As some of you know, Acts 2 and Acts 3 both contain sermons delivered by Peter to curious onlookers in Jerusalem in those early, miraculous days of the church.
And I confess: I generally skim through the content of those sermons to get straight to the response. In Acts 2:41 “about three thousand were added to their number that day” and in Acts 4:3, the authorities “seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.”
I’ve heard many preachers long for a response of 3,000 new souls in the kingdom in response to a sermon.
I’ve never heard one yearn for incarceration for the same thing.
But this time in reading Acts 3, I didn’t skim Peter’s content. And this line revealed itself:
“He [Jesus] must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” (Acts 3:21)
It’s almost as though God is holding back during this time. His Son has glory — the glory of unapproachable light — yet it’s not now visible to all.
But when the time comes — and no one knows that day or that hour and we shouldn’t believe or trust those who say they do — God will make public and visible what is now hidden.
And restoration will be part of that unveiling. All creation will be restored to its original, idyllic intent. No war. No sorrow. No family strife. No sadness. And, most acutely, no sin.
Everything that has been taken from you will one day be given back.
We will live sin free lives in a sin free world.
In the words of the old gospel hymn, “what a day that will be.”