The Time Peter and Cornelius Received Visions (Acts 10:1-23)

Intro

Has anyone ever said something to you, and even though you didn’t think about it much at the time, it became really important later on? When I began as the lead pastor at The Bridge five years ago, I remember being told something by two different experienced pastors. One, a longtime pastor at another church, told me to expect crucifixion in ministry. He said every pastor goes through the ringer and will have to die to themselves and to the world in various ways. The other, the national director of the Baptist General Conference, told me that in all likelihood, it would take two or three years before I truly became the pastor of the church. He meant the pastor not just in name, but in reality. He warned that some kind of crisis usually precipitated that. I heard those words but they mostly entered one ear and exited the other. I thought by month two, I had already gained the widespread respect and adoration of the whole church- oh, naive early thirties Craig. But I nodded my head and went on with life, blissfully assuming ministry at The Bridge would be a constant and unceasing upward trajectory.

Then, between years two and four, just as I had been warned, crisis after crisis hit. Specifically, within a period of a few months in 2019, we had several extremely challenging transitions in our leadership that struck deep and struck personally. At the same time, some very loud and public community opposition to our building project arose, setting local Facebook group message boards on fire. This was in addition to a number of other issues and complaints that arose at the same time. Whereas I had previously cared a lot about becoming a well-known and influential young pastor and seeing big church growth, I didn’t care about that anymore. I just wanted to survive! I was hanging on by a thread! Suddenly, those words by wise seasoned leaders came back to me. This was a crucifixion. This was the crisis. And maybe, on the other side of it, a more mature ministry would be born. Of course, all of that was soon followed by COVID, 15 months of speaking to a camera, and endless delays to our building project. This last year has been so full of joy and renewal and life, but I know I should expect that there will be more seasons of crucifixion in the years ahead. And I should expect that they will give rise once again to an even more maturing ministry. I didn’t know it at the time, but those old guys were on to something!

In Matthew 8, Jesus visits Capernaum and a Roman centurion approaches, asking Jesus to heal his servant. This centurion is of course a Gentile and the kind of person generally seen as enemy #1 to the Jewish people. He has such faith in Jesus’ power that he doesn’t think Jesus needs to even come to his home. “Say the word even from a great distance, Jesus, and I know my servant will be healed”. That is in fact what happens, but not before Jesus promised to those following him, “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 8:11) The clear implication is that despite what many Jews must have thought, people like this Roman centurion would actually have a place in the Kingdom and among God’s people. The disciples witnessed this. They heard Jesus’ words. But I’m guessing that, like young naive Craig when I heard that counsel from wiser pastors, the meaning of those words didn’t register until years later. The disciples heard them and nodded their heads, but it would take a later crisis for Jesus’ words to hit home. For Peter, I’m guessing that’s what took place in Acts 10 when he was brought into contact with another Roman centurion.

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. ² He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. ³ One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” ⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. ⁵ Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. ⁸ He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa. ⁹ About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰ He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹ He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹² It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. ¹³ Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”¹⁴ “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.¹⁷ While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision,the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. ¹⁸ They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.¹⁹ While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. ²⁰ So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”²¹ Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”²² The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” ²³ Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

Acts 10:1-23

1. Ripeness of heart

What we’ll do is go through this story again, highlighting six different points that characterize this soon-to-be encounter between Peter and Cornelius. I believe these points will say a lot to us about sharing the good news and even experiencing God for ourselves.

First off, we read about Cornelius. Specifically, his ripeness. He’s like a banana covered in black dots. Here’s what I mean. Cornelius is a Roman military officer in charge of 100 men, stationed in the province of Judea to keep the peace there. Jerusalem might have been the religious and cultural centre of Judea, but Caesarea was the political centre, and that’s where Cornelius stayed. During his time there, Cornelius had become extremely interested in Jewish culture and faith. Luke describes him as a “God-fearer”, and there seem to have been a number of those kinds of people in the ancient world. These were people who involved themselves in aspects of Jewish life. They probably would have kept Sabbath, not working on the seventh day of the week. Maybe they would have kept some of the dietary food laws- no bacon for Cornelius! They might have attended synagogue services. But these God-fearers stayed on the edges. They didn’t go all the way in. They didn’t become circumcised, they didn’t become full Jewish proselytes, and so their access was limited.

Luke specifically mentions a couple of Cornelius’ behaviors. Both of these are also commended by an angel in verse 4 as things that God has received like a sacrificial offering, a pleasing aroma to Him. First, Cornelius gave generously to the poor. It’s the same kind of description that we read in Acts 9:36 about Tabitha from the passage last week. Clearly this was an important characteristic and lifestyle among God’s people and continues to this day. Cornelius also prayed regularly. You’ve got to wonder what he prayed about. One commentary suggests that he was praying for a more personal relationship with this God who he longed to know and serve. Maybe. Who knows! But clearly, Cornelius’ heart was soft towards God. He wasn’t getting anything worldly out of this- association with Jewish faith wasn’t exactly a ticket to promotion in the Roman Empire. Not to mention that with all that generosity, I’m sure there were a lot of centurions living larger than Cornelius. No, the desire of his heart was pure. It was to know and love and serve this God he had begun to learn about.

How is your heart this morning? Is it soft and ripe for God’s work, or is it hardened and resistant? Are you driven by advancement in the world, or by a desire to love God? God blesses a ripe heart. God speaks to those whose hearts are soft towards Him.

2. Centrality of prayer

Second, we see the centrality of prayer in this story. We’ve already talked about how Cornelius prayed to God regularly. By the way, Luke doesn’t use the typical word for prayer when he describes Cornelius. Instead, it’s a word that has connections with pleading, begging, or earnestly seeking something. It evokes passion and even desperation. Cornelius didn’t pray dry, lukewarm prayers. We’re led to believe that his prayers were heartfelt, a crying out to God.

But I want to point something else out about prayer. Luke makes special mention of the time that Cornelius receives this vision where an angel of the Lord gives him a message. He says it happened at three in the afternoon. Why do you think Luke mentions that time specifically? It’s most likely because of the two set times in the day for Jews to pray: 9am and 3pm. Cornelius, as a God-fearing Gentile connected to Jewish practice, seems to have aligned his own prayers with those times. 3pm was when Jews prayed. So did Cornelius. And at 3pm, Cornelius receives a vision. He receives this message from God during prayer.

Skipping ahead a bit, we also see the theme of prayer in Peter’s half of the story. Peter is staying in Joppa, which is modern day Tel-Aviv. At about noon one day, Peter’s really hungry. Maybe even hangry. So while lunch is being prepared, Peter goes up to the rooftop of the home he’s staying in and he prays. It is during his time of prayer that God gives him this vision of something like a sheet filled with many animals that Peter is invited to kill and eat. We’ll talk about the meaning of that vision later, but the point here is that God speaks to Peter in prayer, just as He speaks to Cornelius in prayer.

Let me ask you: do you have a longing to encounter God and hear His voice? If you do, what’s your prayer life like? Are you earnestly seeking Him in prayer? And when you pray, do you just rifle through a list of requests and end it there, or do you leave space for Him to speak? It seems, not just from this story but from many others in Acts and the Scriptures as a whole, that God often chooses to break through in our lives and in the church as a whole when we pray.

3. Usefulness of humans

Back to Cornelius. He’s a God-fearing Gentile and receives a vision from God during prayer. God is breaking through in His life, making Himself known to Cornelius in a new way. But here’s the fascinating thing: the vision itself does not tell Cornelius what he needs to know. The vision Cornelius receives does not give Cornelius any content about Jesus! Think about that. As God chooses to speak to Cornelius this way, He could very easily have spoken to Cornelius about the Gospel in this way too. The guy is ripe! God could bring Cornelius to a saving faith in Christ right then and there. But He doesn’t, does He? What is the content of the vision? Verse 5 tells us that the angel of the Lord instructs Cornelius to retrieve Peter. 

That seems a bit complicated, doesn’t it? Why not cut out the middleman and just tell Cornelius what he needs to know? It might be hard to grasp, but God just doesn’t seem as obsessed with efficiency as some of us. Instead, He seems to be determined to use and partner with broken, weak, failing human beings like you and me.

If you are a parent or have been a parent of young kids, you probably get this. Younger kids want to help with stuff. If I’m changing batteries on a toy, which is about the most complex thing I’m capable of doing with tools, Zachary usually wants to try using the screwdriver first. Honestly, it’s a bit painful watching him try to line up the screwdriver with the screw and slowly twist, usually slipping out of the groove. Or when I’m making pancakes, which is about the most complex thing I’m capable of doing in the kitchen, the kids want to help put the ingredients in (which consists of ready-made Costco mix and water- like I said, complex). It can get messy. Batter doesn’t stay in the bowl or on the griddle. Pancakes get flipped off the griddle on to the counter. And in my lesser moments, I’m like, move aside kids! Go sit at the table and do nothing and wait for the pancake master to deliver you your delicious Costco pancake meal! But in my better parenting moments, I recognize that even if I could do it more quickly and efficiently on my own, that this is an opportunity for me to be with my kids. To do something with them. That gives me joy. It’s also an opportunity for them to grow and develop new abilities. 

God is determined in Acts 10 to use Peter to share the good news with Cornelius. He does this all the time. It’s been like that ever since the garden of Eden when God gave Adam and Eve the task of caring for the garden. That’s not a result of the fall. It’s not like God goes, well, you sinned, now you’re going to have to work! No, this is what He does from the beginning. Even though God could accomplish His mission on His own, and it’s always His power equipping us and working through us, He invites us into the process. He wants to use us and speak through us. He doesn’t do this because He needs us. Not even close! He does it because He wants to. He does it because He loves us, loves being with us, and is invested in seeing us grow up to be the people He has created us to be. 

Are you sitting at the table passively or are you accepting the invitation of your Father to roll up your sleeves and join Him in the work of making Jesus known in this world?

4. Purpose of visitation

That was the third point, the usefulness of humans in God’s mission. Let’s move on to the fourth point. Cornelius obeys the vision and sends some people to Joppa. While they’re traveling, hangry Peter is on the roof praying and he also receives a vision. Verses 11-12 read, “he saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds.”

It says “heaven opened”. That language is only used a handful of times in the Bible. In Acts, it occurs in chapter 7 when Stephen is about to be stoned to death as the first Christian martyr. Stephen sees heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, meaning that Jesus is the risen Lord who is on the side of Stephen, not the religious authorities of Jerusalem. The martyrdom and connected vision prompt a scattering of Christians and a rapid spread of the Gospel in the ancient world. In the Gospels, we read about the heavens being opened when Jesus is baptized and the Spirit descends on him like a dove. The baptism is the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry. It launches Jesus first into the desert where he is tested by Satan, and then into the towns of Judea, where Jesus begins healing and teaching about the Kingdom of God. In the Old Testament, the heavens are most prominently opened during the flood in the days of Noah. It’s a bit different than the New Testament references, but in Genesis 7, we read about the floodgates of the heavens being opened. A giant reset button on creation is pressed. The heavens being opened results in a new mission for Noah, as God commissions him to be fruitful and fill the earth. While we’re on the flood narrative, there’s another connection: Genesis 6 refers to birds, animals and creatures that move along the ground that Noah is to take into the ark, and now in Acts 10 Peter has a vision of four footed animals, birds, and reptiles (which crawl along the ground).

What do all of these have in common? The heavens are opened, and a death of some kind takes place- Stephen’s martyrdom, Jesus’ baptism (baptism being a metaphor for a kind of death), and the flood- which then prompts a new mission. A new commission from God. And that’s exactly what happens in Acts 10. The heavens are opened, death is featured in what follows- the threefold instruction for Peter to kill and eat- prompting a new commission from God to proclaim the Gospel to a Gentile, Cornelius.

You see, God reveals Himself to us for a purpose. When He opens the heavens and visits us, when He reveals Himself to us, it is not simply for our enjoyment. It is not for our privilege. After all, judgment is usually part of the picture! There’s usually something in us that needs to die, and we’ll see that with Peter too. No, God’s visitation comes in order to equip us and send us with a new commission to make Him known in this world. God is passionate about that mission. Are you passionate about that mission? If you are seeking His visitation in your life, are you prepared to obey His calling to make Him known?

5. Discomfort of the calling

That’s a challenge because of the fifth point I want to make, which has to do with the discomfort of the God’s calling, His commission.  What becomes pretty clear in Peter’s vision is that God is asking him to go well beyond what’s comfortable to him.

Again, the vision Peter receives is of something like a sheet being lowered with all kinds of animals, reptiles, and birds and the instruction to kill and eat. Peter’s response is “surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” Peter has lived a certain way all his life, a way entirely faithful to the God-given customs of his people. The thought of violating that was abhorrent to him.

As a huge basketball fan, one of the things that came to me in connection with this was Wilt Chamberlain. He was one of the most talented basketball players of all time, but Wilt had some eccentricities. One of them was that he had never fouled out of a game in his life- high school, college, professional. This was of massive importance to him. It was a streak he didn’t want broken, a commitment he had made to himself. The thought of fouling out was abhorrent to him. That meant that once he reached four or five fouls, six being the maximum before you are ejected from the game, he would become extremely passive, especially on defense. He’d barely guard his guy. This extremely gifted player would actually become a liability to his team because he couldn’t handle the thought of fouling out. He is one of the greatest players of all time and yet his teams rarely won when it counted. No wonder!

God’s got a mission for Peter: to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. But this is going to require Peter to go way beyond what’s comfortable for him. It’s going to require Peter letting go of cultural customs and even some lifelong commitments. It’s going to require Peter adapting to new customs that once seemed abhorrent to him, for the sake of making Jesus known. If Peter doesn’t do that, if he chooses his comfort over God’s calling, then like Wilt the Stilt, he will actually become something of a liability to the greater mission of his team.

If God gives you a mission, but it requires you to let go of deeply held traditions or customs, even really good ones, are you willing? 

6. Abolition of food laws

But that all raises a big question, and I want to spend a bit of time here. Why did Peter feel so strongly about not eating these animals he saw in the vision? The short answer is because God had told the Israelites not to eat animals like that in the Scriptures. For example, Leviticus 11 gives us 47 verses of detailed instructions about which animals are “clean” to eat and which are “unclean.” But why did God give those instructions, and why does He suddenly reverse course in Acts 10? And does that give us reason to believe that God might do the same thing later in history, where something He has forbidden in the Scriptures He might suddenly reverse and actually approve? That’s what some people believe has happened with certain acts that are condemned in the Bible but are now widely accepted in our culture, like same-sex marriage. Maybe God changed His mind, maybe He’s doing a new thing. Let’s try to tackle some of that.

First of all, there’s lots of speculation but no consensus on why God makes these distinctions between clean and unclean animals in the OT. At the very least, though, we can say that these laws served to mark out Israel from the rest of the nations. Leviticus 20:25-26 says,

“You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground- those that I have set apart as unclean for you. You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.”

Leviticus 20:25-26

God is holy. He is unlike any other. And He says to Israel, you are to be holy. Set apart. Distinct. Different. The food laws, where God marked out some animals as clean, were a kind of parable or image of how God had marked out Israel as His own people. Every time they thought of the dietary laws, they were reminded that they were God’s special possession, called to live a different kind of life than the nations around. They were like the clean animals.

So why does God now change that in this vision with Peter? One thing to keep in mind is that in giving approval to Peter to eat anything, God is not actually doing something brand new. This isn’t an unheard of innovation. Actually, it’s a restoration of something God spoke long before Leviticus. It goes back to the flood- another flood connection! In Genesis 9, after Noah and his family leave the ark, God says to him: “everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you green plants, I now give you everything.” (9:3) This was God’s covenant with Noah as part of his commission: you can eat anything. Any animal. Grasshoppers? Spiders? Baby ducks still in their eggs? I did that in the Philippines. Go for it!

It’s also something that was hinted at by Jesus in his ministry. In Mark 7, Jesus tells the disciples that nothing that enters a person from outside can defile them. This is followed up by a comment, not by Jesus but by Mark. According to ancient tradition, Peter is Mark’s main source, so this may actually be Peter’s own comment: “in saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean” (7:19). Maybe this is another one of those things we talked about at the beginning, where you hear something but don’t understand the implications until much later on. What God says to Peter here is a restoration of what God has said before, and it’s a fulfillment of seeds that have been planted earlier by Jesus.

But the main reason God reverses the prohibition here, I think, has to do with why it was given in the first place. It was given to mark ethnic Israel out from other nations. It was a visible representation of Israel being set apart and holy in comparison with “unclean” Gentiles. But what is God about to do? In Acts 10, God is going to pour out the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and the rest of his Gentile household. And they’re not going to need to become Jewish for that to happen. All they need to do is put their trust in Jesus. What they will all realize soon is that Jesus, in his sacrificial death, has broken down the barrier that existed between Jews and Gentiles. Jesus is now making a new people, no longer defined by ethnicity, by tracing your genealogy back to Abraham, by keeping certain food laws and Sabbath and circumcision, but rather a people defined by faith in Jesus. 

Here’s what Paul says in Ephesians 2 about Jews and Gentiles: “His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (2:16-17) Jews and Gentiles, formerly enemies, formerly in hostility, now part of God’s people by the same means: faith in Christ. The food laws served a purpose for a time, but that time has passed. Because of the forgiveness of sins that comes through faith in Christ’s work, all are on level ground. This is what Peter needs to understand as he heads to Cornelius’ home. And the way God plants that seed, in order for Peter to be useful in this ground-breaking mission, is to take away one the visible reminder of the uncleanliness of Gentiles. He removes the food restrictions.

Returning to our original question: we should not expect God to reverse something He has always said is wrong and gives no indication of otherwise in the Scriptures. But we should expect Him to challenge us to move beyond our preconceived notions about this or that group of people, we should expect Him to instruct us to let go of our own cultural preferences and aesthetic tastes, if it means sharing the good news of Jesus. We come to him, all of us, no matter what our background or status, as sinners. His death alone is sufficient to pay for our sins and allow our entry into the eternal banquet feast, reconciling us to the God who made us and filling us with His Holy Spirit. That’s what our world is desperate to know. It’s what God deeply desires to make known. It’s the mission God calls us and equips us to join.

Conclusion

In verse 17, Peter is still wondering about the vision. He doesn’t know exactly what it means. Maybe the meaning of Jesus’ words in Matthew 8, about that Roman centurion and people coming from east and west to the eternal banquet feast, hadn’t come to him yet. But the Spirit spoke to him and gave him his one next step (Acts 10:19-20): go with the men who are knocking at the door. 

We’ve covered a lot of ground here. We’ve said a lot about how we encounter God and the mission God gives us when we do encounter Him. Maybe you’re feeling a bit lost. Maybe you’re not sure what to do with all of this. The pieces haven’t fallen together yet. That’s ok. Give it some time. Give God some space to speak to you. He may just give you one step, one instruction about how He wants to work in your life and work through your life. Follow Him. Obey even if it feels uncomfortable and stretching. Let Him lead you and use you to make Him known in this world.