New Road Church

On hearing of Peter's imprisonment, the church had gathered for a prayer meeting. Yet when God answers their prayers, they cannot believe it! Is this really a case of lack of faith or something else? It is fairer to them to suggest that they were limiting their prayers to requests which they thought was in accordance with what they knew about God. We do the same, and many of us will testify that God frequently exceeds our expectations. These thoughts lead us naturally to consider two vital factors in prayer: knowing the will of God and having faith that he loves to answer and enjoys surprising us with his answers.

Peter is sprung from jail by an angel, and the event can be compared to the spiritual equivalent whereby a sinner is freed from bondage to sin and Satan.

There's a narrow path which leads to eternal life, and few find themselves on it. There's also a wide road which leads to eternal destruction, and multitudes remain on it their whole lives. Life's biggest question is: which are you on?

Barnabas here provides an example which the believer would do well to consider. As several Christlike qualities are looked at, it becomes clear that these they flow out a fullness of the Holy Spirit and faith which by the grace of God Barnabas possesses.

We can and should view the conversion of Cornelius et al as symbolic of the great shift which was occurring in God's economy; but it is just as important that we learn from his individual salvation as a God fearer. Was his religious lifestyle acceptable to God? Are there shades of acceptance with God, or is salvation a discrete matter—one is either "in" or "out"? Cornelius may have been well known for his God-fearing life, but he needed to be saved by the blood of Christ, and God saw to it that the gospel was taken to his house. There quickly followed faith and receipt of the Holy Spirit, and this was immediately portrayed in the application of water to the converted audience in the rite of baptism.

Peter's strange vision of the animals had its effect: Gentiles were no longer to be called "common" or "unclean". The gospel of Jesus Christ would be preached as enthusiastically to them as to the people of Israel. This was part of the great transition where the kingdom of God had come and a new era where all things had become new. For us, the distinction between clean and unclean is based on a man's standing before God: righteous or unrighteous.

Following Peter's declaration, a disabled man arises. After a request was made to him, Peter arises. After a prayer of faith, a dead woman arises. These three "risings" in this passage portray for us the rising from the paralysis of sin in conversion, the rising up in faith to do good works, and the rising from the dead in the resurrection, respectively.

Paul, the new convert, is ready to preach. By an act of immediate spiritual advancement, he grasps the gospel well enough not merely to preach but to make an apology. That is, he uses his learned and unlearned knowledge to add arguments to the material facts of the gospel. He gives the hearers reasons to believe what he has told them. Christians should pray for God to raise up preachers who God will use to find and rescue his lost sheep.

The involvement of Ananias in the conversion story of Saul of Tarsus gives us an example of readiness in God's service. Certainly, there was in him an initial hesitance, but he soon put that aside and did what the Lord told him. It reminds us of the Lord's own reluctance to go to the cross but how his will "realigned" with the Father's and became once again a determination to go to his Calvary appointment. Most significantly in this passage is how God had ordained Paul become an instrument, or vessel, in his hands. Whatever the metaphor, we are to be ready to be used by God and, importantly, accept that each of us is vital to the purpose of God as devised by him. Strangely prominent in Paul's commission was the reality that he would suffer for Christ. Saul had tried to eradicate the name of Jesus throughout the earth. Now, he would suffer trying to spread the name of Jesus throughout the earth. Even in times of ease for the church, its people should be ready for greater suffering, because in it they will find a strange joy as they share in Christ's sufferings.

Saul's conversion is renowned for its drama. The risen Christ confronts him mid-way through a mission to persecute another branch of the church. He is to find that, rather than ride into Damascus with victory on his mind, he will be led by the hand there, his sight gone. In the confrontation, Jesus shows how that to persecute his followers is to persecute him. Saul is humbled and must wait for days in the darkness of blindness for his instructions from the Lord. An often-neglected aspect of the story is that of his companions. They saw the light of Jesus but did not see him. They heard the voice of Jesus but did not understand him. They fell down before Jesus but did not repent and put their trust in him. So it is today. The greatest question we can ask the people of this world is: "Have you seen Jesus?"