An Angel Visits Cornelius, Peter Has a Vision, Gentiles Accept the Lord Christ

“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?’ 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.’…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…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.  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.’…And the voice came to him again a second time, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’  This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once to heaven…So Peter opened his mouth and said, ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him’ While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.”  -Acts 10:1-5; 9, 10b-12, 15-16; 34-35; 44. (ESV.  Read Acts 10).

Acts 10, as is all of Acts, is an exciting story of how God opened the way, both in understanding and in breaking down walls of separation between Jews and Gentiles, for the gospel to spread to the whole world, as Jesus had commanded the disciples in Acts 1:8. Two major characters stand out:  Cornelius the Roman centurion and Peter the bold apostle.  God worked in miraculous ways to do His will through them.  Cornelius was in Caesarea, a seaport town on the Mediterranean Sea, the seat of the Roman government in Judea.  As centurion, he commanded 100 soldiers.  He was a member of the Italian Cohort, from 600 and up to 1,000 men, under the direction of six centurions.  Cornelius was a “God-fearer,” a Gentile who practiced alms and prayers (the ninth hour was a time of prayer for the Jews, at 3:00 p. m.).  An angel appeared to Cornelius as he prayed, startled and frightened him, and commended him for his piety.  But the main reason for the angel’s coming was to tell Cornelius to send to Joppa and invite Peter to come and explain the Way more fully.  So Cornelius immediately sent two of his servants and a devout soldier to find Peter in the house of Simon the tanner, and bring him to Caesarea. Joppa was about 31 miles south of Caesarea, so the round trip journey would take about four days.

In the meantime, God was preparing Peter for a bold step forward in his acceptance of Gentiles and his mission to them.  Even while the two servants of Cornelius and the soldier were on their way to find Peter, he went up on the flat rooftop at the sixth hour  (noon) to pray.  He had a vision, three times, of a sheet with all manner of animals and reptiles on it, and the command, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.”  Oh, but this was against the beliefs and dietary restrictions of Peter who had been a devout Jew observing all the law and its many ramifications of what was clean and unclean.  Just as Peter had experienced the dramatic lesson on the rooftop, the delegation from Cornelius was at Simon’s gate, inquiring whether one Simon Peter was there.  They described how an angel had visited Cornelius and told him to invite Peter to go to his house.  They were invited in to be Peter’s guests (Gentiles guests of Jews—unusual, indeed!)  The next day Peter and some brothers went with them on the trip to Caesarea and Cornelius’s house.  When they arrived after a two days’ journey, a large crowd gathered.  Peter, explained that they all knew it was unlawful for a Jew to associate with Gentiles, but God had revealed to him that no person is common or unclean.  Peter then preached with earnestness, telling them of Jesus and how “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name” (Acts 10:43).  The power of the Holy Spirit was at work.  Many believed and were baptized.  Peter was a changed man himself, having broken the bonds of exclusion and Jewish restrictions to embrace all  people whom Christ had come to save.  Prejudice has no part in the love of God:  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).  “Whosoever” meant Cornelius and all who gathered to hear the Word and believe in the Lord Jesus.  And my name, likewise, is inserted at “whosoever”!  Praise be to God!