He Shall Have Dominion

incarnation (Ac 3:18); Christ is God’s “Servant” (3:13, 26), “His Christ”
(3:18), “the prophet” whom God raises up (3:22). Hence the unusual
manner of speaking: he is emphasizing the anointed Christ as the one
who is subject to the Father and who is being sent on a commission to
Israel (cp. Mt 10:5–6; 15:24; cp. 23:37).
This particular sending of Christ does not await his second advent.
Why would Peter tell the Jews that if they repent today, God will send the
Son thousands of years later? He is presenting Christ to them at that very
moment. In fact, Christ’s exaltation forever provides for the sending of the
Son to lost sinners; this is particularly true for those to whom he is
speaking: “When God raised up his Servant, he sent him first to you to
bless you by turning each of you from his wicked ways” (Ac 3:26 NIV).
Peter continues: Christ must remain in heaven “until the times of
restoration of all things” (Ac 3:21a). Peter’s use of the word “until” is
significant. It relates to Christ’s mediatorial kingdom in history. Wilmot’s
point is on target: “The word ‘until’ which denotes that during these
times the Lord Jesus will remain in the heavens, having been there ‘received’
upon His ascension, to the right hand of the majesty on high. This
is the context. ‘Until,’ according to the lexicon, carries the meaning of,
‘continuedly, fixing attention upon the whole duration. . . .’ The force of
‘until’ . . . makes the times of restitution simultaneous with Christ’s
mediatorial session in heaven. He will come again not to introduce the
restitution predicted by the prophets, but because He shall then have
completed it.”
This “restoration of all things” begins in the first century during the
ministry of Christ. John Calvin notes in this regard that “Christ by His
death has already restored all things . . , but the effect of it is not yet fully
seen, because that restoration is still in process of completion, and so too
67
our redemption.” In fact, Peter informs his auditors of the events begun
in their time: “Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who
follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days” (Ac 3:24).
This contemporary focus is also clear from Matthew 17:11, where John
Baptist functions as an Elijah introducing the restoration of all things in
the new covenant (cf. Mal 4:5–6). Maintaining a redemptive-historical
perspective, Gill states that this refers to “the accomplishment of all
promises and prophecies concerning the bringing in the fulness of the
Gentiles, and the conversion of the Jews, and so the gathering in all the
67. John Calvin, The Acts of the Apostles (CNTC), 6:103.