The Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 9 Vs. 32-43
Vs. 32-35 Peter is traveling around. He goes to the town of Lydda There was a man there who had palsy for 8 years. Peter said to him “Jesus Christ is making you well.
Get up.” The man was healed and got up.
The people of Lydda heard what happened and saw that the man was healed, many of them began to believe in Jesus.
Vs. 36- At the town of Joppa was a woman named Tabitha (also called Dorcas). She did many good things for people.
She became sick and died. They laid her body in an upstairs room. The people heard that Peter was in the town of Lydda which was near Joppa. So they sent for Peter to come.
Peter went up to the room. He knelt beside the bed and said to the woman, “Get up.” And the woman came to life again and sat up. All the people were so happy! Can you imagine what the town people thought when they heard that the woman came to life again?
Peter then went to the house of Simon, “the tanner” to stay.
Chapter 10
Vs. 1 There was a man at Caesarea who was a Roman army leader. His name was Cornelius. He had become a believer in the Jewish God. (Most of the Romans worshipped idols.) Cornelius believed in the God of heaven. He was very sincere in his belief. He was a good man. He helped others. He prayed.
One day he saw a vision. In the vision an angel called him by name, “Cornelius, God has heard your many prayers. Send to Joppa to the house of Simon, the tanner, and ask for Peter to come to you. He will tell you what you need to know.”
While the servants of Cornelius were traveling to Joppa God talked to Peter.
Peter was praying and God showed him a vision. He saw a sheet full of all kinds of animals. A voice said to him, “Get up and eat.” Peter was so surprised. The animals in the sheet were not the kind of animals that the Jews were allowed to eat.
Back in the Old Testament, about the time the 10 Commandments were given to the Hebrew people they were told what animals to eat. They could eat any animal that had a split hoof and chewed a cud. (A pig has a split hoof, but it does not chew the cud.) Some animals chew the cud, but do not have a split hoof..
Nor animals that crawled on his belly on the ground.
They could eat certain kinds of insects.
They could eat birds that were not birds of prey that ate other animals.
They could eat of the sea any that had fins and scales.
So when Peter saw animals in the sheet that were not the kind that Jews had been allowed to eat Peter did not want to eat them. He had never eaten them before.
Now it seemed that God wanted him to eat these animals. Peter was shocked!
Three times God told him to eat of these animals. Peter did not know what to think about this vision.
Very soon after this vision some visitors come to the door asking to see Peter.
They are the servants of Cornelius. They want Peter to come to Cornelius’ house. Peter knows if he goes to this Roman man’s house, he will be given food to eat. And he will be expected to eat and be polite.
The Romans ate the kinds of meat that the Jews had never eaten. Now Peter is beginning to understand the vision. He was to go with these men and stay in this Roman’s house, eat what he serves, and tell him about Jesus.
This was a big thing to Peter! He had never eaten such meat before. It would be like us going to Africa and eat bugs or a monkey, or something.
Also, what would other Jewish people think if he ate with a Gentile (non-Jewish) person. The Jews often called the non-Jews “dogs”. They never ate with them or from their dishes.
Now, God has told Peter to go stay with a Gentile and eat with him in his home. Peter is to eat all those things that in the Old Testament God had said not to eat.
Now, that Jesus has come to earth and returned to heaven those rules have changed.
So, Peter went with the servants. He came to Cornelius house. Peter talked with him and he found that Cornelius wanted to learn everything about Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
As Peter was preaching to the people that Cornelius had there in his home the people believed and the Holy Spirit came on them and they begin to speak in other tongues (languages) just like when the Holy Spirit came on the disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem.
Peter brought some Jewish believers with him and they were surprised to see that God gave the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues to the Gentiles in the same way that God had given the Holy Spirit to the Jewish believers.
God had not made any difference between the Jewish person and the Gentile person. He did the same for both of them. See Vs. 34,35
Chapter 10: Vs 34
Peter has gone to the house of a Gentile, Roman army leader. God told him in a dream to go there and to eat what ever the man served for a meal. The Jewish people had never eaten some kinds of food because of laws given in the Old Testament. Now in a dream, God has told Peter to eat these meats.
God knows it is time for the disciples to go to all the nations and tell them about Jesus dying on the cross and coming alive again and going back into heaven.
As they go to different people who are not Jews they will be staying in their homes. They will need to eat what those people make for them.
So those Old Testament laws about the foods will no more be the law.
At the man’s house, there are many people who have come to hear Peter talk. So he stands up and begins: He tells them Vs. 34 That God does not think of one kind of people as any better than any other. The King James Bible says: God is no respecter of persons. No one group are favorites.
This was important because for all these years the Jewish people have thought they were God’s favorite people. Peter is telling them that no more should Jews think this,
This is good news for the non-Jews Gentiles because now they can have the same blessings and salvation as the Jews.
Vs. 35- 43 Peter tells them how Jesus came to earth died rose again that they saw him and ate with him that he went back to heaven. Peter tells them that if they will believe that Jesus is God’s Son and believe that he died for them and ask for forgiveness and decide to follow Jesus they will have eternal life.
Vs. 44-48 Peter is still talking when the Holy Spirit comes down on the people listening and they begin to talk in “tongues” or in another language as the Holy Spirit makes them able to speak.
This was the same thing that happen to the 120 people that were in the upper room after Jesus went back to heaven. The Holy Spirit came on them Acts chp. 2. And they talked in other languages.
After the Holy Spirit came on these people they had more spiritual power and strength to talk to people and to pray for people and people were healed.
As they were speaking in another language they were giving praise to God.
Afterward Peter said they should be baptized in water just as other followers of Jesus had been baptized.
Peter stayed there for days to teach them.
This was a new experience for Peter. To see these Gentile people believe in Jesus and the Holy Spirit to come down on them in the same way that He came down on the Jewish believers and disciples.
This proved to Peter that God accepted the Gentiles. In God’s eyes—-it did not matter is a person was Jew or Gentile.
Peter would go back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples what happened. They, too, would be surprised. Some of them would not want to accept it. Some of them would accept it. This would make for an argument among the believers for awhile.