Our Scripture today highlights a very important event in the history of the Christian Church, that being when the Gospel message was officially and specifically opened to the Gentiles. This was God’s plan all along, but how did it come about? Today we’ll see how God has a heart for all nations and people of the world, and how the Gospel message is for everyone.
Acts chapter 10 takes place maybe about seven to ten years after the Resurrection and Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down upon the disciples. During that first decade of the early church, the disciples had openly witnessed to others, bringing the Gospel message of Jesus to their relatives, friends, and neighbors, however, only to other Jews. Jesus had told His followers that they were to make disciples of all nations, not to just only other Jews (Matthew 28:19). Now ten years had passed, and still the message was only going out to other Jews. It seemed like God was going to have to step in in a dramatic way for this to happen, and that is exactly what He did.
The Apostle Peter was called by a group of believers to come to the coastal cities of Lydda and Joppa in order to pray for healing of some believers there. It was while he was there that the Lord gave him a vision. While waiting for lunch to be prepared, Peter saw a vision of a large cloth being lowered down containing all sorts of wild, unclean animals in it, and he was told to kill and eat (Acts 10:9-16). Peter had never eaten anything unclean, so was reluctant to obey. However, God told him not to call anything unclean that He had cleansed. This vision was a prelude to Peter being called to the home of the centurion Cornelius to bring the Gospel message to Gentiles, people that many Jews considered “unclean”.
Not only was Peter very scrupulous about not eating any unclean food, he was also very diligent and careful about observing the Jewish custom of not ever entering the house of a Gentile, or eating with them. God gave Peter that vision in order to emphasize to him that when He called something clean, it was clean, and not to call any person unclean. So when Peter was called to a Gentile home to bring God’s message, he went. What would he say to them, though? No one had specifically witnessed to a Gentile before. Should they be given a different message? This was unknown territory for Peter.
Peter decided to just proceed to tell these people who were eager to hear God’s Word what he knew. First was to let them know that God does not show partiality based on ethnicity, nationality, social status, or background (vs. 34). God’s character is perfectly just and impartial. Peter knew Jesus’ words of how they were to go into all nations bringing His message. Today, though the Gospel has been preached all around the world, there are still those who cling to prejudice. We need to remember that God does not have favorites, and no group is “less reachable” than any other.
Cornelius had long sought after God. He feared God, seeking to know Him, and thus God led him to call Peter in order to hear the truth (vs. 35). God will receive anyone who reverences Him and is humble before His majesty. Though Cornelius lived a good life before the Lord, he still needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus in order to be saved. No one, Jewish or Gentile, is saved by any good works. No one can come to the Father except through Jesus. God, though, recognizes genuine seekers and will draw them to the truth (John 6:44).
Being a Gentile, Cornelius may have had just a fleeting, passing knowledge of the Old Testament, if any at all. That would be in contrast to other people that Peter was used to witnessing to. Most Jewish people knew their Scriptures to various degrees. Peter may have been unsure of how to proceed. He couldn’t just start quoting Old Testament prophecies, showing how Jesus had fulfilled this one and that one. Instead, Peter began to tell of well-known historical events in the life of Jesus, beginning with John the Baptist’s ministry, then Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, and His works of healing and deliverance (vs. 36-38).
Peter spoke of how Jesus brought peace between God and man. Peace with God is only through Jesus, not through religious rituals, through morality, or through tradition. The events that Peter spoke of were not hidden, but were well known by anyone living in the area. The miracles of Jesus authenticated His deity and His mission. His ministry revealed the heart of God towards everyone, especially the broken and the afflicted. Peter told Cornelius about the compassion of the Lord, and how He went about doing good to all, not just to the few, and that was because God was with Him.
Peter proceeded to witness to Cornelius, his family, and his friends, and as he spoke, the Holy Spirit came down upon them as they believed (Acts 10:44-48). And though initially Peter was given a stern reprimand for this, just like Paul later was, this was the first chapter in the opening of the doors for Gentiles to come to salvation in the Lord Jesus, which was God’s plan all along.
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