Made Clean

DEVOTION

          BOOK OF ACTS       

MADE CLEAN

Acts 10:9-16

9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13 Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."  4 "Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." 15 The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."  16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

NIV

We are in the middle of this story about Cornelius and Peter or rather this story about the character of God and his determination to bring salvation to all people. For now it would seem that the Jews had a certain sense that God was their God and their God alone. The new believers who had accepted Jesus might have had the same concept that Jesus was their Jesus and theirs alone, belonging to the Jews. They may have had the idea they were pure and the gentiles were impure in a certain sense. But God has a different view and he was preparing Peter to see his view rather than man’s view. We see this in the vision God gave Peter about the sheet full of animals. The Jews had been given the law about what kind of animals they can and cannot eat, and Peter even though he was a believer in Christ was still a Jew and held to the customs or the law about foods. In some sense that is sort of an oxymoron, but nevertheless that is what it is. God showed Peter this vision so he would understand the gentiles were not to be considered impure as compared to the Jews. God was showing Peter he should be open to sharing the Gospel with all men, not matter their national or religious background. This is of course a lesson we certainly have learned over the years, and the church today surely have taken the message to as many countries and people as possible. We hold no prejudices against any person thinking we are pure and they are impure. Yet is it possible that we do hold sort of some prejudices in the sense that we who are saved are more moral then those who are not saved? We live by the standards of God and they live by their own standards which are far inferior to God’s standards, and therefore we might think we are better than they are. But we would be wrong, as we all are sinners saved by grace. It is God who makes men clean, it is not our ability to abide by his standards, as we certainly fail miserable. So as Peter learned to accept all men equal we too must accept that God loves everyone, and we are all equal in the eyes of God. None of us are any better than another. Yes some men do evil deeds, very evil, and are under the influence of Satan trying their best to kill Christianity, as we see happening today. Yet God desires to bring them to repentance and bring them to the truth. It may never happen, but that is not for us to determine. We learn from this vision to Peter that it is God who makes man pure. We are only called to share the message with them.