Charles Spurgeon Commentary Acts 3

Peter and John seem to have been linked in closest friendship.

Peter had been brought back by John when he was almost despairing after having denied his Master. John lovingly sought him out and made him his associate; and now they went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer.

Observe, here, how very sweetly the Old Testament dispensation melts into the new. The Temple was no longer what it had been before; the type was of no further use now that the great Antitype of the Temple had come; yet these apostles still went up to it at the hour of prayer.

There are some people who are great at destroying. It will be time to destroy the old when the new is quite ready; and even then, it may be very possible to let the darkness gradually melt away into a twilight, and so the day shall come with no great gap, no marked surprise. So Peter and John went up to the Temple at the same hour as others went. It is folly to be singular, except when to be singular is to be something more right than others.

And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.

This seems to have been the custom about the Temple gates, as it is about the doors of many churches on the Continent. For instance, you could not approach the door of a certain church in Rome without being solicited, perhaps, by a score of beggars. I do not suppose that it was so in Judea in its prosperous days; but when religion does not prosper, beggars are sure to be multiplied; and now that the very spirit of godliness had gone, almsgiving was done in public, and hence the beggars appeared in public.

The man had never stood upon his feet in all his life, and was so unable to move that he had to be carried to the Temple gates to beg; and yet, at the mention of the great and glorious name of Jesus, his feet and ankle-bones immediately received strength.

And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.

You are not at all surprised that he held Peter and John; it was only natural that he should follow them wherever they went, for he owed so much to them, and they were the best friends that he had ever had. He was filled with reverence for them because of what they had accomplished for him; and now, lest they should go away, he held them; and all the people ran together unto them, greatly wondering. He who was healed by Christ's wonderful name was wondering, and the people who saw him healed were all wondering.

I suppose that wonder mingles with all true worship. All wonder is not worship; but where there is adoration of God, and a sense of His great goodness and of our unworthiness, there seems always to be a large amount of wonder. We shall even sing:
"Sing with wonder and surprise,
His lovingkindness in the skies."

And as the lame man, which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.

It is always easy to draw a crowd, but there was really something wonderful to be seen that day. The apostle was careful to make the very best use of the crowd's curiosity. See how quickly he carried their thoughts away from the man before him to the greater Man, the Divine Man, the Son of God whom they had rejected.