Acts 3:21, "the restoration of all things"

[Homer]

Acts 3:18-21 (New King James Version)
18. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20. and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21. whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

In correctly understanding the meaning of "the restoration of all things", it would seem necessary to show that the meaning assigned to the phrase is consistent with the underlined clause. Can it be shown that the understanding of the universalists, i.e., the ultimate salvation of all men (ladies, I mean this generically of mankind) was spoken of by the mouth of "all His holy prophets"? Which Old Testament texts can be cited to show that the prophets foretold this?

[mikew]

That's a very interesting verse.

A key point in understanding the passage is that the prophets spoke to Israel (and to Jerusalem, as a a broader audience). So the restoration of all things then was about Israel. The similar passage, maybe a bit helpful here, is Acts 1:6 that showed the kingdom was going to be restored to Israel. So Acts 1:6 shows the concept of restoration as a focus on descendants of Jacob.

In light of the audience addressed in the prophecies, the passage seems to hold little relevance to any doctrine of universal salvation.

[steve]

There is a strain that resounds through the Old Testament prophecies which talks about the salvation of Gentiles (not Israel), and which could conceivably be interpreted as predicting universal salvation. These would be the same passages that postmillennialists use to prove the salvation of the world prior to Christ's return. Examples would include (but would not be exhausted by) the following:

Psalm 2:6-8
"Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.

Psalm 72:8-13, 17, 19
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, And His enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles Will bring presents; The kings of Sheba and Seba Will offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; All nations shall serve Him. For He will deliver the needy when he cries, The poor also, and him who has no helper.He will spare the poor and needy, And will save the souls of the needy...His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; All nations shall call Him blessed...let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.

Isaiah 2:2-3
Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD's house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths."

Isaiah 11:9-10
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.

Isaiah 42:1-4
"Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law."

Isaiah 45:22-23
"Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow,Every tongue shall take an oath.[/b]

Isaiah 54:1-3
"Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman," says the LORD. "Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.

Jeremiah 3:17; 4:2
"At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts...And you shall swear, 'The LORD lives,' In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; The nations shall bless themselves in Him, And in Him they shall glory."

Joel 2:28
"And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.

Amos 9:11-12
"On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; That they may possess the remnant of Edom, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name," Says the LORD who does this thing.

Micah 7:16-17
The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; They shall put their hand over their mouth; Their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent; They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. They shall be afraid of the LORD our God, And shall fear because of You.

Habakkuk 2:14
For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.

Zechariah 2:11
Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.

Malachi 1:11
For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations," Says the LORD of hosts.


Of course, it is not necessary to interpret these verses as teaching absolute universalism (in fact, I apply them to the present age of the church), but that is not the point. From the standpoint of the universalist, if the apostles happened to have had the revelation of universal reconciliation given to them by the Holy Spirit, they might well have read these verses in reference to that revelation. If they did, it would justify Peter's sweeping statement in Acts 3.

[Todd]

Zeph 8:8-9
8 Therefore wait for me," declares the Lord, "for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them-- all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger. 9 "Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder.

I'm not sure what this is referring to, but it does indicate that the world can be "consumed by fire" and still be purified to serve the Lord.

Todd

[Homer]

Steve, et al,

Thanks for the interesting replies. Steve, I am guessing you came up with those scriptures "off the top of your head", otherwise you did a lot of work!

While reading the scriptures cited by Steve and the additional one by Todd, it occured to me that John 12:32 is a similar type of statement:

32. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."

This statement has been interpretated in various ways, but to me it seems Jesus meant no more than His drawing of men will be indiscriminate, i. e., He will draw the gentiles as well as the Jews, rich as well as poor, etc. As noted by John in 12:20 gentiles were present to hear Jesus speak and would be concerned whether Jesus was for them as well as the Jews. This would then fit with Mikew's point about the audience.

Of course, if a person has a particular view, they can take the verse and run with it.

God bless, Homer

[mikew]

Thanks Steve for the great list of verses. I was going through those and marking which were about the kingdom of God and which were about the Church.

One thing I realized looking back at the time of my original post was that the first idea in my head was that the passage was about something like the restoration of the world to paradise. But then I thought about the audience of the prophets as being Israel and/or Jerusalem. So this started me to realign my thinking to see this "restoration" as pertaining to Israel.

Then there was further confirmation in the sense that from Daniel 9, it was Israel that expected restoration. As Paul said in Romans 9:1-5 It was to them the promises belong.

So even though there are passages that address the nations in various positive manners, the Gentiles were never restored to anything. But in the case of Israel, she lost the rule of the throne of David. So only to Israel could the kingdom be restored.

Hopefully it helps to see how the analysis of the passage developed. And again the results were that a universal salvation wouldn't apparently be a part of their intent in preaching, especially to the Jewish audience