RESTORATION

We are told that after Pentecost the Apostles worked many signs and wonders. But the 1^st recorded miracle is mentioned in Acts chapter3, of the man who was lame from birth at the Beautiful gate, near the entrance to the Temple.

Luke gives us significant information about this healing; it was the 9^th hour which was 3:00pm which was the time when prayers were offered up in the Temple for the people. The 3^rd hour was 9:00am which was the time when the High Priest would enter the Temple & offer up incenses and sacrifices of praise unto the Lord. It was the 3^rd hour when the Apostles were filled with praise & worship on Pentecost. It was the 3^rd hour when Jesus was crucified, he was offering up his life as a sacrifice and it was the 9^th hour when Jesus died offering up his life as a prayer offering for all of us. This was the same time when prayers were offered up in the Temple on behalf of the people.

We are told that this man was crippled from birth and in a way we are all crippled from birth because of Adam’s sin. Because of his infirmity he could not enter the Temple according to Leviticus 21. In other words, he could not enter into the praise and worship; he could not offer up prayers to God, like Adam he was cut off from entering into the presence of God. And we are told that the Christian Community went regularly each day to the Temple and the 3^rd hour (9:00am) to offer up praise & worship unto the Lord and then they would return at the 9^th hour (3:00pm).

 

He you have Peter & John coming ‘together’, now before Pentecost you have Peter the man of faith always jumping in with his feet first, always speaking without thinking and then you have John the man of love, and we are told about the empty tomb when John ran faster than Peter and got there before him. Before Pentecost it seemed that they were always jockeying for position but here now after Pentecost there was togetherness, or a unity that wasn’t there before.

 

Our faith has to be motivated by love, and here you have Peter & John representing faith & love and there is a togetherness here, a unity a common purpose of mind & heart and when they approached the man you notice that Peter did not say, ‘look at me’, but look at us.  That means that they walked in humility together and earlier that day at 9:00am they had spent quite a considerable time offering praise & worship unto the Lord.

 

There has to be a preparation in order for us to be able to pray the prayer of faith for others and praise should always precede us in trying to pray the prayer of faith. When we offer up praise & worship unto the Lord we are preparing our hearts so that when we pray for the needs of other people we shall have that special anointing of the Holy Spirit upon us. How can one hymn prepare our hearts to receive the prayer of faith? The Scriptures are quite clear that 'God dwells in the praises of his people'; praise always involves spiritual warfare; but it's purpose is break through to a place where then in worship we can sit at the Lord's feet and let him then minister to us in return.

 

Then Peter reached out his right hand, in other words Peter was saying ‘I consider you to be a co-equal with me’, you see God is no respecter of persons, when He sees a need he meets it, we are all equal in his sight. Peter said, ‘look at us’, and that man was expecting something to happen & we need to create an atmosphere of expectancy in the hearts of people to pray the prayer of faith for others.

 

This word heal that is mentioned  here means therapeutic, it means that there is a progression from one stage to another, so he reached out his hand and Peter helped him up and we are told that his ankle bones were strengthened and he was then able to leap and jump and praise God.

 

This word heal was the same word that was used by Jesus  when he sent the 10 lepers back to the high priest to present themselves for their healing and we are told that ‘as they went they were healed’. In other words it was progressive & there has to be a step taken in faith. Only one came back and he was made whole, the others received their healing but the one who came back was made whole in body soul and spirit.

 

This cripple in Acts we are told that his ankle bones were strengthened which comes from the Greek word ‘stereo’, which means perfect sound, it is the same as putting on a pair of headphones and listening to a piece of music in stereo. It means that everything is coming together in perfect harmony.

 

This speaks of us going back to God’s original intention for man when Adam was able to walk in perfect harmony with God before the fall. Before the fall there was no sickness, no disease, or infirmity. We are told that this man was restored; the Hebrew word is ‘shoob’ which means rescued, recovered, restored, retrieved, to bring back home again and that what God has done for us. He has reconciled us and ‘restored my soul’ (Ps 23). He wants to bring us back into the fold again and restore everything that the Devil has robbed us of.

 

The whole purpose of the ministry of healing is to restore us back into total harmony with God.

 

As soon as that man was healed he could now be brought back into the sheepfold, into the Temple of God and for the 1^st time in his life he was able to come into the presence of God and praise & worship and be like king David was able to leap & dance with all his might before the Lord.

 

The new life that Jesus offers us is not just a spring in our step, but a spring of living water within, springing up to eternal life Amen.