[Peter continued,] "For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the God of all our ancestors — who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by [healing this lame man]. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate's decision to release him. You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!"
Peter addressed the crowd that gathered at the Temple to see the lame man who had been healed. He began by humbly deflecting the glory for the healing from John and himself and gave all the glory and credit to Jesus, the Messiah. In fact, Peter emphasized that God himself gave this glory to his servant Jesus. Then, Peter began a very straightforward message assigning the proper blame for the murder of Jesus to the Jewish religious and political leaders in the high council, also known as the Sanhedrin. They were undoubtedly present at the Temple because it was a designated prayer time (
Acts 3:1). Peter then made sure they knew the true identity of this Jesus whom they murdered; he is God's resurrected holy and righteous author of life, Jesus the Messiah. Peter's words remind us that the rejection of Jesus is not just the rejection of the apostles' message, but of God who sent Jesus.
![Illustration of Acts 3:13-15 NLT — [Peter continued,] "For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the God of all our ancestors — who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by [healing this lame man]. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate's decision to release him. You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!"](https://img.heartlight.org/overlazy/creations/24630.jpg "Illustration of Acts 3:13-15 NLT — [Peter continued,] \"For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the God of all our ancestors — who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by [healing this lame man]. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate's decision to release him. You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!\"")
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