Acts 3:1-26  Pilate was Determined to let [Christ] Go

[Study Aired December 18, 2022]

Act 3:1  Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
Act 3:2  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;
Act 3:3  Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
Act 3:4  And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
Act 3:5  And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Act 3:6  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.
Act 3:7  And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Act 3:8  And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
Act 3:9  And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
Act 3:10  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.
Act 3:11  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.
Act 3:12  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?
Act 3:13  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.
Act 3:14  But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
Act 3:15  And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
Act 3:16  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.
Act 3:17  And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
Act 3:18  But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
Act 3:19  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;
Act 3:20  And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Act 3:21  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.
Act 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.
Act 3:23  And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Act 3:24  Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.
Act 3:25  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.
Act 3:26  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.

This chapter is the account of the first recorded miracle performed by the apostles some unspecified time after the well-known miraculous events on the day of Pentecost when the holy spirit was given accompanied by what appeared to be “cloven tongues of fire”. The holy spirit had given these Galileans the ability to speak in all the languages that were represented there in Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire. Peter was inspired to preach the gospel to both those who lived in Jerusalem, and knew all about Christ and His many miracles, and they had all heard His revolutionary doctrines and His claim to be the Messiah. At that time Peter told the people that the miracle of the gift of speaking in languages was a work of the risen Christ for whose crucifixion they must repent. As we are about to see, the Lord performed another miracle so Peter could repeat that same message:

Act 3:1  Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. [3:00 P.M.]
Act 3:2  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;
Act 3:3  Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
Act 3:4  And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
Act 3:5  And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Act 3:6  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.
Act 3:7  And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Act 3:8  And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
Act 3:9  And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
Act 3:10  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.

The number of those who were granted the gift of speaking in other languages on the day of Pentecost was 120 of the disciples of Christ. That number rose by three thousand through Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost. Christ had been crucified by the priests and elders and by His own followers just seven weeks earlier, and upon the moment of His death the sun had been darkened and the moon appeared as blood. This was all common knowledge in Jerusalem. They all knew that Christ and His disciples were from Galilee, and they all knew it was Christ’s faithful followers who were given this gift of speaking of “the wonderful works of God in all the languages within the Roman empire. Here is the account of the events of that day:

Act 2:1  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Act 2:5  And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Act 2:6  Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
Act 2:7  And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?
Act 2:8  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

“They were all amazed and marvelled” because they all knew these were the disciples of the very Jesus of Nazareth who had twice miraculously fed the multitudes. According to Peter some of the very people who were witnesses of Christ’s miracles and His doctrines were part of the multitudes who witnessed the gift of languages being given to Christ’s disciples on the day of Pentecost. First, He fed five thousand with five loaves, and later He fed four thousand with seven loaves. The multitudes were so impressed with His miracles they threatened to take Him by force and proclaim Him king:

Mar 8:19  When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.
Mar 8:20  And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.

Notice for the sake of understanding the message of this book of the Acts of the apostles, that the first feeding was with fewer loaves and the leftovers were more. The second miracle was feeding fewer people with more loaves and the leftovers were by far fewer. The second feeding of the multitudes could easily have been a greater multitude with a greater surplus, but that would not agree with the fact that fewer people would eventually receive the greater Truth as this book of Acts demonstrates. More Truth… “seven loaves” was being consumed by fewer people, four thousand, resulting in a smaller surplus of bread… “seven baskets”. Even though the first multitude was more numerous, five thousand, and the number of baskets of uneaten bread was greater… “twelve baskets”, the second smaller multitude ate more of what they were given than the first larger multitude.  If the loaves and fishes represent the Truths of the doctrines of Christ (Joh 6:35), then the message is that the more the heavens are opened, the fewer people can receive those heavenly Truths, signified by the loaves and fishes.

Joh 6:13  Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten [“five thousand”].
Joh 6:14  Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
Joh 6:15  When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

Thousands had personally witnessed both miracles. When any of us witness any great and powerful event, we always repeat it to our families and friends. Therefore, Christ’s miracles and His doctrines and His claim to be the Son of God was also well known throughout Jerusalem, and it was hated by the religious rulers of Jerusalem:

Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

When the multitudes who had eaten the loaves were informed that Christ considered His words and His doctrine to be more nourishing than physical loaves, and that He had no intention of being forced to become their king at this time, their first response was to request even more signs of His messiahship:

Joh 6:25  And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?
Joh 6:26  Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

Christ does not pull his punches. He tells us exactly what our flesh does. Our flesh simply is not programmed to appreciate the “meat which endures to everlasting life”. Flesh much prefers physical loaves and fishes to the promise of “that meat which endures to everlasting life” if you are willing to be “hated of all men” in this life (Mat 10:22). We are all naturally like Esau who preferred a bowl of pottage, “meat which perisheth” to assuage his immediate physical hunger, to the promise of being given a kingdom that would feed and benefit all men:

Joh 6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

For those who can ‘see’ it, Christ just told us that our faith in Him “is the work of God…and not of ourselves”:

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our own] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

That is not what our flesh wants to hear. We want to believe that we bring something to the table. We are taught that it is our own faith which causes God to accept us, and some even believe in faith without any “good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them”. Let no one convince you that you can “continue in sin that grace may abound”. Indeed, grace will “much more abound”, but we must come to understand what the function of grace is:

[What Grace Is Versus What Grace Does]

Joh 6:30  They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
Joh 6:31  Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

“Our fathers did eat manna in the wilderness… He gave them bread from heaven to eat” proves what is just naturally within every one of us. As one minister declared on his national radio program, “I am not interested in getting my pie in the sky by and by, I want it NOW!” he shouted on the radio. These Jews are types of each of us. They much prefer a bowl of pottage here and now, or loaves and fishes here and now, to promises of “the glory which shall be revealed in us [if we can just endure] the sufferings of this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

In accord with Christ telling us that our faith in Him is “the work of God” (Joh 6:29) Paul also tells us that our will has nothing to do with our faith or the fact that He made us “subject to vanity”; subject to our natural preference for physical bread and fishes here and now.

Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

It is for our edification that Christ answered their insistence on physical bread with these words:

Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Joh 6:34  Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
Joh 6:35  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Joh 6:36  But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

The words of the multitude… “Lord evermore give us this bread” demonstrate how we convince ourselves that we really want to know the doctrine of Christ when the truth is we simply want to feed and please our flesh. “Not willingly” but because we are all “made subject to vanity” we just naturally forsake the Lord when He tells us “the flesh profits nothing” and in the same breath He tells us that He is the bread from heaven, and we must “eat His flesh and drink His blood”:

Joh 6:51  I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

The false doctrine of “transubstantiation” of the body and blood of Christ via the wafer and wine of the carnal ordinance of ‘communion’ is simply an observable lie. That wafer is not Christ’s literal body, and that wine is not His literal blood. Christ was not speaking in literal terms. We know this is true because He told us it was:

Mat 13:34  All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

The early church kept what they called ‘the Lord’s supper”, but not with the idea that the bread literally became the body of Christ, and the wine literally became the blood of Christ. What carnal thinking! Such a doctrine is truly a doctrine of works without faith, and it does nothing to change our wicked hearts and minds. Indeed, the doctrine of transubstantiation teaches us that it is our own works that give us favor with God.

1Co 11:20  When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

When the early church partook of the Lord’s supper, they were in their not-yet-mature, ‘Acts of the apostles… under the law’ state of being. Observing the Lord’s supper at this point in “the time of reformation’ was not a matter of being rebellious. The early Christian church believed it was simply following Christ’s example of how He kept the Passover with His disciples the night He was apprehended. Christ did not keep the Passover according to the demands of the law of Moses at that last Passover. He was beginning to change things, but it simply was not yet the ordained time to reveal to His disciples that all rituals would soon become useless and unnecessary in order to worship God in spirit and in Truth. Christ told us that Jerusalem itself, along with the temple therein, would one day become obsolete in the Lord’s desire to seek those who would worship Him in spirit and in Truth, not in rituals and traditions of men:

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we [“The Lord and His Christ” (Act 4:26-28)] know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews [“in spirit and not in the  letter” (Rom 2:28-29)].
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The ritual of observing ‘the Lord’s supper’ was practiced by the early immature church along with other Old Testament rituals like water baptism, circumcision, and animal sacrifices:

Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Act 16:3  Him [Timotheus] would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.

Paul circumcised Timothy after the letter to the Gentiles in the preceding chapter, chapter 15.

Act 21:20  And when they heard it [what the Lord had done among the Gentiles by Paul’s ministry], they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
Act 21:21  And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
Act 21:22  What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.
Act 21:23  Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;
Act 21:24  Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.
Act 21:25  As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication [As per the letter to the Gentiles of Acts 15 many years earlier].
Act 21:26  Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.

Here is the law which these “zealous of the law” sincere, but spiritually immature Jewish Christians were so ‘zealous’ to observe:

Num 6:17  And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering.
Num 6:18  And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

Paul himself had earlier taken a vow and had shaved his head in Cenchrea, as he was returning to Jerusalem:

Act 18:18  And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.
Act 18:19  And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.
Act 18:20  When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;
Act 18:21  But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.

In chapter 20 we are told that Paul wanted to be in Jerusalem before the day of Pentecost:

Act 20:16  For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

Paul was “keeping the feast… of Pentecost”, and he wanted to keep this feast in Jerusalem. In the past he had kept one Pentecost at Ephesus:

1Co 16:8  But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.

The vow Paul had taken and the shaving of his head in Cenchrea took place on his return to Antioch during his second missionary journey.  Nothing had changed from the time Christ spoke to the Jews in the gospel of John until several decades later when the apostle Paul agreed to pay for the “ram for a peace offering” to be offered at the temple in Jerusalem for himself and the “four men who have a vow on them”.

Here is the verse which clarifies why all these early Jewish Christians were still unable to receive the words of Peter in Acts 15. This is what Christ told His disciples on the eve of His apprehension by the Jews:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Act 15:7  And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
Act 15:8  And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
Act 15:9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Act 15:11  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

What Peter said was true, but it still was not yet time for the Jewish Christians to receive these words, and this was the consensus of the apostles for the time being:

Act 15:28  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
Act 15:29  That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

The lesson for us all is that Peter, Paul, and Barnabas had sought a multitude of counselors concerning the question of whether the Gentiles must be circumcised. Peter stated the conviction of himself, Paul, and Barnabas:

Act 15:9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

However, when the consensus of the apostles and elders and the leaders of the church was that the Jews still had to keep the law of Moses, these three Jewish apostles were fully “persuaded by [their] leaders and deferred to them” as we are all commanded to do:

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you. (CLV)

John 16:12 explains why the Acts of the apostles is a record of that spiritually immature beginning of the New Testament church.

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

The fact that the Jewish Christians throughout the book of Acts are still baptizing in water, circumcising, and offering blood sacrifices has nothing to do with the false doctrine of “two administrations” which teaches that Peter had a gospel which was unique to the Jews while Paul had a doctrine which was peculiar to the Gentiles. This doctrine is common to almost all Catholic and Protestant churches who believe the Lord still considers Abraham’s physical seed to be His physical chosen people. The words ‘natural elect or physical elect’ are inventions of the fertile imaginations of men and therefore they are idols of the heart. Nothing could be further from the truth of these verses of scripture which manifestly contradict the very idea of a physical or natural elect:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

“Not in the letter” means there is no physical or natural elect. If the Truth is that being a Jew and being circumcised is a matter of “the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter” why, then, do men teach us the exact opposite and insist that the Lord has both a spiritual and a physical elect? The reason they do so is because they do not “tremble at the word of God”, and they simply disagree with these inspired words:

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye [Gentiles] who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. [Just how ‘nigh’ are they?]
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

Christ is not in the process of making twain of twain. That would be the false doctrine of God having both a physical and a spiritual elect. Nevertheless, the scriptures are emphatic that God is intent on abolishing in His flesh the enmity contained in ordinances “for to make in himself of twain one new man.” However, the period covered in the book of Acts is not the time for the holy spirit to reveal to the church that physical descent no longer makes one a Jew. That Truth would not be revealed until Paul was in prison in Rome even though it was revealed by Peter and Paul before Paul went to Rome:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

These Jews of John 6, who cannot ‘eat His flesh nor drink His blood’, are the very same Jews of Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, and they are the same Jews Peter is speaking to in the temple here in Acts 3 where the risen Christ, through Peter, healed the man who was lame from birth.

The disciples in John 6, who just hours earlier saw and ate of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, could not receive the doctrine of Christ, and they “went back and no more walked with Him” because He told them that He was the true bread from heaven which they must ‘eat’:

Joh 6:52  The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Joh 6:53  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Joh 6:60  Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
Joh 6:61  When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Joh 6:62  What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Joh 6:64  But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Joh 6:65  And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

The words “therefore I said unto you” refer to verse 44 of this same chapter:

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [G1670: ‘helkuo’, drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

This ‘dragging’ process is done against the will of our carnal mind which is “enmity against the law of God” (Rom 8:7) and cannot be otherwise. Be sure to read:

[What Grace Does]

This is the effect the gospel of Christ has upon our flesh until the Lord drags us to Himself via His chastening grace:

Joh 6:66  From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

It is here Jesus tells his disciples, and the multitude who had been fed by His loaves, that “the flesh profits nothing” and “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day”, that we are also told, “But there are some of you who believe not, [and] that Jesus “knew from the beginning… who should betray Him.” Though Judas did not forsake Christ at this point, it is at this point we are told that Jesus knew who would betray Him. This is mere hours after witnessing the undeniable miracle of the feeding of the five thousand.

Here in Acts 3, we have another great sign and wonder just a matter of days after the miraculous day of Pentecost. In John six the multitudes had requested another ‘sign and a wonder’, and that is what they got. The healing of this 40-year-old man who had been lame from birth, a man they had all seen sitting begging at the gate of the temple for decades, was so great and undeniable that “all the people saw him walking and praising God, 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.”

Once again, the holy spirit is doing a work in Jerusalem, the city which has become a spiritual harlot. Just as all the signs and “wonders in the heavens and in the earth” were undeniably witnessed by all in Jerusalem at Pentecost, and just as Peter had pointed out that the miracle of languages was a witness of the authenticity of Christ as the Messiah, Peter is again telling the people of Jerusalem that this healing just a few days later of a man “above forty years old”, who everyone knew was lame from birth, is once again a work of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah whom they had rejected and had crucified. Peter’s words apply to all men, but no one here in Jerusalem is yet aware of that fact simply because it is not yet time for the extent of the newness of all things to be revealed:

Act 3:11  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.
Act 3:12  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?
Act 3:13  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.

Contrary to all the Hollywood movies “Pilate was determined to let [Christ] go [free].” It was His own people, the very people Jesus had healed of all their diseases and had fed with His loaves and fishes, it was “the church” of His day, it was “[the] men of Israel” who:

Act 3:14  But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
Act 3:15  And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

Peter and all the apostles, as well as ‘over five hundred people at once’, had seen the risen Christ and could not deny what they had seen. Now Peter is telling the very people who “killed the Prince of life” that it is that same Jesus they killed who healed this man they all knew was lame from birth:

Act 3:16  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 [Christ] hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Contrary to the false doctrine of two administrations, Peter is here teaching salvation “through faith… which is by Him”. Peter does not yet know that salvation will be extended to the Gentiles in this age, but he already knows that salvation comes “through faith in His name… the faith which is by Him”.

Act 3:17  And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
Act 3:18  But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

Just like Joseph who told His brothers that their evil intentions toward him, in their ignorance, were actually a work of the Lord, Peter tells the Jews who crucified Christ the same thing; “through ignorance ye did it, as did your rulers.” Peter never once implicates Pilate or the Romans who were simply appeasing the Jewish people and their leaders.

Act 3:19  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;
Act 3:20  And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Act 3:21  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.

Once again, we must point out that neither Peter nor any other Jew at this time, converted or unconverted, thought that “the restitution of all things” referred to the salvation of all mankind. Nothing had changed to make Peter think that God had any intention of granting salvation to the Gentiles. Remember how shocked the Christian Jews at Jerusalem were when they heard that Peter had gone into the house of a Gentile and had even eaten a meal there in the house of the Roman centurion, Cornelius:

Act 11:1  And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
Act 11:2  And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him,
Act 11:3  Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.

“They that were of the circumcision” included every one of the other apostles. Not one Gentile was yet a Christian before Peter went up to Cornelius’s house, and that happens much later in chapter 10. Therefore, at the time of this man who “was above forty years old” and who had been born lame and was now healed at the gate of the temple, not one Christian Jew thought that the two phrases Peter used, 1) “the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” and 2) “the times of the restitution of all things” had anything at all to do with the gospel going to the Gentiles.

Peter goes on to explain what he meant by those two phrases:

Act 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.
Act 3:23  And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Act 3:24  Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.

At this time Peter realized that “these days” were indeed the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, but he also knew that the heavens had to receive Christ “until the restitution of all things”, which Peter perceived as the restoration of the kingdom to the physical Jews. At this time he and all the other apostles and all the other Christian converts thought that physical kingdom was imminent.

Act 3:25  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.
Act 3:26  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.

When Peter says “unto you first… God… sent… His Son Jesus… to bless you” he is contrasting the Jews, who Peter believes to be the Lord’s only chosen people, with “all the kindreds of the earth”.

Indeed “all the kindreds of the earth will be blessed… in the seed of Abraham” but we now understand that the Jews and “the fulness of the Gentiles” (Rom 11:25-32) will be blessed only in this “seed of Abraham”:

Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Galatians 3:7-9 is the doctrine of Christ Himself who taught:

Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

The holy spirit confirms these words through the apostle Paul:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

The apostles are all “true worshippers” but John 16:12 is still the rule of the day:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Acts 10, and Peter’s visit to the house of the Gentile Roman centurion, Cornelius, is coming, but at this time Peter has no idea that the holy spirit will later send him to the house of a Gentile Roman, and at the time of this healing of the man who was born lame Peter certainly does not believe that “He is not a Jew which is one outwardly… but he is a Jew which is one inwardly”. This Truth simply is not agreed upon anywhere in the entire book of the Acts of the apostles which are a history of the first several decades of the early church.

In our next study we will learn of the one circumstance under which we are commanded to disobey the powers that be. Having to do that is a trial that many have already faced, and many are yet to experience. None of us can do it on our own, but we can all do so through Christ who strengthens us:

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.