God,
having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”
Acts 3:26
Acts 3 [19.] “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets. For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you. It will be that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days.
Acts 3 [25.] You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘In your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”
Acts 4 [1.] As they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came to them, being upset because they taught the people and proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening. But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
Meaning:
Peter has reminded the crowd that they are “the children of the prophets, and of the covenant” God made with Abraham, when he promised, “In your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed” (Acts 3:25). Now he ends his sermon with good news. The blessing promised to Abraham has come in Jesus, and it is offered to them first. That blessing consists in being turned away from sin.
- “God, having raised up his servant Jesus”
“Raised up” can carry two meanings here. Peter has just quoted Moses: “The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you” (Acts 3:22), meaning that God would appoint and send him. Peter has also proclaimed that God raised Jesus from the dead (Acts 3:15). Both meanings fit.
Peter calls Jesus God’s “servant”, as he did earlier when he said that God “has glorified his Servant Jesus” (Acts 3:13). The title recalls Isaiah’s Servant of Yahweh: “Behold, my servant will deal wisely. He will be exalted and lifted up, and will be very high” (Isaiah 52:13). The Servant who suffered is now exalted.
- “Sent him to you first”
The gospel came first to Israel. Jesus said, “I wasn’t sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). Paul wrote that the Good News is “the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
The word “first” implies that others will follow. The promise to Abraham was that “All the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). Israel’s privilege was to receive the blessing first and to carry it to the nations.
- “To bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness”
This is the heart of the blessing. Many expected the Messiah to bring political freedom and earthly prosperity. Peter says the greatest blessing is to be turned away from sin. The angel told Joseph to name the child Jesus, “for it is he who shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Paul writes that Christ “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity” (Titus 2:14).
Peter speaks to “every one of you.” Each person must turn individually. The blessing is not automatic because of descent from Abraham; it comes through personal repentance and faith, as Peter had urged: “Repent therefore, and turn again” (Acts 3:19).
The Significance of Acts 3:26
- The true blessing
God’s greatest gift is not comfort or success but freedom from sin and a restored relationship with him. Jesus came to turn us from our wickedness and make us new.
- Good news for everyone
The gospel came to Israel first and then to all nations. No one is too far from God to receive the blessing of Abraham through Christ.
Cross-References:
Genesis 12:3: "All the families of the earth will be blessed through you." The promise to Abraham.
Conclusion: Peter ended his sermon by announcing that God had raised up his Servant Jesus and sent him to Israel first to bless them. That blessing is the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham, and it consists in turning each person away from wickedness. The same blessing is now offered to people of every nation.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible