THE KING’ S BUSINESS
347 had been a great sheet, knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth (descending, as it were a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth): Wherein wer.e all manner of four-footed beasts of the'earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air (four- footed beasts, and creeping things of the earth, and fowls of the heàven). And thére came a voice to him, Rise, Peter: kill and eat ” Note how the natural and the super natural play into one another in Bible his tory. Peter’s hunger was natural and there was nothing more natural than that the hungry man dream of eating, but,God gave supernatural direction to a dream that had a natural origin. vs. 14-16. “But Peter said, Not so, Lord.; for I have never eaten anything that is comman or (and) unclean. And the (a) voice spake (came) unto him again the ^second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common (make not thou com mon). This (And this) was done Jhric'e: and the vessel was received up again (omit, again)-' into heaven.” God knows how to time things just right, for just when Peter was in perplexity about the meaning o f the vision about unclean beasts, the “unclean” Gentiles are asking for him at the gate. Though Peter could not see how he could be commanded to eat the unclean animals, nevertheless he was promptly persuaded that it was the Lord who bade him to do it. The Spirit in His interpretation of the vision was very definite in His words to Peter. He told him just how many men there were down at thè gate asking for him (v. 19). .So Peter had a very practical Jtest as to whether it was the Spirit o f' Truth that was speaking to him. How unlike the confused and uncertain (and oftentimes mistaken) voicés that peo ple now-a-days often tell us are voices of the Spirit. God had done His part, He had sent the angel to Cornelius, He had sent the vision to Peter, and He had sent the Holy Spirit to interpret the vision, Now Peter must do his part, and the directions were very specific, “Arise, and get thee
vs. 7. 8 . “And. when therangel which (that) 'spake 'unto Cornelius (him) was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. And when he had declared all these things (having rehearsed all things) unto them, he sent them to Joppa." Cornelius proved his faith by prompt obedience. The only decisive way to prove our faith in God’s W ord is by doing what God’s Word tells us to do. Not only was Cornelius “ devout” himself (v. 2 ), but the soldiers about him were “ devout,” as we see here: his" piety was o f the communicative sort; for the soldier who waited on him continually was also a “ devout” man. Cornelius was also a scrup ulously careful man, for he rehearsed all things unto the messengers before he sent them to Joppa. vs. 9, 10. “ (Add, Now) On the morrow, as they went (were) on their journey, and drew nigh ulnto the city, Peter went up upon the_ house (housetop) to pray, about the sixth hour. And he became very (omit, very) hungry, and would have eaten (desired j to eat): but while they made ready, he fell into a trance." While God prepared one man to hear the gospel He also prepared another man to preach it to him. It certainly cannot be explained away as the empty dream of a fevered imagination that Cornelius at one end of the line saw an angel bidding him send for Simon Peter, and that Peter at the other end o f the line should have a vision preparing him for the call just before the messengers arrived, and should hear the voice o f the Spirit bidding him go just as the messengers arrived. It is beyond hon est question that there is a supernatural world, and the possibility of present con tact between the supernatural world and human life. History demonstrates this. One can be an atheist or a deist only by shutting his eyes to the established facts o f history. vs. H-13. “And saw heaven opened (And he beheld the heaven opened), and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it
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