Acts 10:3-8 - What is it Lord?

10:3,4

One day at three o’clock in the afternoon he had a vision. This may well have been a regular prayer time. He saw an angel of God. Note that it says “he distinctly saw”, this was no vague apparition, but a clear vision. The angel called him by name. Cornelius was known to God. Cornelius asked “What is it Lord?”. The angel answered that his “prayers and gifts to the poor had come up as a memorial offering before God”. Now we know that we are saved by faith and grace. We contribute nothing. Yet we see here (and elsewhere) that our way of life, even before we become Christians, matters, and matters to God. We should also note the contrast with Paul. Saul had persecuted many, and was uttering murderous threats on the day of his conversion. There was nothing about his life to commend him to God, yet he was saved. Here there was much about Cornelius’s life to commend him to God, and he was saved. So we must never think that anyone is beyond redemption. Nor must we say that someone’s genuine good deeds count for nothing, for God seems to think that they do!

10:5-8

The angel now tells Cornelius to send men to Joppa to bring Peter back to him. The angel tells Cornelius where Peter is staying. After the angel had gone, “Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier”. It is interesting that a number of the soldiers were “devout”. Cornelius told them everything that had happened.