Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 NIV
The Context:
Peter and John had just performed a miracle at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; a man who had been lame from birth had been healed, and he who had never learnt to walk was jumping, leaping and praising God. Adults who have had operations on the brain will tell you how they had to learn how to walk all over again. Physiotherapy shows you how that works. Forget custom, tradition, laid down process and procedure; sometimes, God can decide to suspend the laws of nature just to make a point. A new wave of the move of the Holy Spirit was in progress, and God was using ordinary, unschooled men as its messengers. Peter captured the mood precisely when he responded to the question of the leaders, who wanted to know by whose authority he and the other disciples were carrying out these miracles. Peter's response is the crux of today's message.
The Message:
Peter pointed out the source of the authority by which he was fit to stand and perform miracles in the first place. He wasn't speaking about his educational background; not like Paul who was quite learned. He was not connected to the leaders at that time; these men were threatened by the new wave of power that these ordinary men were pushing out. They must have realised that their relevance was waning and wanted to keep the status quo as it was. After the account of the Acts of the Apostles, when Paul went to the Gentiles with the gospel of Jesus, we do not hear about the Pharisees, the Sadducees, or the teachers of the law.
Peter had was a personal experience of the power of Jesus. That was enough for him. He had walked with this Jesus for three and a half years, and had received a mandate to preach about Jesus to all nations. As we read yesterday, this is the one assignment all who bear true allegiance to the kingdom of God must pursue. The message is always about Jesus, not who we are or what we have been made. It is always about Jesus. Peter made that clear to the leaders of his time, and we make it plain again today: by Jesus, lives are healed and made whole. By Him, eternal life is secured.
The Response:
Peter's message makes it clear where true authority comes from, and as he said, that is the source of the healing that men had witnessed. The world will seek to present alternative options to salvation, claiming that there are several ways to God. However, if I will believe this, I must at least hear from the God who says I should seek Him. If I am to find Him, I must come to Him on His terms, not mine. I don't get to decide how and where I will find Him; if He has told me how and where I can find Him, it will amount to foolishness to seek Him by other means and methods.
God has laid out a name by which all men can come to Him. The name is Jesus. There are names, but there is a Name. The name means Saviour, which means that by that name, His life purpose and pursuit are revealed to all men, and the name reveals the entire purpose of its gift to mankind. I am asked to believe in that name, and to put my complete trust in Him. Man's biggest need isn't physical possessions, as important as those may be. It isn't relevance or impact on its own, but relevance and impact made possible in connection with the name of Jesus.
Man's greatest need is to secure eternal life. Earthly life is but a phase with an expiry date; all that I get or hold in my hands is given to me in trust; I really don't own anything. When I die, whatever I cannot take with me was never really mine in the first place. What is that thing then that ends up in eternity: my soul. Nothing else. That then must be what should take my utmost attention, and today's extract tells me how I can truly secure my soul for eternity. It is not a theory, concept or academic dissertation; it is Jesus from first to last and all in between. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and all men must deal with Him at some point in their lives. We can do it on earth, while we still have time, or we can fade Him at the judgement seat, when it will already be too late. While I have time, I must secure that which is truly eternal, and get all that the eternal God wants for me. His time of favour is here.
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