What God Has Cleansed

And a voice spoke to him again the second time, What God has cleansed you must not call common.  

Acts 10:15 

The early days of the New Testament expansion of the Gospel were days of change. Not the least of the changes was in the thinking of the Apostles. For centuries, the Jews lad been the guardians of Divine Truth. They were the chosen people of God and clearly understood their place. If anyone desired to know Jehovah, they must convert to Judaism. When Christ came, He came to the House of Israel. As Christ was about to ascend, He told the disciples they would bear witness of Him, not just in Jerusalem and Judea, but also in Samaria and to the end of the earth. This meant the Gospel would go forth to people who were not Israelites. This was not a natural idea to the disciples. Thus, when the moment came for the Gospel to go to the gentiles, it required some persuasion. The passage from which our text derives tells the story of how Christ convinced Peter to preach the Gospel to the gentiles. Peter had gone up to a rooftop to pray and while he was there, became hungry. Christ gave him a vision, three times, of ceremonially unclean animals to ‘kill and eat.’ When Peter protested, Christ uttered the words of our text, ‘And a voice spoke to him again the second time, What God has cleansed you must not call common.’  Like Peter, we often need our thinking to change in order to follow Christ where He is taking us. 

Our Wise and Holy God, 
we rejoice that You have a broad plan of salvation. 
We praise You that You will call people to Yourself, 
from every tribe and nation. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning