Acts 3:17-26

 Acts 3:17-26

“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.  But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.  Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.  And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’  And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.  You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’  God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

In light of the miracle that God did in healing the lame man, Peter has an opportunity to speak to the crowd that has gathered.  He has already confronted the people with their sin and pointed them towards faith in Christ.  In this passage, he continues to appeal to the people to not just look in amazement at a miracle, but to take action.  Peter is not satisfied that they simply be amazed at what they observed, but to respond to what they saw by believing on Jesus and recognizing their own sinful state.  Every believer is called to confront people with their sin and to comfort them with the message of God’s grace through Jesus.  Peter is faithful to follow this pattern in obedience to His call from Jesus.

A CALL FOR REPENTANCE: Peter has demonstrated that Jesus was the Messiah that the nation of Israel had been waiting for.  He also confronted them for having killed the Messiah and giving preference to a murderer.  However, he recognizes that they were acting in ignorance because they obviously did not know that Jesus was Messiah.  They crucified Him because He claimed to be Messiah.  The solution to this situation was for them to repent.  It is hard for us to admit when we are wrong and perhaps even harder, to admit we are ignorant.  But this is exactly what is necessary to resolve our problems.  When we are wrong, we have can either go on pretending we are right or admit that we are wrong and change courses.  The latter is what repentance is all about.  It requires that we humbly admit we are sinners and then to turn from our sin to follow Christ.  As believers, we are to live a life of constant repentance and call others to do the same.

A LOOK FOR RESTORATION: The blessing for repentance is that it brings hope of refreshment and restoration.  God has promised through the prophets that He will send a time of peace to this earth in which the planet on which we live will be restored.  Until that time Jesus is in heaven with the Father and He is calling through the work of the Spirit, Scripture and the saints a people that worships Him.  There is suffering and hardship today as we live in a broken world with broken bodies.  But that is going to change.  One day Jesus will return to rule and reign.  There will be true renewal, restoration and refreshment like this world has not seen since Adam.  The only way to have access to that world that is coming is through repentance.  Our hope for tomorrow depends on our repentance today.  This is the message we must believe and proclaim to the ends of the earth.

A TIME FOR REMEMBRANCE: Jesus did not come out of nowhere.  Moses had foretold that a prophet like him was coming that would have a message of great importance and that ignoring that message would lead to destruction.  In fact, all the prophets pointed to the coming of Jesus.  Abraham had been told that all the families of the world would be blessed through him.  Peter wants his audience to remember all the Scriptures say about Messiah and then to understand that they all apply to Jesus.  He is the Messiah.  He blessed the nation of Israel by coming through them into the world.  He blessed them by appearing to them first after God raised Him from the dead.  He will bless people from all nations that believe on Him.  He is the only way that man can be free from sin and wickedness and be saved.  Turning from sin and trusting Jesus is the only way to salvation. 

APPLICATION: There is always some form of unbelief in our lives from which we must repent.  Generally, this unbelief stems from ignorance of the person and work of Christ.  We must make knowing Jesus through study of Scripture, the Spirit’s ministry in our hearts and communion with the saints be the priority of our lives.  The hope of restoration and refreshing should be our hope and source of comfort in times of distress and discouragement.  We must look to the Word of the prophets to be encouraged and challenged concerning the future.