So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.”
Acts 10:34-35

Peter was proud to be one of God’s Chosen People. He was not only born into the nation of Israel but He had met the Messiah, the Savior the whole nation longed for. He had become one of His disciples, and then was named one of His Apostles, His personal representatives.

But now here he was, confronted by the fact that God had chosen to reveal the Savior to a bunch of foreigners, Gentiles - a Roman soldier and his family and close friends! God had prepared Peter for this moment in a vision the day before, telling him, “What God has called clean, you are not to call unclean.”

This moment was the turning point for the entire Christian movement. From this day on it would no longer be limited to the Jewish people. The very idea that foreigners of any ethnicity could become members of God’s Chosen People without first becoming Jewish was staggering. To this day, this is what makes many Jewish people say, “It can’t be so!”

Now they would have to go back and re-examine all the Hebrew Scriptures in the light of this new revelation. In the process, they would discover what Augustine expressed so beautifully in one of his books, years later: “The New Testament is hidden in the Old; the Old is revealed in the New.”

Lord, thank You for opening the door to Your Kingdom, even to me. Amen.

Pastor Dan Giles