DEVOTION
THE ACTS OF THE
APOSTLES
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." 14 "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
There is more to this narrative
regarding Peter and Cornelius, but within this exchange between Peter and God,
we need to explore. First, we notice
that Peter was staying with Simon the tanner. Most likely, the main portion of
the house was busy as they were preparing the meal. So Peter needed to get
alone to pray and spend time with his risen and ascended Lord. We are told
Peter fell into a trance, which is a curious word. The Greek word used in this
context would mean the throwing of the mind out of its normal state, or the alienation
of the mind. It is clear that Peter was not thinking normally or being alert;
his mind was wandering, and that is when he saw heaven open and something like
a large sheet being let down. Was that real, or a vision during this mind-wandering
experience? We do not know if we have ever fallen into a trace, just staring
out into nothing, thinking of nothing, our mind just void of anything, but it
seems that was the condition Peter was in when he saw this sheet lowered from
heaven. It is not about the fact that Peter kept the Jewish laws regarding
food, although being a Jew, he would have kept to the rules about clean and
unclean animals. The truth we need to focus on is what God told him. "Do
not call anything impure that God has made clean." Immediately, we are confronted
with the truth that we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb; our sins have
not only been forgiven but also thrown away. We have been declared holy and
blameless in his sight. We have been declared pure by God, so we need to see
ourselves as God sees us. Of course, we still sin, perhaps not in such a grievous
way as we used to before we met Jesus, but sin is still sin, and it is against
God. This could cause us to feel guilt or shame because we are not as perfect
as we think we should be. That alone is a problem because we should not call ourselves
unclean when God has declared us clean. We cannot even make cleanliness a
standard we must strive to achieve, because we cannot make ourselves clean, no
matter how much we try. Perfection will not be ours in this flesh, yet God has
made us clean.
