and that he may send forth the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

(Acts 3:19-21) The natural, circumcised Jews that do not believe that the Messiah came nineteen centuries ago look for him to come for the first time in the future. But Peter and John and the other Christianized Jews looked for the Messiah to return or to come a second time and for a different purpose. Peter and John had seen him ascend back to heaven.

20. Why was the return of the Messiah a necessity, and why had God sent him the first time?

²⁰ Peter and John remembered Jesus’ words to the Jews: “What, therefore, if you should behold the Son of man ascending to where he was before?” On his resurrection day he appeared to Mary of the city of Magdala and said: “I have not yet ascended to the Father. But be on your way to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.’” (John 6:62; 20:17) He ascended back to heaven on the fortieth day after his resurrection from the dead. But to fulfill all the prophecies concerning the Messiah, he had to come again. So the apostle Peter, after speaking of “seasons of refreshing” from the person of Jehovah, went on to say: “And that he may send forth the Christ appointed for you, Jesus.” The first time that Jehovah sent his Son to earth, it was that he might die as a ransom sacrifice for all mankind.