God had to go to a lot of trouble to communicate something to Peter (and to the rest of the church) that he had already revealed clearly and repeatedly - the gospel is for the entire world.
The Great Commission commanded us to make disciples of all nations and Acts 1:8 said that the power of the Spirit would cause the disciples to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. Yet, years after Pentecost, the church was still in Jerusalem and a few places around Judea and Samaria. Christianity was still a Jewish sect and that was not what God intended.
So God spoke clearly and unequivocally to Peter, one of the leaders of the Apostles. He'd already saved Saul of Tarsus and called him to be a minister to the Gentiles, but now he brought a series of visions to Peter, making it clear that no one is "unclean" in the eyes of God because of nationality or geography.
Peter went, reluctantly perhaps, to Cornelius' house and in tomorrow's reading we will see the Spirit of God fall on the Gentiles. It is one of the turning points in the life of the church, the beginning of the work of carrying the gospel around the globe.
Peter was a good man, a man of God, but he was slow to realize that the gospel was for the entire world, not just people like him. Jesus is the savior of the world, not just the savior of the Jews. God had to drive this home to him forcefully before he got the message.
Still, today, we sometimes forget that God's heart is for the entire world and not just for us, for our nation, or for our kind. God loves dirt-poor Africans, Bedouins from the Middle East, or industrious Asians every bit as much as he loves middle class Americans. He is not a respecter of persons. We have no special standing in the USA. He it the God of the world and Jesus is the Savior of the Nations.
We have been given the gospel not simply to be saved and blessed by it but to carry it to the world.
Father, help me to feel your heart for the world.
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