Isn’t it great that the Lord has a plan? One of the things we see in Acts 10 is the providence of God through the salvation of an unlikely person—a Roman centurion named Cornelius.
For many years, God had been preparing Cornelius for a meeting with Peter the apostle. And I love how the Lord orchestrated the whole thing in His sovereign grace. We see not one, but two conversions here—the conversion of Cornelius and the conversion of Peter.
Peter was already saved, of course. But he needed a conversion from legalism to grace. He was hesitant to accept non-Jewish people, and he wasn’t quite ready for a complete Gentile to come to faith in Christ. But this is Jesus’ message to all theworld: “I will save anyone who will call upon Me” (see Joel 2:32).
Cornelius was “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always” (v. 2). This military man of authority hungered for God.
As he was praying one day, Cornelius saw a vision of an angel of God, who told him to send for Simon Peter. So he sent men to bring Peter from Joppa (see vv. 3-8). The next day, as Peter was praying, he saw a vision of a great sheet coming down from heaven. In it were all kinds of animals and birds (see vv. 9-12). And a voice said, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat” (v. 13).
Now, this was God’s very elaborate plan to get somebody who was seeking God together with somebody else who would share the gospel with him. Cornelius already believed in God and prayed to God, and yet he wasn’t saved. So the Lord made sure he heard the whole truth.
Still in Joppa, Peter saw this vision of food, but it wasn’t food that he, a Jew who followed the dietary laws of the Torah, would eat. What God was getting at was not about changing Peter’s diet but changing his heart. It was about the truth found in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
The gospel removes barriers. When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn in two. Access to God was now permitted for all.
Peter needed a conversion from the strict ideology that said the gospel was just for the Jews. So when he said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean,” the voice told him, “What God has cleansed you must not call common” (vv. 14-15).
Once he was delivered to Cornelius in Caesarea, Peter said, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (vv. 34-35). He was getting the message the Lord was trying to tell him, the grand truth that God has no favorites.
So it took this intricate plan of two visions given to two men and bringing them together so one of them could deliver a message. And it was a simple message, just the facts of the gospel: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Believe in Him, and you’ll have remission of sins.
The lessons for us? First, no one is beyond reach. Second, what a privilege it is to preach the gospel. Third, there is no place for bigotry or favoritism among God’s people. And fourth, a servant shouldn’t say, “Not so, Lord.” He should say, “What do you want me to do, Lord?”
When you say yes to God, you’re in for a grand adventure.
