Now I Understand

Growth in understanding From the beginning the Old Testament speaks of God’s desire for all to come to a knowledge of the truth. The promises are not just for Abraham and his descendants, but for all who will call upon the name of the Lord! But the Jews see their purpose as defending God’s honor through their traditions and laws. So though the prophets declared it, it is not something that their understanding could comprehend. As a result, they did little about it. This passage is about a major change in understanding, and in application. This is the greatest paradigm shift in the history of the Jewish people and nation. It is an event that will alter the course of peoples, nations, and all of history. How people understand this event will affect how they live and how they relate to others. This is a climatic event that Peter cannot imagine, nor will he be able to fully comprehend it’s significance while it is happening. He is instructed to face it without doubt or debate! There are two aspects to what happens in this passage: First, the experience that Peter has and second the experience these Pious Gentiles have who had gathered to hear him speak. Let us examine Peter’s growth in understanding as he begins to understand the vision and takes steps in growing in faith! The first thing is he makes a connection to the vision! The insight of fellowshipping with gentiles whom he had considered unclean The insight of preaching about Jesus as the Lord leading to believing and receiving forgiveness The impact of God’s action leading him to certain conclusions. They belong to the family! The impact on the gathered Gentiles must have been just as dramatic to the Jews present as to the Gentiles themselves. Notice, there is no instruction about how to receive the Holy Spirit or speak in tongues or who can praise God! The internal event was as much a surprise to them as to the Jews, perhaps even more so than on the day of Pentecost since they had no direct promise that it would happen, and none expected it. So what happened to them? They Heard- and understood the message: Caesar is not the Lord of all! They believed and received forgiveness of their sins. God baptized them in the Spirit with the same visible signs as they had experienced (surprise!) What does this show us? “They probably weren’t thinking in terms of labels (ie. becoming Christians instead of pagans). They would have bonded with any who had had the same experience of the Spirit. A new family/household was coming into existence that defied old categories. I think we get into tribalistic thinking only when we loose our sense of the living presence of God. We seem to divide over issues related to what we know versus who we know.” Andy Wiegand Related Verses: “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” Romans 14:9 NASB1995 “who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 1:4 NASB1995 “but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.” Romans 2:10-11 NASB1995 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 NASB1995