Acts 10 – What’s it Really About?
Acts 10 and 11, according to Sharaka:
Kefa (Simon Peter), an observant Jew, is up on the rooftop of Shimon’s (Simon, the tanner) house waiting for lunch. He’s very hungry and it’s probably hot up there. He goes into a “trance†or in other words, has an “out of body experienceâ€. G-d uses the common situations at hand to speak to us. He used these circumstances to illustrate His point.
Kefa sees a “sheet†come down from the sky containing all kinds of treif (unclean non-kosher animals). Pigs and shellfish and ‘creeping things’. A voice says, Kefa, kill and eat! This happens three times.
Kefa knows better! V’Yikra (Leviticus) 11 tells us what we can and cannot eat. G-d said, “I am the Lord, I change not.†The Brit Chadasha (New Testament) says, “Y’shua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), the same yesterday, today and forever.†If He told us once not to eat treif – He means don’t EVER eat treif. He has reasons for all He says and does. Pigs and shellfish are the garbage cans of the world! Why would we want to eat something that lives off of dead stuff?
There was no question in Kefa’s mind. He said (my words) “No! I know better! All my life I have obeyed my Lord and I know this is wrong. I will not do this.†This he repeated after every command to do so. The voice said, “What I have cleansed, do not call common,†The ‘sheet’ went back up into the sky and Kefa was left to puzzle over these things. Just because your mother and/or father, best friend, rabbi or pastor says something is true, is it? If it doesn’t line up with the Bible – forget it!
About that time, three men stood outside the gate and yelled for Kefa (Peter). The voice speaks three times – three Gentile men show up!… These three men had been sent from Caesarea, the Roman headquarters up in the northern coast of Israel by an officer of the Roman army. He was in charge of a hundred soldiers. He was a G-d-fearer who gave alms (money) to the poor and always prayed to G-d. He was a seeker and G-d told him to send men down to get Kefa in Yaffa (Joppa) Remember Jonah left from Yaffa on a ship, trying to get away from G-d’s missionary call and was swallowed by a great fish? Same city. It is just to the south of modern day Tel Aviv.
They didn’t knock at the door – they didn’t go near the door. They just stood there and yelled for Kefa. Being Gentiles, and respectful, they knew they could not go into a Jewish home. Neither would Jews go into a Gentile home. They did not associate with one another socially. Kefa, still up on the roof, was told by G-d to go down and talk to these guys and not to worry about it because they were sent by Him.
He went down and introduced himself, heard their story and asked them in to spend the night – an unheard of gesture! They all left in the morning to go up to Caesarea. In the meantime, Cornelius, the Centurian, had invited all his friends and relatives to come over and hear the man from G-d. When Kefa walked in, again, an unheard of thing to do, Cornelius fell to the ground and worshipped. Kefa got him up and began to tell them about the G-d of Israel. He told them the story of Y’shua (Jesus) and how He had come to die for their sins and was raised on the third day. While he was still preaching, they all began to speak in other tongues as they were filled with the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit).
At once, Kefa knew what G-d had been trying to tell him. His divine message was NOT about food – but about people! The Gentiles were now to be accepted and had a right to salvation. This was a new thing. Kefa called for them to be baptized in water, stayed there a few days and preached to them.
When Kefa went up to Jerusalem, (Chapter 11) it was told at the synagogue what had happened and he got in trouble for associating with “the uncircumcised†– their term for Gentiles. Kefa explained about his experience and about them being saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. Nothing was ever mentioned about food! Nothing was changed about the dietary laws. They all marveled and realized that G-d was opening the door to the Gentiles for salvation. Please read these two chapters again and see if you don’t come to the same conclusion!
Additional comments from a Reader:
1. I agree and can share additional what the L*rd has inspired me with.
1st It specifically introduces the fact that Kefa was hungry. VERY IMPORTANT FACT. Yeshua when tempted “was hungered†and in the Torah it says Hashem tested us with hungering and thirsting TO SEE IF WE WOULD OBEY! Yeshua says “If you LOVE ME you WILL KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS!†It doesnt say if it feels right or you feel like it or if you think its right or someone comes along with a cunning argument like the shining one in the Garden of Eden.
YOU KNOW WHAT IS RIGHT IF YOU STUDY TO SHOW YOURSELF APPROVED.
Consider this, Peter said no all three times. If he hadn’t, he would not be worthy of the commission of the L*RD. Proof? sure. Read Ezekiel 4:14, and Isaiah 6:5-8. Ezekiel was tested, feared the L*RD, If he had not been he couldnt have beseiged YERUSHALYIM. NO ONE WHO IS UNCLEAN WILL BE THERE! That too is messianic scripture and is significant in many are called yet few are chosen.
Look at Isaiah, he had to confess his sins and be cleansed of them and since G*D knows his heart he knew once his sins were forgiven and he commissioned he wouldn’t fall back into such sins. Or as Yeshua/Jesus says, your sins are forgiven now go and SIN NO MORE.
Neither Ezekiel, Isaiah, or Peter, I beleive would have been worthy if they had persisted in their sins. They would’ve been destroyed.
So if you really desire the gift of prophecy, you need to remain clean according to Torah. AND I have cited the three examples. Torah also says that if someone comes to you preaching any other gospel and Jesus/Yeshua says I didnt come to change, nullfiy the LAW then any who preach othewise is sinning against G*D and Torah is proof he didnt send them.
Peter lived by example. If you DO AS PETER DID/IMITATE Peter. YOU WILL NOT EAT UNCLEAN THINGS EITHER! Nor would you use that as an example to justify yourselves and your position.
One other note of explaination.
The Law tells us what to eat.
In the Garden of Eden, the gan eden, G*d laid down the Law and told us what we could and could not eat.
Hmmm, think about it, G*d never changes….
If we continue to eat unclean things, well…
If nothing changes nothing changes. Examine yourself now Christian, Are you really in/living in the faith?
Shalom, shalom
Comment by Alyshja — 2/19/2005
See you next time!
Shalom, Sharaka
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