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| Ruins of Caesarea (Looking north at Herod's Palace) |
In this post, I will be including the complete text of Acts
10 in a simple outline I developed for our church. At the end, I will simply
list a few lessons which we might learn from amazing narrative. We should all
hold this passage (along with the next chapter) dear to our hearts. It was as a
result of this incident that the gospel, formerly reserved for the Jewish
people alone, was extended to the gentiles. It is this incident that Peter uses
as an apologetic for non-Jewish ministry at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. God’s
plan was for the gospel to go into all the world but his servants couldn’t see
past their own customs and the Lord had to push them a bit…for such a
development was culturally unthinkable! Let’s read it again with fresh eyes!
1) A People Prepared
for the Message (v. 1-8)
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.
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.
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.
Let me take a moment to ask if the city of Joppa rings a
bell for you? Did anything else in
the Bible ever happen there? Ancient Joppa was a town on the Mediterranean
coast, the closest port to Jerusalem, is now the modern city Jaffa. Centuries before
Christ, the prophet Jonah was told to go north to the Assyrian capital of
Nineveh with a warning of God’s judgment. However, he refused to go and set sail
from Joppa for Tarshish (in Western Spain) likely the furthest known destination
from Nineveh he could have picked.
2) A Messenger Prepared
for the People (9-23a)
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. [noon]
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.
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.”
But
Peter said, “By no means, Lord;
for I have never
eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
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.
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
and called out to ask whether Simon
who was called
Peter was lodging there.
And
while Peter was pondering the vision,
the Spirit said to him,
“Behold, three
men are looking for you.
Rise
and go down and accompany them without hesitation,
for I have sent them.”
And
Peter went down to the men and said,
“I am the one you are looking for.
What is the reason for your coming?”
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.”
So
he invited them in to be his guests.
God had to prepare the messenger to take his message in this
“unthinkable” direction. When we read of these visions with the various unclean
animals that Peter was instructed to eat, I don’t think that we Americans, with our
fixation on food, quite get how disturbing this was for Peter. Portland, Oregon
is well known for its abundance of food carts serving many wonderful things to
eat. Well, Beijing China also has lots of food carts, serving all kinds of “food
on a stick.” However, the things which they serve are culturally unthinkable
for most of us. I am going to provide a few pictures that will hopefully help
us to understand how unthinkable this vision was to Peter.
Can you relate to Peter now?
3) God’s Mission Made
Visible (v. 23-27)
The next day he rose and went away with
them,
and some
of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.
And on the following day they entered Caesarea.
Cornelius was
expecting them and
had called together his relatives and close
friends.
When Peter entered,
Cornelius met him
and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.
But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.”
And as
he talked with him,
he went in and found many
persons gathered.
God showed his servant Peter and the Gentile “seeker” what
to do. As the plan unfolded they even had an opportunity to share their respective
visions with each other.
A)
Peter’s Proclamation (v.28-29)
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.
So
when I was sent for,
I
came without objection.
I ask then why you
sent for me.”
What
He had learned (28): “God has shown me that I
should not call any person common or unclean.”
What he had done
(29): “So when I was sent for, I came without objection.” He came without any discrimination or profiling. He didn’t try
to hide, run away, or argue. He obeyed God, as opposed to Jonah, the Hebrew
prophet, who left Joppa in the opposite direction from that of the mission God was
sending him to complete.
What
he wanted to know: “I ask then why you sent for me.” A great
question to ask and have answered before one starts sharing what you think they
want to hear.
B)
Cornelius’ Proclamation (30-33)
Cornelius promptly filled Peter
in on what he had heard from the angel that started this unthinkable chain of
events four days earlier. He shared…
What
he had seen (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.”
What
he had learned (31): ‘Cornelius, your prayer
has been heard and
your alms have been remembered
before God.
What
he had been told to do (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.’
His readiness to hear
(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.”
I wonder… how often do we share our God-dreams with each
other? You know, the things he has told us to do that are so far outside our
comfort zone that we don’t even want to talk about it? We can be hesitant to
tell others because then we might actually have to do what God told us, or we
might be afraid that they will think we are crazy.
4) Gospel Message was
Delivered at the Right Moment (v.34-43)
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.
As
for the word that he sent to Israel,
preaching good news of peace
through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),
you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea,
beginning from Galilee after the
baptism that John proclaimed:
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.
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,
but God raised him on the third
day
and made him to appear,
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.
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.
To him all the prophets bear
witness that everyone
who believes in him receives forgiveness of
sins through his name.”
5) The Message is Confirmed
by the Holy Spirit (v.44-48) [Gentile Pentecost]
While Peter was still saying these
things,
the Holy
Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
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.
For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and
extolling God.
Then Peter
declared,
“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing
these people,
who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
And he commanded them to be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Then they asked him to
remain for some days.
Seven
Simple Yet Encouraging Lessons…
- Prayer to God and service to others is remembered (v. 4)
- God prepares us in anticipation of our next assignment (But we might not understand it at first.)
- God will surprise us when we listen to him (v. 44)
- God’s plan advances as he has said (Acts 1:8; Gen. 12:3)
- Our prejudices are not God’s (2 Cor. 5:16; Eph. 2:11-22; Gal. 33:28-29)
- When people gather together to hear the gospel, they do so in the presence of God (v.33)
- God goes to great lengths to bring the Gospel to those who need it.
There is so much more I could have said, but I am
leaving the lessons to be found mainly in the reading of the narrative itself!
By the way,
it is important enough to Luke the Spirit-inspired author of Acts that he
repeats the whole story in the next chapter! It is so profound that we must need to hear it more than once.
