Acts 3:19, commentary and pictures

Repentance means sorrow for sin and turning from it to God in confession, forsaking of wrong and making right what was done wrong, and conversion means becoming as a little child in humble submission, with the life changed from selfishness and pride to obedience and Christlike love. Sins repented of and forsaken are pardoned now but remain on the heavenly record until they are erased in the investigative judgment, which began at the close of the 2300 days in 1844, when every case is examined from the books before Christ comes with His reward. The refreshing from the Lord's presence is the latter rain at the close of the gospel work, the loud cry of the third angel with miracles and great power to proclaim truth, given in a short period just before the seven last plagues while Christ is still in the sanctuary closing His work. Forgiveness and erasing of sin come only through faith in Jesus Christ crucified and risen, receiving Him as Saviour and Ruler, trusting in His blood and merits and being clothed with His righteousness. The call presses now while probation lingers, for the refreshing cannot be waited for to do the work of overcoming but is given only to those who have thoroughly repented, cleansed the soul temple and gained victory over every wrong, and those who neglect this preparation will have no shelter in the time of trouble.

Setting and Original Hearers

The call was spoken shortly after Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit, when Peter and John went up to the temple and healed a man crippled from birth, as part of the bold Spirit-filled witnessing recorded in Acts 3-5. It was given by men transformed in character and united in the bonds of Christian love, whose words and works so represented their Teacher that all who heard said they had learned of Jesus and talked as He talked. It belongs to Peter's preaching of Christ from Moses and the prophets as fulfilled in His mission, suffering, death and resurrection. It was spoken with fervor and power because Christ was in the preachers, with a clear trumpet sound under the power of the Holy Spirit, when the cross had brought hope and salvation to the world and those who had rejected and crucified the Saviour expected to find His disciples discouraged, crestfallen, and ready to disown their Lord.

Peter charged his hearers that they denied the Holy One and the Just, desired a murderer to be granted unto them, and killed the Prince of life whom God raised from the dead, whereof he and others were witnesses. He added that they and their rulers did it through ignorance, thereby fulfilling what God had shown by the mouth of all His prophets that Christ should suffer. Faith in His name brings strength and perfect soundness, and salvation and forgiveness are available only through the mercy of Jesus whom they crucified. Therefore they need not despair, because mercy was still available and the Holy Spirit was calling them to repent and turn from sin to God for removal of sin in preparation for God's seasons of renewal from His presence and the sending of Jesus Christ preached unto them.

About five thousand men who heard the word believed, while the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees were astonished and grieved because resurrection through Jesus was preached. The guilty rulers were mercifully given further evidence through the apostles and another opportunity to turn to Him after the resurrection, for guilt alone for putting the Son of God to death did not cut them off from salvation and if they had submitted to Christ and yielded to the Holy Spirit's conviction they would have been pardoned. But secure in their own righteousness they would not admit the message was from God, and persistent rejection of light and conviction by the Holy Spirit intensified their rebellion. By refusing to submit and continuing to resist they took up rebellion afresh each day in refusal to repent, stifled conviction, armed themselves against God, and renewed rebellion until by continued resistance they placed themselves where the Holy Spirit could no longer influence them and knew nothing but resistance. The Jewish people were warned that their sacred trust would be transferred to other nations unless they repented and were converted, but they did not believe the warning, relying instead on their status as God's chosen people and their possession of the truth and God's law, though they did not keep the law.

Meaning of Repentance Conversion

Repentance is the first step by which the convicted sinner comes to Christ to be made righteous, to be just with God, and to be brought into harmony with God and holiness, leading to conversion and the blotting out of sins. Repentance comes before conversion, for repentance includes sorrow for estrangement from God and asking His pardon, while conversion includes humble, childlike submission to Him, and God receives and blesses the one who so repents and is converted. Even those with outwardly faultless lives must repent and be converted because they remain sinners needing their sins blotted out, and repentance, faith, and baptism are the steps of conversion by which believers are identified with Christ's death and resurrection as required of those who would become children of God and heirs of heaven. Without genuine conviction of sin there is no true conversion, and mere superficial profession of faith is not conversion.

To repent is to face sin, confess wrongs with deep sorrow and contrition, forsake evil ways and works, and come to Christ with humility, exchanging a life of wickedness for a life of righteousness, for salvation is from sin and not in sin through repentance, faith, and confession trusting the mercy of Christ who gave His life to save. It is the only hope of salvation, meaning to face sin, confess wrongs, and make things right with God and with anyone wronged, and in view of Christ's atoning death at Calvary such a repentant attitude brings joy. It includes heartfelt confession and turning from pride and wrongs that have wounded others, so that sins go beforehand to judgment to be blotted out. It is personal turning from sin to God so sins are blotted out, humbling oneself before God, ceasing to dwell on perceived injuries, seeking a new heart, with forgiveness joined to the coming times of refreshing from the Lord's presence. It calls sinners to turn from disloyalty and confess sins so they may be blotted out when refreshing comes. Turning to God includes giving up one's own will and wisdom, confessing wrongs, and seeking the Lord for mercy and pardon, with sins going beforehand to judgment.

A changed life shows others what repentance and conversion do and displays the power of active faith and the hope it brings. Conversion reaches the soul deeply enough to purify what flows from it, so that changed words and conduct show Christ reigns within. It must sanctify and mold the character and make one as a little child, for without that change no one will inherit the kingdom of God. Thorough repentance also prepares people to help those who have gone astray. Turning to Christ with a humble, contrite heart allows Him to receive and help people purify their souls from error, and wrongs can still be made right.

To be converted means turning from guile, hypocrisy, evil work, selfishness, and lack of Christlike love, and beginning an elevated spiritual life in harmony with Christ, a call applying to men, women, youth, and institutions to remove disunity and lovelessness that hinder Christ's kingdom and encourage unbelief. Those entrusted with responsibilities in God's work must repent and be converted with an entirely different experience to escape Satan's net, for unless they do they will never see the kingdom of heaven. This means returning to first love and living in the sunshine of divine grace, discarding walking in the sparks of one's own kindling, laying aside pride and self-sufficiency shown in a domineering spirit, and coming under the power of Omnipotence. Such repentance and conversion brings faith and joy and hope in the Holy Ghost, imparting light and strength to guide in obedience to the Word of God.

Repentance and conversion must be thorough and completed now while Christ serves as Advocate with the Father, by overcoming sin and making thorough work for eternity, sending sins beforehand to judgment in this life so they can be blotted out when the times of refreshing come. Only those thoroughly converted, made partakers of the divine nature and escaped from the corruption of the world through lust, will have sins blotted out and inherit eternal life and dwell with Christ, while those who refuse this overcoming work and strive to save their lives here will lose their lives eternally. The only condition of salvation is to seek the Lord with all the heart and follow Christ fully in cooperation with Him to be made holy, expelling every selfish, worldly motive and no longer following Christ's worst enemy, framing one's own standard, making one's own laws, retaining indulgences, or making provision for pride, ambition, sensuality, and self-will, but repenting, confessing sins, and being converted. Professed believers who lack Jesus must repent and be thoroughly converted by the transforming influence of the Spirit, putting away self-rule for thorough reform, for almost all need this work and without it they will fail at last, fall into delusion, perish, and remain stumbling blocks disgracing the truth and wounding Christ's cause. The heart must be given to God now with no time to hesitate or question, by believing the Word and taking God at His word, humbling the heart before a righteous God and coming into right relation to God so He accepts the sinner, bringing God's power upon the heart and enabling testimony before angels and men that Christ has been taken as Leader, Saviour, and Keeper.

Repentance and conversion must be sought from God while mercy still lingers by seeking Him night and day without relaxing effort, for each is working out his own destiny and must reverse course to work in the opposite direction from his former course in order to be saved, including doing all that can be done to counteract the effects of past wrong work. Coming to Jesus now to repent and be converted is changing the course of conduct in every respect, the only hope for those in darkness and temptation, requiring confession of the wrong way, taking a humble position to learn, and letting repentance, faith, and humility do a thorough work on the heart. For a husband and wife who have not been true to each other this means solemnly renewing their marriage vows before God, becoming true, just, and honest under the law while showing kindness and forbearance to one another, loving God supremely and one another as themselves in a high, noble, elevated, pure, and faithful love. This inward change puts the mould of heaven upon them and keeps thought, word, and deportment from playing into the enemy's hands, so that bitterness and jealousy do not take the place of love and respect.

Blotting Out of Sins

Sins forgiven for Christ's sake go beforehand to judgment to be erased when refreshing comes from God's presence, and that erasing is future, conditional, and not yet completed. Repentance and conversion are the way to have sins blotted out, and the invitation stands open to sinners who come to Christ, with the promised forgiveness set against the judgment when each person's case and influence on others will be revealed. The erasing follows measuring past experience by what ought to be, confessing and forsaking sin, becoming a doer of Christ's word and spreading truth to others, gaining a changed experience that hates what was once loved and loves what was once hated and counts all things loss for knowing Christ, and refusing to sleep on the brink of the eternal world. Sins are recorded in heaven's books with thoughts, words, actions and influence, and names are retained in the Lamb's book of life only when sins are blotted out. Those whose sins are not repented of remain charged and stand to witness against them, and risk having their own names blotted out, as illustrated by the blotting out of the Minneapolis ridiculing of the Spirit only upon sincere repentance, with former deeds re-endorsed if the same spirit wakens again. Each person is therefore to examine whether sins are forgiven and will be blotted out then, giving up own will and wisdom, confessing wrongs that wounded others including pride, turning back to the Lord for mercy and pardon.

Sins are blotted out only by true penitence, deep contrition of soul, humble confession and decided change of life, with sins confessed beforehand so they go to judgment to be removed. This blotting out belongs to the present great day of atonement, so sinners must know where they are in this world's history and understand the work of atonement now being accomplished for them and the position they must occupy while it goes forward, seeking the Lord for salvation in order to be prepared to stand in the day of the Lord. It requires honestly confessing secret sins and thoughts of the heart, purifying the life through obedience to the truth, cleansing the soul temple, retracing every step, turning from evil to learn to do good, and clearing the King's highway by pure and undefiled religion before God. For wrongdoing such as dishonesty and overreaching the offender must confess the sin, make restitution to the person wronged, and bring a trespass offering to God, and then the sins may be blotted out and the offender's name retained in the book of life. Sins left unconfessed, covered, concealed or continued in remain in the record to confront people in the coming day, leaving them without confidence to plead for deliverance, and God does not cover evil while one continues in a wrong course. True repentance grieves over sin itself, while fearful confession that regrets only punishment does not remove guilt, and hidden sins will be exposed and appear before the sinner in the day of God's wrath in their full seriousness unless now humbly repented, confessed and forsaken.

When blotted out, the redeemed stand before God with every transgression gone, accepted in Christ and able to behold His glory. Christ in mercy blots out transgressions and saves the faithful, true and righteous until He comes in glory to take His faithful children to Himself, giving eternal life to the repentant and converted. Even those who sowed error may upon changing course be forgiven and save only their own souls, yet suffer loss because their errors keep growing in other minds, wound the cause and bring shame upon Jesus that lives on and is not easily wiped away.

Times of Refreshing Identified

The times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord are the latter rain at the close of the gospel work, answering to the former rain at its opening at Pentecost. The great closing work will be marked by no less manifestation of divine power than marked the opening, for as the former rain caused the seed to spring up so the latter rain ripens the harvest, and the prophecies fulfilled in the former outpouring will again be fulfilled in the latter. This refreshing is the loud cry of the third angel, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit with diversities of operations through His gifts, and it comes while Satan works with increasing power because he knows his time is short. It is joined to God sending Jesus whom heaven must receive until the restitution of all things spoken by all the holy prophets. It comes when the third angel's message is closing, after the last great warning has sounded everywhere and enraged those who reject it, resting with God's power upon His people to revive the living testimony, complete their work, and prepare them for the trying hour before them.

It comes in a short period just before the seven last plagues are poured out, while Christ is still in the sanctuary and the work of salvation is closing. That period is the commencement of the time of trouble, not the plagues themselves, when trouble is coming on the earth and the nations are angry yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. It is received after God's people have accomplished their work and gives power to the loud voice of the third angel to prepare the saints to stand in the period when the plagues shall fall. By that time every case is decided for life or death, Christ has finished His intercession and atonement and blotted out sins, and His people are prepared to face the trial ahead.

Under it consecrated servants with shining faces hasten everywhere to proclaim the message from heaven, and thousands of voices give the warning over the earth not so much by argument as by deep conviction of the Spirit of God. Miracles are wrought, the sick are healed, signs follow believers, while Satan works with lying wonders even bringing down fire from heaven, bringing all inhabitants of earth to take their stand. It gives great power to speak forth the truth with effect and produces a great change, so that honest souls who hungered and thirsted for truth but were bound by husbands, parents and relatives and prevented from hearing it now eagerly lay hold of it. All fear of relatives is gone, truth alone is exalted as dearer and more precious than life, the straight testimony is obeyed, and those who receive it are purified.

The refreshing does not make up for neglected preparation and cannot be waited for to do the work of overcoming. It is received only by those who have gained the victory over every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world and over every wrong word and action, who have searched the heart, purged every wrong, obeyed the whole truth, done up work for eternity, lived wholly for the Lord, cleansed themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfected holiness in the fear of God. It must fit people to stand in the day of the Lord and to live in the sight of a holy God without a Mediator through the time of trouble, for only holy beings can dwell in His presence. Those who neglect this preparation now will be without shelter in the time of trouble and cannot receive it then, for once the plagues begin to fall there is no time to be hewed and squared for the building and no Mediator to plead the cause after the solemn declaration that he that is unjust let him be unjust still has gone forth. Sins are therefore to be confessed and forsaken now before they go beforehand to judgment to be blotted out, and passive waiting for the refreshing to remove wrongs and correct errors without effort and without believing God's word and acting in faith avails nothing.

Refreshing is also experienced in the present as spiritual comfort, renewal and blessing from the Lord's presence through earnest united prayer, confession of sin, living faith and turning from indifference and faultfinding. It has been felt in prayer amid severe affliction bringing the Holy Spirit's soothing influence, rest, gratitude, praise and strength, and in prayer for the sick bringing rejoicing and freedom. It is a time to expect light from heaven and to watch God's providence for signs that He is about to work. It is not a reason to neglect present duties while waiting for a future special blessing, for believers are to use present opportunities to share the light received, with special power given to support earnest service rather than to make ready without effort. It means more than forgiveness, filling the life with the Spirit, divinely illumining the mind, emptying the heart of self, reviving spiritual life, holding a high and holy ideal before minds and consciences, and preparing for service.

Judgment Sanctuary and Atonement

The blotting out is the work of the investigative judgment to be accomplished before the second advent, when Christ comes with His reward to give every man according to his work. Since the dead are judged out of the things written in the books, sins cannot be blotted out until after the cases are investigated. That judgment began at the appointed time at the close of the 2300 days in 1844, examines professed followers both living and dead according to heaven's unerring records where every deed in light or darkness is registered, and fixes destiny, pardoning and blotting only sins repented of and forsaken. Repentance and conversion therefore lead to sins being blotted out in that judgment when the times of refreshing come from the Lord's presence and He sends Jesus, with the refreshing as the latter rain at the close of the gospel work corresponding to the former rain at Pentecost.

The blotting out takes place while Jesus ministers as Advocate and Priest in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, accepting sacrifices, prayers and confessions, pardoning transgressions and cleansing the sanctuary by removing sins placed by faith upon Christ. Believers must join Him now by cleansing the soul temple from unrighteousness, dying to self, walking in given light, living in harmony with His atoning work and sending sins beforehand to judgment through humble confession. In this great antitypical day of atonement confessed sins go beforehand to judgment, and pure undefiled religion that visits the widow and fatherless, keeps unspotted from the world, and bears meek Christlike fruit is the condition for having sins blotted out when refreshing comes and Jesus is sent. When He leaves there will no longer be a Priest to present prayers, the holy and righteous will remain holy and righteous and be sealed with the seal of the living God, and the unjust and filthy will remain unjust and filthy, so repentance and conversion must happen now while the day lasts before the night of trouble makes work impossible.

The verse is the cry of the law to the sinner to repent so sins may be blotted out. The law itself neither sanctifies anyone nor saves anyone, yet it must be kept to be saved in the kingdom of heaven, and no transgressor can be saved in the kingdom of glory. When the sinner comes to Jesus promising to obey its requirements, Jesus blots out guilty stains, sets him free and gives power with God, cleansing by His blood.

Christ Faith and Forgiveness

There is no hope of salvation apart from the mercy of Jesus whom His hearers crucified and whom God raised, and only through faith in Him alone can sins be forgiven and canceled by His blood. Even those who took part in crucifying Christ were called to turn from sin, for the Holy Spirit calls sinners to repent and be converted and the Lord gives grace to everyone who repents. Turning to God means receiving Christ as personal Saviour, propitiation and Ruler, trusting wholly in His merits and atoning death at Calvary, being clothed with His righteousness, justified and accepted though unworthy, with pardon entered in heaven. Refusing Him dishonors God and despises salvation purchased at infinite cost, while coming as one is brings power to accept pardon and to become sons of God, and those who had great light but refused to repent and be converted to be healed by Christ face fearful punishment.

Joined to repentance and conversion for the blotting out of sins is the promise of times of refreshing from the Lord's presence and of God sending Jesus Christ preached before. Heaven must receive Him until the restitution of all things spoken by all the holy prophets since the world began. The cross restores to believing people what was lost in Adam, and faith and obedience ground hope of entering God's city. At the close of His ministry the subjects of the kingdom are made up, the marriage of the Lamb is finished, and the kingdom is given to Jesus and the heirs of salvation as King of kings, when the Sabbath will be seen in full glory and importance, the faithful will know what it is to ride upon the high places of the earth and to be fed with the heritage of Jacob, and Jesus will bid those who kept God's commandments to enter through the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem into heaven as their home.

The message to repent and be converted so sins may be blotted out when refreshing comes from the Lord's presence, and the Lord will send Jesus, is to be proclaimed, prayed and lived, with the Holy Spirit's softening and subduing influence felt in the heart and shown in the life. It is to be carried to all parts of the world as soul-saving truth taught with earnest winning words in season and out of season by soundly converted messengers, by physicians caring for the sick and seeking salvation of soul and body, by teachers daily converted, and by workers who first confess their sins to Christ, repent and are converted before going out to teach His Word. Proclaimed in meekness without compelling the freedom of the mind, it convicts through the arguments of truth, leads sinners who see themselves as sinners to return, and some will heed the warning.

Urgent Present Application

The call comes with impelling force now in the last days of the third angel's message, while probation lingers and mercy's voice is heard, before the boundary is crossed and the night of trouble makes work impossible. Those who know the truth must repent and be wholly converted now so that sins may be blotted out when refreshing comes from the presence of the Lord, with works corresponding to faith and lives refined and sanctified in preparation for the work that must rapidly be done in these closing days. There is no time or strength to spend in indulgence of appetite, for many are deficient in spirituality, and unless conversion is complete they will certainly be lost. People must seek the Lord while He may be found, reckon with eternity in view of life's shortness, lay hold of gospel hope by believing and obeying, watch and pray lest the day come as a snare, and prepare to meet Christ in peace and stand in the day of the Lord. Sinners must repent and turn to God to be ready for His return and receive mercy and pardon, rather than face divine wrath and seek help too late.

Every person must examine himself whether he is in the faith, ascertain wherein he has failed to walk in God's marked-out way, and purify the soul by heeding counsel. This requires searching heart and Scriptures and learning from ancient Israel, for genuine contrition and confession bring forgiveness through grace, and genuine revival works reformation that keeps covenant. It means returning to first love lost by not following the self-sacrificing Redeemer, turning from surface work, coldness and backsliding, humbling the heart, confessing and forsaking sin, and putting away strife and discord to become ready to meet Christ whose coming is near. Repentance and conversion follow self-examination and recognition of failure to obey, and the appeal is opportunity to return and receive the joy of salvation.

Complete conversion demands lives agreeing with faith in daily practice, including cleansing the appetite and denying unhealthful foods, for the remnant must be converted and sanctified before they can stand as a perfected people. It requires putting away pride and self-exaltation at the expense of others, criticism, faultfinding, a condemnatory spirit, unholy sensual fancies, guile, strife, discord, oppression, dishonesty, falsehood and loveless disunity, and turning fully from sinful practices so that God can use the converted to honor His name. The call applies to men, women, youth, parents, children, households, institutions, leading men, teachers and workers, and requires thorough household reform beginning with responsible persons without fanaticism, especially where ministers and lay members must first be converted with deep humiliation and brotherly love before efforts for unbelievers are acceptable. Those deficient in spirituality must be wholly converted or they will be lost.

The appeal warns those seeking their own convenience and pleasure instead of serving and honoring Christ amid strife and perils to repent, be converted, and confess sins for their souls' sake. It addresses professed followers who dishonored profession by making false paths for their own feet and others, going on for years against light and knowledge, corrupted in faith and principle, sacrificing faith for worldly favor and helping others in strange paths until pure religion is unknown, and declares that without turning there is no eternal life, for those who do not do His works are not His servants. It likewise calls backsliding professors whose soul chambers are desecrated to Satan's control, and those claiming great light while living in pride, selfishness and fruitless unholy character, to be zealous and repent with true contrition, humbling and inward crucifixion of sin before it is forever too late, confessing now so sins are erased and the name retained in the Lamb's book of life, for there is more hope for the open sinner than for such unrepentant professors. Refusing to turn back after compunction hardens the heart toward hopeless apostasy and judgments, with fearful punishment and desolation as with Israel, yet Christ's yearning heart and outstretched hand keep mercy open with power to become sons to all who receive Him. The sparing of life in the destruction of institutions at Battle Creek and of the publishing house shows Christ defending men and women by miracle-working power to preserve life for repentance; if they turn He will restore the joy of salvation, if they continue in their own way while claiming belief without practice He will come still closer and affliction shall come upon families.

Persistently slighting heaven's invitation to repent and be converted is the most common manifestation of the sin against the Holy Spirit, which is not mysterious and indefinable but persistent refusal to respond. Every step in rejecting Christ is a step toward rejection of salvation and toward that sin. God sends messages of reproof to bring men to repentance, that they see crooked ways, realize sin, have principles changed, correct evil with repentance not to be repented of, and be saved from a wrong course that would destroy usefulness; refusing leaves wickedness and deceit remaining and leads to presumption, deception, falsehood and underhand dealing. Those who step between God and the one reproved, justify and vindicate him, and destroy the message's influence, share his guilt and will suffer with the transgressor unless they humble themselves and repent. Thorough repentance with works meet for repentance must not be delayed by turning from one's own sins to accuse, criticize, tattle and condemn others, for resisting the Spirit, justifying wrong, and trifling with Him too long brings blindness of mind, hardness of heart, being fastened in Satan's snare, withdrawal of the Spirit, loss of opportunity, and a portion with unbelievers should probation end.