Each day when I read my Bible I get excited. I get excited about what God is going to say to me and what I might be able to say to you, in turn. Some days though, it seems a little harder than others to hear what God’s saying to me and then write about it. On other days, like today, I hear from the Lord more clearly, and He brings connections to me I’ve never seen before.

Something I’ve had a hard time with when I’ve read the book of Job (pronounced, “Jobe” if didn’t know) was that Job’s friends; Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, say a lot of things that are true about God, but by the time we get to the end of Job, we learn that God was angry with them because they didn’t speak the truth about Him (Job 42:7). Job’s friends say a lot about God that is true. However, their attitudes and their misapplication of God’s truth are what made the Lord angry.

As I was reading Acts today, it occurred to me that the Apostle Peter could have done the exact same thing as Job’s friends, in the case of Cornelius the Centurion. Cornelius was a Gentile who worshipped God. The Lord took note of Cornelius’ devotion to Him and his generosity to the poor. Therefore, an angel appears to Cornelius telling him to send for Peter and have him come to his house.

The Jews didn’t associate much with the Gentiles, because the Jews considered Gentiles, and their behavior “unclean.” Subsequently, Cornelius’ invitation to Peter took an incredible amount of faith to send, because he would have known all about these differences between Jews and Gentiles.

Meanwhile, while Peter is at Simon the Tanner’s house in Joppa, Peter goes up to pray on the roof of the house. While he’s praying he gets hungry and has a vision.

He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

Acts 10:11-15 (NIV)

(Some translations of the Bible, like the NIV and King James Version, say the voice is Jesus because the text of what the voice says is in red letters. However, other versions like the NLT and the NASB don’t have what was said in Acts 10:15 in red letters.)

Although the text doesn’t say it right away, this vision of Peter’s is revolutionary to the Jews and to us today. When Jesus died on the cross His death didn’t just bring new life and the forgiveness of sin to all who believe in Him. Christ’s death was an end to the law that said some things were clean and others unclean. This is why Peter was told, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15 NIV).

I saw a similarity today between this vision Peter saw and the book of Job.

The main problem with Job’s friends isn’t their understanding of God and his righteousness. They apply human reasoning and misapply what they think they know about God to another person. In this case, Job. We can see here in Acts that Peter still didn’t fully understand the work of Jesus on the Cross. Otherwise, there’d have been no need for a vision from heaven to correct his thinking. Let’s say, for a moment, that Peter didn’t have that vision from God.

If Peter hadn’t had the vision from God, he wouldn’t have gone to Cornelius’ house, he tells Cornelius, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean” (Acts 10:28 NIV). It wasn’t the vision Peter saw that made anything clean. That happened on the Cross. However, the vision was necessary for Peter and his contemporaries, because they still didn’t understand the redemptive power of Christ’s blood.

Therefore, Peter’s vision was much like God’s rebuke of Job’s friends because God brings clarity to all of them.

We have to be careful that we don’t apply our own reasoning to the word and will of God. It’s difficult because we have ideas about the way things ought to be within the Kingdom. For example, everyone in my church dresses up when they attend church. However, the church I used to go to didn’t have anyone wearing suits and ties. People went to church in sandals, shorts, etc. We must remember that the personalities and behaviors of the people in the church come from the world, while the spirit is shaped by God, and the mind, is the mind of Christ. Therefore, the church might have the outward appearance of the world, but inwardly, the salvation of God burns brighter than the brightest star. We need to pray for God to open our eyes, ears, and hearts to see, hear, and feel like He does, not just for those in the church, but for all of those who might become part of the church.

Do you know God? God knows you and He loves you. He sees you as significant because you are. No one is insignificant to Him. He’s with you today, right now, and He wants you to know Him. Jesus died for your sins and mine so we could be free of guilt, be freed from death, and live eternally with Him. Eternal salvation is just a prayer away.

Pray this prayer with me to accept the gift of salvation today:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer then congratulations! You are on the first step of a brand new life. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to my family, the family of God. There are abundant resources available online for new Christians. You can visit here for more information on what to do next. You can also leave me a comment, and I’ll do my best to help you on the next step of this incredible journey.

Advertisement