Holy Scriptures and Israel

Gideon Levytam: In our study of Acts chapter 10, the text says here in verse 13 that a voice came to Peter. In Hebrew, some call it "bat kol," a daughter of a voice. We don't know who spoke; we only read that there was a voice. It could be the voice of the Lord or the voice of an angel, but we call it bat kol, just a voice. God was speaking to Peter on the top of the roof as he was praying and meditating, preparing him to go out and share the messiahship of Yeshua with the Gentile world. The voice said to him in verse 13, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat."

The voice was telling Peter, and remember Peter was very hungry. They were preparing food for him inside the house of Simon the Tanner while he was on the rooftop. A vision came to him telling him to get up, kill, and eat. Peter looking at this sheet filled with all sorts of animals inside the sheet, Peter responded in verse 14, "Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." Some have suggested that when you call the Lord "Lord," you never say to Him, "Not so." He is either Lord and you submit to Him and say, "Yes, Lord," or you cannot use the word "not so" to your own Lord.

Nevertheless, the Lord knew Peter. The Lord knew the need of Peter and the condition of Peter, but He needed to prepare him to go out and share with the Gentile world the messiahship of Yeshua. As I grew up in Jerusalem, Israel, in our home, we never ate anything—even today, by the way—we have never eaten anything that was not what we would call kosher. We lived in a land where there is rabbinical authority designating a restaurant and calling it kosher, or a food store or a market is not considered to be kosher unless the rabbi has their stamp of approval.

We are talking about now in 2011. Can you imagine about 2,000 years ago among the nation of Israel? The Messiah had just come and the age of grace had just begun. In a sense, Israel as a nation was under the Law. The temple is still standing. The Jewish people, including Peter, said, "Look, I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. I have never done so." Many times people blame Peter and say, "How could Peter say this? Doesn't he understand that the Lord Yeshua the Messiah said to him that he is to go to preach to the nations of the world?" But what would you do in a stage like that when something totally new has begun?

The rest of the religious leaders of the nation had refused to accept it. What would you do when the Bible clearly taught the nation of Israel what is to be eaten and what is not to be eaten? Peter, when he said what he said, had a reason. Let me for a moment turn to the book of Leviticus chapter 11 just to get this before us so you can see what the Law had said to Israel as a nation concerning food to eat or not to eat. You will notice certain meat that Israel was to eat and certain meat and food that Israel was not to eat, clean and unclean.

I just want to read the last verses from verse 41 to 47. It says, "And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten. Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination. Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby."

Then the Lord said to them in the next verse, "For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth: To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten."

This is a clear passage that was given to our nation Israel long before the Messiah had come under the Law. God had given Israel a clear instruction concerning what they were to eat and what they were not to eat. Therefore, when we look at Peter and we see what he is saying to Yeshua the Messiah, he says, "Lord, I have never touched, never eaten such things." Of course, the Lord is going to teach him a lesson, and Peter connects this food eating and what he can call common or unclean with his relationship to the Gentile world, to believers from among the nations of the world.

The voice spoke to him again the second time in verse 15 and said, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." Peter needed to hear these words from the Messiah Yeshua. What God has cleansed, he cannot call common or uncommon. I want again to put the text in its context. By the time Peter received that vision from the Lord, he didn't understand yet all what he was going to learn as time went on. But nevertheless, the truth of God's dealing with man in various dispensations is very important.

For example, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they were eating only vegetation. In the beginning, when they were living on earth before sin came in, they ate only from the trees. But after sin came in, when they were outside of the garden, the Lord said to Adam and Eve that everything that is moving upon the face of the earth you shall eat. Then under the Law, God restricted our people Israel and he said to them that there is certain food that you are to eat and there is certain food that you are not to eat.

By the time the dispensation of the days in which you and I live in, or what we call the assembly age or the church age, here we can see that now the limitations are different. We are not having the same limitation that Israel has had under the Law. Timothy speaks about this as well. So the Lord said to him, "What God has cleansed, don't you call them common." This was done three times and the vessel was received unto heaven back again. Peter was astonished. A sheet coming down one time and going up, a second time and going up, a third time and going up.

The Lord is telling him, "Peter, you get up, kill, and eat." Peter said, "Not so, Lord; I have never eaten this before. Anything that is called common or unclean, I have never eaten." Three times the Lord did it for him. Peter eventually, we don't read of him eating here this food, but nevertheless, the Lord was preparing him for something that is ahead of him. Notice the next verses. In verses 17 to 22, we see Peter and the messengers that came from Cornelius.

While Peter was doubting in himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and they stood before the gate. They called and asked whether Simon, which is surnamed Peter, was lodging there. At the very same time that Peter was doubting or he was perplexed, the messengers from Cornelius came and arrived to the city of Joppa. They began to search for the house of Simon the Tanner to see if Simon Peter is there.

They asked for Simon Peter. They were searching for Peter. They were sent by Cornelius all the way. It must have taken them probably a couple of days because it's about 30 miles, the distance from Caesarea to Joppa. When they arrived all the way on the shore there of the Mediterranean, they came from the north further down south and they arrived to the city of Joppa. They found the house of Simon the Tanner and they were calling for Simon Peter just after he finished this experience on the top of the roof there.

He was doubting or perplexed. He was wondering what that meant and what God was telling him. What was the message? It was very strange. A sheet coming down, going up, coming down, going up. All sorts of animals. "Kill and eat." What does it mean? What is the Lord trying to teach him there? The people came from Cornelius. They have arrived and notice now you can see that Peter is starting a little bit to understand certain things because it says here in verse 19, "While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, 'Behold, three men seek you. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.'"

It's so beautiful to see the Spirit's involvement here. The Spirit is speaking. Notice it is a capital S; it is the Holy Spirit of God. While Peter thought on this vision, the Holy Spirit of God spoke unto Peter. The Holy Spirit of God was involved in the whole movement of the life of Peter, the life of Cornelius, the messengers coming, the sheet that came down and up, the involvement of the Spirit of God. If you look at chapter 13, the Holy Spirit of God calling Paul and Saul, it says, "And the Holy Spirit of God says in chapter 13 verse 2, 'Separate unto me Barnabas and Saul for the work of the ministry which I have called them.'"

There is an involvement of the Spirit of God in this event of connecting Cornelius with Petros, with Simon Peter. There is an involvement of the Spirit of God in any work of the ministry that we do in our life. Really, the Spirit of God wants to get involved in the message and a messenger's life. The Spirit of God is speaking to Peter and saying to him, "Peter, you know, there are three men that are looking for you. You go down, get thee down, go to them, and do not doubt anything." That word for doubting is "don't make any distinction, don't make any difference between those people."

They are seeking for you. You have a message to give to them. Don't doubt; just go down to them because I have sent them. It's interesting to see that Peter went down to the men which were sent in verse 21 from Cornelius and he said to them, "I'm the one whom you seek. What is the cause wherefore you are come? Why did you come?" They said to him in verse 22, "Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one that feareth God, and of a good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by a holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words from thee."

You notice that these messengers were such faithful messengers. They said to Peter exactly what happened to their master there in Caesarea. They gave a testimony to this person, a man by the name of Cornelius the centurion. He was a just man. He was a man that feared God. He had a good report among the Jewish people, and ultimately, it says here that he received a message from the angel of God to send for you and to hear words from you, Peter. What an opportunity Peter had here.

It is hard for a man such as Peter as a Jewish man when a Gentile in the first early church age came to him and asked from him to hear a message. Peter needed to learn that now the door of this great salvation to be part of the body of Messiah was no longer only limited to a nation alone, the nation of Israel, but the door was opened to the nations of the world. Peter heard what these messengers were speaking concerning Cornelius. Again, I want to emphasize it's the Holy Spirit of God that moved in the life of Peter to reveal him this truth.

It is so unfortunate when men do not see or recognize the movement of the Spirit of God in their life, to discern that God has now opened the door to the nations of the world. It is unfortunate even today among our own people not realizing the present-day dispensation of the church age, not recognizing this. But Peter had, but he needed now to learn how to behave, how to conduct himself. So in the next verses now, we are moving forward. In verses 23 to 33, Peter is now moving ahead to meet Cornelius.

The first thing that we learn is there is a shift in Peter's attitude. In verse 23, the first part, Peter called them in. He took them into the house and he took the responsibility to lodge them in. That shows us already that Peter, though he was Jewish from among the nation of Israel, had lodged them in the house of Simon the Tanner. You could see already right there that he began to understand that even though these messengers were not from among the nation of Israel, were not Jewish, they were Gentile, he said, "Nevertheless, they can come in and I can go into them."

There is a lesson to learn. There is a movement of God beginning right now in reaching the Gentile with the message of the gospel. Peter did not hinder that. He brought them into the house. He took the responsibility to lodge them. Then it says in the rest of this verse that on the morrow, Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. Again, I would like to say he knew what's going to happen and how people would look at that, that he as a Jewish believer in Yeshua the Messiah is going to the Gentile world and speaking, going to a Gentile home.

He knew that he needed to have witnesses along with him to show him and to show others of this great work that God was doing not only among the Jews but also among the Gentile world. So he took with him, according to this verse, it says "certain men." He took some of his Jewish brethren along with him. You know how many people he actually took with him? We don't have it written here in this verse 23, but if you turn the page to chapter 11 and you notice in verse 12 when Peter vindicates his ministry to the Gentile world, look in verse 12. He was saying, "And the spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house."

Peter took with him six Hebrew Christians, six Jewish believers from Joppa. He took them along with him to the house of Cornelius. So he took a certain brethren. Then verse 24 tells us that on the morrow, they entered into Caesarea, and Cornelius waited for them and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. Peter had been walking again. It seems to be like there are two days because you find in verse 23 "on the morrow," verse 24 "about a two-day journey." About 30 miles, about 50 kilometers, about 25 kilometers a day per se, and they arrived to the city of Caesarea. Here you see this man by the name of Cornelius. What does he do? He was waiting for Peter. You notice what he did. What a man he must have been. He called together all of them.