Acts 10:1-23

Two Visions

Cornelius was a Roman centurion. That means that he had charge of 100 Roman soldiers. It also means that he was a formidable man. Beyond that it means nothing. Those who were not Roman would likely have been inclined to think of him as being bad or evil because of his race and position. They would have been wrong. He was devout, Godfearing, and generous to the needy. Every race, nation, profession, and any other grouping you can devise has both good and evil people in its number. We do well to remember that fact.

Cornelius saw a vision. An angel came to him and told him to send for Simon Peter. The angel told him the city in which to look and the house in which to find him. This vision was one of two that would change everything concerning the kingdom. It started with a Gentile Roman soldier who loved God.

About a day’s journey away in the town of Joppa, Simon Peter was staying with his friend. He went up on the roof to pray and while he was there he had a vision. Peter was hungry. He saw a sheet let down from heaven with all kinds of animals on it. Some of these animals were unclean for the Jews to eat. He heard a voice say, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat.” Peter was appalled. He had never eaten anything unclean and told the Lord as much. The voice spoke again, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” It happened three times. Peter finally got the message, so God explained what was about to happen and told Peter to play ball.

I once had a preacher ask what he thought was a rhetorical question. “Do you think God can do just anything He wants?” We were supposed to say, “No,” because He needs our faith. I said, “Yes.” I’m not dissing faith but I believe the Word. Psalm 135:6 says, “The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.” That seems pretty straight forward to me.

We think we have it all figured out: who is good and who isn’t, what is right and what is wrong, how this “pleasing God thing” works. And to some extent we do have it figured out, but remember this! God is God and He can do whatever He wants to do. He just may be getting ready to change the world, starting with a Gentile Roman Soldier and some “unclean” food.