Times of Refreshing

 Meditations on The Acts of the Apostles

January 20, 2021

Times of Refreshing 

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Acts 3:19

Read: Acts 3:17-26

I noticed yesterday that Peter was holding the crowd gathered by the Beautiful Gate responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. Five times he used the pronoun, you, in accusing the crowd, such as in verse 15, “You killed the author of life . . .” I don’t think Peter knew if any of them were actually in the crowd calling for Barabbas to be released. Rather, I think Peter was demonstrating their corporate guilt by being a part of a sinful people. We rehearse this truth when we share in our corporate prayer of confession as a part of our liturgy for Holy Communion.

Peter goes on to tell the crowd that even though they acted out of ignorance, they no longer have any excuse. The power of the Risen Savior has been demonstrated before them in the healing of the lame man. Now is the time to repent, to turn from their sinful ways, and turn to God. In making this point, Peter again stresses the continuity of God’s redemptive story by reminding the crowd that their prophets had foretold of the coming of God’s Messiah, and of his promised coming again in Final Victory. We will see in tomorrow’s reading that another two thousand men accepted Peter’s invitation to new life in Jesus.

My Takeaway: Repentance is not a one-off event. We are called daily to turn away from working out the meaning of our lives apart from God, and to seek the life in Christ as our way of life.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.