Imagine you are in a public place, thriving with people going here and there. It is busy. Suddenly there is a commotion a man is leaping about and praising God. You recognize this man… he is… was lame. You have seen him daily on your walk and you know he can not… could not walk. Yet now you see he is leaping and praising God!
Intrigued, you come closer. The man is clinging to Peter and John, the disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus was executed not long ago. You were there. In fact you had been drawn in by the energy of the crowd and even called for Barabbas to be set free and Jesus to be crucified. Surely, you thought, this can not be the Messiah.
But now Peter and John have healed this man who could not walk! And they are declaring that Jesus was raised from the dead because He is the Messiah, God in the flesh to dwell among us. A sense of panic sweeps through your very core… you called for His crucifixion. How can that be forgiven? It surely must be too late… but it is not.
Peter and John, knowing all of this are calling for people to repent (turn away from their own wrong ways and turn toward God’s right ways of doing things) and turn to Jesus.
Your panic turns to regret and to joy as you realize that God is willing to forgive you and accept you. Then you feel like joining the man in leaping an praising God. You press in to hear more from Peter and John.
11While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement. 12But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 13“The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. 14“But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. 16“And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.
17“And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. 18“But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. 22“Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you. 23‘And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ 24“And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. 25“It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’ 26“For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”
All of us have denied Jesus in some way during our lives either. Sometimes it is by outright denial or rejection and sometimes it is more subtle… such as remaining quiet as others mock Him. It is hard to reconcile the level of forgiveness God offers through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even the crowds who had called for Jesus to be Crucified were not turned away by His disciples, but rather offered an invitation to join them in serving Jesus. All they had to do is turn away from their wrong ways of doing things and turn toward God’s way of doing things… often referred to as repenting of sin.
There is no sin so great that we can not repent of it, turn toward God, ask forgiveness and ask Him to be Lord of our lives. If you have denied Him in a big way or in small ways… repent, ask forgiveness and act differently next time… boldly proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ. All who repent and wholeheartedly call upon the name of Jesus will be forgiven!
I invite you to pray with me:
Father, thank You for second chances! Thank You for forgiveness, grace, and mercy! I am a sinner in need of a savior. Thank You for sending Yeshua as Messiah. Please have mercy on me and help me to devote my life to You. Amen.
Shalom
Devotion by John in service to Christ
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