Acts 3:26

"You are the descendants of the prophets," instead of, Do not be discouraged nor think yourselves alienated from the promises. You are the descendants of the prophets, as I was telling you, and through you these things have come to pass. "You," he says, "are …

To you first (he says) God, raising up His Son. Here it should equally be noted that it is concerning the same Son of God, whom he calls the seed of Abraham, due to the twofold nature of Christ, lest they believe Christ to be …

"Jesus," whom God, "having raised up… sent to you first… to bless you." God sent Him to other nations as well, but to you, who crucified and killed Him, He sent Him first. When? Only from the cross? No, even after that, and after the …

Unto you first, God having raised his Son Jesus,.... Which may be understood, either of the incarnation of Christ, and his exhibition in the flesh; which is sometimes expressed by raising him up, and is no other than the mission, or manifestation of him in human nature, as in Luk 1:

With reference to public worship, there must be a house of prayer and an hour of prayer: the ninth hour, that is, three o'clock in the afternoon, was one of the hours of prayer among the Jews; nine in the morning and twelve at noon were the other two.

Unto you first, God, having raised up - As you are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant, the first offers of salvation belong to you, and God thus makes them to you. The great mission of Jesus Christ is directed first to you, that you may be saved from your sins. God designs to bless you, but it is by turning each of you away from his iniquities.

Peter takes it for granted that, in the light of all he had just said, it would be seen at once that One only had any claim to be that Prophet. him shall ye hear in all things, &c.--This part of the prediction is emphatically added, in order to shut up the audience to the obedience of faith, on pain of being finally "cut off" from the congregation of the righteous (Ps 1:1).

Unto you first - To you who are Jews. This was the direction, that the gospel should be first preached to the Jews, beginning at Jerusalem, Luk 24:47. Jesus himself also confined his ministry entirely to the Jews. Having raised up - This expression does not refer to his having raised him from the dead, but is used in the same sense as in Act 3:22, where God promised that he would raise up a prophet, and send him to teach the people. Peter means that God had appointed his Son Jesus, or had commissioned him to go and preach to the people to turn them away from their sins. To bless you - To make you happy; to fulfill the promise made to Abraham. In turning away - That is, by his preaching, example, death, etc. The highest blessing that can be conferred upon people is to be turned from sin. Sin is the source of all woes, and if people are turned from that, they will be happy. Christ blesses no one in sin, or while loving sin, but by turning them from sin. This was the object which he had in view in coming, Isa 59:20; Mat 1:21. The design of Peter in these remarks was to show them that the Messiah had come, and that now they might look for happiness, pardon, and mercy through him. As the Jews might, so may all; and as Jesus, while living, sought to turn away people from their sins, so he does still, and still designs to bless all nations by the gospel which he had himself preached, and to establish which he died. All may therefore come and be blessed; and all may rejoice in the prospect that these blessings will yet be bestowed on all the kindreds of the earth. May the happy day soon come!