The Apostle Peter taught what would be the wonderfully consoling result of repentance and conversion.
The Apostle Peter made one of the most wonderfully inspiring statements in the Bible shortly after commencing his ministry early in the Ephesian era of the Church.
Looking out at the crowd of Israelites gathered around himself and the Apostle John, all just having witnessed the dramatic healing of a lame beggar, Peter cried out, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:19-21). In verse 19, that wordrefreshing comes from the Greek anapsuxis, which refers to a refreshing revival, or newness of life!
The offer is still current! And it will remain so, for all humankind to hear it—ultimately!
It will remain so until the last person born of woman hears that message and makes a conscious choice to either accept it or reject it.
Taken in its full context, including verses 21 through 26 of Acts 3, Peter’s cry to those people was in actuality a precise summary of the gospel message, and it referred to actions required of us in order to gain salvation:
Repent.
Be converted.
Receive absolute forgiveness of sin.
Be renewed, refreshed in the Spirit of God.
Let the Word of God—the risen Christ—live in you.
Heed the words of the prophets.
Joyfully anticipate Christ’s return.
In a member and co-worker letter dated Oct. 29, 1976, Herbert W. Armstrong referred to Peter’s declarative statement in the following terms: “There is no more central, pivotal passage in the Bible than this.”
Why did Mr. Armstrong place such emphasis on it? Because it reveals the very beginning point of the fulfillment of man’s incredible human potential!
As Mr. Armstrong described it in a sermon given on Dec. 17, 1983, “Restitution means ‘restoring to a former condition, a former state or condition’; ‘restoring what had been taken away.’ … So now I ask you, what is Christ coming to restore that had been taken away? What had been taken away was the government of God. The government of God! And, if you know the whole Bible, that’s the whole story of the Bible. That’s the whole purpose. Everything!”
Thus God’s very purpose for creating us cannot even begin until we personally yield to the Father, through Jesus Christ, and permit Him to begin this restitution in our lives.
On the grander scale, the very plan of God for all mankind cannot go forward till Christ returns, with the saints of God—the converted firstfruits who have stayed the course—and then begins the “restitution of all things” on Earth, eventually to reach beyond this globe into the entire universe!
It therefore behooves us all, as the firstfruits of God’s Family, to deepen our understanding of this “central, pivotal passage” in our Bibles, so we may more diligently fulfill God’s purpose in our daily lives. Mr. Armstrong emphasized the special importance of this process of personal salvation to us thus: “Brethren, the world doesn’t understand the awe-inspiring things God is preparing for us. The time is our generation. The one thing above all else in God’s mind right now is restoring His government to this Earth” (co-worker letter, Sept. 29, 1976).
Let us then briefly study the Apostle Peter’s powerful statement and refresh ourselves in the knowledge of the whole process of our personal salvation. In so doing, we shall be refreshed in understanding just how God is going about His great task of “restoring His government to this Earth.”
Repent
John the Baptist prepared the way for the brief ministry of Jesus Christ in human form. “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1-2).
That is the same message the Apostle Peter declared on the day God raised up the first era of His Church, saying, “Repent, and be baptized … in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy [Spirit]” (Acts 2:38).
But, repent of what?
No one explained it better than Mr. Armstrong. He answered that very question in his book The Incredible Human Potential: “Repent [of] sin. And what is sin? ‘Sin is the transgression of the law’ (1 John 3:4). What law? The law that the carnal mind, hostile to God, is not subject to—the law of God (Romans 8:7). Again, we read of ‘the Holy [Spirit], whom God hath given to them that obey him’ (Acts 5:32).”
Mr. Armstrong then went on to expound on just what is real repentance, and how it is granted. “Yet no one can, of himself, say: ‘Oh now, I see—I must repent. All right, I hereby repent.’ One does not just decide casually, as a matter of routine, to repent. Why?
“Jesus Christ said that none can come to Him, except the Spirit of the Father draw him (John 6:44, 65). God grants repentance (Romans 2:4). God calls one, and convicts the mind and conscience by His Spirit, working on the mind externally. Usually a real struggle goes on within. The person has been shaken to know he has done wrong—that he is wrong—he has sinned—he is a sinner! He is brought to real repentance, not only for what he has done, but for what he now sees that he is. It is not easy. The self never wants to die. To repent is to make an unconditional surrender to God—toobey His law!”
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