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AENEAS



 

In the years following Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, God’s word spread like wildfire. Heaven’s endorsement of their message came as God worked miraculous signs through His servants. In fact, they would carry the sick out into the streets and lay them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. In addition, a multitude came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed” (Acts 5:15–16).

 

After Saul’s divine encounter on the road to Damascus and the resulting radical conversion and transformation, “the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers” (Acts 9:31).

 

In those peaceful and happy days, “Peter was traveling from place to place, he also came down to the saints who lived in Lydda” (Acts 9:32).

 

Lydda was located near Joppa, on the highway that led down from Jerusalem to Joppa on the Mediterranean Sea. In Joppa, Peter was introduced to “a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years” (Acts 9:33).

 

I imagine that a caring individual in the church approached Peter and told him about the broken and bedridden man. Maybe Aeneas had been at the top of the church’s prayer list for weeks. Perhaps the church had brought meals to the home and tried unsuccessfully to lead the man to faith in Jesus… maybe.

 

When he reached the bedside, Peter said to him, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed,’ and immediately he got up” (Acts 9:34). “Aeneas, Jesus, the Son of God, is the Healer!”

 

Aeneas might have told Peter to leave and take his useless religion with him. He might have refused to believe and remained flat on his back. He didn’t. He swung his once-lifeless legs out of bed and danced the jig! For eight interminable and miserable years, he’d been helpless and hopeless. Jesus changed everything! “Hallelujah!”

 

That’s not the end of the story. Aeneas became an evangelist, “so all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord” (Acts 9:35). His neighbors and friends all saw evidence of God’s healing power, and they heard the testimony of a redeemed man… a friend of God.

 

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).




 

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