I will admit it. I don't have profound thought or insights about Acts 3. But what does strike me as I read Acts 3 is Peter's sense of expectation. After the lame man is healed, Peter preaches a sermon in Solomon's portico. In the sermon, he calls on the people to repent of the crucifixion of Jesus (verse 19). And Peter says that when the people repent, three things will happen:
1. their sins will be blotted out (verse 19)
2. they will have times of refreshing (verse 20)
3. the return of Jesus will be hastened ("that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus," verse 20).
It is obvious that Peter had the idea that Christ was going to return quickly. He was motivated to evangelism by this thought: if Israel repented, then Christ would come again.
We live 2,00 years after these events. We know that Peter's hopes for a quick return of Jesus were not fulfilled. I guess that is why we often live without Peter's sense of expectation. Perhaps, though, we need to be more like Peter. Perhaps we need to be as eager to see Jesus come as he was. Perhaps our evangelism suffers because we don't have Peter's longing for Jesus' return.
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