0327. An Unheard-of Request

An Unheard-of Request

"In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" (Act_3:6).

1. The lame man had asked Peter and John to give what they did not have; Peter and John returned the compliments, by asking the lame man to do what he could not do. How could this man walk who could not walk? Did he not argue thus in his mind: "Why am I daily carried and placed here to beg, if I am able to walk? What do these foolish men mean?"

Yet this is God’s way. He asks the impossible.

Christ said to the man with the withered hand, "Stretch forth thine hand."

Christ said to the man let down through the roof, "Arise, take up thy bed and walk."

Christ said to the man who was four days dead, "Lazarus, come forth."

2. The commands of God to do the impossible are always accompanied by the needed aid of an omnipotent God. Peter did not merely say, "Rise up and walk:" what he did say, was: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."

There is something Jesus Christ can do for the sinner, that no one else can do. Others could carry the lame man and place him at the gate called "Beautiful," but, others could not put the power within him to make him walk.

The world may carry the sinner around hither and thither; it may beautify the environment in which the sinner moves; it may help the sinner to forget the woes of sinning; but, the world can never create in the sinner a new heart; neither can the world wash the sinner throughly from his iniquity, and cleanse him from his sin.

3. The name of Jesus Christ has lost none of its power. The four Gospels relate many instances of what Jesus began both to do and to teach; the Acts relate many instances of what Christ continued to do and to teach. The Church of to-day is still a monument (wherein it is faithful to its calling) of what Christ can still do and teach.

Our Lord is still opening the prison bars; He is still setting the captive free; He is still recovering sight to the blind; He is still preaching the Gospel to the poor. Awake, O Church of God! Take hold of His power! He will lead thee in the train of His triumphs!

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR