ACCEPTABLE TO GOD - PART 6

MONDAY 14 OCTOBER 2024

Reference: Acts 10:34-35 New Living Translation (NLT)

'So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to Him."

The Lord who is the Spirit referred my precious attention again to what Peter acknowledged as non-kosher meal from heaven. The new international version report stated that it contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds.

Four-legged animals such as: pigs, dogs, rabbits.

Reptiles such as: frogs, snakes, lizards, slow warm, turtles, crocodiles.

Birds such as: vultures, bats...

All of these are emblematic of non-Jewish people with natural birth "previously" marked by a sense of hopelessness, as far as God's plan and purpose for His chosen people was concerned, and so Peter criticized them as rejected, unclean, and improper - from the standpoint of nugatory evaluation.

Then a voice in the vision told Peter, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."

"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." Indeed, Peter was right; he had never eaten anything that was common (unholy) and [ceremonially] unclean." Hence, the voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

Whatever was unresolved in Peter's vision was going to continue to be experienced by him, because there was this inner disharmony that blocked Peter from imparting his world with the knowledge of Christ through a wider range of "humanity" accessibility. So the voice remarkably stated, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." Why? Unknowingly to Peter, they were cleansed in heaven, and therefore, pronounced clean, meaning that they were no longer considered common (unholy).

How did it happen? Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross has a spiritual aspect involved in heaven. His death broke the veil of His mortal flesh, which implies that the veil that separated any race in relation to humanity - from direct access to God in heaven has been torn, and so, now, anyone can have eternal hope by being made clean through salvation that is in Christ Jesus, including the Gentiles. That's the significant privilege this torn veil has offered the Gentiles.

Christ's sacrifice, which entailed the shedding of His own blood, was a perfect atonement for sins, and it is thoroughly indicative of the truth that now - the way into the Holy of Holies is open for all people, for all time, both Jew and Gentile. By doing away with the body of sin at the point of His sacrifice, Christ performed a cleansing or purifying work that is affirmed to have a registered effect in the atmosphere of heaven and all things within it. So spiritually, His blood was "applied" to heaven on the basis of His sacrifice alone.

Did you also know that Peter's response towards what he considered unclean (or unholy) still happens amongst the children of God in the Kingdom of light? Now I am not making reference to a horrifyingly wicked person, or someone whose character is full of atrocious cruelties, with constant inexcusable expressions, extremely evil to be justified: Sometimes, a born again Christian may have mistakenly indulged in or experienced a fraudulent misconduct in a market place, which becomes a disgraceful narrative of shockingly unacceptable dishonesty - as many spread the news around.

Interestingly, the people that are likely not to easily forgive the person are his fellow born again Christians, even when such a person has remorsefully and repentantly received forgiveness from God in his/her personal fellowship as an individual being, and God has pronounced him or her clean and free, meaning that such a person is no longer considered unclean or unholy in God's sight. Am I in support of evil practices teemed with scandalous and nefarious activities? Not at all! All I'm saying is that God's grace and mercy, obtainable or accessible in Christ, can exert an extensive capacity of powerful pardoning effect that is applicable to all and sundry (both Jew and Gentile). Stay tuned for part 6. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Acts 13:47; Colossians 1:27; Acts 26:22-23; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 1:16; Ephesians 2:19-20.

Exuberant Declaration:

I am not ashamed of the glorious gospel of Christ, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Glory to God!