“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” (Acts 3:21).

This assertion by Peter contains several important truths. There is a coming time of “restitution of all things.” In the beginning, after God completed His work of creation, all things were “very good” (Genesis 1:31). But ever since sin entered the world and God pronounced His awful curse of decay and death, “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22).

However, God in Christ has paid for the world’s redemption with His death and resurrection, followed by His ascension back into heaven. When He finally comes to Earth again, He has promised to “make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). There will be a great “restitution” of all things. This is the only occurrence of this Greek word in the New Testament, and it literally conveys the idea of restoration, of making everything that had gone wrong, right again. Peter had also just called this restoration “the times of refreshing [literally ‘revival’—the only occurrence of this word in the New Testament]” that would come when the Lord’s presence is here on Earth again (Acts 3:19).

He also noted that this promise in effect was first made when God had just pronounced His curse on Adam and all his dominion (see Genesis 3:15). Ever since then, His holy prophets in both Old and New Testaments continued to promise this coming age of the new heavens and new earth, where sin and suffering and death will be gone forever.

A closing note (parenthetical, though important in light of the modern false belief that billions of years of evolution preceded man’s arrival on Earth) is that God’s prophets have been proclaiming this great truth ever “since the world began.” HMM