Step Two of the Journey

We could call this “The Preparation of Peter”

But first, a bit of reminder about how God does reward those who seek Him

…for those who would critique God for the way in which He acts when things are not “fair”

This is God’s response to Job toward the end of the time of his distress and complaint

Job 40:8 ESV

Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

This is important as we watch how God unfolds His plan for this centurion and the Gentile race

This entire narrative displays God’s sovereignty over all things

Peter was at a tanner’s home…that’s edgy enough for a guy like Peter

Now he’s about to be told something that will likely confuse him…send him reeling

The entourage from Cornelius is on its way, likely having left, as we can gather, shortly after the 3 PM vision of Cornelius, a late start for a journey of about 30 miles; they’d have spent the night en route, and begun travelling again at first light

Meanwhile in Joppa...

It’s noon-time, the household is preparing a meal, and Peter, who had been praying, falls into a trance and sees an unusual sight, hearing divine voice

Lets deal with the term:

A trance is a state of being in which consciousness is wholly or partially suspended, freq. associated with divine action, also note: specifically, the subject is out of himself and NOT a dream

This contrary to a vision which is something seen, whatever the emotional state (Cornelius had had a vision)—we discuss this as Peter’s vision within the trance

We’ll examine the content, the command and the conversation concerning the vision

Content of the Vision

A great sheet..same word that is used for sail... I’d like to know how big it was

the language suggests the image of it coming down and being opened up before Peter, as though held by a rope on each corner,

...containing...

...all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds of the air...

One paraphrase: “if it walks, crawls or flies”

The significance is in the all kinds

The Jewish Law…given by God, clearly prohibited consumption of those animals declared unclean within the Law…this is not an exposition of the law (start with Lev. 11, chase it from there)

Some 4-footed animals were clean…most were not, only cud-chewing, cleft-hooved were clean

Same reptiles; some birds...

The sheet wouldn’t have held fish/shellfish—but the same concept would apply by application

By strict understanding of the law, even the “clean” creatures in the sheet would have been made unclean by the proximity to—or contact with—the unclean among them

Peter’s upbringing would have had him keeping the dietary laws quite rigidly

What came next was a game-changer

The Command in the Vision

Rise, Peter; kill and eat

If Peter had been a bit uneasy about being around the home of a tanner, this would have been pushing him to the edge

We’re not told how; but the text indicates Peter recognized the voice as divine—either the voice of God or an angel—Lord, could have been akin to sir—

Most translations, if red-letter versions, understand it to be the voice of God

How could God command him to violate His own law?

The keeping of the law for the Jews was a matter of faith, the faith in the God they trusted to bring about their salvation

Thus, their salvation was even then by faith…faith proven in their action, even if the law was imperfectly kept

That was for the time pre-Christ! Jesus came to complete the law

The Conversation in the Vision

Peter politely—but emphatically--rejected the command

Original language is very firm—it’s NOT happening!

He rejected the possibility that he might contaminate himself

There was a second command

What God has made clean, do not call common

In retrospect, when Mark recorded his Gospel…understood to be Peter’s Gospel recorded by the hand of Mark, as some point after his association with Peter

As Mark records a discourse Jesus had with the Pharisees regarding ritual purification

Mark 7:18–19 (ESV)

And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

We are helped by the translators who put some delineation around that phrase; could have been “in retrospect, we see what He was trying to tell us....”

Note that the conversation was repeated…and repeated a third time

Peter seems to have hit the trifecta of triplets

He denied Jesus three times

His restoration was a sequence of three “do you love me” queries

Now, the command must be given three times: rise, kill, eat

It gives hope to the hard-headed among us

The Light Bulb Comes On!

…at least it seems to

If the food of the Gentiles is no longer common—to be separated from…than what of the Gentiles themselves? Must the separation remain?

He seems to have made the connection, as we’ll see in future messages

Our Connecting to the Vision

This should help us to understand the purpose of the OT laws regarding the purity of the nation of Israel

From our perspective, God does not move in a hurry…we often might complain that He moves too slowly for us—or the sometimes-heard “If I were God I wouldn’t do it that way...”

if that’s the case, refer to the quotation from Job 40:8 “Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?”

As we see this process,

The Gospel first having been revealed in the person and work of Jesus…first to the Jews, then to the Samaritans, now working toward the Gentiles,

If we are students of the entire Scripture we should be understanding the the outline of the plan of redemption God put in place beginning in the protoevangelium—the first sighting of the Gospel in Gen. chap. 3

We see the promise to Abraham that in him all the people of earth would be blessed in chap. 12 & ff

We have the giving of the Law with its foreshadowing of the atonement, the sacrifice for the penalty of sin; all of it pointing toward the completion of the law, with a redeemer to come

Then, the coming of the Messiah in the Gospels, the fulfillment of a host of more specific prophecies up to the death and resurrection of the Messiah

As we see the story of the Church begin to unfold, we see much as though a satellite view

Now, looking almost through a microscope, we see the perfect plan of the Perfect God zero in on this man Cornelius and his household…

This God having spent years preparing a fisherman named Peter to jump the great divide between Jew and Gentile, throwing wide the doors to the Kingdom of Heaven

What’s in this for Us?

See the Macro Workings of God

Since creation to today—and yes, creation is a part of the divine history…the redemptive history

We see that God has worked according to the author of Hebrews,

…at many times and in many ways...

and now, in these last days

“...He has spoken to us through His Son...”

The old days, the old ways—the LAW—were all completed in Jesus Christ

See the Micro Workings of God

Setting in motion the events that will bring two men, specifically prepared for the occasion, together

When we look at these two men we see that God spoke to them specifically, and they obeyed

The Lessons

Be Attentive for the Voice of God—and the direction it gives

Rarely—almost NEVER—will a person have a Peter-like experience

We hear the voice in prayer, in the Word, in fellowship…the men from M4M will recognize them (recommend Experiencing God—Blackaby)

…all the record of Scripture is there for our benefit

He’ll never tell us anything that conflicts with His Word!

Be obedient to the voice of God

John 3:36 (ESV)

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

He directs us for a purpose

We may not see that purpose at the moment…but He will make it clear

The Caveat

You are far more likely to hear the voice of God if you are diligently seeking Him or already following Him

We hear many claim to be following the voice of God—when what they claim to have heard is the most ludicrous thing imaginable—don’t know what they were hearing