Act 3:18-26 | KingComments | STEP | The accusations are fixed. The judgment of God is deserved. Then Peter points to a way out. Led by the Holy Spirit, he can tell the people that they have done their terrible deed “in ignorance” (cf. ) and therefore he can call them to repentance and return. Peter can say this based on the intercession of the Lord Jesus on the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” ( ). On this basis mercy was also shown to Paul ( ). Their sin is seen as manslayer, not murder. Someone guilty of manslayer under the law could be killed by the avenger of blood. If the manslayer managed to reach a city of refuge in time, he was safe there ( ). In this way, the people could still take refuge in the Lord Jesus and thus escape judgment. Instead of judgment, they will receive the promised blessing, as Peter will say in a moment. First he speaks about God’s counsel. What they have done with Christ in their wickedness has been used by God to fulfill what He has spoken about through all the prophets. All the prophets have spoken about His Christ suffering. Here again we see both sides that we also saw in the previous chapter ( ). On the one hand, we see how man reveals his utter depravity by rejecting God’s goodness revealed in Christ. On the other hand, we discover that God has known this in advance and included it in His plans and even used it to fulfill His plans. We, creatures, cannot bring those two sides together, but that is what God is God for, while we are and remain creatures with the limitations that come with it, as in our comprehension. Through their sinful act, God has fulfilled His purpose regarding the suffering of Christ. That they are fully guilty of their sins is also shown by Peter’s call to the people to repent and return. He has made it clear to them of what they are guilty. This should lead them to repentance, to the acknowledgment that they have sinned. Return or conversion is inextricably linked to this acknowledgment and confession. Conversion is a change of thinking about God and the Lord Jesus. Repentance is an inner conviction of one’s own guilt, insight and recognition that I have sinned. Conversion is a turning around in my judgment of what God has said. First there was rejection of what He said in His Word and of what He gave in Christ. Those who have come to repentance, to acknowledgment and confession of their sins, will believe God on His Word and accept His gift in Christ. He who repents and returns can know that his sins have been erased. Everything that stood between him and God has been wiped away. The barrier has been removed. This has cleared the way for a life of refreshment that comes “from the presence of the Lord”. What can be applied to the individual applies here first and foremost to the whole people, for it is to them that Peter speaks. By “times of refreshing” he therefore means the time of the millennial realm of peace where all the blessings of God on earth will be enjoyed by His people. Then the face of the Lord will no longer be turned against them in wrath ( ), but His face will shine like the sun ( ). His people will be able to bask in the warmth of His rays and enjoy the full blessing of life according to His promise in the realm of peace ( ). The return of Christ Jesus to fulfill this depends – and still depends – on the conversion of the Jews. Peter makes it clear that God desires to send His Christ, of Whom he says He is “the Christ appointed” for them. Here we are made aware of God’s great love for His people. The first sending of Christ to His people has not been a mistake. God is once again offering this Christ appointed for them, Who is none other than the “Jesus” rejected by them. What a persistent grace of God, Who does so in spite of their rejection of His Christ! He can do so, once again, based on the intercession of the Lord Jesus on the cross. We see how God does everything possible to bring the nation to repentance in order to be able to give them the promised blessings. Only when they also reject a glorified Lord, just as they rejected Him in His humiliation, does God’s judgment come on the people. In order to prevent this, God is still looking, as it were, also still at this moment for a possibility to send His Son to bring about the period of the restoration of all things. Christ has been taken up into heaven. Rejected by the earth, heaven had to receive Him. Heaven did not do so reluctantly, but – seen from the purpose for which He had come to earth, namely, to establish the kingdom of God there – did so prematurely. The original goal, however, will be reached. The moment of the restoration of all things points to the millennial realm of peace. During the kingdom of peace, everything in creation will be restored to the situation God had in mind when He created heaven and earth. God has always spoken about that situation through the mouth of His prophets. He has been pointing forward to that. When His Son came, that time could have come if Israel would have accepted Him. But He was rejected. That does not mean, however, that God’s plan is cancelled now. Through the mouth of Peter, God offers to fulfill His plan. That will happen when the people as a nation repent. We know that the people did not do this. Yet even that does not mean that God can no longer fulfill His plan. It has been postponed once more and will be fulfilled in the end time.

‏ Acts 3:18-26

Call to Repentance and Return

The accusations are fixed. The judgment of God is deserved. Then Peter points to a way out. Led by the Holy Spirit, he can tell the people that they have done their terrible deed “in ignorance” (cf. 1Cor 2:8) and therefore he can call them to repentance and return. Peter can say this based on the intercession of the Lord Jesus on the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34a). On this basis mercy was also shown to Paul (1Tim 1:13).

Their sin is seen as manslayer, not murder. Someone guilty of manslayer under the law could be killed by the avenger of blood. If the manslayer managed to reach a city of refuge in time, he was safe there (Num 35:9-34). In this way, the people could still take refuge in the Lord Jesus and thus escape judgment. Instead of judgment, they will receive the promised blessing, as Peter will say in a moment. First he speaks about God’s counsel. What they have done with Christ in their wickedness has been used by God to fulfill what He has spoken about through all the prophets. All the prophets have spoken about His Christ suffering.

Here again we see both sides that we also saw in the previous chapter (Acts 2:22-23). On the one hand, we see how man reveals his utter depravity by rejecting God’s goodness revealed in Christ. On the other hand, we discover that God has known this in advance and included it in His plans and even used it to fulfill His plans. We, creatures, cannot bring those two sides together, but that is what God is God for, while we are and remain creatures with the limitations that come with it, as in our comprehension. Through their sinful act, God has fulfilled His purpose regarding the suffering of Christ.

That they are fully guilty of their sins is also shown by Peter’s call to the people to repent and return. He has made it clear to them of what they are guilty. This should lead them to repentance, to the acknowledgment that they have sinned. Return or conversion is inextricably linked to this acknowledgment and confession. Conversion is a change of thinking about God and the Lord Jesus. Repentance is an inner conviction of one’s own guilt, insight and recognition that I have sinned.

Conversion is a turning around in my judgment of what God has said. First there was rejection of what He said in His Word and of what He gave in Christ. Those who have come to repentance, to acknowledgment and confession of their sins, will believe God on His Word and accept His gift in Christ. He who repents and returns can know that his sins have been erased. Everything that stood between him and God has been wiped away. The barrier has been removed. This has cleared the way for a life of refreshment that comes “from the presence of the Lord”.

What can be applied to the individual applies here first and foremost to the whole people, for it is to them that Peter speaks. By “times of refreshing” he therefore means the time of the millennial realm of peace where all the blessings of God on earth will be enjoyed by His people. Then the face of the Lord will no longer be turned against them in wrath (Psa 34:16), but His face will shine like the sun (Mt 17:2). His people will be able to bask in the warmth of His rays and enjoy the full blessing of life according to His promise in the realm of peace (Pro 16:15).

The return of Christ Jesus to fulfill this depends – and still depends – on the conversion of the Jews. Peter makes it clear that God desires to send His Christ, of Whom he says He is “the Christ appointed” for them. Here we are made aware of God’s great love for His people.

The first sending of Christ to His people has not been a mistake. God is once again offering this Christ appointed for them, Who is none other than the “Jesus” rejected by them. What a persistent grace of God, Who does so in spite of their rejection of His Christ! He can do so, once again, based on the intercession of the Lord Jesus on the cross.

We see how God does everything possible to bring the nation to repentance in order to be able to give them the promised blessings. Only when they also reject a glorified Lord, just as they rejected Him in His humiliation, does God’s judgment come on the people. In order to prevent this, God is still looking, as it were, also still at this moment for a possibility to send His Son to bring about the period of the restoration of all things.

Christ has been taken up into heaven. Rejected by the earth, heaven had to receive Him. Heaven did not do so reluctantly, but – seen from the purpose for which He had come to earth, namely, to establish the kingdom of God there – did so prematurely.

The original goal, however, will be reached. The moment of the restoration of all things points to the millennial realm of peace. During the kingdom of peace, everything in creation will be restored to the situation God had in mind when He created heaven and earth. God has always spoken about that situation through the mouth of His prophets. He has been pointing forward to that.

When His Son came, that time could have come if Israel would have accepted Him. But He was rejected. That does not mean, however, that God’s plan is cancelled now. Through the mouth of Peter, God offers to fulfill His plan. That will happen when the people as a nation repent. We know that the people did not do this. Yet even that does not mean that God can no longer fulfill His plan. It has been postponed once more and will be fulfilled in the end time.

The Prophet Raised Up by God

That God will let the times of the restoration of all things come, has everything to do with Him to Whom Peter refers again by a quotation from one of those “holy prophets from ancient time”, that is Moses (Deu 18:15-19). Like for David, whom Peter quoted in Acts 2, the Jews also had great admiration for Moses. Moses spoke of a Prophet Who would be raised up by God in the same way like God had raised him up.

Moses was raised up by God as a prophet for His people at a time when the people were in bondage and in great need. This also happened to the Lord Jesus. Just as Moses was raised up in the midst of his brethren, so the Lord Jesus also came in the midst of his brethren, that is to say, by being born an Israelite, He became an Israelite. In the quote Moses calls upon to give heed to everything He says. That is what Peter holds out to his audience.

Besides the similarities between Moses and the Lord Jesus as a prophet, there is also a big difference. Moses was an instrument that passed on the words of God. But not everything Moses said were words of God. However, what the Lord Jesus would say and did say, were all exclusively words of God. That is why Moses says that the people should hear “to everything He says to you”. “Everything” means every word, not a word excepted. Moses also adds the serious warning that whoever does not hear to that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. As a result, such a person is forever cut off from the blessing that is the part of that people when He will reign.

And not only Moses spoke about the coming of that Prophet, the Lord Jesus. From Samuel, the first prophet appointed by God in His people, God has pointed out the coming of His Son. All the prophets who came after Samuel did. Peter points out to the people their privileged position as sons of the prophets. By this he also means to say that they must walk in the way the prophets have shown the people because only through that way the blessing of God can be received. That way is always the way of repentance and conversion.

Furthermore, they are not only sons of the prophets, but also of the covenant that God made with their fathers and in which He promised them His blessing. In that covenant God has pointed out blessing for the bodily offspring of Abraham, that is the people to whom Peter speaks here. God also promised blessing to all families of the earth through the offspring of Abraham (Gen 12:3 ; Gen 18:18 ; Gen 22:18 ; Gen 26:3-4; Gal 3:8). God’s blessing in the realm of peace goes through Israel to the whole earth. That is why God has first of all sent them the Lord Jesus, Who by Peter again is called God’s “Servant” (Acts 3:26; Acts 3:13).

The “raising up” does not refer to the resurrection, but to the begetting of the Lord Jesus as Man on earth. When it comes to the resurrection out of death, we do not read that God resurrected Him, but that He Himself has risen. When it is about God’s work in the resurrection, we read that God raised Him up. The ‘raising up’ refers to the first coming of the Lord Jesus to earth, His birth and His life, as we find it described in the Gospels.

The blessing God wants to give by sending the glorified Christ is to turn every one of them from their wicked ways. Wickedness is the hindrance to receive the blessing. If they confess their wickedness, that hindrance is taken away. This is already a great blessing that also opens the door to the even greater blessings of the realm of peace.