The Ecstasy and Vision of Peter
E. Johnson Acts 10:9-17 On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew near to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:… I. THE ATTITUDE OF PRAYER, HOW constantly is the act and the habit of prayer mentioned in the course of this history - on the part of the community and on the part of individuals! Peter and Cornelius, the Jew and the Gentile, are in communion with God at the same moment; and it is thus shown that true fellowship between man and man on earth is conditioned by fellowship with God. Souls far apart in space are near and at one by means of this mystic tie. It was the calm noonday hour, when, as the ancients were wont to say, "Pan sleeps." All the mighty heart of nature is at rest, and the very houses of Joppa at his feet might seem to be asleep. But the living God slumbers not; watching over his faithful ones and listening to their prayers. Fixed hours of prayer may be useful and blessed. The thought of uniting with others at the same hour may strengthen devotion. But it is an abuse if the fixed hour only is employed in prayer, so as to make devotion outside it superfluous. II. THE VISION. 1. Its character is determined both by the physical and the natural state of the apostle. The rapture of his spirit in devotion causes a drain on the forces of the body, and, like the Lord in the desert, he is hungry. The noonday meal is preparing. At this moment the ecstasy comes upon him, and the earthly need is stilled by the heavenly revelation. The food of the spiritual man is to know and do God's will, and he can learn, with St. Paul, how to be full and to be hungry, how to abound and to suffer need. 2. Its particular features. The vast vessel, like a sheet let down by its four corners from heaven, contains a miscellaneous collection of quadrupeds, reptiles, and birds. Thus the first impression is shocking to a strict believer in and observer of the Mosaic ritual. The confusion of the clean with the unclean, the profane with the holy, is that which he abhors with all his soul. It is, in fact, the visible presentment of the feelings of repugnance with which Peter must secretly have viewed the drawing of the Gentiles with the Jews into the kingdom of God. 3. The Divine voice. "Slay and eat." Here the Divine resistance to natural and acquired prejudice reaches its height. If we would be followers of the Truth, and make progress in the knowledge of God, we must be prepared to meet with such rebuffs. Prejudices we have thought to be a clear and integral part of our faith must be overcome when the call comes to us to emerge into larger views and clearer light. The most mysterious elements in such struggles is that we seem to be placed in strife with the holiest traditions and best associations of our earlier life. But it is when the fight begins within the man that he becomes worth nothing. And never do ideas become clear, never is the higher generalization grasped, except as the result of such struggles. As Saul, in the zeal of the old faith, kicked against the goads of his new convictions, so was Peter now repugnant to that new truth which was breaking in with so much power upon his mind. In both cases it was a wider view of the kingdom of God, a more loving interpretation of his purposes to mankind, which was struggling for admission to the intellect and heart. Never let us fear the generalization of our ideas and feelings of the truth. The change, in uprooting the old, gives us something far better to put in its place. The resistance of Peter on this occasion is so like him - sharp, stubborn, peremptory. "Never, Lord!" When Peter spoke thus it was a sign that he was about to give way, either on the side of good or evil. So had he said on former occasions: "I will never forsake thee." "Thou shalt never wash my feet!" And we know what followed. So in this instance. In each case there was a right feeling combined with a wrong or ignorant thought. Ignorance of self precipitates into rash resolves; ignorance of the grace of Christ and of the power of truth leads to mistaken obstinacy and resistance. 4. The repeated voice. This time in explanation of the command. What God has cleansed, men are not to deem common. This is a deep and pregnant word. The distinction of clean and unclean animals was (1) a sanitary distinction; (2) a ceremonial distinction founded upon that; (3) therefore a relative and temporary distinction. Apart from the special purposes for which the distinction holds good, the general truth of universal and eternal application obtains - that all creatures of God are good and to be received with thanksgiving. So deeply important is this truth, it is repeated over and over again, that it may not possibly be forgotten, that it cannot henceforth be ignored. (1) Ceremonial, local, national distinctions are for a time; truth and love are universal. (2) The local must give way gradually before the universal; the truth which reveals differences before the truth which reconciles. (3) The truth for which a sect contends, once clearly established, cannot be lost. But the universal truth of the gospel absorbs both it and all partial definitions of truth with itself. - J. Parallel Verses KJV: On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: WEB: Now on the next day as they were on their journey, and got close to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about noon.