And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.
Cornelius told everything the angel had shown him to two of his household servants and a devout soldier who served him continually, and sent them to Joppa to find and bring Simon Peter. He did so at once after the angel departed, in prompt obedience to directions explicit down to Peter lodging with Simon the tanner in his house by the sea. The angel could have told him the gospel directly, but God honors His gospel ministry and organized church by joining heaven and earth, so a man subject to human frailty was to teach him concerning the crucified, risen and ascended Saviour and how he and his house could be saved. That sending put Cornelius in connection with Peter to open the gospel to the Gentiles, beginning their first major conversion and new phase of the church's work in which they were made fellow citizens with the saints on equal terms without circumcision. Because Cornelius feared God, prayed daily, and lived up to all the light he had, God answered with a special message and set in operation a train of circumstances to bring this honest-hearted seeker to one who could lead him into greater light, a pattern He still follows for all who follow on to know Him.
Words and Immediate Setting
Cornelius told everything the angel had told and shown him to two of his household servants and to a devout soldier who waited on him continually, and he sent them to Joppa to find and call Simon Peter. Through them he obeyed the direction to seek further instruction through Peter. His sending put him in connection with God's minister so that Peter would impart the light entrusted to him to Cornelius and all his family. That obedience won the salvation of all his house.
He acted at once, promptly and gladly, as soon as the angel who spoke to him had departed. His messengers were sent to Joppa without delay to find Peter. The prompt sending was a directed step in God's plan to bring Cornelius and Peter together.
The directions he obeyed were explicit down to Peter lodging in Joppa with Simon the tanner in his house by the sea, showing that God knew exactly where Peter was to be found and told Cornelius where to find him. Even the occupation of Peter's host was named. That precision belongs to a God who knows people's histories, business, daily employment, and circumstances in every station of life.
The verse belongs to the vision of Acts 10:1-8, in which Cornelius was visited by an angel bringing a message from God. In that vision his prayers and his alms with his acts of charity are said to have come up for a memorial before God and to have been remembered before Him. It belongs also to the calling of Peter while he was at Joppa to take the gospel to Cornelius in Caesarea.
Divine Knowledge and Guidance
The explicitness of the directions Cornelius obeyed, down to naming Simon the tanner and his house by the sea in Joppa where Peter was lodging, proves that Heaven is well acquainted with the history and business of men in every station, knowing the daily employment of the humble laborer as well as the king on his throne. The Lord knows every person by name and just where they live and the spirit they possess and every act of life, while ministering angels pass through the churches noting faithfulness in each one's individual line of duty. His eye is likewise upon merchants and princes and those in positions of responsibility and stewardship, as it was upon Cornelius as a man of high position who maintained integrity by strictly walking in all the light he had received.
Nothing is hidden from God, whether evil such as avarice, cruelty, secret crimes, and selfishness, or good such as charity, liberality, and kindness. God employs immortal messengers to communicate instruction to human beings, and instruction is often given to men in this way. Angels directed at every step to bring Cornelius and Peter together, with Cornelius obeying at once after the angel who spoke to him departed by declaring all things to two household servants and a devout soldier who waited on him continually and sending them to Joppa. In this they act as guides and powerful helpers of God's chosen messengers on earth, and heaven is much nearer to the Christian engaged in soul-saving than many suppose. The angel's work opened Cornelius's mind to receive the gospel and directed the mission that brought Peter to him with the message of salvation, showing God's compassion and tender love for those seeking and praying for light.
God instructed people through visions and directed them what to say and do. He used vision to support and correct people in relation to Bible truth, as when Peter was corrected as he was about to preach to the Gentiles, rather than to establish a new rule of faith.
Heaven and Human Cooperation
The angel could have told Cornelius the gospel message directly, but that is not God's way of working. God deliberately withheld the message from the angel in order to bring Peter and Cornelius into personal connection with each other. God knew exactly where Peter was to be found, lodging in Joppa with Simon the tanner, and told Cornelius where to send to find him. God honors the gospel ministry and His organized church by requiring members to connect together, so the light and truth already entrusted to Peter would be imparted by Peter to Cornelius and to all his family.
Rather than having the angel preach the cross, a man subject to human frailty and temptation was to instruct Cornelius concerning the crucified, risen, and ascended Saviour and teach him and his house how they could be saved. The gospel was not to be communicated by the angel but by the human instrument Peter, so Gentiles needing its truth would receive it through chosen human messengers. That sending joins heaven and earth in the work.
The sending shows heavenly agencies cooperating with human instrumentalities to bring light through heavenly intelligences to those honestly seeking it. It belongs to a divinely ordered transaction manifesting the wisdom of Christ. The Lord works marvelously when men do not thwart His purposes with human wisdom, for He has His own means of accomplishing the work He wishes done, because all power in heaven and earth belongs to Him. God is interested in every human being, and Christ died to redeem every soul. Cornelius was following on to know the Lord, and his prompt obedience in declaring all that had been told and shown him to two of his household servants and a devout soldier who waited on him continually and sending them to Joppa to call Peter won the salvation of all his house.
Heaven is much nearer to the Christian engaged in the work of soul-saving than many suppose, as seen in the ministration of heavenly angels resulting in the conversion of Cornelius and his company. Each should treat his fellow man as one of the Lord's instrumentalities for accomplishing His work in the earth.
In every age God sets in operation a train of circumstances to bring honest-hearted seekers into connection with those of His people who can best reach their individual needs. God sent messengers to earth to start the chain, and Cornelius declaring all things to his servants and sending them to Joppa was his part in it, with Peter brought through angel ministration into cooperation with inquiring souls who have all things in readiness to hear the truth and receive advanced light. He uses servants with different special knowledge and training to help different classes of inquirers. The resulting conversion of Cornelius and his household was only the first fruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world, carrying on a widespread work of grace from that home through a heathen city, and the same design requires earnest, devoted, determined work for associations like the Women's Christian Temperance Union that souls as honest as Cornelius who are seeking light may be gathered out.
Gospel Opened to Gentiles
The sending put Cornelius into connection with Peter so that the gospel could reach the Gentiles and make them fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household. It marked the opening of the Christian church to the Gentiles, with Gentile believers to be accepted as equal to Jewish disciples without circumcision and to share the gospel's blessings on equal terms with Jewish believers. God used the events surrounding Peter's mission to break down prejudice and to teach those who loved and feared Him.
The events set in motion the first major conversion among the Gentiles and opened a new phase of the church's work. The apostles still regarded the Gentiles as excluded from the gospel's privileges, even though Christ's death had broken down the barrier between Jews and Gentiles. God granted the Gentiles repentance and salvation and opened the way for them to hear the gospel and receive the Holy Spirit. The message of salvation was thus extended beyond the Jewish people to the world, and the conversion of Cornelius and his household became the first fruits of a wider work among the people of Caesarea.
The meeting taught with surprise even reluctant Peter that God is no respecter of persons but accepts in every nation those who fear Him and work righteousness. Peter afterward reported to the brethren in Judea the coming of the messengers, his journey to Caesarea, and his interview in which Cornelius told of being directed to send for him. That report was proof that his going to a Gentile house was commanded by God in direct fulfilment of the plan to destroy prejudice and exclusiveness and to open the way for the gospel to the Gentiles.
Though Cornelius was accepted by God for devout piety, and his prayers and alms were acceptable as far as his knowledge went, he needed an advance in faith and a new experience to do his work intelligently through Jesus Christ in whom all fullness dwells. Neither prayer nor almsgiving can take the place of Christ, and all is complete only in Him. Longing and praying for light from heaven as one of the earnest seekers among the nations, he received Christ with gladness when Christ was revealed to him. Peter's experience in his home corroborates the promised blessing received by the apostles, when the promised power came upon believers and they spake in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Seeker Led to Fuller Light
Cornelius was a Roman centurion, a man of high position and influence in the world who was not counted a disciple of Christ, yet he feared God's name and lived by righteous principles. He maintained his integrity and religious experience by strictly walking in accordance with all the light he had received, living up to the very best light he had while thinking toward truth he did not yet know. He had faith in God according to the light he had, was reaching out for more light, and prayed daily for light and guidance. He with those with him were honest seekers of light, living by the best light they had and all ready to walk right into the truth when it is brought to them.
Because he was following on to know the Lord and lived in obedience to the truth he had received and improved all the light received, God saw that he would do honor to the church. God therefore answered him with a special message from heaven, passing by the self-righteous and calling him by name, and arranged through angelic guidance for him to receive more truth. That arrangement was to bring him into connection with someone who could lead him into greater light and teach him more of the Word, by telling what had happened to two of his household servants and a devout soldier who waited on him continually and sending them to Joppa to call and summon Peter to visit him. His obedience to the instruction he had received was part of God's ordering of events to bring him into contact with Peter and fuller truth, and his obedience in sending to Joppa won the salvation of all his house. Heaven thus worked with human messengers to bring sincere Gentiles who serve God according to the light they have received into fuller truth.
Gentiles serving God with the light they have are as acceptable to Him as Jews. Many in the world walking in all the light they have are nearer the kingdom than is supposed, and in this dark world of sin God counts such souls as precious jewels. They will be led into clearer and still clearer light when God's servants make special personal efforts to minister to them, for God will guide His messengers to them and use His believing ones as His instrumentalities to minister the bread of life. That ministry is to revive and comfort those who are weary and distressed and fainting for spiritual food, with words of hope and cheer from lips touched by a live coal from God's altar, and includes special personal efforts for people in authority who are seeking spiritual truth.
What happened to him will happen in the last days, for he represents more than one person now who is in the same place. Many will prize the wisdom of God above any earthly advantage and obey the Word of God as the supreme standard, and will be led to great light and come to the knowledge of the truth. That great light is the next page of light to be opened to them by those who have greater light and greater advantages as representatives of Jesus Christ, the great light of present truth including the Sabbath truth they have never had. They will then seek to bring that light of truth before acquaintances who are anxious for the truth, becoming conscientious light bearers to the world who, themselves constrained by the love of God, will constrain others and improve every opportunity to invite and urge others to come and see the beauty of the truth and to give their abilities to advance the work of God.
Present Mission Call
The whole tenth chapter of Acts, including the sending to Joppa, shows the way God works on human minds for one who feared His name, and it is instruction to be read and prayed over until understanding is opened. That understanding calls workers to begin earnestly to work for souls in their home field and to arouse to home missions, lest they be found wanting in the day of God. The gospel is to be preached to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles, given as freely to one as to the other, with simplicity and Bible godliness and with no erecting of barriers.
Cornelius, a Roman officer of high position who followed the light he had received, was given a message from heaven and directed to send to Joppa while Peter was directed to visit him to give further light, encouraging special personal efforts for people in authority who are seeking spiritual truth. He represents men in positions of responsibility and stewardship, including men in Brisbane, whose sympathies are with believers but who are held by threads binding them to the world and lack moral courage to take their stand with the lowly ones. Reaching them requires special care and heavier, more determined effort because of the responsibilities they bear and the temptations that come with stewardship, and the Lord will work with those who as Christ's representatives try to reach the higher classes so they cannot fail. God's eye is likewise upon merchants and princes who will take their position to obey the truth, passing by the self-righteous to call them by name and instruct them what to do to receive greater knowledge by becoming acquainted with Christ's disciples. God's work must not drift into securing only the poorest and those cultivating traits of character which unless thoroughly transformed will bring objectionable elements into the church, for without the transforming grace of Christ constantly, daily at work upon the heart Christ is dishonored, Satan is pleased to have means and effort devoted to lines that give no strength or solidity to the cause, while the work should now be elevated and strong, bearing the impress of heaven.
God's providential direction of Cornelius is the pattern for His work today, for the Lord knows those that are His and as He directed Cornelius He will direct everywhere those who take their stand for present truth. He directs people to places where someone needs divine help and guidance, as the centurion's messengers were sent to Joppa and Peter was directed to the centurion. All heaven is interested in the proclamation of the gospel, so impossibilities become easy when workers trust Him, refuse hopelessness, sow seeds of truth beside all waters, and labor more intelligently and earnestly with the Bible as Guide and Counsellor in proclaiming present truth impressively and acceptably.
The obedience in sending to Joppa won the salvation of all his house, and Cornelius and Peter became acquainted in gospel missionary work in which Cornelius as a man of influence with believers could accomplish a great work. That conversion of Cornelius and his household was only the first fruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world, carrying a widespread work of grace from that home through a heathen city. The same design requires earnest, devoted, determined work for associations like the Women's Christian Temperance Union, that honest souls as honest as Cornelius who are seeking light may be gathered out even from those bitterly opposed to the message. This interest of the Lord in a praying seeker is great encouragement in work for souls and calls for convocations for prayer to ask the Lord to open the way so truth may enter strongholds where Satan has set up his throne and dispel the shadow he has cast across the pathway of those he seeks to deceive and destroy. God deliberately withheld the gospel message from the angel in order to bring Peter and Cornelius together so the light already given to Peter would be passed on by Peter to Cornelius, purposing personal connection between those who have light and those who need it and requiring believers to unify and deal with one another in love, honesty, justice, and truth.
Cornelius told everything the angel had shown him to two of his household servants and a devout soldier who served him continually, and sent them to Joppa to find and bring Simon Peter. He did so at once after the angel departed, in prompt obedience to directions explicit down to Peter lodging with Simon the tanner in his house by the sea. The angel could have told him the gospel directly, but God honors His gospel ministry and organized church by joining heaven and earth, so a man subject to human frailty was to teach him concerning the crucified, risen and ascended Saviour and how he and his house could be saved. That sending put Cornelius in connection with Peter to open the gospel to the Gentiles, beginning their first major conversion and new phase of the church's work in which they were made fellow citizens with the saints on equal terms without circumcision. Because Cornelius feared God, prayed daily, and lived up to all the light he had, God answered with a special message and set in operation a train of circumstances to bring this honest-hearted seeker to one who could lead him into greater light, a pattern He still follows for all who follow on to know Him.
Words and Immediate Setting
Cornelius told everything the angel had told and shown him to two of his household servants and to a devout soldier who waited on him continually, and he sent them to Joppa to find and call Simon Peter. Through them he obeyed the direction to seek further instruction through Peter. His sending put him in connection with God's minister so that Peter would impart the light entrusted to him to Cornelius and all his family. That obedience won the salvation of all his house.
He acted at once, promptly and gladly, as soon as the angel who spoke to him had departed. His messengers were sent to Joppa without delay to find Peter. The prompt sending was a directed step in God's plan to bring Cornelius and Peter together.
The directions he obeyed were explicit down to Peter lodging in Joppa with Simon the tanner in his house by the sea, showing that God knew exactly where Peter was to be found and told Cornelius where to find him. Even the occupation of Peter's host was named. That precision belongs to a God who knows people's histories, business, daily employment, and circumstances in every station of life.
The verse belongs to the vision of Acts 10:1-8, in which Cornelius was visited by an angel bringing a message from God. In that vision his prayers and his alms with his acts of charity are said to have come up for a memorial before God and to have been remembered before Him. It belongs also to the calling of Peter while he was at Joppa to take the gospel to Cornelius in Caesarea.
Divine Knowledge and Guidance
The explicitness of the directions Cornelius obeyed, down to naming Simon the tanner and his house by the sea in Joppa where Peter was lodging, proves that Heaven is well acquainted with the history and business of men in every station, knowing the daily employment of the humble laborer as well as the king on his throne. The Lord knows every person by name and just where they live and the spirit they possess and every act of life, while ministering angels pass through the churches noting faithfulness in each one's individual line of duty. His eye is likewise upon merchants and princes and those in positions of responsibility and stewardship, as it was upon Cornelius as a man of high position who maintained integrity by strictly walking in all the light he had received.
Nothing is hidden from God, whether evil such as avarice, cruelty, secret crimes, and selfishness, or good such as charity, liberality, and kindness. God employs immortal messengers to communicate instruction to human beings, and instruction is often given to men in this way. Angels directed at every step to bring Cornelius and Peter together, with Cornelius obeying at once after the angel who spoke to him departed by declaring all things to two household servants and a devout soldier who waited on him continually and sending them to Joppa. In this they act as guides and powerful helpers of God's chosen messengers on earth, and heaven is much nearer to the Christian engaged in soul-saving than many suppose. The angel's work opened Cornelius's mind to receive the gospel and directed the mission that brought Peter to him with the message of salvation, showing God's compassion and tender love for those seeking and praying for light.
God instructed people through visions and directed them what to say and do. He used vision to support and correct people in relation to Bible truth, as when Peter was corrected as he was about to preach to the Gentiles, rather than to establish a new rule of faith.
Heaven and Human Cooperation
The angel could have told Cornelius the gospel message directly, but that is not God's way of working. God deliberately withheld the message from the angel in order to bring Peter and Cornelius into personal connection with each other. God knew exactly where Peter was to be found, lodging in Joppa with Simon the tanner, and told Cornelius where to send to find him. God honors the gospel ministry and His organized church by requiring members to connect together, so the light and truth already entrusted to Peter would be imparted by Peter to Cornelius and to all his family.
Rather than having the angel preach the cross, a man subject to human frailty and temptation was to instruct Cornelius concerning the crucified, risen, and ascended Saviour and teach him and his house how they could be saved. The gospel was not to be communicated by the angel but by the human instrument Peter, so Gentiles needing its truth would receive it through chosen human messengers. That sending joins heaven and earth in the work.
The sending shows heavenly agencies cooperating with human instrumentalities to bring light through heavenly intelligences to those honestly seeking it. It belongs to a divinely ordered transaction manifesting the wisdom of Christ. The Lord works marvelously when men do not thwart His purposes with human wisdom, for He has His own means of accomplishing the work He wishes done, because all power in heaven and earth belongs to Him. God is interested in every human being, and Christ died to redeem every soul. Cornelius was following on to know the Lord, and his prompt obedience in declaring all that had been told and shown him to two of his household servants and a devout soldier who waited on him continually and sending them to Joppa to call Peter won the salvation of all his house.
Heaven is much nearer to the Christian engaged in the work of soul-saving than many suppose, as seen in the ministration of heavenly angels resulting in the conversion of Cornelius and his company. Each should treat his fellow man as one of the Lord's instrumentalities for accomplishing His work in the earth.
In every age God sets in operation a train of circumstances to bring honest-hearted seekers into connection with those of His people who can best reach their individual needs. God sent messengers to earth to start the chain, and Cornelius declaring all things to his servants and sending them to Joppa was his part in it, with Peter brought through angel ministration into cooperation with inquiring souls who have all things in readiness to hear the truth and receive advanced light. He uses servants with different special knowledge and training to help different classes of inquirers. The resulting conversion of Cornelius and his household was only the first fruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world, carrying on a widespread work of grace from that home through a heathen city, and the same design requires earnest, devoted, determined work for associations like the Women's Christian Temperance Union that souls as honest as Cornelius who are seeking light may be gathered out.
Gospel Opened to Gentiles
The sending put Cornelius into connection with Peter so that the gospel could reach the Gentiles and make them fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household. It marked the opening of the Christian church to the Gentiles, with Gentile believers to be accepted as equal to Jewish disciples without circumcision and to share the gospel's blessings on equal terms with Jewish believers. God used the events surrounding Peter's mission to break down prejudice and to teach those who loved and feared Him.
The events set in motion the first major conversion among the Gentiles and opened a new phase of the church's work. The apostles still regarded the Gentiles as excluded from the gospel's privileges, even though Christ's death had broken down the barrier between Jews and Gentiles. God granted the Gentiles repentance and salvation and opened the way for them to hear the gospel and receive the Holy Spirit. The message of salvation was thus extended beyond the Jewish people to the world, and the conversion of Cornelius and his household became the first fruits of a wider work among the people of Caesarea.
The meeting taught with surprise even reluctant Peter that God is no respecter of persons but accepts in every nation those who fear Him and work righteousness. Peter afterward reported to the brethren in Judea the coming of the messengers, his journey to Caesarea, and his interview in which Cornelius told of being directed to send for him. That report was proof that his going to a Gentile house was commanded by God in direct fulfilment of the plan to destroy prejudice and exclusiveness and to open the way for the gospel to the Gentiles.
Though Cornelius was accepted by God for devout piety, and his prayers and alms were acceptable as far as his knowledge went, he needed an advance in faith and a new experience to do his work intelligently through Jesus Christ in whom all fullness dwells. Neither prayer nor almsgiving can take the place of Christ, and all is complete only in Him. Longing and praying for light from heaven as one of the earnest seekers among the nations, he received Christ with gladness when Christ was revealed to him. Peter's experience in his home corroborates the promised blessing received by the apostles, when the promised power came upon believers and they spake in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Seeker Led to Fuller Light
Cornelius was a Roman centurion, a man of high position and influence in the world who was not counted a disciple of Christ, yet he feared God's name and lived by righteous principles. He maintained his integrity and religious experience by strictly walking in accordance with all the light he had received, living up to the very best light he had while thinking toward truth he did not yet know. He had faith in God according to the light he had, was reaching out for more light, and prayed daily for light and guidance. He with those with him were honest seekers of light, living by the best light they had and all ready to walk right into the truth when it is brought to them.
Because he was following on to know the Lord and lived in obedience to the truth he had received and improved all the light received, God saw that he would do honor to the church. God therefore answered him with a special message from heaven, passing by the self-righteous and calling him by name, and arranged through angelic guidance for him to receive more truth. That arrangement was to bring him into connection with someone who could lead him into greater light and teach him more of the Word, by telling what had happened to two of his household servants and a devout soldier who waited on him continually and sending them to Joppa to call and summon Peter to visit him. His obedience to the instruction he had received was part of God's ordering of events to bring him into contact with Peter and fuller truth, and his obedience in sending to Joppa won the salvation of all his house. Heaven thus worked with human messengers to bring sincere Gentiles who serve God according to the light they have received into fuller truth.
Gentiles serving God with the light they have are as acceptable to Him as Jews. Many in the world walking in all the light they have are nearer the kingdom than is supposed, and in this dark world of sin God counts such souls as precious jewels. They will be led into clearer and still clearer light when God's servants make special personal efforts to minister to them, for God will guide His messengers to them and use His believing ones as His instrumentalities to minister the bread of life. That ministry is to revive and comfort those who are weary and distressed and fainting for spiritual food, with words of hope and cheer from lips touched by a live coal from God's altar, and includes special personal efforts for people in authority who are seeking spiritual truth.
What happened to him will happen in the last days, for he represents more than one person now who is in the same place. Many will prize the wisdom of God above any earthly advantage and obey the Word of God as the supreme standard, and will be led to great light and come to the knowledge of the truth. That great light is the next page of light to be opened to them by those who have greater light and greater advantages as representatives of Jesus Christ, the great light of present truth including the Sabbath truth they have never had. They will then seek to bring that light of truth before acquaintances who are anxious for the truth, becoming conscientious light bearers to the world who, themselves constrained by the love of God, will constrain others and improve every opportunity to invite and urge others to come and see the beauty of the truth and to give their abilities to advance the work of God.
Present Mission Call
The whole tenth chapter of Acts, including the sending to Joppa, shows the way God works on human minds for one who feared His name, and it is instruction to be read and prayed over until understanding is opened. That understanding calls workers to begin earnestly to work for souls in their home field and to arouse to home missions, lest they be found wanting in the day of God. The gospel is to be preached to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles, given as freely to one as to the other, with simplicity and Bible godliness and with no erecting of barriers.
Cornelius, a Roman officer of high position who followed the light he had received, was given a message from heaven and directed to send to Joppa while Peter was directed to visit him to give further light, encouraging special personal efforts for people in authority who are seeking spiritual truth. He represents men in positions of responsibility and stewardship, including men in Brisbane, whose sympathies are with believers but who are held by threads binding them to the world and lack moral courage to take their stand with the lowly ones. Reaching them requires special care and heavier, more determined effort because of the responsibilities they bear and the temptations that come with stewardship, and the Lord will work with those who as Christ's representatives try to reach the higher classes so they cannot fail. God's eye is likewise upon merchants and princes who will take their position to obey the truth, passing by the self-righteous to call them by name and instruct them what to do to receive greater knowledge by becoming acquainted with Christ's disciples. God's work must not drift into securing only the poorest and those cultivating traits of character which unless thoroughly transformed will bring objectionable elements into the church, for without the transforming grace of Christ constantly, daily at work upon the heart Christ is dishonored, Satan is pleased to have means and effort devoted to lines that give no strength or solidity to the cause, while the work should now be elevated and strong, bearing the impress of heaven.
God's providential direction of Cornelius is the pattern for His work today, for the Lord knows those that are His and as He directed Cornelius He will direct everywhere those who take their stand for present truth. He directs people to places where someone needs divine help and guidance, as the centurion's messengers were sent to Joppa and Peter was directed to the centurion. All heaven is interested in the proclamation of the gospel, so impossibilities become easy when workers trust Him, refuse hopelessness, sow seeds of truth beside all waters, and labor more intelligently and earnestly with the Bible as Guide and Counsellor in proclaiming present truth impressively and acceptably.
The obedience in sending to Joppa won the salvation of all his house, and Cornelius and Peter became acquainted in gospel missionary work in which Cornelius as a man of influence with believers could accomplish a great work. That conversion of Cornelius and his household was only the first fruits of a harvest to be gathered from the world, carrying a widespread work of grace from that home through a heathen city. The same design requires earnest, devoted, determined work for associations like the Women's Christian Temperance Union, that honest souls as honest as Cornelius who are seeking light may be gathered out even from those bitterly opposed to the message. This interest of the Lord in a praying seeker is great encouragement in work for souls and calls for convocations for prayer to ask the Lord to open the way so truth may enter strongholds where Satan has set up his throne and dispel the shadow he has cast across the pathway of those he seeks to deceive and destroy. God deliberately withheld the gospel message from the angel in order to bring Peter and Cornelius together so the light already given to Peter would be passed on by Peter to Cornelius, purposing personal connection between those who have light and those who need it and requiring believers to unify and deal with one another in love, honesty, justice, and truth.