3:19
“Repent then”. The modern approach (though it probably wasn’t that much different in society in the past) is to ignore our sinfulness. The worst thing is that there are many in the church who advocate such a line. This was not the approach of the early church. The gospel is very clear about our sinfulness, it is very clear about what we should do, and it is equally clear about the response that God will make, as we see here. “Repent” means a complete change of mind, of the whole direction of our approach to life. So instead of living out of their own will, they are to turn to God, as must we all. Then our sins will be wiped out. But this isn’t just a clearing of the slate, for this is followed by “times of refreshing”, and these come from the Lord!
3:20,21
“And that he may send the Messiah”. This is in some ways a strange phrase. The clue to its meaning is in the next verse. The Jews were waiting for the Messiah, they expected him to “restore all things”. Note that there is no denying that the Messiah will actually come and restore all things, including restoring the kingdom to Israel. But before Israel could enjoy these benefits something else had to happen. They needed to repent, they needed to see their own need of salvation from sin, and that Christ is God’s chosen solution to the problem. We can see this pattern repeating many times in the lives of individuals, even our own lives. We think that God has forgotten us, that He isn’t answering, when what is actually happening is that He is waiting for us to turn to Him, for us to repent.
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