SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/16/2018
2:41 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2
Preparation of Cornelius
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 10:1-8
Message of the
verses: “1 Now there was a man at
Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, 2
a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms
to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. 3 About the ninth hour of
the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and
said to him, "Cornelius!" 4 And fixing his gaze on him and being much
alarmed, he said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your
prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 “Now dispatch some
men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; 6 he is
staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea." 7 When the
angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his servants and a
devout soldier of those who were his personal attendants, 8 and after he had
explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.”
As we continue looking at Cornelius we see that he was
not only a good soldier, but he was a God fearer. We can see that the Holy Spirit was doing a
work in his life as He had moved on his dark side in order the he abandoned
this pagan religion and began to worship the Lord. We can say this for certainty because he was
expressing himself as he began to give alms to the Jewish people and also by
the fact that he continued to pray to God.
He did fall short of becoming a full convert to Judaism through
circumcision.
John MacArthur writes:
“Because of His sovereign election of Cornelius, and in response to his
seeking heart, God moved to prepare him.
‘About the ninth hour (3:00 p. m.) of the day he clearly saw a vision an
angel of God who had just come in to him, and said to him, ‘Cornelius!’ The ‘ninth hour’ was the most important time
of prayer in the Jewish day (Acts 3:1).
God responded to his prayer by sending the angelic messenger.”
I think sometimes when I read stories of angels coming to
meet people in the Word of God that I don’t understand the fear that is
involved when this happens, but there has to be fear to see another being. “Fixing his gaze upon the angel and being
much alarmed, he said, ‘What is it, it “lord?”
In a similar case when the angel came to talk to Mary
this angel brought calmness to Cornelius as he said to him “Your prayers and
alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”
As we continue to read through this passage we see that the angel gave
him orders to go to Joppa, and send for a man named Simon who was also called
Peter.
After hearing this Cornelius immediately sent the men to
find Peter. In the book of Revelation we
see in one of the scenes recorded in it that there will be an angel who will be
giving out the gospel message, but not in this case.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Jesus Christ.”
Today’s Bible
question: “What tribe of Israel followed
Rehoboam?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/16/2018 3:06 PM
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