(Read Acts 10)
THE angel who appeared to Cornelius of Cæsarea, instructed him to send for Peter, and he would tell him words whereby he and all his house should be saved.
Jesus, while on earth, had given Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven; so on the day of Pentecost, he opened the door, and three thousand persons from amongst the Jews passed out of Judaism into the new sphere of blessing which was available and made known through the preaching.
Now Peter seemed to have forgotten that he had another key, to open a door for the Gentiles to enter into the same blessings as the believers from amongst the Jews; so in this chapter the first lesson was given to the preacher, to instruct him in the mind of God.
Peter had gone to the housetop, away from the bustle of the house, to speak to God, and God took that opportunity to speak to him. Peter became unconscious of outward things, and was by a vision brought face to face with God’s purposes.
A vessel like a sheet was let down by the four corners, and it came to Peter. He fastened his eyes on it; then, he considered; then, he saw. These expressions are full of instruction for us. If we desire to be enlightened, we must be in earnest, and fasten the eyes of our mind on whatever God brings before us; we must consider or meditate, and then we shall see.
Peter saw what to a Christian from amongst the Jews was a strange mixture; but he had to learn there was no mixture, for in the eyes of God all of them had been cleansed. In this vessel were “four-footed beasts and wild beasts, creeping things and fowls of the air.” What did they represent? The Jew had been under law, and had been restrained, and was like the tame “four-footed beast”; while the Gentile had been un-restrained, and was like the “wild beast.” The publicans and sinners were like the “creeping things,” groveling in sin and ignorance; while the moral and intellectual men were like the “fowls of the air,” that looked down on their fellows with a feeling of superiority.
Thus every condition of mankind was represented to Peter as being in the vessel. To Peter’s eye they were in the state of nature, but to God’s eye they were in grace. God had cleansed them; for the truth was, whether Jew or Gentile, moral or immoral, all needed cleansing. This had been done, and those who were cleansed were drawn up into heaven. All this was instruction for Peter, who, although he was converted and had been used for the conversion of very many Jews, was unprepared to believe that God was going to do just the same for Gentiles. After the vision, Peter had to go to carry out the truth which he had learned, and use the other key, to admit believers from amongst the Gentiles to the same circle of privilege as the Jews were already brought into.
Thus Peter started, with words whereby his hearers should be saved. But how could words save any one? Words mean testimony, and the gospel is God’s testimony in words to men. Ali who have been saved in this dispensation have been saved by words. The Holy Spirit works through the words, which thus become living to the heart of every one who believes.
Peter bore testimony in words, “that whosoever believeth on Him (Jesus) shall receive remission of sins.” Now Cornelius had waited for Peter four days (see vs. 30), and both he and his household were prepared for the blessing which the words were to convey to them. For while Peter spake the words, the Holy Spirit fell on them. The dew of heavenly grace came on them in the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In this day, which is but the continuance of the day which began at Pentecost, the words whereby Cornelius was saved, have the same power, and all who believe God’s testimony concerning His Son, receive the forgiveness of sins, and the same gift of the Holy Spirit. In those early days of Christianity, those who received the Holy Spirit immediately began to speak with tongues they had never learned, which was a sign for that particular time, but which was not continued when Christianity was established.
Cornelius had evidently been borra again, and saw the kingdom of God, but he needed words with the Holy Spirit’s power to enable him to enter into that kingdom.
The keys were, however, the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and so when Peter knew by the tongues that they had the Spirit, he asked the six Christians from amongst the Jews who had traveled with him, if they could forbid these persons the water of baptism? Then by virtue of the position he held, which the figure of a key implied, he commanded them to be admitted. Thus these believing Gentiles were by Peter admitted into the same outward circle of Christian privilege along with the believing Jews.
The assembly was thus composed of all kinds of persons who had been cleansed by God’s testimony concerning His Son. The sheet seen in the vision stretching to the Tour corners of the earth, had received persons from the east, west, north, and south (see Luke 13:2929And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:29)).
The antitype of this vision is not yet complete.
For near two thousand years the sheet has been filling, and when it is full it will be drawn up into heaven. Nothing of God’s purpose can fail.
G. W. GY.