Is there some meal that your mother could have prepared, that everyone in your family would really have enjoyed? It’s hard to please everyone’s taste!
Here we find that the apostle Peter did not want to eat the kind of food that God set before him!
“Peter went up on the (flat) roof of the house about noon in order to pray. He became hungry, and wanted something to eat; while the food was being prepared, he had a vision. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of … animals … reptiles and … birds. A voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat!’ ‘Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’” (verses 9-14.)
The religion Peter had been brought up in had taught that certain meats were unclean, and to be avoided.
Today, many people make up religious or moral reasons to claim it is wrong to kill and eat meat. But there’s no need to be uneasy - God, the Creator of all things, instructs mankind to use meat as food. (Genesis 9:2-4.) Jesus, the Son of God, encouraged the eating of meat and fish (Mark 14:12. Matthew 14:16-20.), and He also ate them Himself. (Luke 24:41-43.)
The vision that God was giving Peter was to teach him, and us, to always put God’s Word first. (Acts 5:29.) God’s Word for us today is the Holy Bible. It is above all authority, and it alone is infallible. (2ndTimothy 3:16. 2ndPeter 1:21.)
Jesus had already given to Peter “the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 16:19.) This meant that Peter was to become the FIRST preacher to “open the door”, for both the Jews and the Gentiles, to the only way to God; which is through Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:36-42. 4:12. John 10;7-9.)
But Peter was still thinking like a Jew! To him, all people who were not Jews were unclean, and to be avoided, so he would want to use “the keys” to lock them out of Heaven!
Peter must be taught not to use religious excuses for disobeying God! God brought the vision before Peter three times that day. Each time “the voice spoke to him again, ‘Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean.’” (verses 15-16.) Then, God told him to obey the request he was about to receive!
Just then, three men called at the house for Peter, inviting him to go to preach to some Gentiles! (verses 17-19.) Before the vision, Peter’s answer would have been, “Certainly NOT!” But now he was ready, and willing, to preach the Gospel of Christ, even to Gentiles!
Today the door is open for you, no matter what your religious back¬ground has been. YOU are invited to come to Jesus, who alone can get you to God and Heaven. (1stTimothy 2:5-6. 1stPeter 3:18.) Don’t refuse God’s kind and loving invitation.
Read Acts chapter 10, verses 9-23.
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