AF-S108-020506 Acts 10
Acts 9:32-35 ~ Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he came down also to the saints who lived at (Lu>dda) Lydda. There he found a man named (Aijne>av) Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed. Peter said to him, “(EEE-Knee-Us) Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed.” Immediately he got up. And all who lived at (Lid-Duh) Lydda and (~H~ Char-Own) Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
(Lu>dda) Lid-duh – Lod- Lud - Lydda, NW of Jerusalem, in Samaria, but given to the Jews in 145 BC, it was famous for purple dyed garments.
The Romans killed most of the rebels.
It was occupied by the Crusaders in 1099, and
-destroyed by Saladin in 1191; it was afterwards
-rebuilt by Richard Plantagenet (The Lionheart).
Current location of the Tel Aviv Airport 10 miles SE of Tel Aviv/Joppa
(~H~ Char-Own) Sharon – Agricultural plain to the North.
We’ve seen miraculous conversions and great sermons and now Luke wants to set up another watershed moment in human history.
Focus returns to Peter and we see he is not a mere dude, but rather a true Apostle of Jesus appointed to lead the revolution. If the Catholics esteem him too much, Protestants esteem him too little. What is being shown is Peter is God’s representative; a very important concept!
Another example of Christ’s power working directly through Peter…
Acts 9:36-38 ~ Now in (~H~ Yah-Foe) Joppa there was a disciple named
(~A~ Teh-Vee-Thaw) Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called {Dorka>v} Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did. And it happened at that time that she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upper room. Since (Lid-Duh) Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him, “Do not delay in coming to us.”
(~H~ Yah-Foe) Joppa, Judaea – Jaffa - (Tel Aviv).
Our friend Jonah sailed from here. Traditionally, Tarshish is identified with Spain—with a Phoenician settlement for metal-manufacturing.
The plains around the city were planted in wheat, and Joppa was the port where it was exported to Macedonia and Greece. And the city began the process of rapid Hellenization. Over 200 Jews died and Judas Maccabeus brought swift retribution.
As a major supporter of the Jews in the First Jewish War (66-79 AD) Joppa was destroyed by Vespasian’s army in 67 AD and about 8400 Jews were killed. Vespasian, struck in 71AD to celebrate the victory in the Jewish Rebellion. The legend on the reverse says: EE-OO-Die-Ah Cop-Tah IVDAEA CAPTA, Judea captured.
When everything settled down, the Jews who had fled the massacre, returned and this brought on a second Roman intervention under Titus and another 4200 people were slain. The city of Joppa was completely destroyed and Titus Completed Colosseum with their National Treasure.
Tabitha – Gazelle.
Acts 9:39-43 ~ So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them. But Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.
Dorcas – Luke’s narrative ~vs.~ (~A~ Teh-Vee-Thaw) Tabitha – Peter’s words
Garments made of purple dyed fabric from Lid-Duh? Wearing the stuff
down and prayed – unlike Jesus
Jesus had said, (~A~ Tal-Yeth-Ah Coo-Me) "Talitha...get up!" (Mark 5:41), whereas Peter cried: (~A~ Teh-Vee-Thaw Coo-Me) "Tabitha, get up" A healing then a resurrection.
many believed in the Lord
tanner named Simon – an unclean profession, a man Peter was extremely comfortable with yet he had things to learn and even later Paul rebukes Peter for haughtiness.
Acts 10:1-6 ~ Now there was a man at (Kaisarei>a) Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. “Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; he is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea.”
About 50 miles North, – Aqueduct – Amphitheatre – Palace – Temple – Harbor – Hippodrome
Italian cohort - there were six to ten cohorts, which were the basic tactical unit of the legions. The cohort was composed of five to eight centuries each led by a centurion. The Italian Legion from which this Cohort was detached was at the service of the Roman Governor of Syria.
Jewish – Implied
ninth hour – 3pm (6 + 9 = 15)
“Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God – God will do what He does, make no mistake about it. Here, God works with and through someone who chooses to be a participant and it is all GOOD! Because of the choice they are further blessed just as Jesus said in Mark 4:25 ~ “For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”
Acts 10:7-10 ~ When the angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier of those who were his personal attendants, and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance;
Noon - - About 50 miles North, so the Romans were mounted, but the Christians weren’t.
Rooftop with inner stairs and a canopy with the cool sea breeze.
Acts 10:11-16 ~ and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals (KJV: and wild beasts) and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.
Not far-fetched to say he was hungry because he was fasting
In prayer
Deeply reflecting on new revelation, i.e. pondering the things of God
Mark 7:18b-23 ~ Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) [KJV: purging all meats?] And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
Romans 7:3-8:39 –
So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Deliverance from Bondage
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1- God saves sinners and keeps saving them
2- Those who have, gets
3- God’s children are called to be like God, i.e. Holy
4- Holiness is by nature separate, yet Biblically this separateness is a gift and a responsibility to be shared as a blessing to others, not a superiority
Food Laws were never to make Jews self-righteous, they were to make them distinct and serve to show sin and forgiveness – give hope for a Messiah who would give the right heart and let the nation bless others