The impossible happened.  Every day for his whole life, a man who was crippled, was set by the road by his family so he could earn his keep by begging.

Then one day Peter and John came by.  They had no money to give but they were to give him something better — healing.  They prayed.  He was healed.  And he leaped with joy and praised God, walking and jumping.  The people were astonished.   So much so they literally came running.

While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.  When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?  The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.  You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.  You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.  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.

Peter and John were clear.  Don’t look to us.  We didn’t heal the man.  It was through Jesus that this man was healed.  That same Jesus you killed.

Peter did not mince words.  He told them like it was.

Then he tells them that he recognized that what they did in killing Jesus was in ignorance.  Knowing that his message of preaching was repentance for the forgiveness of sins, he preached that same message again:

 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Repentance.  Forgiveness.  And when you have these it leads to times of refreshing.  That’s God’s heart.  It is the dealing with sins so that His people can be refreshed and live in the joy of having been forgiven.

It was Jesus who made this possible.  Jesus was the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18:18:

 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.

Jesus is the one who does miracles.  And in his name his followers can also see healing.  We need to pray for more and believe for more.  The gospel didn’t change.

But the miracles are about a bigger picture.  It is about the love of God who brings restoration.

First and foremost we see this as every miracle in the Bible was about serving humanity and helping someone.  Never for flash and show.

Secondly the miracles validate the identity of Jesus.  Only God can do such works.

And third, they validate the message, the message of repentance and forgiveness.  This was the message Jesus commissioned them to speak.  The purpose was so that man could be reconciled back in fellowship with God and there could be renewed relationship, a season of refreshing and just great joy.  Joy is the fruit of a life of union with God.