10:1 There was a
certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the
Italian Regiment, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household,
who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. 3 About the
ninth hour (3pm) of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming
in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
4 And when he observed
him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?”
So he said to him,
“Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. 5 Now send
men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. 6 He is lodging with
Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.”
7 And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his
household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him
continually. 8 So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them
to Joppa.
God talks to Roman soldiers? Some would say "Of course,
God talks to everyone". However for others this is a radical, even
heretical concept.
Make no mistake, we live in a world where we are being pushed
to build walls every day. We are being conditioned to put people in boxes. The
Jews of Jesus' day were extreme in their box making. Non-Jews fell into one of
two categories. You were either a half breed Samaritan or a Gentile. The
Samaritans couldn't be disowned completely because after all they were their
cousins, descendants of the 10 northern tribes that split off when King
Rehoboam refused to lower the taxes but increased them instead. In time the
northern tribes were conquered by the Assyrians and partially assimilated thus
the label "half breeds".
In the Jewish mind God only spoke to Jews. God only had
regard for Jews. God's promises only applied to Jews. The Messiah was only
coming for the Jews. Everything was about and for them. It's important to
understand all that because Acts 10 opens with the God of Abraham speaking a
Roman centurion in Caesarea. Heresy. Can't happen. Not possible and yet it's
happening... It kind of makes sense that God would speak to "bad"
people since Abraham himself was the son of a pagan idol worshipper.
I know people who get very offended when anyone says Muslims
worship the same God as we Christians do. They believe Muslims worship a
different God. I get it because it is partly true yet not. First of all there
is only one God. Since there is only one God how is it possible for anyone to
worship a different God?
To that question they will say that Muslims are really
worshipping Satan. I agree that some of them are just as some Christians are.
There are only two kings right? Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. Satan
is temporarily the king of this world. Jesus is the Light of the world. Satan
is the prince of darkness. The fruit that comes from worshipping Jesus and
being filled with His Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
gentleness, and self-control. The fruit of worshipping the prince of darkness
is hate, war, a short fuse, bitterness, harshness, and the complete loss of
control.
There are only two kings and two kingdoms. Our place of
birth, our skin colour, our gender, our religion, our nationality, none of that
prevents God from seeking after us nor prevents us from having the right to
choose His kingdom. Cornelius may have seemed an unlikely candidate for God's
kingdom but somehow God reached him. Now God wants to connect him with others
who are part of His kingdom. God is about to tear down a wall and use the
bricks to build a bridge that extends all the way from a Roman centurion's home
in Caesarea to children of Abraham from Judea.
ISIS may be under demonic control but that does not mean the
God of Abraham does not speak to Muslims or anyone else. Remember Jesus knocked
down walls and disregarded all borders. Are we part of His kingdom or not?
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