Peter had to listen and he had to trust. God was telling him something that completely offended the law he had been taught his entire life.

“The next day as Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.” “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.” But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.”Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬-‭16‬ ‭

“Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.” Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭10‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭

Peter knew the Old Testament verses that said that the Gentiles would be grafted in. Yet initially, he still questioned what God was saying.

God used repetition (showing him the vision three times) and the fact that Peter was hungry to talk to Peter. God needed to get Peter’s attention.

Jesus told his deciples that it would be better for them if he left so that God could send the Holy Spirit. Here is the evidence of this.  The Holy Spirit could speak to the hearts of two men, distances apart, whereas Jesus would have had to travel the distance to unite these two. The Holy Spirit is God, living and at work in us at all times. We don’t have to wait for a church service or a particular person. He will speak as we seek him out.

The Holy Spirit at work. Two men. Seeking God. Hearing from the Holy Spirit.

Cornelius is told that there is a message he needed to hear from some man named Peter.

As Cornelius’s servants are on their way to see Peter, Peter’s heart is being prepared for a major shift. No longer are there the clean and unclean. All are one under the blood of Jesus.

God had a work for Peter. The bridge between the Jew and Gentile was being torn down. A great revival among the Gentiles was in the works. Peter was the first vessel to share the good news as prophesied by Jesus prior to his crucifixion.

Jesus said in Matthew that Peter would be the rock on which the church would be built. “Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭18‬ ‭

Peter was willing to embrace the new thing God spoke to him, and the result was huge growth across the Gentiles.

The Holy Spirit was working then, and he still is today. His work did not stop with the first church. He is after the hearts of lost and hurting people still today. We can be a part of that.

This is a quote from Charles Spurgeon. “Peter had pretty much put God in a box of limitations, and now God was going to shake Peter up to change his thinking. He can do the same for us. “Shake yourself up a little, my brother. If you are too precise may the Lord set you on fire, and consume your bonds of red tape! If you have become so improperly proper that you cannot commit a proper impropriety, then pray God to help you be less proper, for there are many who will never be saved by your instrumentality while you study propriety.”