Acts 6:8 - 16:37
(Focus Passage Acts 10:1 - 11:18)
Isaiah 49:6 & Acts 13:47 "I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth."It is considered one of the major turning points in the history of Christianity. And it started with a bunch of animals floating on a sheet in a vision. Three times God instructed Peter to kill an unclean animal (according to Jewish dietary laws) and eat it. Three times Peter said no, that he would not eat anything unclean. And a voice said, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." Then the sheet disappeared.
In Acts 10:17 it states that Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision. Did he think about the three times he denied knowing the Lord? Did he think about the three times Jesus asked him "Do you love me"? We don't know. But I am certain, three times meant something to Peter.
When Peter entered Cornelius household, he understood what God was telling him. "But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean." (10:28b)
As Peter began to share the gospel he stated "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right." (10:34-35)
Once back in Jerusalem, Peter explained everything to the apostles and brothers in Christ. At the end, that all praised God, saying "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."
In God's perfect timing, He arranged a meeting between Peter and Cornelius. At the same time, Saul is being transformed into Paul at Tarsus. By the end of the chapter, God will send Barnabas after Paul to start a major ministry in Antioch, the third largest city of the Roman Empire.
There was a tiny spark that started at Pentecost, another when the disciples were scattered after Stephen's stoning, another was added by Philip on the desert road to Gaza, and another by Peter's visit to Cornelius, and one more by the men from Cyprus and Cyrene at Antioch. Each of these events was God preparing the way for Paul to begin his ministry to the Gentiles.
And Paul would later write in Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" and in Colossians, "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and is in all."
There is a lesson we can learn from Peter's vision and Paul's words.
No one on this earth is beyond or beneath the redemptive plan of God.
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