Day 1102: A man who feared God - Acts 10 vs 1 - 18

1-2 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” 4-8 And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

9-11 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12-13 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. 17-18 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made enquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. Acts 10:1-18 English Standard Version

Luke brings us now to what was one of the major turning points of the gospel, and his story centres on the apostle Peter. We’re not told if Cornelius had embraced the Jewish faith, but simply that he was a devout man who feared God, and continually prayed to Him. God sent an angel to Cornelius with an encouraging message, saying: “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.” And Peter would eventually come to see that ”God shows no partiality - but that in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. (Acts 10:34-35) This is the great truth this chapter is all about.

So Cornelius was instructed to send messengers to Peter. We see there how it is through the message of the gospel that God’s brings people to Himself, even people like Cornelius, in whom His Spirit had worked in preparing him for the good news of salvation.

But Peter also needed preparation, for the gulf between Jew and Gentile was still there! And so we come to Peter's vision. Like miracles, visions were a part of the early Church. Peter went up to pray and, while praying, became hungry. (It's good to know that this happened to an apostle!) While his meal was being prepared he fell into a trance and saw something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, filled with all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds. And he heard a voice telling him to rise and eat.

At this stage, Peter's upbringing kicks in. As a devout Jew he'd never eaten anything Jews were forbidden to eat. But then he hears the words we read in vs 16. They probably echo what Jesus had taught when He said “Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Mark 7:18-19) And then Mark adds: “Thus He declared all foods clean.”

The vision was repeated twice more for clarity, and because of the three men who at that very moment were asking after Peter whereabouts. The Church was moving from Old Testament days to New Testament ones, and Peter, fittingly, was given a leading role.