PROVIDENTIAL COINCIDENCE

                             

On the front porch of his little country store in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln and Berry, his partner, stood. Business was all gone, and Berry asked, “How much longer can we keep this going?” Lincoln answered, “It looks as if our business has just about winked out.” Then he continued, “You know, I wouldn’t mind so much if I could just do what I want to do. I want to study law. I wouldn’t mind so much if we could sell everything we’ve got and pay all our bills and have just enough left over to buy one book—Blackstone’s Commentary on English Law, but I guess I can’t.”

A strange-looking wagon was coming up the road. The driver angled it up close to the store porch, then looked at Lincoln and said, “I’m trying to move my family out west, and I’m out of money. I’ve got a good barrel here that I could sell for fifty cents.” Abraham Lincoln’s eyes went along the wagon and came to the wife looking at him pleadingly, face thin and emaciated. Lincoln ran his hand into his pocket and took out, according to him, “the last fifty cents I had” and said, “I reckon I could use a good barrel.” All day long the barrel sat on the porch of that store. Berry kept chiding Lincoln about it.

Late in the evening Lincoln walked out and looked down into the barrel. He saw something in the bottom of it, papers that he hadn’t noticed before. His long arms went down into the barrel and, as he fumbled around, he hit something solid. He pulled out a book and stood petrified: it was Blackstone’s Commentary on English Law. Lincoln later wrote, “I stood there holding the book and looking up toward the heavens. There came a deep impression on me that God had something for me to do and He was showing me now that I had to get ready for it. Why this miracle otherwise?”

In the book of Acts we are told about a man named Cornelius, a Gentile who worshiped the Jewish God. He not only gave alms to others, but also offered his prayers to God regularly.  One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. An angel of God said to him, “Cornelius…your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea”(Acts 10:1-6).

After raising Dorcas from the dead, Peter “stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon (Acts 9:43). Tanners were some of the most despised people in Israel and no self-respecting Jew would have anything to do with such a man. Tanning required constant contact with dead animal carcasses. Under Jewish law (Lev. 11:39-40), touching a carcass rendered a person ceremonially unclean.  Tanners were located outside the city because of the smell associated with tanning.  

It is interesting that the great apostle did not return to Jerusalem but stayed at an odoriferous home. One would think he would want to leave quickly! Surely this was part of God’s providential hand orchestrating events in Joppa and Caesarea. The Spirit was leading these events to assure the door for the Gospel would be flung open to the Gentiles! “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; How ... unfathomable His ways!” (Rom.11:33).

Simon the tanner was just hosting a visiting brother. He had no idea that he was playing a major role in God’s eternal plan. There were many brethren in Joppa who had more habitable homes but God chose a tanner’s home as accommodation for his servant. The angel gave Cornelius exact instructions for finding Simon. God never forgets a name and he never loses an address. He knows exactly where to find you any time He wants you. He knows how to send people across your path and into your life to fulfill His own inscrutable purposes.

Nothing is more interesting in the book of Acts than to see how God keeps track of men. Does He need a man to meet an Ethiopian travelling away from Jerusalem with a great longing in his soul? He knows where Philip lives. Does He need a man to find blind Saul of Tarsus on the street called Straight? He knows where Ananias lives. Does He need a man to give the gospel to a good Roman centurion? He knows Peter's present, temporary address.

Though Simon the tanner may have been despised by the Jews, he was evidently an earnest disciple of Christ. He was ready to furnish an abode for Peter for a prolonged period while he was preaching in Joppa. Peter had evidently learned before he had received that vision the lesson, in part, that ceremonial defilement no longer defiled a man. He found in Simon a brother, rather than a man who was unclean by reason of his trade.

Cornelius did not take long to obey God’s command.  Immediately the angel left Cornelius “called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants and sent them to Joppa (Acts 10:7-8). Cornelius took them fully into his confidence in this matter; he trusted these men. The angel did not tell Cornelius the reason for which Simon Peter was sent but he obeyed and waited to see.

At that same time God was preparing Peter to go and explain the gospel to a Gentile. God had to deal with a huge attitude issue Peter had. Peter was gladly going about enthusing the assemblies among the Jews; but he was not willing to go to a distinctly Gentile community. If a Jew went into a Gentile country, they would “shake the dust” off their feet before returning to Israel.  Shaking the dust signified the removal of pagan defilement and pollution before re-entering the Holy Land.

About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat” (Acts 10:9-13).

Back then, houses had flat roofs which people used for recreation rest and reflection because it was often cool and quiet. The rooftop would also be provide a peaceful place to pray, free of distractions. Because it was noon, the smells from the kitchen below likely wafted upward and Peter's stomach began to "growl." This provided a perfect preparation for God's "food" vision. Peter was thinking about food, God used Peter's thoughts as the basis for the revelation now to be made to him.

Our God is the God of finite detail! He is active in our lives in even the smallest, mundane, seemingly meaningless details. There are no chance occurrences with the omnipotent, sovereign God!  Peter responded “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven “(Acts 10:11-16).

Peter had kept the Old Testament dietary laws (Leviticus 11:2-3; 20:26). He believed he could do serious damage to his spiritual life if he ate any “unclean” food. The list of animals in the vision is the same threefold division of the animals found in the Noah account of Genesis 6:20 and the creation account of Genesis1:30. It thus symbolized the entire animal world and included clean as well as unclean animals.

The Jews considered the Gentiles unclean. If milk was drawn from a cow by Gentile hands, a Jew could not drink. No Jew would ever eat with a Gentile. If a Jew even touched a Gentile on the street, he had to go home immediately and wash. A Gentile was never invited into a Jewish home. Now perhaps we can understand better why Peter had to have this vision of clean and unclean animals.

These clean and unclean animals all had a symbolic meaning which Peter would later come to understand. The sheet containing the clean and unclean animals represented all of humanity made up of both Jews and Gentiles. The clean animals were the Jews and the unclean animals were the Gentiles. The four corners of the sheet in the vision correspond to the four points of the compass—north, south, east and west.

God was teaching Peter that the Gentiles were no longer unclean. The Gospel would eventually go to the four "corners" of the world.  Isaiah 11:12 had said that Israel would be gathered from the four corners of the earth."  When the Son of Man  will come on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory,  he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other (Matt. 24:30-31).Jesus  died  for the whole world. The Gospel of salvation is for everybody

Peter was already staying with Simon whose profession of tanning was considered by most Jews to be unclean! This was surely preparatory work in Peter's heart which would soon overcome even greater prejudice. Peter's walls of prejudice were progressively being lowered- dwelling in the home of one who had an unclean profession, accepting unclean animals and soon after accepting "unclean" people (Gentiles)!

Before the messengers from Caesarea reached Joppa the Lord showed Peter a vision that prepared him to receive them. Peter was on the housetop perplexed by the vision he had just seen. The Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” Here we see God’s sovereign timing; At the exact time Peter is perplexed and thinking about the meaning of the vision, Cornelius’s men arrived.

Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?” The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests (Acts 10:21-23).

God is always at work; sometimes we get to see it but most of the time we do not see it. When you do not see it, remember God is always at work. God's ways of carrying out His supernatural work using natural means are absolutely fascinating! Luke does not give us these three men's names, but God knows their names and He will reward their faithful service in carrying out Cornelius' instructions.

Their mission was one piece of puzzle by which Gentiles were brought into the Kingdom of Heaven!  Perhaps you feel unappreciated for you are anonymous to many as were these three in Acts 10. If so, this story should greatly encourage you if you are faithfully fulfilling the mission you know God has given you to accomplish (Eph. 2:10). Be fully assured that your faithfulness in time will yield fruitfulness throughout eternity.