Acts 10: A Light to the Gentiles -- the Lord's Kindness to Peter

I don’t think anyone reading the story of Cornelius in Acts, Chapter 10, has concluded Peter was eager to rush over to Cornelius’ house.

Peter was told, by the Lord, why he was going (or being sent); and yet he asked Cornelius directly, “Why am I here?” Peter brought six friends with him, perhaps as a ring of protection from the Gentiles. As it turns out, Peter’s “No, Lord” to the vision was just as much a reflection of his resistance to what Jesus was now doing and teaching as anything else. In other words, the vision of the unclean things was a mirror for Peter to see himself in (just like the word of God should be for us now (see James 1:23)).

Remember: Jesus had given the disciples a command: “Go therefore . . . “ Matthew 28:19. And in Acts, Chapter 9, Peter has begum to do just that. He had been walking around, he found Aeneas, and then he brought the light of the gospel into Joppa in the most demonstrative way. In showing us Peter’s ongoing transformation, Luke has provided us with a pattern: each progressive step of walking by faith builds faith, and strengthens faith, and produces fruits of obedience, in keeping with the repentance we profess.

But as often happens with us, we want God to meet our expectations, to live in the tiny box we have put Him in, and we stumble when He does something else or cannot be contained.

Peter would have been perfectly content for the light of the Gospel to remain with the Jews—and his expectation was the gospel of Jesus Christ was for the Jews and the proselytes from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even unto the ends of the earth. Up until now, that had been his experience.

But God wanted Peter to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and to have a better understanding how of redemption in Christ, for the Jew first and then Gentile. And so, God built Peter’s faith bit by bit by giving him small steps consistent with his prior experience like Jesus’ healing the lame and raising the dead. He gave Peter places to walk that, though different, were very similar to places he had walked before with Jesus.

Even so, going to the Gentles, for Peter, was a bit like walking out onto thin ice, or stepping onto a strange planet. But the Lord was kind to Peter . . . compassionate and gracious to him. Rather than confronting Peter at the start with hard opposition from Gentiles, the Lord gives Peter Cornelius, a devout man, a friend.

Remember: Previously, Peter had been quite willing to say, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to jail and even to die with you.” Luke 22:33. He wasn’t ready then, before the cock crowed; and Peter is still not ready in Chapter 10. But God is still to his little child. God does not want to extinguish the flames in Peter’s heart; He wants to fan them. But the fire of Nadab and Abihu is of no value to the Lord. Leviticus 10:1. Only holy fire, only burning bush fire, matters. The fire from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5, 2:2) must burn as the Holy Spirit directs.

Notice how God leads Peter by the hand in Chapters 9 and 10; He does not chide with Peter harshly. Instead, He brings Peter to someone very eager to hear everything Peter has to say. Cornelius presents a low hurdle for Peter to overcome his resistance to the Truth (that is, God was going to give the nations to His Son for an inheritance). God is not asking Peter to climb any mountains. He is not asking Peter for any act of heroism, but He is asking Peter to die to himself a little. Nevertheless, what for Peter may be an insurmountable height, in reality, is a knoll formed by the hands of a loving Father.