1.1. Peter’s 2nd Speech: Peter tells his Jewish audience that God sent Jesus to save them but what did they do, they crucified him and they pressured the authorities to release a murderer in place of Jesus. In this segment of verses, Peter speaks graciously, and tells them he realizes that they acted out of ignorance and so did their leaders. This was in fulfilment of prophecy. Now, Peter is offering them a way out. He is asking them to realize the mistake they made and turn aside from it. The word used is “repent.” Turn around, move away, step away from!
1.2. Moses the Liberator and Great Law Giver: The sobering effect of this is the people have dug themselves into a big terrible hole without realizing the effects and consequences of their action. They have rejected God’s choice and turned their back on God.
Peter tries to appeal to the holy prophets from long ago. He quotes Moses who foresaw the day that Yahweh will raise another prophet. Moses is one of the great Fathers and Yahweh used him for several feats but 2 notably: 1. He was a liberator. He led the people out of slavery in Egypt and in a mighty miracle they passed through the Red Sea. God chooses Moses for that task of liberation.
The 2nd thing is that Moses is a law giver. It is the Mosaic law that will eventually make the Jewish people a unique and different people from the rest of the world. I don’t want to be guilty of speaking bad about the law because these laws are God-given to regulate life and laws eventually shape how a people and their culture will evolve.
1.3. Jesus: Jesus becomes a 2nd Moses because he is a mighty liberator and by his death, he leads the people of God out of slavery to sin, to freedom.
He enables the people to have victory over sin and from its effects. We don’t have to be in bondage to sinful addictions any longer.
And the 2nd thing Jesus does is he introduces the beginnings of the kingdom of God, in which love is the chief law. This distinct quality of being a loving people is what sets Christians apart: from there we see forgiveness, grace and mercy; we see giving and sharing especially to the weak being foundational values in some countries.
What I want to do today while following Peter’s 2nd narrative, is to speak about 2 points:
1. Repentance;
2. Times of Refreshing.
2.1. The Difficulty of Repentance: Calling upon someone to “repent” is not an easy ask. It means telling them that they are wrong and have been severely mistaken. The establishment found it impossible to turn around. The establishment were the scribes, the Pharisees, and Sadducees, the temple priests and Sanhedrin. These people were so hardened that they completely missed the way God was acting in sending his Son.
Yahweh was doing a new work in their midst and it required a humble, teachable spirit for the leaders to appreciate it. It had to do with sacrifice for sins, grace and mercy, and the release of the Spirit of God in the midst of the people. Anyone, who had been following Isaiah who preached of the coming servant; who had been following Ezekiel, who spoke of dry bones coming to life; and Moses, who prophesied of the coming of another prophet; would have known that the Messiah was coming. And those who had read Samuel would have known that this servant would be descended from the line of David and would build a new kingdom (2 Sam 7:13).
The establishment misses all the cues and are not willing to at least enquire about this teacher who had commanded the attention of the masses who John the Baptist had publicly declared that Jesus must increase and he (John) decrease!). The establishment had gone so far off that the thought that Jesus could be the Messiah was scorned at.
2.2. A Humble Heart: Nicodemus, is a member of the establishment and he feels drawn to the presence of Jesus and he took risks and defies the thinking of his colleagues by going to see Jesus at risk to himself.
The Samaritan woman was not afraid of turning around and she had to reckon with her reputation and past! Upon meeting the Savior, she turns around and wanted a break from the past. She pushed the guilt aside because Jesus makes it possible.
The apostle Paul was Pharisee Saul; and he wasn’t afraid to turn around and realize that he was wrong. Saul pays a stiff and heavy price for siding with Jesus and for daring to be the apostle.