Acts 10:9-11 – The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth.
Acts 10 marks the beginning of a huge change in our entire world. Peter, the Lord’s fisherman, is receiving supernatural guidance for the direction of Christianity; the Lord is turning His attention to the Gentiles. This is the unfolding of God’s eternal plan, the whole earth will experience the glory of the Lord. It’s quite hard for us to grasp the significance of this moment but Peter is making a huge decision by the direction of the Spirit that literally changed world history. A Roman centurion would become the key vessel to open up the nations to the Lord. Here is how Matthew Henry describes this moment.
“He saw a great sheet full of all manner of living creatures, which descended from heaven, and was let down to him to the earth. Here were placed at his feet not only animals of the earth but also birds of the air. There were no fish of the sea, because none of them were particularly unclean. Some think this sheet, filled in this way, represents the church of Christ. In this we find people from all countries without any distinction of Greek or Jew. The net of the Gospel encloses all, both bad and good (Mt 22:10), those who previously were clean and unclean. Or it may be applied to the goodness of divine Providence. Such a vision should double our enjoyment in animals and our sense of obligation to serve God in our use and treatment of them — to see them let down to us from heaven in this way!”
Many early commentators see the vision something like this – the sheet represents the church, the various unclean animals represent the Gentile nations, and Peter being told to eat this apparent unclean food according to the law of Moses was a clear indication that Peter and the rest of the church were now to welcome the Gentiles freely into the church. More than that, this prophesying about the sheet and the animals proclaimed that the earth would be filled with congregations of Gentiles. This was a total transformation of what Peter and the other apostles believed.
Where did Peter receive this world changing revelation? He found it while seeking the Lord up on the rooftop. Maybe you have a rooftop or another secret place where you can seek the Lord, maybe that’s where your world will be changed.
