‘WHAT GOD HAS CLEANSED’
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 9, 2022 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: November 9, 2022 Acts 10:9-23
Theme: God has removed all social, cultural, political, and ethnic barriers to faith in Jesus; and we must not keep them in place.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
When it comes to the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, God doesn’t just do a transformational work in the hearts of the recipients. He also often does a transformational work in the hearts of the preachers.
We saw something of that transformational work already; in Acts 10:1-8. In that passage, we saw how God was preparing the heart of a god-fearing, pious Gentile to hear the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. It tells us;
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.” And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa (Acts 10:1-8).
Somehow along the way, God had graciously opened Cornelius’ heart to Himself. And now, He was going to provide to Cornelius something that no Jewish Christian at that time would have thought possible. He was going to provide him with the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, give him the faith to believe, and pour His Holy Spirit upon him and upon his household. What amazing grace God was showing to this Gentile! But before that could happen, God had to change the heart of the man through whom that gospel message would be preached to Cornelius. God had to show Peter that He was no longer keeping the Gentiles apart and distinct from His covenant blessings, but was now welcoming them into the same privileges that He gave to the Jewish people.
This was in the plan of God all along. The apostle Paul spoke about it in Ephesians 3:3-6 when he wrote;
how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel (Ephesians 3:3-6).
This was something that would have been astonishing to those early Jewish Christians. They had always understood themselves to be God’s exclusive and distinct people. And indeed they are. There’s a sense in which they always will be. But God was now declaring to the Gentiles who believe that they too—who had once been far away—are now brought near by the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 2:13). This would have been hard for Jewish Christians to embrace.
It certainly would have been hard for Peter. And so, before he could be the instrument that God wanted Him to be to this man Cornelius, God had to change his heart. He, in fact, had to change the heart of the whole Jewish church.
And that seems to be the great lesson being unfolded to us in Acts 10:1-11:18. The Jewish Messiah—Jesus—has come. He has died for the sins of all humanity. And it’s being declared to us that God has removed all social, cultural, political and ethnic barriers to faith in Jesus; and we must not keep them in place.
All people of all nations may come!
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Now; how did God bring this truth to Peter? We see that unfolded to us in …
1. THE PRINCIPLE THAT PETER HAD TO LEARN (vv. 9-16).
The story in this section of Acts covers a four-day period (see the diagram below1).
The first day was when Cornelius was given the vision from the angel, and responded by sending two servants and a faithful soldier on the 36-mile trip down from Caesarea to Joppa for Peter. And so, Peter’s entry into the story occurred on the second day. Verse 9 tells us;
The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour (v. 9).
Back in Chapter 9, we were told that after Peter had been called to Joppa to be used by God to raise a woman named Dorcus from the dead (9:36-43), he stayed many days in Joppa with a man named Simon who was a tanner by the sea. If you visit Joppa today, you can go to a place that is believed to be where Simon’s house was. It’s a beautiful place; and as you stand by where the house once probably stood, you can hear the sounds of the crashing waves of the Mediterranean Sea, and hear the sounds of the birds flying above the coastline.
It was the sixth hour of the day—that is, about noontime. It was time for lunch. And we’re told that while he was waiting for lunch, he went up to the roof to pray. It must have been a very nice place to pray. But it may have also been hard for Peter to concentrate on his prayers. His tummy was rumbling. And it was then—as those Gentile servants sent from Cornelius made their way to Joppa—that God taught Peter an important “object” lesson:
Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat” (vv. 10-13).
You’ve heard the old saying that ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’; haven’t you? Well; it was certainly true with Peter. As he waited for lunch to be ready, he fell into a “trance”. The word that is used for “trance” (ekstasis), is different from the usual word for vision. In verse 3, we’re told that Cornelius clearly saw the angel that came to him in a “vision” (horama). The word that described Cornelius’ experience is one that means “that which is seen”; and it may have involved a conscious use of Cornelius’ senses. But the word that described Peter’s experience is one from which we get the word “ecstatic”. It refers to a “throwing-out” of someone from their normal place or state of being. For Peter, it would have involved an experience of great astonishment as he saw spiritual realities being shown to him by God.
And think of what Peter was being shown! He saw heaven open up (so, he knew that this truly was from God), and something like a great sheet descended that opened up to reveal all kinds of animals. Some of them would have been ceremonially clean to the Jew; but some of them would have been unclean. And most astonishing of all was the command—apparently from God—to rise up and eat without discrimination! Peter’s astonishment is shown to us in verse 14;
But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean” (v. 14).
And in saying this, Peter was simply trying to behave as a faithful Jewish man—devoted to the commandments of God. After all, in Leviticus 11, God—through His servant Moses—had strictly forbidden the Jewish people in the Old Covenant era from eating certain foods or from becoming defiled by contact with certain animals. It is a part of what distinguished the Jewish people from the other nations of the world. What an astonishing thing it would have been to hear God commanding Peter to rise up and eat what—all his life—he was careful to strictly avoid.
But then, Peter heard another command from God;
And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common” (v. 15).
Apparently, God was telling Peter that what He had forbidden in the Old Covenant era was now no longer being forbidden in the New Covenant era—the covenant that had been ministered by the death of Christ on the cross. At least when it came to the food items that Peter saw, what had once been ‘unclean’ was now declared to be ‘clean’ by God. The barrier of that commandment had been removed. It was no longer right for Peter to hold on to the Old Covenant restrictions. We’re told that God had to drive this point home repeatedly to Peter. As it says in verse 16;
This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again (v. 16).
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; it’s clear in this story that God was not concerned merely about foods. He gave this “trance” experience to Peter for a far greater reason. And we need to see this experience against the backdrop of the three Gentile men who had made their way into Joppa and to the house of Simon the tanner.
As we go on to read Peter’s next experience, we see …
2. THE APPLICATION THAT GOD CALLED HIM TO MAKE (vv. 17-23).
We’re told in verses 17-18;
Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate. And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there (vv. 17-18).
Here, in verse 17, the Bible now calls what Peter experienced an horama; something ‘seen’. The impression upon him was that this was clearly a message from God—and not just a product of being hungry. And as 11:11 makes clear to us, these two men came “at that very moment”—that is, as soon as the third experience of the vision was completed. It would have meant that there was a direct connection between the command to no longer call unclean what God has called clean, and the appearance of these Gentile men who had come from Cornelius. As verses 19-20 go on to say;
While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them” (vv. 19-20).
God was showing Peter—and through Peter, the whole Jewish church—that He was about to do something remarkable. He was about to show His grace and His love toward those that He had formerly declared ‘unclean’ to the Jewish people. Jesus had broken down every barrier; and He was about to welcome the Gentiles in. We’re told;
Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius, and said, “Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come?” And they said, “Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you” (vv. 21-22).
Just how much had Peter learned this important new lesson? Verse 23 shows us:
“Then he invited them in and lodged them. On the next day Peter went away with them, and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him” (v. 23).
That was something that Peter—most likely—would never have done before that experience. But now he did so; realizing that God has removed all barriers to faith in Jesus, and that he must not keep in place what God has removed. What God has declared “clean”, he must not call “unclean” any longer.
As a result, Peter declared the gospel to the household of Cornelius. And the whole household believed—to the utter astonishment of the Jewish Christians.
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Now; we may not be living in the same kind of situation today. But are there those today that we believe could never experience the grace of God? Is there a sense in which we believe some people to be “unclean” and set apart from God’s grace? Certainly, we must never mistake the grace of God for a disregard for sin. God remains holy; and those who come to Him must leave their sin behind. But do we hold on to any kind of spiritual bigotry against any social, cultural, national, political, or ethnic group that God now welcomes to Himself through faith in Jesus?
If so, let’s remember that—in this story—God broke down the barrier between Jew and Gentile—the two most distinct groups in human history—and has now welcomed the Gentiles in. Let’s not ourselves now keep up barriers that God has removed. As His preachers of the good news, let’s let Him do a transforming work in us; so that we can now welcome those that He welcomes.
AE
