when people listened to him. The message implicit in this is that Christ has the same power (and more) to heal those who listen and obey Him.
“Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” -- Here, the blessing can mean both physical and spiritual healing. Peter hints that God's covenant was to heal the world through Abraham’s seed.
“Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” -- Here Peter holds out the blessing of repentance as the first blessing of healing that they can lay hold on through their faith in Jesus. Also, they are the first people to whom this healing is offered.
As I imagined what it must have been like to be see this miracle and hear Peter’s words, I realized that the healing of the lame man must have made the promises of healing repentance and the Millennium startlingly real and powerful to those who heard and saw it all happen. If a lame man may walk, suddenly anything seems possible!
I think this story is precious because it teaches that all miraculous healing is a foretaste of the healing that will come to the faithful and our planet during the Millennium. It also teaches us that our faith in Christ and repentance of our sins is a chance for our spirits to be totally healed even before that Millennium comes! How awesome is that!
Image: Peter heals a lame man, http://gardenofpraise.com/bibl33s.htm
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