In Acts 3:26 Peter, addressing the crowds after healing the lame man, says:
When God raised up his servant (Jesus), he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
This verse is so crucial, and one we so need to get a hold of today. It says so much about the God’s plan of salvation, the place of Israel, and the nature of the gospel.
First, God raised up His servant. It is God, not man, who decides the way of salvation, and He has chosen His Son Jesus Christ to be the one and only way of salvation.
He was sent first to Israel. It is implicit in this that He would then become the salvation of the world. God’s plan, made clear from Abraham when He declared that all nations on earth would be blessed through him, was that salvation would flow from Israel to the whole world.
Notice the phrase, “to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways”. All too often to preach like that today would be considered “not seeker friendly”, or even hate speech. But here calling people to repentance is seen as a blessing. God has not changed, and the blessing of God in Jesus Christ is to turn men and women from our wicked ways, and to turn us to ways of life. If we are on a destructive road, then to be called to turn from it and get on a way of life is indeed good news.
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