8 And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. 9 This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.
In 14:8-20, Paul healed a crippled man in Lystra, but the crowd attempted to worship him as the god Hermes and Barnabas as Zeus.
14:8
And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.
Lystra was a retirement center for the Roman military. After arriving in Lystra, a Roman colony and military post, Paul and Barnabas encountered a man who was crippled from birth and had never walked.
14:9
This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed,
Paul intently observed the lame man observing him when preaching and saw that he had faith to be healed by the apostle.
14:10
said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.
Paul shouted for the man to stand on his feet. Immediately God healed the man on the spot, and he “leaped and walked.” The healing in this verse is the third healing of a cripple in the book of Acts (Acts 3:1-10; 9:33-35). In Acts 3 and here, the crippled person was lame from birth.
PRINCIPLE:
God does what men cannot do.
APPLICATION:
Miracles were limited to specific periods in history. God designed all periods of miracles for periods of revelation. Miracles were exclusively executed by God using human instruments. One era of miracles was the New Testament period, where God vindicated the writing of the New Testament and the authentication of the apostles, who had the authority to write Scripture and found the entity of the church, as over against Israel.
