“… and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him.”
Whenever God moves, it is not a small, uneventful event, but always a source of wonder and amazement.
The moment Peter held the man’s hand and raised him, he was changed from lame to whole. Everything was changed: the man, his family and those who knew him.
This would be a day to remember, a day when God through Peter spoke a word, “…in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk,” and a man’s world was totally altered, a city was turned on its head. God’s normal is to amaze man. Man’s normal is to be amazed at God.
Peter does not allow the flurry of attention to stay on him. He is quick to dispel the notion that it is his doing, immediately giving the credit and the glory where it belongs. He will not and cannot take the credit for what belongs to God.
When we take the glory that is due to God, we are moving into dishonor and self-idolatry, making God a peripheral figure in the event.
Peter immediately points to Jesus. And immediately gets into trouble with the authorities.
In the middle of a revival, confrontation came. It always seems to do so. The religious response was, “We must nip this in the bud.”
Acts 4:1-3
“They all came; the priest, the commander of the temple guard, and the Sadducees, and they were angry. They were teaching about Jesus and the resurrection of the dead. “So they seized them and put them in jail...”
Whatever form “jail” takes, (spiritual, mental, emotional or physical,) it is meant to separate, silence or limit us. But God will not be stopped.