Acts 10 - God works in mysterious ways
God overcomes every societal, racial and religious barrier to save people through the gospel.
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Acts 10 (ESV)
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 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.”
4 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.
5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon
who is called Peter.
6 He is lodging with one Simon,
a tanner,
whose house is by the sea.”
7 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,
8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
9 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.
10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat,
but while they were preparing it,
he fell
into a trance
11 and saw the heavens opened
and something like a great sheet descending,
being let down by its four corners upon the earth.
12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air.
13 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 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 inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there.
19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him,
“Behold, three men are looking for you.
20 Rise and go down
and accompany them without hesitation,
for I have sent them.”
21 And Peter went down to the men and said,
“I am the one you are looking for.
What is the reason for your coming?”
22 And they said,
“Cornelius, a centurion,
an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation,
was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.”
23 So he invited them in to be his guests.
The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea.
Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
25 When Peter entered,
Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26
But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.”
27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered.
28 And he said to them,
“You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew
to associate with
or to visit anyone of another nation,
but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.
29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection.
I ask then why you sent for me.”
30 And Cornelius said,
“Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour,
and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing 31 and said,
‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard
and your alms have been remembered before God.
32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’
33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come.
Now therefore we are all here
in the presence of God
to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”
34 So Peter opened his mouth and said:
“Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,
35 but in every nation
anyone
who fears him
and does what is right
is acceptable to him.
36 As for the word that he sent to Israel,
preaching good news of peace
through Jesus Christ
(he is Lord of all),
37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea,
beginning from Galilee
after the baptism that John proclaimed:
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit
and with power.
He went about
doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.
39 And we are witnesses of all that he did
both in the country of the Jews
and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree,
40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear,
41 not to all the people
but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
42 And he commanded us
to preach to the people
and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
43 To him all the prophets bear witness
that everyone who believes in him
receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
44 While Peter was still saying these things,
the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
45 And the believers
from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed,
because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.
46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.
Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people,
who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Then they asked him to remain for some days.
Watch / Listen to the DIG DEEPER video:
Acts 10 Summary
In the Old Testament, a key way that God demonstrated His covenant was by separating His people away from the world. Not only did the Hebrews maintain a far different diet than their neighbors, but they had little to no associations with them.
That all changes in today's chapter. Cornelius and Peter, two men who could not be any different in their backgrounds, are brought together by God's grace, and in doing so the door is officially opened for the gospel to go out to all nations.
This development was so mind blowing to Peter that God had to repeat the vision three times for him (v16).
Dig Deeper
Yesterday we saw that Jesus encountered Saul when he was in the middle of a trip.
Today in chapter 10, we see a link between Peter & Cornelius' experience with Jesus: they were both at prayer when they had their visions.
Just to be clear, God no longer needs to communicate through visions now that we have all of His written words, but the point is that, in general, you will be much more receptive to the Holy Spirit speaking to you through His Word when you make time to separate yourself from the busyness for awhile and spend some time reading the Bible and praying.
There's a ton of important theology being developed in this chapter:
v4 - [Cornelius'] prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.
v15 - What God has made clean, do not call impure.
v28 - God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.
v34-35 - 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.
v43 - [The Old Testament] bear witness that everyone who believes in Christ receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
v44 - the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the Word.
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: God, the creator of all things, who has made all things clean through Christ (v15)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will view all people as equal image bearers of God who are hungry for the gospel.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
