A “NOTABLE” miracle, one which was unquestionable, and could not be gainsaid. Such was the testimony of the religious rulers in Israel respecting the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. This man was a well-known character in Jerusalem; he had been lame from his birth, and “was above forty years old,” and daily he was carried to the gate in order that he might receive alms. Enter the building he could not, for his impotence debarred him from joining in the services rendered to Jehovah. We have no reason to question that he had heard of the miracles wrought by Jesus, yet he himself remained still helpless.
He asked an alms of Peter and John as they passed through the gate, when Peter, “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,” bade him “rise up and walk,” and, taking him by the hand, “lifted him up.” “Immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength,” and now, as was right and seemly, he entered into the temple, and did so “walking and leaping and praising God.”
The people ran together to see the strange sight, “greatly wondering.” There was the man who had been healed, the living witness of power, holding Peter and John, the men through whom this power had entered Israel. It was a notable sign. What did it mean?
This was Peter’s interpretation: By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom they had crucified, whom God had raised from the dead, even by Him, the man stood before them, whole.
How false doctrine falls to the ground before the power of God! The sect of the Sadducees, who were in authority in the temple, might be ever so much “grieved that” the apostles “taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead;” they might marvel that “unlearned and ignorant men” ―so far as temple learning went—were the fountains of such divine outpourings: but the man who had been healed, true to his post, stood near to the apostles, and “they could say nothing against it.” All that the rulers could do was to take “knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus!” We may surely read a lesson here for our own day, and look for such a manifestation of God’s power in the preaching of the name of Jesus as shall leave the present-day Sadduceeism a vain thing in the eyes of the people.
There is a remarkable resemblance and contrast between the healing of this man of over forty years old and the healing of the man who “had an infirmity thirty and eight years,” of whom we read in the fifth chapter of John’s Gospel. When the Lord said to him, “Wilt thou be made whole?” he was utterly at a loss to fathom the meaning of the words. “Made” whole. The man’s reply showed that, though the Lord stood looking upon him and speaking to him, his mind travelled past Jesus to the water of the pool and the angel who troubled it. It is a melancholy fact that, though Christ is near, waiting to heal and save in power and love, yet men so often look past Him and fix eye and hope upon some ordinance—and are insensible to His words : “Wilt thou be made whole?” At the mighty One’s words, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk,” the sufferer was immediately made whole and walked.
But though his body was healed, his heart was unmoved. “Jesus findeth him in the temple” ―which now he could enter to glorify God― “and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” And how did the man show his gratitude? He “departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him.”
This man is a figure of the people of the Jews. When Jesus was amongst them healing and saving, their period of probation, their “forty years,” had come nearly to its close; but notwithstanding all the favor bestowed upon them by Him, “they received Him not.” Their Sabbaths, their ordinances, their religious services, were highly prized, but Jesus was persecuted and slain.
Nevertheless, for the Jewish people mercy is in store. True, they have rejected the Christ of God. True their time of probation is past―they have exceeded their forty years. They cannot enter the temple and keep holy day. They do not walk in God’s ways. But, nevertheless, mercy is in store for them. Through the power of the Name of the Risen Christ, Israel shall yet be a worshipping people. All Israel shall be saved. Through the Name of Christ, Israel will receive strength and salvation; but when that day dawns it will be solely due to the absolute grace of God, for in themselves they have sinned away every hope. And we may accept for ourselves, Gentiles as we are, the instruction; for without strength, and lost as we are, by His Name is perfect soundness and perfect salvation to all who believe.