Heirs of the prophets

PRAYER PRACTICE

Read today’s passage through once. Then spend some time praying and asking God to show you what you need to pay attention to in the text. Read it again. Now ask God to help you see what this text, and the part that has stood out, may mean for you. Don’t expect to get a clear word every time but always be ready to really hear from God through His Word.

DAILY READING

Acts 3:17-26

DEVOTION / REFLECTION

Foretold Through the Prophets

by Tom Richards

Today we read about Peter’s interaction with his fellow Jews following the miraculous healing of a lame man earlier in chapter three. The unbelieving Jews who witnessed this healing wondered by what power the man was healed. Peter explains in verse 16, “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.” He also explains in verse 15 that they “killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.”

Our reading picks up where Peter tells the Jews that Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection was foretold by the prophets.  This statement echoes the words of Jesus himself.  In Luke 24:25-27 he states “He said to them, How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Peter goes on to specifically reference Moses, Samuel and all the prophets, and Abraham as bearing witness to Christ. Peter explained to the Jews who Jesus was based on words written many years prior to his life on earth. Jesus, the Son of God, was not fiction. He was not a myth held up by his disciples’ loyalty. He was the promised Messiah, foretold in the scriptures, evidenced by miracles during his time on earth, evidenced by his resurrection from the dead, and evidenced by his ability to change lives in Peter’s day and in ours. 

Perhaps the most significant thing Peter said in today’s reading is found in verses 19 – 20.  These words were applicable to his Jewish audience and certainly to our world today.  “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.”  Amen…