And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. (18) But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. (19) Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; (20) And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: (21) Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (22) For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. (23) And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. (24) Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. (25) Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. (26) Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away everyone of you from his iniquities.
When the Apostle had thus clenched his doctrine, by a train of the most decided and unanswerable arguments, and from their own Scriptures; and confirmed the whole by a miracle wrought before their own eyes; he then endeavors to bring home the subject from the head to the heart. And who but must admire, the very sweet, persuasive, and conciliating manner, which he used upon the occasion. But let us not overlook the cause, nor in the Apostle's words forget the Apostle's Lord. It was God the Spirit, speaking in him, and by him! And must not all sermons be persuasive, when the Gospel is preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven? 1 Peter 1:12
I do not think it necessary to enlarge on the several parts of Peter's exhortation after his sermon. everything in it is plain and easy to be understood. The chief object of the Apostle was to lead their minds to Christ. He shews the Lord Jesus to have been the One great object, all along intended, from the Scriptures of truth, as the promised Messiah. He aims to soften the anger of their minds against themselves, in ascribing their rejection of Christ to their ignorance. But he shews no less, that what in times past might have been pleaded for want of knowledge; now it is known, if neglected, will prove their destruction. He calls upon them, as he had done before, (see Acts 2:37-40. and Commentary), to the exercise of that repentance, which nature herself dictates, when the conscience is made sensible of error. And he tells them, that in the refreshing of the Lord, their sins may be blotted out. In short, Peter makes a most affectionate appeal to the hearts of the people, and concludes with one of the sweetest entreaties language can furnish, to the children of God, whom he tells them they are. Unto you first, entitled by every claim to be first spoken to, (Luke 24:47; Acts 13:26.) God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away everyone of you from his iniquities.