“But God has shown me not to call any man common or unclean.”
—Acts 10:28, NASB

Reflection:
Throughout history God has used dreams and visions to change not only people’s minds but also their lives. In the Tanakh He spoke to Abraham in a vision and told him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. In a dream He warned Abimelek, the king of Gerar, not to touch Sarah and take her for a wife because she was already married to Abraham, preserving her future as the mother of Israel. The Lord gave Joseph prophetic dreams that, though tested through many unjust circumstances, eventually came to pass when he became Egypt’s second-in-command.

Likewise in the B’rit Hadashah, God used a dream to tell Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph, to go ahead and wed Mary even though she was pregnant. During Saul’s dramatic conversion, God gave Ananias a powerful vision, so that he would help the feared man of Tarsus who had persecuted hundreds of believers. But perhaps no dream or vision has had such a strong effect on the non-Jewish world as the one Peter experienced on the rooftop while waiting for lunch.

To properly understand Peter’s vision, we have to see the situation God orchestrated. Acts 10 introduces us to Cornelius, a man whom Scripture goes out of its way to show as worshipping the Jewish God. Cornelius led his entire household in fearing the one true God of Israel. He gave many alms to the people and continually prayed to God. It is possible Cornelius even lived like a Jew, following the ethical code of the Tanakh, attending synagogue, and observing Shabbat.

There was one problem, though: he was not Jewish, but Italian. To make matters worse, he worked for the enemy as a Roman centurion. By any Jewish standard, he was a Gentile – and therefore unclean.

Despite these attributes, or maybe because of them, an angel of God appeared to Cornelius in a vision, instructing him to summon Peter. He immediately obeyed. And while Peter was still trying to understand the vision he had received, the Lord told him to go downstairs and meet Cornelius’ servants, because He had set up this situation.

Peter obeyed and, taking a big step of faith, ended up in the Gentile home of Cornelius. Then Peter spoke words that have meant so much to all humanity ever since: “But God has shown me not to call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28) 

In just a short statement Peter introduced the idea that God Himself was now mercifully opening the gates of heaven to all. Almost fifteen hundred years earlier the Lord had given the Jewish people strict commandments to live sanctified, set apart, and cleansed from the filth of the rest of the world. God gave the Law in Moses’ time to a specific people so that through them He could display His holiness to the nations.

He did not give these exclusive commands because He hated Gentiles or was racist. Within the same Law, He gave specific instructions on how to take in foreigners with kindness and compassion. He wanted Israel to be a refuge for those who sought safety in the one true God. He loved the foreigner but hated the godlessness that had consumed most of their nations, and He desired a people set apart for Him as representatives of His kingdom.

Beloved, God still knows how to interrupt our assumptions. He knows how to use a dream, a vision, a divine appointment, and an act of obedience to show us what He is doing. What God has cleansed, we must not call common.

Application:

• Ask Father God to expose any place where you have called common or unclean what He has chosen to cleanse.
• Like Peter, be willing to obey when the Lord interrupts your assumptions and leads you into something He has already set up.

Prayer:
Father God, thank You for mercifully opening the gates of heaven to all. Help me to recognize what You have cleansed and not call it common or unclean. Give me a heart that obeys when You interrupt my assumptions and lead me beyond what is familiar. Make me willing to take steps of faith when You have set up the situation. Let my life represent Your holiness, kindness, and compassion through Messiah Jesus. Amen.