The man miraculously healed in 3.1-10 is now clinging to Peter. Maybe this is out of fear (there’s a crowd now (3.11)), maybe out of gratitude. Peter takes another opportunity to address those present and rightly gives credit for his healing to Jesus:
““Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk by our own power or piety? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate after he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a man who was a murderer be released to you. You killed the Originator of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this fact we are witnesses! And on the basis of faith in Jesus’ name, his very name has made this man—whom you see and know—strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all”.
(Acts 3.12-16, NET)
Peter knows that the healing didn’t come from himself or John (v.12) but from the God whom all the people there in the temple knew of and worshipped. However, he says, the healing from our God came through His servant Jesus. Then, boldly, Peter says that as a collective you handed Him over and rejected Him, you killed the Originator of life, whom God raised from the dead. Peter lays square at the feet of God’s people some of the responsibility for the death of Jesus.
But, he says, because Jesus is God in the flesh, the Holy and Righteous One, death could not hold Him and God raised Him. So, because He is alive He is able to have healed this man. Through faith in Jesus’ name, through faith in who He is and His essence and nature, His very name has made this man strong.
Not many of us are going to share in the particulars of this text, but all of us can share in the principles. Peter makes very clear that supernatural healing doesn’t come from any person in particular (v.12) but by faith in the name of Jesus. Faith in the name, the essence, the person, the character of Jesus is what healed this man supernaturally and spectacularly, and faith in the name of Jesus is what can heal you too.
Throughout Scripture we see many examples of healings like this (John 9.1-7, for example), but they are never guaranteed. Yes, we should have high exceptions of God and what He is able to do through Jesus and His Holy Spirit in our lives, but we should never expect as certain what is not promised in Scripture. Rather, we should follow the example of Jesus who, in the face of great pain and impending death, prayed this:
“My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
(Matthew 26.39, NET)
Yes, God is able to physically heal you as happened here in Acts 3 for the man who could not walk. If you are in need of healing for something like this, pray and ask your Father in heaven knowing that He can, knowing that He loves you, and knowing that His will for your life is always best.
“My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
James Travis 