Acts 10:30-35 (NIV)
Cornelius answered: “Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”
Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”
Cornelius began with a simple recounting of the events four days earlier, when the angel had appeared to him while he was praying and seeking God, directing him to send for Peter. The details that he included, including the angel’s clear identification of the town where Peter could be found and the very house as well, went a long way toward confirming to Peter that this whole thing was something that God was directing.
Peter’s first response was simply praise and awe about the fact that, even among the gentiles, God had found someone who was truly seeking Him and His kingdom. And because they were earnestly seeking God with their whole heart, He provided a way of finding Him (Deuteronomy 4:29, Acts 17:27), a way of finding salvation through faith in Jesus.
But note carefully that Cornelius’ good works and praying to the God he believed was there were not enough to save him. They were enough to move God to send a messenger of the kingdom to him. But if those prayers and good works could have saved him, then Jesus’ death and resurrection were unnecessary, and anyone could be saved on their own merits. But “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), not the name of Moses, not that of Cornelius, not even the name of Peter. It is only through faith in Jesus that people can find salvation. And the only way that people can believe is if someone tells them about Jesus. So, the angel did not proclaim Cornelius saved because of his actions. Instead, he told him whom to send for in order to hear about Jesus so that he and his family could believe and be saved. And God went ahead of Cornelius’ messengers to move Peter to respond.
All of this struck Peter as he listened to Cornelius’ story. And despite all that he had seen and experienced over the years he was struck with awe over what God was doing.
Father, Your ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8), and I am very glad of that! If You had left it up to Peter to decide what to do on his own, Cornelius would not have heard, and the history of the Church could have been very different. But you do hear the prayers of those who are seeking You wholeheartedly, and You do take a hand in their path to salvation, bringing those who are a part of Your kingdom, and who are listening and prepared to act, into their lives to show them Your way. Help me, Lord, to always stand ready to spring into action, to bring Your light into the lives of those around me, so that they, too, can find You and be saved. Amen.
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