Read 328.) Acts 9:32-12:25. The first passage, 9:32-43, serves to illustrate the point made in Mk.16:20 and Heb.2:3+4, that the Apostles could perform miraculous signs during the first generation after Jesus ascended, to confirm their ministry and message before others. This is not to be taken as normative for today, as full confirmation was affected by the end of Acts. We could use II Tim.4:20 to help us understand this, as Paul had to leave Trophimus sick….
From Acts 10, Cornelius and those with him were not Jewish. These were the very first converts to Christ from among the non-Jewish, gentile peoples. Again, with angels, visions and the miraculous taking place; this is from that period when the Gospel was being confirmed by Christ. The point is not that such things cannot happen anymore, but that they are no longer normative, and should not be expected. I have seen and heard of most unusual things, miraculous in nature, taking place on mission fields where the Gospel is coming for the first time. From 10:34 to the end, we have Peter's message, and the 6th in this book. We can judge our message, and those of others, by the Apostle's preaching! It's a message of peace with God through Jesus Christ. Being anointed of God with the Holy Spirit, Jesus was the Messiah and Savior. He was killed, but God raised Him up from the dead. Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of their sins and the Holy Spirit. These new gentile believers spoke in unlearned, human, foreign languages to show Peter and those six Jews with him that God had received NON-Jews as His own simply through faith in Jesus Christ His Son! And, since they had been saved, they could partake of that believers' water baptism by immersion that Jesus had commanded His disciples to administer.
Then, with Acts 11, Peter found it necessary to defend himself against accusations presented by other Jewish believers. His defense came down to how that these gentiles were saved when they believed that Gospel message he shared with them, as 11:15-18 declares. We read of a further spreading of the Gospel among gentiles, beginning with 11:19. The result, again, is that these repented and believed the Good News about Jesus Christ and were saved. That it was resulting in a whole new kind of unity between gentiles and Jews is the point of what we see in verses 27 through 30, as they had been separate and largely hating one another up to this time but had now become united through their shared faith in Jesus, which had come to them by Jews!
Acts 12 is of Peter's miraculous escape from martyrdom at the hands of murderous Herod, who dies in the end of the chapter. We read that Herod kills James the brother of John, making him the first martyr among the Apostles. Verses 6 through 19 include the mention of an angel numerous times. Verse 15 is especially interesting, as it mentions Peter's angel. In the light of Hebrews 1:14, we might arrive at this understanding of what has been called our Guardian Angel. Do we each have one of our own? Note however, that Heb.1:14 says they serve us at God's direction, not ours. We are nowhere told that we should attempt to contact angels or to command them to serve us in any way. It's what the Book is all about!
ForeverKingdom,
Harold F Crowell
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