BACKGROUND fs 78

Sometime after Saul's persecution began, Peter visited the churches scattered in the province of J udea. Probably some of these had been founded by believers who had fled from Saul's persecutions.

Coming to Lydda, which lay about 11 miles east of Joppa, Peter found a group of Christians. Here he healed Aeneas. The report of this miracle spread throughout the entire area. It undergirded the truth and validity of the Gospel.

When Dorcas died at Joppa, the believers sent word to Peter at Lydda asking him to come. Luke records that through the power of Jesus working through him, Peter raised her from the dead. He remained in Joppa, staying with Simon, a tanner. From the Jewish religious point of view, a tanner was considered ceremonially unclean.

CORNELIUS, THE GOD-FEARER

The Jewish view of their exclusive covenant relationship with God and also the ceremonial laws, designed to set them apart, served as a barrier between Jews and non-Jews. Jewish Christians were conscious of these barriers. The record in Acts indicates that they kept on practicing their former Jewish customs even though they believed in Jesus Christ a!! Savior and Lord.

God planned to reveal to His church that these barriers through Christ had become a thing of the past. There was now no difference between Jew and non-Jew. The church needed to reach out actively and aggressively to share the Good News with the non-Jews in accordance with Jesus' injunction found in Acts 1:8.

The capital and seaport of the Roman province of J udea was at Caesarea. Herod the Great had built this beautiful city and its artificial harbor and named it in honor of the Roman emperor. Caesarea lay around 30 miles to the north of Joppa.

Stationed at Caesarea was the Roman centurion Cornelius. A centurion was nominally in command of a hundred men. His responsibilities would correspond to that of an army captain; his status was that of a non-commissioned officer.

Cornelius was a God-fearer. This means that he was intensely interested in the Jewish faith. He probably attended the synagog, which may have used the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament. He spent time in prayer and generously gave for charity projects of the local synagog.

One day, while he was praying at around 3 P.M., God sent an angel to tell him to send a delegation to J oppa to ask Peter to come. Cornelius did this at once, sending two of his servants and a pious soldier.

PETER'S VISION

God needed to prepare Peter for his visit with Cornelius. Even a moderately orthodox Jesus would not willingly enter the home of a non-Jew and associate with him, even though the non-Jew was a God-fearer.

One day about noon, Peter went up on the roof of Simon's house to pray quietly. As he was praying, Peter felt hunger pangs.

God sent him a vision, in which he saw a huge sheet coming down from heaven. Peter saw that it was full of animals, which were ceremonially clean and unclean. As he was looking at them, a voice from heaven instructed him to kill and eat. But Peter protested, "I've never eaten anything common or unclean." But the voice said, "Don't make unclean what God has made clean." This happened three times.

While Peter was puzzling over the meaning of this vision, the delegation sent by Cornelius arrived and asked for Peter. Then God sent the Holy Spirit to Peter, telling him about the men and instructing him to go with them.

Peter went down to meet them. He invited them to stay overnight and agreed to leave with them in the morning.

Peter wisely took six (6) fellow-Christians from Joppa along with him to witness the experiences awaiting him. When they arrived, Cornelius hurried to welcome him even though he was a Roman captain, he prostrated himself at the apostle's feet. For a Roman officer to do this to a Jew was in itself a unique experience. Peter asked him to "get up" and reminded him that he also was only human.

As they walked together to where Cornelius had gathered his family and friends, Peter reminded him that what he was doing was taboo from the Jewish point of view. Strict Jews would not eat the most ordinary foods which had been handled by non-Jews. But to associate with them as Peter was now about to do was strictly intolerable.

Cornelius described his experience and why he had sent messengers to Peter. Then Peter answered, "Now I really understand that God doesn't prefer one person to another. " He spoke to those assembled about Jesus. While he spoke, God sent His Holy Spirit on Cornelius and the non-Jews gathered together. The

Jewish Christians with Peter were amazed. ' But Peter said, "If God has done this, then we surely must baptize them." He stayed with Cornelius for several days.

"WHY DID YOU DO THIS?"

When Peter returned to Jerusalem, Jewish Christians who felt all believers had to be circumcized, asked, "Why did you do this?" Peter told them about his vision at J oppa and his experiences at Caesarea. He concluded, "Now if God gave them the same gift He gave us when we began to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I - could I stop God?" Peter's accusers had to be quiet. And the believers praised God.

JUDEA