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Wednesday, March 2, 2022

"Turn From Your Sins and Turn to God, So You Can Be Cleansed of Your Sins"

Acts 3:19-20 NLT

"Turn From Your Sins and Turn to God, So You Can Be Cleansed of Your Sins"

19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. 20 Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. [1] 


3:19 “Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins.” NLT 

    They had rejected, despised, and killed Jesus, but they could still turn from their sins, turn to God, and be cleansed. They could change their minds about Jesus. The words “turn from your sins” are the standard Greek term (metanoeo) for repentance. The verb means to turn away from a former way of life and toward a new way of life. 

    The term “cleansed” (exaleiphthenai) is often used in Greek as a figure of speech, meaning to erase, especially of writing. In this case, the “eraser” was God, and the “writing” was a list of their sins—not just their sins of killing the author of life, but all their sins (see Psalm 103:12; Isaiah 1:18). 


WHAT’S ON YOUR LIST? 

    What would God have in writing down your list of sins? That list, in the words of Peter here, can be totally wiped out, erased, cleansed. God doesn’t save your list for some future time when he might want to resurface your failures. They are wiped out, separated from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), a scarlet list made white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). That’s the power of the Cross. Every person who ever lived has such a list. To everyone is made the offer of divine “erasing.” And to all we must, with Peter, make the offer: “Turn from your sins and turn to God.” Forgiveness is available for all, at the foot of the cross. 


3:20–21“Then wonderful times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will send Jesus your Messiah to you again. For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his prophets.” NLT 

    The “turning” of 3:19 promises two results: (1) the coming of wonderful times of refreshment, and (2) the return of Jesus your Messiah to you again. In other words, the repentance of Peter’s audience would have a part in bringing in the marvelous events of the end times. The expressions “times of refreshment” and “the time for the final restoration of all things” are unique to the New Testament. 

    The word for “restoration” (apokatastaseos) means to return something to its original state. It is used for restorative healing (Matthew 12:13; Luke 6:10) and pictures the Messiah’s work (Malachi 4:5–6; Mark 9:12; Matthew 17:11; Acts 1:6). Peter explained that a national restoration could happen if the Jews would turn from their sin and to God by accepting Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah.[2]

 


[1] Tyndale House Publishers. 2015. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

NLT Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

NLT Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

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