Acts 3:18-21–
18.But those things, which God before had shewed 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.
Romans 11:25-27–
25.For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26.And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27.For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
In the passage from Acts 3, Peter is preaching to Jews who marveled at the healing of a lame man. It raises an interesting question about a hypothetical scenario.
Have you ever wondered what would have happened if the Jews would have accepted Christ as their Messiah when He came? Would God have brought in His kingdom? What would that have meant for those of us who aren’t Jews?
We know things didn’t happen that way. That’s good for those of us who are Gentiles and not Jews because we’ve been allowed to enter into God’s redemption.
Romans 11 shows clearly that God isn’t finished with Israel. Yet Paul speaks much of how Gentile believers in Christ have been grafted into the tree. It’s not natural for us to be there. But God, in His marvelous grace, made a way for us.
Quite simply, if Israel would have accepted Christ upon his first advent, we would not have received the blessings of Calvary. In Ephesians chapters 2 and 3, Paul wrote of how we’re no longer strangers. The wall separating us from God’s salvation has been broken down. Paul was blessed to be given the message that Gentiles are welcome to partake of God’s salvation, which the Jews had thought was theirs alone.
Only God Himself knows why He allowed things to go the way they did. It may seem strange to us when we think about it. God doesn’t do what we might expect.
We have much to be thankful for. God hasn’t excluded us. By receiving Christ as lord and savior, we can be God’s children. And better yet–heirs of the King.