Cornelius was gladly obedient to the vision.When the angel had gone, the centurion "called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; and when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa."The angel, after his interview with Cornelius, went to Peter, in Joppa.At the time, Peter was praying upon the housetop of his lodging, and we read that he "became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance." It was not for physical food alone that Peter hungered.As from the housetop he viewed the city of Joppa and the surrounding country be hungered for the salvation of his countrymen.He had an intense desire to point out to them from the Scriptures the prophecies relating to the sufferings and death of Christ.
In the vision Peter "saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto them, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven."This vision conveyed to Peter both reproof and instruction.It revealed to him the purpose of God--that by the death of Christ the Gentiles should be made fellow heirs with the Jews to the blessings of salvation.As yet none of the disciples had preached the gospel to the Gentiles.In their minds the middle wall of partition, broken down by the death of Christ, still existed, and their labors had been confined to the Jews, for they had looked upon the Gentiles as excluded from the blessings of the gospel.Now the Lord was seeking to teach Peter the world-wide extent of the divine plan.
Many of the Gentiles had been interested listeners to the preaching of Peter and the other apostles, and many of the Greek Jews had become believers in Christ, but the conversion of Cornelius was to be the first of importance among the Gentiles.
The time had come for an entirely new phase of work to be entered upon by the church of Christ.The door that many of the Jewish converts had closed against the Gentiles was now to be thrown open.And the Gentiles who accepted the gospel were to be regarded as on an equality with the Jewish disciples, without the necessity of observing the rite of circumcision.
How carefully the Lord worked to overcome the prejudice against the Gentiles that had been so firmly fixed in Peter's mind by his Jewish training! By the vision of the sheet and its contents He sought to divest the apostle's mind of this prejudice and to teach the important truth that in heaven there is no respect of persons; that Jew and Gentile are alike precious in God's sight; that through Christ the heathen may be made partakers of the blessings and privileges of the gospel.
While Peter was meditating on the meaning of the vision, the men sent from Cornelius arrived in Joppa and stood before the gate of his lodginghouse.
Then the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men seek thee.Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them."To Peter this was a trying command, and it was with reluctance at every step that he undertook the duty laid upon him; but he dared not disobey.He "went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, Iam he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come?" They told him of their singular errand, saying, "Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by a holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee."In obedience to the directions just received from God, the apostle promised to go with them.On the following morning he set out for Caesarea, accompanied by six of his brethren.These were to be witnesses of all that he should say or do while visiting the Gentiles, for Peter knew that he would be called to account for so direct a violation of the Jewish teachings.
As Peter entered the house of the Gentile, Cornelius did not salute him as an ordinary visitor, but as one honored of Heaven and sent to him by God.It is an Eastern custom to bow before a prince or other high dignitary and for children to bow before their parents; but Cornelius, overwhelmed with reverence for the one sent by God to teach him, fell at the apostle's feet and worshiped him.Peter was horror-stricken, and he lifted the centurion up, saying, "Stand up; I myself also am a man."While the messengers of Cornelius had been gone upon their errand, the centurion "had called together his kinsmen and near friends," that they as well as he might hear the preaching of the gospel.When Peter arrived, he found a large company eagerly waiting to listen to his words.
