‘And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they took knowledge of him, that it was he who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.'
When the people saw him they were filled with ‘wonder and amazement' at what had happened to him, for they recognised who he was. They recognised him as the lame man who had for so long begged for alms at one of the gates of the Temple. And now here he was walking and praising God within the Temple. The one who had been outside was now in.
Note the implication behind these words. The man and the Beautiful gate were linked together. Yet he had sat there, the very opposite of what the Beautiful gate represented. But now he was no longer tied to the Beautiful gate. He was free. He had life.
‘All the people.' The representatives of the whole of Israel were receiving God's witness, and they were all amazed. But the question was, would they see that they too were lame and needed to be healed? Would they see that here was evidence that the new age had come?
‘And they took knowledge of him.' Compare Acts 4:13. Here the crowds took knowledge of this man that he was the lame one. In Acts 4:13 the court would take knowledge of the Apostles that they had been with Jesus because the lame one was standing there, healed