living shall be accounted worthy to escape the troubles that shall
come in the conclusion of this state of things, and to stand before the Son of
man. Luke 20:35; 21:36.
2. When the sins of the righteous are blotted out they can be no more
remembered. They are blotted out before Christ comes. There can be, therefore,
no act of calling them to account for their sins after the advent of Christ. Thus we
read:-
"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; and he
shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you." Acts 3:19,20.
Mr. Wesley, in his "Notes on the New Testament," gives a different translation,
which may be more accurate:-
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and he may
send to you Jesus Christ, who was before appointed."
Albert Barnes, in his "Notes on the Acts," speaking of these two translations,
says, "The grammatical construction will admit of either." One of these represents
the blotting out to be when the times of refreshing arrive; the other makes it the
cause of that refreshing. But neither of them gives the idea that this blotting out
takes place when the sinner turns to God. Both of them throw it into the future.
Each of them represents it as preceding the second coming of the Lord. But this
is especially true of the latter translation, which follows the original in using a
conditional verb respecting Christ's advent; not as though
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that were a doubtful event, but rather as if his coming to the personal salvation of
the ones addressed depended upon their having part in the refreshing, and as if
that refreshing was to come in consequence of the blotting out of sins.
The sins of the righteous are blotted out before the coming of Christ. They
cannot be called to give account of their sins after they have been blotted out;
whence it follows that whatever account the righteous render to God for their sins
must be before the advent of the Saviour, and not at, or after, that event.
3. The sins of men are written in the books of God's remembrance. The
blotting out of the sins of the righteous does therefore involv