Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

15. “And you slew the Prince of Life.” Here is a beautiful allusion to our Savior’s royalty. He is
not only our wonderful Savior and perfect Sanctifier, but our glorious coming King.
FAITH.
16. “And upon the faith of his name, his name hath restored this one whom ye see and know, and
faith through him hath given him this soundness in presence of you all.” From this verse it is very
clear that the healed cripple was well acquainted with Jesus. He was a mature man in life’s meridian
when Jesus began to visit Jerusalem, preach and do His mighty works, as it was His custom to
preach all day in the streets of Jerusalem, and go away to Mount Olivet, where from His own
testimony He doubtless lodged on the bosom of the earth which He had created, holding secret
communion with His Father. In His constant peregrinations hither and thither, from the temple to
Mount Olivet and back to the metropolis, He passed through the Beautiful Gate, turning many a
loving smile, accompanied by words of truth and wisdom, on the poor beggar. Hence, when Peter
commanded him in the name of Jesus of Nazareth to arise and walk, instantaneously his faith took
hold on the loving Sympathizer he had so often seen and heard, spiritually apprehending Him as the
Omnipotent Healer of that decrepitude which had all his life utterly disqualified him to stand on his
feet. Hence, pursuant to his faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Omnipotent Healer, he leaps
instantaneously into perfect restoration. We see from this verse that he was healed by faith in Jesus,
who said, “As your faith is, so be it unto you.” This wonderful proclamation, on which hangs the
world’s redemption, is as true of the body as the soul. Sure as the infallibility of our Jesus, we
receive just what we have faith for, whether involving body or soul. Though the beggar had seen
Jesus passing by, day by day, during the three years of his ministry, his healing was reserved for this
salient epoch, when it was so much needed to boom the popular faith in the Christhood of the risen
Jesus. At the same time we recognize in the flash radiating from the countenances of Peter and John,
replete with buoyant faith, and the stentorian voice roaring in his ears, and the herculean grip of
Peter’s hand, a potent inspiration to the faith of the cripple, which, responsive to these collateral
incentives, leaped at once into electrical activity, apprehending in the humble Nazarene, about whom
he had thought so much, the actual Omnipotent Shiloh of prophecy, Christ of God, Redeemer of the
world and Healer of the body. Hence, pursuant to his faith, he leaps, skips and runs for the first time
in a life of more than forty years.
17. Though, as Peter says, “The Jews blindly and ignorantly slew the Prince of Life,” yet they
were awfully criminal in the sight of God because they had yielded to the lies of Satan and
spontaneously turned away from the light.
18. “But those things which he proclaimed through the mouth of all his prophets that his Christ
should suffer, he thus fulfilled.” We see from this verse how the Jews and the Romans in their
condemnation and crucifixion of Christ were literally fulfilling prophecies so obviously that it is
astonishing that they could not recognize it. The very men who stood at the head of the church,
having studied the prophecies at the feet of their great theologians, and preached on them all their
lives, were so blinded by Satan that they could not see them; but in the black darkness of their
wicked unbelief, these great preachers went right ahead, fulfilling the prophecies to their own
condemnation. Oh! how history repeats itself! Visit in the great ecclesiastical assemblies of the
present day. You find the mighty men of talent and scholarship standing at the head of the popular