Unstoppable! 'God Can Use Even People's Ignorance' — Acts 3:17-19

Jesus had prepared the way for Peter's words of grace in these verses when he asked the Father to forgive his murderers: "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). Their jealousy and hatred, based on their failure to recognize who Jesus really was when he was among them, had stirred them to crucify him. Despite acting in ignorance, God used the actions of the hostile crowd to fulfill what the prophets had foretold about the Messiah suffering and giving his life as a sin offering (Isaiah 52:13-53:12; cf. Hebrews 9:28, 10:12). While those who crucified Jesus were culpable for their actions, Jesus and his early followers recognized that they had acted in ignorance. Rather than hating them, the early disciples wanted them to come to Jesus and be forgiven. In the early Jewish disciples' minds, Jesus' opponents were, in fact, still their "friends" (literally, "brethren"). Like his Lord, Peter wanted those who murdered the Christ to be forgiven, not killed. Peter's hope, and the heart of his message, was for the people responsible for Jesus' death to turn their hearts away from their evil deeds and choose to follow Jesus as their Savior, Lord, and Messiah so their sins could be "wiped away." Think about the implications of this forgiveness for you and me. If God forgave those who crucified his Son and then turned their hearts to Jesus, how much more will he also forgive, cleanse, and bless us!