Rise up and walk
“Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6).
At the beginning of Acts we see the resurrected Saviour promising the Holy Spirit and that His disciples would be His witnesses. After watching the Lord ascend to heaven, the disciples are also promised, “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Interestingly, the angels address the disciples as “men of Galilee”. God’s power was going to be demonstrated in the lowly, ordinary men the Lord Jesus chose to be His disciples.
The disciples return to Jerusalem and prayerfully wait for the Holy Spirit to be given. Christ’s promises are fulfilled in chapter 2 when, in an explosion of power, the Holy Spirit of God descends from heaven, empowering the disciples to witness to their Lord, and the Church of Christ is born.
Chapter 3 begins with Peter and John, who had been at the centre of the work of God at Pentecost, quietly walking to the Temple to pray there. It is good to reflect on these two men, so different in character but so united in fellowship and prayer. Our differences often polarise us. But in these two men we have a great example of spiritual harmony which is a lesson to us all. As they walk, they approach a lame beggar who asks them for alms. He only expected passers-by to have mercy on him and give him money he could never earn: he would never change his circumstances. The beggar is a vivid illustration of our spiritual helplessness. This scene contrasts with Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit moved in a very public way. Yet we see the same extraordinary intervention of God in causing the beggar to ask alms of Peter and John. At that moment, God instantaneously moves in Peter’s heart to respond to the man’s need, “Look at us” (v. 4). He does not say “Look at me”, but “Look at us”. Peter had such confidence in the Saviour he and John knew. He had no silver or gold, a picture of the material world where hopes so often lie and are so often disappointed. Peter declares and willingly shares the Saviour and His power to save the lame man. He shared what he possessed, “What I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Peter took the man by the hand and lifted him up. It is hard not to think of the occasion when, surrounded by waves and sinking Peter cried, “Lord save me” in Matthew 14:30. He would never forget that the Lord took Him by the hand and lifted him up. How ready he was to impart to others his Saviour! Immediately the man was no longer lame, “He, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God (v. 8).
Never let us doubt that the Lord can use our experience of Him in witness: “What I have.” Philip could say to a doubting Nathanael, “Come and see.” The blind man in John could say, “One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25). And like Peter and John, we can live quietly, prayerfully and in communion with Christ and “always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).
