Acts 10
Perhaps you remember when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down in 1989. For many years the wall stood as a barricade cutting off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and East Berlin. Following a series of political changes in the Eastern Bloc, the weakening pro-Soviet governments in nearby Poland and Hungary, and weeks of civil unrest, the East German government finally allowed its citizens to cross into the West. As people climbed the wall and began chipping away at it, the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolically paved the way for the reunification of Germany, and, interestingly too, for the advancement of the gospel into the Iron Curtain.
Even more significant was the tumbling down of the barricade that separated Gentiles from Jews. The Jews saw the Gentiles as common, or unclean. They would not even associate with them, lest they be defiled by being in their very presence.
But God was about to knock the wall down. Through divine visions given to Cornelius and Peter, God was fulfilling His plan to bring about the reconciliation of all men to Himself through Jesus Christ. Peter learned that God shows no partiality, but will accept anyone from any nation who comes to Him through faith in Jesus. “Everyone who believes in [Jesus] receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
The wall came down, and so did the Holy Spirit. And the road was paved to preach the gospel to the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment