January 26, 2023 -- Acts 10:9-16 -- The Acts of the Apostles: Clean and Unclean

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The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
Acts 10:9-16 ESV

If you know the Old Testament well, you know that Jewish men and women had to abstain from eating many kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and aquatic creatures. There were unclean and clean animals. For example, cows were considered clean and could be eaten but pork was considered unclean and could not be eaten. Such dietary laws also reminded the people to live making a distinction between what is clean and what is unclean. Clean activities are those keeping the law of God and walking in His ways; and example of an unclean activity would be to date or marry a non-Jewish person. It is unclean to sacrifice to false gods.

Peter is now being shown all animals, including those formerly considered unclean, are now clean. All animals and reptiles and birds can be eaten. Three times the voice of heaven spoke to Peter while he had the vision to rise, kill and eat from the unclean animals. This repetition is emphatic. What does it all mean?

  1. The Spirit of the Living God has taken up residence in believers. So believes are holy and they are the agents through whom the Father in heaven brings others to Jesus the Lamb of God.

  2. The distinction between clean and unclean is rendered moot in this way as well: there will be Jewish men and women who believe and who do not believe. Those who do not believe are now lumped together with non-Jewish people who do not believe. All are people who need the word of God.

  3. Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners because in Him was the Light of Life and the darkness could not overcome it (John 1:5). Those who are in Christ have through Him overcome the world. Therefore believers go out and preach and teach, serve and help, using whatever gifts and talents they’ve been given so that the love of the Father, shown by the grace of Jesus will result in fellowship with God and other Christians by the power of the Spirit.

  4. All of this was foreshadowed in the Old Testament. The Law commanded that Moabites and their children were not allowed in the temple for 10 generations. Yet Ruth is the great-grandmother of King David. He and his father and his grandfather all were worshippers of the One True God and allowed to participate in the religious life of the Jewish nation. Why? Because Ruth left her pagan heritage, dying to it, and living for God in the manner and way of the Jewish people. In Jesus Christ, people from all nations die to themselves, their culture and their traditions and are made to be a new creation in Jesus Christ.

Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name! Great and excellent are Your ways. Thank You for reconciling men and women to Yourself through the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. Thank You for the grace of Jesus Christ which affects every part of who we are so that in His Name we are Your sons and daughters. Spirit of all Comfort, thank You, that Your powerful presence in us transforms us from our past as children of the father of lies to now being children of the Father in heaven. Mighty God of Justice and Truth, by the working of Your Word in our lives, help us to shine brightly for Jesus in the world, in our churches and in our homes. Perhaps, especially in our homes, even when no one else is looking at what we are or are not doing. Remind us, glorious LORD, with You darkness is as bright as day, nothing escapes Your watchful eye. Let our days and nights, private and public times, thoughts and actions be a steady stream of worship and devoted obedience to You. Amen.

https://youtu.be/6nJ0PZt05H4
Nathan Pacheco "Forever"

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