Acts 3:21-26
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to
restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For
Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from
among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not
listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’
24 “Indeed, all the
prophets from Samuel
on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God
made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples
on earth will be blessed.’ 26 When
God raised up his servant, he sent him first to
you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
The writer of Acts (most
likely Luke) has been telling us the story of Peter addressing the Jewish
assembly to repent of their sins. We
begin today with verse 21 with the reference word “He” which is Jesus. Often times we pray, “come Lord Jesus come”
yet as we read this scripture we see that He must remain in Heaven until such
time that God restores everything. At
this point we need to look back at verse 19 -20
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped
out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for
you—even Jesus. (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%203:%2019%20-20&version=NIV1984)
When I put this verse in with the verses for today I read things a
little different than I had before. It
seems to me that Luke is saying that they need to repent so Jesus will come
back. Even in these times Christians
were watching for Jesus return!
The quote from Moses in these verses could mean the prophet that
will come in the end times, one of the two witnesses or it could be referring
to Jesus. I was confused with this
reading so I looked up in one of my Bibles that stated that he was referring to
Jesus. I, however, do not read it that
way. I read it that a prophet will come
and that the people are going to need to listen to him because he will be their
last chance before His people will be completely cut off. If this had referred to Jesus, that would mean
that the Jewish people could not receive Christ because they crucified Him yet
we know that is NOT true because many Jewish people repented and were saved
then and still today. I also do not
believe he is referring to Jesus because Jesus was not a prophet when He came
to this earth He came as the Son of God.
The prophet that came before Him was John the Baptist.
Verses 25 - 26 does refer to Christ. He was from the offspring of the Jewish
people and He made it possible for the people of all the earth to be
blessed. As we have read in the
scriptures He first came to the Jewish people but He made it possible through
His death and resurrection for all people to come to Him. Before ascending into Heaven Jesus spoke to His
disciples and made it clear that they were to go into the entire world to
spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not just to the Jewish people.
What does this tell us for today?
Well, for me it tells me that God will decide when Jesus is to
return. I know that He does not want any
of us to be cut off from His blessing and so He will send a prophet for one
last chance. When we hear of this being
the “last days” people may be right, we may be living in those days but
remember, even the people of the Bible times felt they were living in the “last
days”. Only God knows when that time
will be. I believe we need to continue
to spread the Gospel until which time God appoints a prophet, like Moses, to
come and witness to the people. Jesus
will not return until everyone has been given the chance to repent. If we want Him to return quickly then we need
to get busy and go out and spread the Good News of Him.
As you seek Him, don’t stare in the sky and watch for His return,
don’t pray that He come quickly if you are not really ready for His
return. Think of loved ones who will
miss out on the blessings if He were to return today. Rather pray for open ears and open hearts to
the Gospel so that as many will, may come to Him and have eternal life. Then, go out and share the Gospel!!!!!
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment