Act 10:14 | KingComments | STEP | The hearers have been prepared by God; now the preacher has yet to be prepared. There is not only a praying seeker, there is also a praying servant. Peter seeks solitude with God. He devotes himself to prayer in order to serve with God’s Word ( ). Peter also sees a vision through which God prepares him for the visit of the men of Cornelius. He gets that vision when he is hungry and desires food. God uses this practical need to make him receptive to the message He has for him. While the food is being prepared, Peter sees the sky opened up. He sees something descending from it that is reminiscent of a great sheet. He also notices that the sheet is lowered by the four corners to the ground. Furthermore he sees in the sheet “all [kinds of] four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air”. The fish are missing. What he sees are the animals that also went into the ark with Noah, where also the fish were missing ( ). All these animals came into the saving ark and were spared from the flood. Noah had clean and unclean animals in the ark. God saved all those animals. Here God spans a great time arc through which He connects the history of the flood with this time in which the gospel is opened to all people, Jews and Gentiles, as the saving gospel. Just as all the animals that came into the ark were saved through their stay in the ark, so there is salvation for all who are in Christ. This is what Peter sees in the vision. This vision contains several indications of the gospel by which the church is expanded. We see that it comes from heaven, which points to the origin of the gospel and also to the origin of the church. Attention is also drawn to the fact that the sheet is great, that it is lowered by the four corners and that the earth is the place on which it is lowered. The fact that it is a great sheet reflects the size of the church: there is room for everyone. The four corners indicate the expanse of the gospel: it extends to everyone, to all corners of the earth. The whole earth is the area where it is preached. The mixing of pure and impure animals and birds shows that the distinction between pure and impure is gone. There is no partiality with God ( ). The order to Peter comes from heaven. He is ordered to get up, kill and eat. Peter reacts shocked. No matter how hungry he is, he doesn’t dare. As a pious Jew, he still keeps the food laws, which forbid the eating of unclean animals ( ; ). The Jews had to keep these food laws in order to keep themselves clean from the nations. Food is what forms a human being. If Peter eats the food the nations eat, he will look like them. But now the sheet descends from heaven. All those animals in the sheet together form the church, as it were, which consists of all people who have come to faith, both Jews and Gentiles. The barrier of the dividing wall has been broken down ( ), food laws do not apply to the church ( ), because the church is from heaven and for heaven. The food laws are for the earth and an earthly people. Peter must be led to see the new things as something that comes from the Lord. This will take him a lot of trouble. Old prejudices die only slowly, especially if they are prejudices that have always been part of the right religion. It is a problem of his conscience. We can also have our certainties about what is good and yet still not dare to implement it because our conscience contradicts it. The Lord understands this and makes sure that we do not have to do something with a bad conscience. However, if God says that we can or should eat, we should not say ‘no’ because of our conscience. Peter is now told that God is making a change in His earlier precepts. The cross of Christ has changed everything and removed the distinction between Jew and Gentile. To the Christian, the food laws have no meaning at all. God can give the law of pure and unclean animals; He can also undo it for a certain group of people. This group of people includes all those who are in Christ, for whom there is therefore no more condemnation ( ) just as there was no judgment for all in the ark. For Peter to properly understand the meaning of the vision, he is told three times that what God has cleansed, Peter may not consider to be unholy. More things occurred three times in Peter’s life: three times he denied the Lord and three times the Lord asked him whether he loved Him. After it has been said to him three times, the object is taken up into the sky again. Here we see the picture of the church confirmed. The fact that the sheet descends from heaven indicates that the church is of heavenly origin. The fact that the sheet is taken up into heaven again indicates that the destination of the church is also heavenly.

‏ Acts 10:14

Peter’s Vision

The hearers have been prepared by God; now the preacher has yet to be prepared. There is not only a praying seeker, there is also a praying servant. Peter seeks solitude with God. He devotes himself to prayer in order to serve with God’s Word (Acts 6:4). Peter also sees a vision through which God prepares him for the visit of the men of Cornelius. He gets that vision when he is hungry and desires food. God uses this practical need to make him receptive to the message He has for him.

While the food is being prepared, Peter sees the sky opened up. He sees something descending from it that is reminiscent of a great sheet. He also notices that the sheet is lowered by the four corners to the ground. Furthermore he sees in the sheet “all [kinds of] four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air”. The fish are missing. What he sees are the animals that also went into the ark with Noah, where also the fish were missing (Gen 7:14). All these animals came into the saving ark and were spared from the flood.

Noah had clean and unclean animals in the ark. God saved all those animals. Here God spans a great time arc through which He connects the history of the flood with this time in which the gospel is opened to all people, Jews and Gentiles, as the saving gospel. Just as all the animals that came into the ark were saved through their stay in the ark, so there is salvation for all who are in Christ. This is what Peter sees in the vision.

This vision contains several indications of the gospel by which the church is expanded. We see that it comes from heaven, which points to the origin of the gospel and also to the origin of the church. Attention is also drawn to the fact that the sheet is great, that it is lowered by the four corners and that the earth is the place on which it is lowered.

The fact that it is a great sheet reflects the size of the church: there is room for everyone. The four corners indicate the expanse of the gospel: it extends to everyone, to all corners of the earth. The whole earth is the area where it is preached. The mixing of pure and impure animals and birds shows that the distinction between pure and impure is gone. There is no partiality with God (Rom 10:12-13).

The order to Peter comes from heaven. He is ordered to get up, kill and eat. Peter reacts shocked. No matter how hungry he is, he doesn’t dare. As a pious Jew, he still keeps the food laws, which forbid the eating of unclean animals (Lev 11:46-47; Deu 14:3-21). The Jews had to keep these food laws in order to keep themselves clean from the nations. Food is what forms a human being. If Peter eats the food the nations eat, he will look like them.

But now the sheet descends from heaven. All those animals in the sheet together form the church, as it were, which consists of all people who have come to faith, both Jews and Gentiles. The barrier of the dividing wall has been broken down (Eph 2:14), food laws do not apply to the church (Col 2:20-21), because the church is from heaven and for heaven. The food laws are for the earth and an earthly people.

Peter must be led to see the new things as something that comes from the Lord. This will take him a lot of trouble. Old prejudices die only slowly, especially if they are prejudices that have always been part of the right religion. It is a problem of his conscience. We can also have our certainties about what is good and yet still not dare to implement it because our conscience contradicts it. The Lord understands this and makes sure that we do not have to do something with a bad conscience. However, if God says that we can or should eat, we should not say ‘no’ because of our conscience. Peter is now told that God is making a change in His earlier precepts.

The cross of Christ has changed everything and removed the distinction between Jew and Gentile. To the Christian, the food laws have no meaning at all. God can give the law of pure and unclean animals; He can also undo it for a certain group of people. This group of people includes all those who are in Christ, for whom there is therefore no more condemnation (Rom 8:1) just as there was no judgment for all in the ark.

For Peter to properly understand the meaning of the vision, he is told three times that what God has cleansed, Peter may not consider to be unholy. More things occurred three times in Peter’s life: three times he denied the Lord and three times the Lord asked him whether he loved Him.

After it has been said to him three times, the object is taken up into the sky again. Here we see the picture of the church confirmed. The fact that the sheet descends from heaven indicates that the church is of heavenly origin. The fact that the sheet is taken up into heaven again indicates that the destination of the church is also heavenly.