“In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.” This man was, as the man healed in Acts 3:1-8, lame from birth. This man had never walked and the people of the village knew him and his condition. Critics of miraculous, supernatural healings always want to know: 1) Was the pre-healing condition known and authenticated. 2) Who was present at the healing? 3) Was the healing obvious, well known, authenticated and permanent? 4) Was the healing immediate or over time? 5) Could it have occurred naturally? For those who doubt miraculous and supernatural healings, only those who refuse to believe because of a pre-existing bias would challenge this healing as being anything other than a divine healing. This healing meets, in an overwhelming way, all of the skeptics conditions. 1) The entire village knew of this man as child and adult and knew he was and had always been lame. Not one or two, but the whole village knew the man had never walked. 2) The apostles, those who accompanied them, and many of the villagers were present. These were villagers that the apostles did not previously know and who were not believers. 3 & 4) The healing was obvious as the man who had never walked, after being prayed for, immediately jumped up and walked. 5) It could not have naturally occurred. This man had never walked. His muscles were atrophied and it would have been impossible for him to suddenly walk, not to mention to jump! Family, those who refuse to believe will not and cannot believe. The prophet Jeremiah said of such people “Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.” (Jeremiah 5:21) People who fool themselves into believing in their own intellect rather than the God who obviously exists and who has graciously revealed Himself. They disbelieve and put themselves at risk. Praise God that He is patient and continues to offer His grace because He does not want anyone to perish. (Matthew 18:14, 2 Peter 3:9).
Paul saw that this man had faith to be healed. In other words, God revealed to Paul this man’s heart and mind and that this man was receiving and believing this message. Family what we read of here is the gifts of the Holy Spirit: Discernment and Knowledge. As is always true when God reveals something to someone, the revelation always comes true.
“When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.” Was the miracle truly a miracle? The response of those present make it obvious of the miracle. Yes, these were, for the most part, uneducated villagers. Uneducated does not mean stupid or gullible. They had known this man since he was a baby. They knew what they had just seen was a miracle that only God was capable of doing. Common to us, we can often understand what happened but too often come to the wrong conclusions. Since only God, or in their polytheistic beliefs, only gods could do such a thing, then they wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods.
Helpful in understanding why these people, along with the priest of Zeus so quickly wanted to honor Paul and Barnabas as God we need only consider a myth they held onto about Zeus and Hermes visiting their village. The story comes from Ovid. The story is that Zeus and Hermes disguised themselves as peasants and visited a town asking the people for a place to sleep. No one would accommodate them. Finally a kindly old couple, Baucis and Philemon, were hospitable to them and gave them food to eat, wine to drink and a place to sleep. They were a simple couple of meager possessions who gave generously and sacrificially what others could have easily given but did not. As a result their lives were spared, but the rest of the people who lived there but would not help, were destroyed. Understanding this story which they all likely knew, it is easy to see that these villagers, seeing a display of divine power, wanted to be sure that they did not fall short as the people, excepting Baucis and Philemon, had fallen short. They understood the consequences. By the way, archaeologists have found an ancient temple outside of Lystra that revealed the existence of the cult that worshipped these two gods. It had idols of these two gods side by side.
Interesting that the Jews refused to acknowledge that the healing was divine but to the villagers it was obvious.
An interesting point is that, as Luke relates the incident, when the healing was performed Paul had said “Stand up on your feet” while Peter had said to the lame man that the Lord used him to heal “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Paul did not say, though he certainly meant, that the man would be healed by the power of Jesus. One can only wonder if he had, before the miracle had even occurred, pointed out that the hope and cause of the miracle was Jesus Christ, if it may have headed off the false believe that Paul and Barnabas were gods. Family, in all things let’s give credit to our Lord Jesus at all times, before, during and after. God gets all the credit because only He does the work. (James 1:17) Yes Lord, we praise You and give all glory to You! Praise God! Always, continuously and forever God gets the glory and praise! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.