A.T. Robertson Commentary Acts 3:21

"whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets that have been from of old." — Acts 3:21 (ASV)

Restoration (αποκαταστασεως). Double compound (απο, κατα, ιστημ), here only in the N.T., though common in late writers. In papyri and inscriptions for repairs to temples and this phrase occurs in Jewish apocalyptic writings, something like the new heaven and the new earth of Re 21:1. Paul has a mystical allusion also to the agony of nature in Ro 8:20-22. The verb αποκαθιστημ is used by Jesus of the spiritual and moral restoration wrought by the Baptist as Elijah (Matthew 17:11) and by the disciples to Jesus in Ac 1:6. Josephus uses the word of the return from captivity and Philo of the restitution of inheritances in the year of jubilee. As a technical medical term it means complete restoration to health. See a like idea in παλινγενεσια (renewal, new birth) in Mt 19:28; Titus 3:5. This universalism of Peter will be clearer to him after Joppa and Caesarea.