Vision Casting
It was a seminal moment in the church when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers at Pentecost. At this juncture in the early church, Jesus fulfilled his mission of defeating death. Before he ascended to the right hand of God, he told the believers that he was sending an advocate for them, a way that God could be with them always.
Acts 1:8 (NASB 2020)
8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”
In the next chapter of the Book of Acts, we see that the Spirit came upon them and powerfully dwelt among them. What is often lost at this point of God coming to the people in the form of the Spirit is that they were all Jewish followers of Christ. This was the start of the church in Jerusalem; the Holy Spirit had yet to come to the rest of the believers. God’s Spirit was coming to the people in waves; as Jesus said in verse eight, it was to go to Jerusalem, Samaria, and then to the rest of the world. The gentiles had yet to receive the power of the Spirit, but their pentecostal movement was coming, but it came unconventionally.
Matthew 16:18 (NASB 2020)
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
The Apostle Peter was called to be the rock of the church, the solid foundation to establish the Church of Christ in the world. It was Peter who was with the believers when the Holy Spirit came to the early church (Acts 1.8), it was Peter who was with the Samaritans when the Spirit came to them (Acts 8.17), and it was Peter who was with the Gentiles when the Spirit came to them (Acts 10.45). Peter is fulfilling the words of Jesus and building the church, but Peter was the one who denied the deity of Jesus in those moments following his arrest. Peter was the one who denied even knowing Jesus three times. It was at breakfast on the beach with the resurrected Jesus that Peter was restored to the community. Jesus calls for Peter to declare his love for Christ three times to be restored to the Apostle that we know and love today.
Jesus empowered Peter to preach the good news to the people so that the church of Christ and his message of acceptance for all could be heard. It cannot be understated the bizarre nature of Peter’s vision of the Spirit coming to the Gentiles. In a vision from the Spirit, while he was hungry at lunchtime, Peter saw a tent coming down from the heavens with all sorts of animals inside. Animals that any follower of Jewish law would know are forbidden to eat. Peter was given the command to kill and eat everything because everything was now acceptable in the eyes of God.
Acts 10:11–16 (NASB 2020)
11 and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, 12 and on it were all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the sky. 13 A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” 15 Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” 16 This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.
One way to get the attention of someone is to give them a vision of food when hungry. As a Jewish man, Peter would have known the laws regarding what can and cannot be eaten. Either God was playing a cruel joke on Peter, or he was giving him a vision that he could understand. Not only understand but digest in a real authentic understanding. To think the Holy Spirit was for all people was just as crazy as telling Peter to eat “unclean” animals. God was turning upside down all of Peter’s assumptions of what he thought he knew about the kingdom. Peter, through Divine revelation, was able to see that God had a plan for the world, the whole world, not just the Jewish believers of the way.
The Holy Spirit got a hold of Peter in a fundamental and discernible way so that Peter could continue the mission of Christ. Seeing the change in Peter gives us insight into the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter witnessed the Spirit play out precisely as Jesus stated before his ascension. The Spirit was available for all; he should not determine what is holy and unholy. God has gifted his people the Spirit to empower, guide, and discern the wisdom of God. As humans made in God’s image, we are granted the same Spirit because of Peter’s obedience to the Spirit in a moment of uncertainty. Peter’s obedience shows the radical change that can happen when we allow the Spirit to witness to our own spirit.
“The Holy Spirit after the incarnation was not creating an atomized conglomerate of isolated regenerated persons but rather a community, a family of regenerated, an ordered household, and organic body.1 ”
God’s Spirit was given to unify the community and witness to all willing to let the Spirit guide. It does not matter where you are going or where you have been, God’s Spirit is available for all because you are made in the image of God. Being made in the image of God declares that you are worthy and valuable. Race, gender, orientation, socioeconomic, nothing takes away the fact that the Spirit is available for all. The Spirit guides the regeneration of all people so that we can all walk into the grace of God, given by Jesus on the cross.
1. Oden, Thomas C. 2009. Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology. N.p.: HarperCollins. 543.
