The Book of Acts ~ Study Thirty-Seven

"Unclean Is Made Clean"


Acts 10:9- 23 (NLT) The next day as Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.”
   “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.”
   But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”  The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.
   Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house. Standing outside the gate, they asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there.
   Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.”
   So Peter went down and said, “I’m the man you are looking for. Why have you come?”
   They said, “We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout and God-fearing man, well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he can hear your message.” So Peter invited the men to stay for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.


As the Centurion's men were approaching Joppa, the town where Peter was staying at the house of Simon the Tanner, Peter had a vision. It was an amazing vision of all kinds of animals and things that were "unclean"  for a Jew to eat. The Lord told Peter to get up, kill and eat the animals. It went against everything that Peter had been taught about abstaining from certain animals. He was right. Read the following passage and see what God forbid the Israelites to eat.


Deuteronomy 14:3-21 (NLT) “You must not eat any detestable animals that are ceremonially unclean. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the addax, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
   “You may eat any animal that has completely split hooves and chews the cud, but if the animal doesn’t have both, it may not be eaten. So you may not eat the camel, the hare, or the hyrax. They chew the cud but do not have split hooves, so they are ceremonially unclean for you. And you may not eat the pig. It has split hooves but does not chew the cud, so it is ceremonially unclean for you. You may not eat the meat of these animals or even touch their carcasses.
   “Of all the marine animals, you may eat whatever has both fins and scales. 10 You may not, however, eat marine animals that do not have both fins and scales. They are ceremonially unclean for you.
   “You may eat any bird that is ceremonially clean. These are the birds you may not eat: the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, the kite, the falcon, buzzards of all kinds, ravens of all kinds, the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the seagull, hawks of all kinds, the little owl, the great owl, the barn owl, the desert owl, the Egyptian vulture, the cormorant, the stork, herons of all kinds, the hoopoe, and the bat.
   “All winged insects that walk along the ground are ceremonially unclean for you and may not be eaten. But you may eat any winged bird or insect that is ceremonially clean.
   “You must not eat anything that has died a natural death. You may give it to a foreigner living in your town, or you may sell it to a stranger. But do not eat it yourselves, for you are set apart as holy to the Lord your God.
   “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.


Why do you think that God didn't allow the Israelites to eat all kinds of animals, birds, fish, etc.? What would it matter? 


Earlier we learned that the Israelites were a holy people set aside for the Lord. "Holy" means "set apart." God gave them His commandments and His regulations in order to make the people understand they were different than other peoples. They were a "holy" people governed by the commandments and its regulations of the Lord God Himself. The Law was what allowed them to even approach God in the temple and only the High Priest could do that. 


2 Peter 3:10-12 (NLT) ut the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.  
    Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.


What does living "holy and godly" lives mean? Describe what it means to you.


Since Jesus came to earth, died and rose to life again, a perfect way was made for Israel to approach God. The perfect sacrifice was made through Him. Peter understood this because he was an Israelite who respected the Law. The Lord gave Him this amazing technicolor  vision of a sheet being lowered down in front of him with all kinds of things that he had previously been told that was forbidden to him. It took a dream like this one, shown to him three times, to convince him that through Jesus' redemption of man, it was alright to eat these things.


Romans 3:21-22 (NLT) But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.


Peter woke to hear that the soldiers from Caesarea by the Sea were at Simon the Tanner's house wanting to speak to Peter. God knew that it would take a phenomenal interaction with Peter for him to know it was alright to meet and speak to a Gentile. God had more in store for Peter to learn and accept as we study on in our next lesson.


As we leave this lesson it is my prayer that if we have certains "set-in-stone" ideas, that don't line up with what God wants of us, we see and understand what His perfect plan is for us. Is there something in your life that you learned as a child or as an adult you have hung onto and have latter learned it wasn't right? I know I have. Let's truly seek Him and He will show us the right way.