Acts 10: 1-22 God Makes Final Preparations For The Salvation Of The Gentiles

"Chapter 10 is pivotal in the book of Acts, for it records the salvation of the Gentiles," my commentary began.  Up to that point, the Jews considered them dogs.

"Before He could save the Gentiles, God had to prepare Peter to bring the message and Cornelius to hear the message ... Cornelius was as close to Judaism as he could get without becoming a proselyte ... It is interesting to see how religious a person can be and still not be saved.  Certainly, Cornelius was sincere in his obedience to God's law, his fasting, and his generosity to the Jewish people.  He was not permitted to offer sacrifices in the temple, so he presented his prayers to God as his sacrifices.  In every way, he was a model of religious respectability -- and yet he was not a saved man ... he knew that his religious devotion was not sufficient to save him ... God sent an angel to instruct Cornelius and, in true military fashion, Cornelius immediately obeyed."

"Peter also had to be prepared for this event since he lived as an orthodox Jew all of his life.  The law of Moses was a wall between the Jews and the Gentiles and this wall had been broken down at the cross ... God had to teach him that the Jew was not clean and the Gentile unclean, but both Jew and Gentile were unclean before God!  This meant that a Gentile did not have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian!"

It's strange hearing Peter say, "No, Lord!" when God told him to eat any animal in the vision he'd been shown, even unclean ones.  "You can say 'No,' and you can say, 'Lord,'; but you cannot say, 'No, Lord!'  If He is truly our Lord, then we can only say, 'Yes!' to Him and obey His commands," my commentary added.

God put these two men together, and now He will do a might work!

Father, help me to be ready to say yes to whatever You have planned for me.  I don't want to ever feel the shame of saying, "No, Lord!"

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford