Acts 3:17-26
17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers also did.
18 But the things which God previously announced by the mouths of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has fulfilled in this way.
19 Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,
21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things, about which God spoke by the mouths of His holy prophets from ancient times.
22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your countrymen; to Him you shall listen regarding everything He says to you.
23 And it shall be that every soul that does not listen to that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
24 And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and his successors onward, have also announced these days.
25 It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God ordained with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
26 God raised up His Servant for you first, and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”
Peter’s Second Sermon (5)
The prophesy of Moses (v 22-24)
“Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your countrymen; to Him you shall listen regarding everything He says to you.’” (1) Moses is cited as an example of an Old Testament prophet who prophesied the coming of the Messiah. (a) Jesus is “a prophet like Moses.” (b) Moses prophesied the coming of the Messiah, and Jesus fulfilled it. (c) Among the Jews, there was an understanding that “the Messiah would be a prophet like Moses” (ref. John 6:14, 7:40). (2) Peter quotes the warning from Deuteronomy 18:19, “And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will require it of him.” In this context, this warning means that unbelieving Jews will face God’s judgment. (3) To emphasize that the “period of restoration” was prophesied, Peter also refers to other prophets. “And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days.” This also means that Samuel and all the prophets spoke about the Millennial Kingdom.
The seed of Abraham (v 25-26)
The people of Israel are the recipients of the promises and blessings of the Abrahamic covenant. This means they should be the first to accept Jesus as the Messiah, yet they rejected Him. Here lies the paradox of Jewish evangelism. God has already sent His servant Jesus. Believing in Jesus allows for the forgiveness of sins and a turn away from a wicked life. The characteristics of Peter’s second sermon are as follows: (1) This is a message spoken by a Jew to Jews. (2) The central theme is not the church, but the Millennial Kingdom. The salvation of the Jews is what triggers the Second Coming of the Messiah and the Millennial Kingdom. (3) Peter is speaking a message to hasten the arrival of the Millennial Kingdom. (4) Our response as Gentiles should be of gratitude towards the remnant (the Jewish believers). Without whom them the current church would not exist. We have been grafted into the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant through faith. Let us recognize the priority of Jewish evangelism. The fulfillment of the Messiah’s Second Coming and the Millennial Kingdom depends on the salvation of the Jewish nation.
Today's prayer
O God of Israel, the salvation of the Jewish people is the key to the Messiah’s Second Coming and the Millennial Kingdom. Use me for their salvation. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.