But as Peter continued pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men seek thee;
Peter is turning over a vision he cannot yet explain. Three messengers stand at the gate below, and into that unfinished thought the Spirit speaks.
One writer explains the value of going back over what we have heard, and where that shows up in Peter's life.
It is often a valuable thing to go over again in our minds the Scriptures we have recently read, the substance of a talk we have heard, or some experience we have been through. That way we make sure we have taken in its special message. We do not often think of Peter as a man given to reflection. Yet twice we find him doing so at critical moments in his life. "And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him ... And he broke down and wept" (Mark 14:72).
The second time is here, with the vision. (Older translations of Mark 14:72 read "when he thought about it, he wept.")
This word does not come to Peter through an angel, and one writer shows why that matters.
Notice "the Spirit said" — it is not an angel who speaks. When it is a question of dealing with the soul, and carrying the truth to the soul, the Spirit speaks. The Holy Spirit whispers to Peter, and what does He say? "Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them" (vv. 19, 20).
The Spirit does not report what God has arranged. He claims it as His own work, and one writer says this settles who the Spirit is.
What a clear message to Peter, when the Spirit followed up his vision by applying it! Nothing could be plainer than the divine authority with which the Spirit speaks and acts, here as elsewhere — "I have sent them": He is God.
Peter could have reasoned it out: a vision he could not explain, three men at the gate, therefore go. One writer says the Spirit's leading does not work like that.
But the Spirit is the agent of all blessing, intelligence, and power in the believer. So His place here stands out (vv. 19, 20). It must be a divine impulse, and not a mere deduction of reasoning: for all of us this is a lesson of great value. At first, visible signs and extraordinary power announced His presence and showed the new truth of His action in man. But the reality remains, and He remains with us for ever. In divine wisdom, those outward signs are no longer given.
Peter was praying when the word came. One writer shows how reasoning can stall obedience.
Peter was not serving as Philip was, but praying, and that was a good condition to be in for the Spirit's voice to be heard. The Spirit said, "Go, do not doubt." How often we find a matter put before us, and our minds start to think and reason. Before we know where we are, we have a thousand reasons not to do the thing pressed upon us... He sent the three men and then He awakened Peter. The whole thing was timed together. They went down to the house of Cornelius, and there was great blessing for the Gentiles.
The Spirit's word reached Peter before the men ever asked him. As another writer puts it, he goes "not in response to their asking, however, but by the direction of the Holy Spirit" (Leslie M. Grant).
Only now does the meaning of the vision begin to open to Peter.
God does not send an angel — a servant — to call Peter and tell him about the messengers standing at the gate... How beautiful this is. I believe Peter now begins to get a hint of what the Lord means by the vision. It was to teach him that with God there was from now on to be no distinction between Jew and Gentile. Under the law, God had forbidden the Jew to mix with the Gentile. Now the Lord taught Peter that that day had gone by — that what God had cleansed, he was not to call common.
Kelly adds that God gave two visions, one to Cornelius and one to Peter. This was designed so that "man's will should be excluded as well as man's wisdom." Every honest mind could then see "that God was the moving spring in it all" (William Kelly).
- Ponder — Peter is caught thinking. Twice in his life a turning point came while he went back over something the Lord had said.
- Spirit — the voice that breaks into that thought is not an angel's but the Spirit's. He speaks when truth has to reach a soul.
- Sent — "I have sent them" is the language of divine authority. The Spirit claims the errand as His own.
- Impulse — guidance here is a divine impulse, not a conclusion reached by reasoning. The outward signs have ceased, but the Spirit Himself remains.
- Open — one man obeyed mid-thought, and the door opened. With God there is now no distinction between Jew and Gentile.
but rise up, go down, and go with them, nothing doubting, because *I* have sent them.
Peter is in a house in Joppa, turning over a vision he cannot explain. Three men sent by Cornelius, a Gentile, stand at the gate below. Then the Spirit speaks. He gives a command and a reason: "I have sent them." That reason settles who opened the door to the nations.
Notice who speaks to Peter here.
He does not learn this lesson at once. He was puzzled about what the vision he had seen could mean (v. 17). But while Peter was thinking about the vision, the Spirit told him that three men were looking for him. Notice that it is the Spirit who speaks, not an angel. When it is a question of dealing with the soul, and carrying the truth to the soul, the Spirit speaks. The Holy Spirit whispers to Peter.
Peter never worked the answer out for himself.
But the Spirit is the agent of all blessing, intelligence, and power in the believer; so this passage puts His place in full view (vv. 19, 20). It must be a divine impulse, not a conclusion drawn by reasoning. For us and for all, this is a lesson of priceless value. At first, no doubt, visible signs and extraordinary power announced His presence and showed the new truth of His work in man. But the reality remains, and He remains with us for ever. In His wisdom, God no longer gives those outward signs.
Two calls reach Peter at the same moment — one from the men at the gate, one from above.
He does not go because they ask him, however. He goes at the direction of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit tells him about the three men looking for him, and tells him to go with them with no reservations of his own, because God had sent them.
One hand set both ends of the errand moving. That is the help for anyone who hesitates over a clear duty.
Peter was not serving as Philip was, but praying, and that was a good state to be in to hear the Spirit's voice. The Spirit said, "Go, do not doubt." How often a duty comes before us, and our mind starts to think and reason. Before we know where we are, we have a thousand reasons not to do the thing pressed upon us. The Spirit said to Peter, "Do not doubt, you go. I have sent the three men." He sent the three men and then He awakened Peter. The whole thing was synchronised.
Peter later had to account for what he did, and he told this story. Three separate strands ran together in it.
Peter told them also how the three men from the Gentile Cornelius stood in person before the house in Joppa at that very moment. He told them how the Spirit told him to go with them without a question. Such a threefold cord could not be broken; each part was independent of the other, and all of them from God... But Peter had something more. While he was thinking about the vision, the Spirit directed him to go with the messengers of Cornelius. That was before he knew that the three men were asking for him at the gate.
The Spirit gave the order. That settles who takes the credit for what followed.
This made it plain, beyond doubt, that God opened the door to the nations as fully as to the Jews. It was not man, not the church, not even the apostles.
The command also began to open up the vision to Peter himself.
I believe Peter now begins to get an inkling of what the Lord means by the vision. It was to teach him that from now on there was to be no distinction with God between Jew and Gentile. Peter had been a good Jew up till this time. But the special thought of the Church is this: "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11).
- Sent — the reason behind the command is "I have sent them." Peter goes at the Spirit's direction, not because the men below asked him.
- Spoken — no angel brings this word. The Spirit Himself speaks to Peter, because carrying truth to a soul is His work.
- Synchronised — one hand sent the messengers and woke Peter, so the two ends of the errand met.
- Settled — the order is a divine impulse, not a conclusion Peter reasoned out. The outward signs have gone, but the Spirit remains with us for ever.
- Sealed — vision, messengers and the Spirit's word form a cord no one can break. God opened the door to the nations, not man and not the church.