“While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: ‘Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.’” Acts 3:11–16
Sometimes we use the word “witness” to describe someone who saw a crime take place. If you were a witness to a crime, a policeman might ask questions about what you saw to help solve the case. A witness is someone who saw something and simply speaks about what he or she observed.
In the text for today, Peter is a type of witness, a witness first and foremost to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. He was a changed man, transformed from a coward to a courageous preacher. Witnessing Jesus risen from the grave gave Peter power to no longer fear death—it gave him a passion to tell everyone about what he saw and knew to be true about Jesus Christ.
All he spoke about—and the only thing he spoke about—was the message of the gospel—the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We see demonstrated in this text that the gospel is God’s work, and it’s our job to tell others about what we’ve seen God do in our lives. We are the witnesses—we simply tell people about what God has done. He gets the glory when we tell the story.
Read
- In this text, Jesus is speaking to his disciples. Why does Jesus say they will “bear witness”?
- We haven’t been with Jesus in the same way the disciples were with him, but can we still “bear witness”? How?
Prayer
Our Father, thank you so much for what you have done in history. May we give you glory by telling your story! We believe you have done mighty things in the past and continue to do mighty things today. Thank you that your mightiest work was conquering our sin and raising Jesus from the dead. Amen.
This devotion is adapted from Week 7 of the Acts Study Guide.
