Chapter 22: THE BREAKING OF THE YOKE
Chapter 22: THE BREAKING OF THE YOKE
Acts x. 17; xi. 18
"Yet he who at the sixth hour sought
The lone house-top to pray,
There gained a sight beyond his thought —
The dawn of Gentile day.
Then reckon not, when perils lour,
The time of prayer mis-spent;
Nor meanest chance, nor place, nor hour
Without its heavenward bent."
— Newman.
WITHOUT DOUBT THE Levitical system, in its strict prohibition of certain kinds of food, as set forth in Lev. xi., placed a very heavy yoke on the neck of the Hebrew people. In fact, at the first General Council of the Church Peter described it as a yoke, "which neither they nor their fathers had been able to bear." It was obviously intended to secure their separateness from all other nations, so that they might become a peculiar treasure, a Kingdom of priests, and a holy nation, specially set apart for the Divine use. A middle wall of partition was erected between Jew and Gentile, that nothing might dilute or impair the sacred deposit of truth committed to Abraham and his seed. But hard as the restrictions were, there was no hesitation in their maintenance. In the fiery persecution of the Jews by Antiochus, men chose rather to die than defile themselves with meats, and so profane the holy covenant. The refusal to eat swine's flesh was ranked with circumcision and Sabbath-observance as a matter for which a Jew should unhesitatingly lay down his life.
As the result of these food-prescriptions, the Gentile world was viewed as strangers and foreigners, "far off," aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. They were without God and without hope. If they desired to be received into the Palace of the Great King, they must travel round by the tents of Abraham and the wilderness of Sinai. It was consonant with this that certain men came down from the Mother Church to the earliest Church formed exclusively of Gentiles, saying — "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved."
It was clearly necessary that the cancelling of Levitical distinctions should be as clearly defined as their imposition; and therefore Peter's Vision, the embassy from Cornelius, and the manifest corroboration by the Holy Spirit were concentrated in this remarkable episode. Peter and Cornelius were brought together, and so was opened the new and living way which the Lord had already consecrated through His flesh. We Gentiles have been made nigh by the blood of Christ, because He hath reconciled us to God in one body by the Cross.
The Unveiling of the Mystery took three days.
I. Caesarea: 3 P.M. — Cornelius came of one of the noblest of Roman families. He belonged to the same stock as the Scipios, Sulla, and the mother of the Gracchi. "No name was more honourable at Rome than that of the Cornelian House. An earnest seeker after God, he had grown weary of the polytheism, idolatry, and superstitions of his age, and had sought satisfaction in the one faith that presented the conception of the Unity and Spirituality of God, together with a strenuous demand for purity, righteousness, and mercy. Amid widespread atheism, the ceaseless conflict of rival schools, and the foul corruption of morals, the severe ideals of the Hebrew Scriptures stood as a white sunlit peak shooting up amid the profound shadows of departing night; and large numbers of the heathen world were attracted. "Behold darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the peoples: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee; and nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."
When Cornelius took up his quarters in the splendid city which Herod had created, some thirty miles to the north of Joppa, he was brought into yet closer contact with the religion and literature of the Old Testament.
As he studied them he became increasingly impressed, and there grew up within his soul an earnest desire for those fuller revelations of the Divine, to which seers and prophets, priests and kings, had incessantly borne witness. He was a devout man, generous in his gifts to the poor, careful to maintain religion with all his household, and constant in prayer. His domestics and his orderly regarded him as "a just man," and he was " of good report among the Jews." Probably he was a proselyte of the "Gate," and carefully observed the prescribed hours of daily prayer. But with all this he was not satisfied, and at that time was apparently passing through a deep exercise of soul. He was seeking goodly pearls, but had not found the one Pearl of great price, to obtain which he would have been well satisfied to part with all.
He knew that he was ostracized by the Jews — was it his duty to submit to their initial rite and be received into their synagogue as one of themselves? He had heard of Jesus of Nazareth, His holy life. His miracles. His teaching — would it be wise to enrol himself with His followers? Not improbably it was in connection with these and kindred problems that he set apart one quiet day to ascertain by prayer and fasting what God's will might be. He had offered many previous prayers of the same kind: "Thy prayers and thine alms are gone up for a memorial before God." But this prayer was more specific and urgent: "Cornelius, thy prayer is heard." He had reached such a pitch of intensity that his soul was dissolved in one passionate cry for help. "I . . . prayer," said the Psalmist. "I will not let Thee go unless Thou bless me! Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy name. And He blessed him there."
Wrestling I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy name and nature know.
Suddenly an angel stood beside him. His messengers, in recounting the incident to Peter, described him as "a holy angel." Cornelius himself spoke of him as "a man in bright apparel." The Lord is good to them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him. He that willeth to do His will shall know. Let us follow on to know the Lord; His going forth is sure as the morning. At first, brave soldier as he was, and accustomed to face danger, Cornelius was greatly startled by this sudden contact with the spirit-world. Recovering himself, he asked: "What is it. Lord?" and was told that his prayer for light and guidance would be answered through the instrumentality of one Simon, surnamed Peter, who was lodging at a tanner's house in Joppa, abutting on the shore.
It is well worth our notice that God does not commission Angels to evangelize the world or instruct His saints in the mysteries of the Kingdom. There is a sense in which He taketh not hold of Angels, but of the sons of men. On each Lord's Day He might have opened the gates of Heaven and sent bands of Angels to instruct and inspire us; but it is not so. The treasure is placed in earthen vessels. Men and women, full of human sin and frailty, are chosen as His ambassadors to their fellows. "Moreover He said to me, Son of man, all My words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears; and get thee to the children of thy people and speak unto them." The Angel could have spoken almost all Peter's sermon and more, but all that he was sent to do was to tell Cornelius to send for the fisherman — Apostle. Not for Philip the evangelist, though he was residing in the same city, because he had not passed through the same exercises of soul or had reached the same point of vision as Peter. Let us never forget that the soul-discipline through which we may be passing is carefully designed to make us meet for the Master's use, and to prepare us to deliver a definite message with the profound sympathy and understanding of personal experience. "What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light, and what ye hear in the ear, that proclaim ye upon the house-tops." God always knows where to find His chosen instruments.
Their addresses are registered in Heaven.
II. — Joppa: 12 Noon. Cornelius lost no time in acting on the vision. As soon as the Angel had stepped back behind the curtain of sense, he called for, and despatched to Joppa, two household servants and a devout soldier, all of whom sympathized with his religious convictions. They were able to cover part of the distance during the remaining hours of the afternoon, and finished their journey at noon on the following day.
Peter, as we have seen, was just emerging from an ecstasy in which he beheld the vision of a redeemed world, and God had showed him that he should not call any man common or unclean. He naturally realized that if the distinction between clean and unclean animals was abolished, the abolition of the distinction between Hebrew and Gentile was necessarily implied.
The middle partition wall had been demolished. The grace of God had overflowed the dams and banks by which it had been restrained. Salvation was as impartial as the dew or rain, which knows no delimitation of frontier, but refreshes with equal love the adjacent fields of just and unjust, bond and free, Samaritan, Gentile and Jew.
In personal experience, before we step out on an unknown path, let us wait for our visions to be corroborated by the knocking at the door and the clear bidding of the Spirit. Peter was encouraged and assured by the concurrence of these three. "While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, 'Behold, three men seek thee.' " In connection with this conjunction we must never lose sight of the urgent need of uniting Visions and Duties. We are always standing between the two. Each of us has visions, clearer or duller, in sunlight or starlight, bright and beautiful, or clouded and obscure; and each is beset with the knock and appeal of our fellows: from the sharp knock of the telegram to the soft tap of feeble age or tiny childhood. Not the vision without the task, or we become dreamers and visionaries. Not the task without the vision, or we become as dumb driven cattle.
When you are doubtful whether your vision is from God, wait for the further indication of His will through circumstance. Listen for the three men knocking and calling in the street beneath. And when you have been assured to this extent, wait for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, saying, "Arise, and get thee down, and go with them, nothing doubting, for I have sent them."
All Peter's doubts vanished. His hesitation was ended. He invited the three men into the house, shared with them the meal which had been preparing, lodged them for the night, and on the following morning started with them on the journey to Caesarea. They must have travelled by the great high road which skirted the shore of the Mediterranean. During the afternoon, whilst the messengers were resting, Peter had secured the companionship of six believing Jews, under the evident impression that he was taking a step which would be closely scrutinized by the Apostles and leaders at Jerusalem. The journey of these ten men occupied more than a day, and it was on the morning of the third day from Peter's vision that the party entered Caesarea — the city of marble palaces, and seat of Roman Government. How incredulous the citizens would have been if they had been informed that in the coming time the chief interest taken in their proud city would arise from its association with that group of travel-worn pedestrians, who one morning in A.D. 43 or 44 passed through the city gates, and wended their way to the Roman barracks, to have an interview with the officer in command. Only a few ruins attest the site of Herod's city, whereas the visit of Peter and his companions dated the beginning of a movement which has affected the entire world.
Caesarea: 3 P.M. — Cornelius seems to have been the centre of a religious circle of relatives and near friends, whom he had informed of his recent experiences, and had invited to share with him the help of which the Angel had given the assurance. The time for the return of his messengers, with their expected guest, had been carefully calculated, and at the appointed hour many came together. In the words of the host, they were all present in the sight of God to hear the things with which the Lord had entrusted His servant on their behalf.
When it was announced that the party had arrived, Cornelius met them at the outer gate, and with instinctive reverence and courtesy prostrated himself before the man who had been commissioned by a message from the Unseen. Peter instantly stooped to raise him, saying, "Stand up; I myself also am a man." Well would it have been if all his successors had imitated his manly simplicity and humility. As they passed together to the assembly-room, where the expectant gathering awaited them, he spoke so pleasantly and familiarly that his host was placed entirely at his ease, and he was able to detail the marvellous circumstances which had led to the present meeting. At the close of his brief address he added, "Thou hast done well that thou art come" — a sentiment in which many around him shared. Then, amid the awed hush, in an atmosphere charged with spiritual emotion, and with the consciousness that he was in the current of the Divine purpose, Peter opened his mouth and spoke.
His address fell into three distinct compartments. He told again the well-known story of Jesus, who, though habited in the guise of great humility, was nevertheless Lord of all. He gave his emphatic personal testimony to His Resurrection from the grave — "We ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead." Finally he proclaimed the forgiveness and remission of sin through faith in His Name. Not a word was uttered about circumcision. There was no suggestion that they must pass through the synagogue to the Church. Neither Abraham nor Moses was mentioned.
The one condition of forgiveness was faith in Him, whom the Jews slew, hanging Him on a tree, but whom God raised from the dead. The offer was made to men of every nation, wherever they feared God and wrought righteousness; whether Jew or Gentile, they were welcome to close with God's great offer of forgiveness and peace, and would be "accepted in the Beloved."
No burst of eloquence or charm of speech adorned this simple address. Indeed, Peter had only begun to speak when an indescribable impression swept over the audience, as the summer breeze breathes over the rustling corn. It was as though the Spirit of God were eager to get at once to work, and put Peter gently aside. On the day of Pentecost the Apostle had time to develop his argument and drive home his appeal; but in this case neither the one nor the other was required. The Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word.
There was no startling sound from Heaven, and no lambent flame, but there was the gift of tongues. And the six brethren who had accompanied Peter were amazed as they heard them speaking with tongues and magnifying God.
Whilst Peter witnessed that scene, as he said afterwards, it reminded him of Pentecost. "As I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning; and I remembered the word of the Lord how He said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. God gave unto them the like gift as He did also unto us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ." There were the same upturned gaze, the same enraptured look into the face of Jesus, the same desire to speak of His beauty, the same consciousness of supernatural power. The whole company, which before had been a group of separate units, were suddenly welded into a Unity and became a Church.
Is not this scene full of encouragement? There is doubtless a sense in which the Advent of the Holy Spirit, first to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost, and secondly to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius, can be no more repeated than the birth and nativity of our Lord; but there is another sense in which each Gentile soul may experience the same Divine infilling.
Through Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham has come upon the Gentiles so "that we may receive the promise of the Spirit by faith." As by faith we receive the saving grace of Jesus, so by faith we may receive the filling, and the repeated fillings, of the Holy Spirit.
But such faith always exists in union with an entire surrender of the will, and devout fellowship with God through Scripture. Why should not each reader study once more Gal. III., and at verse 14 claim his inheritance? Are we not joint-heirs with Christ? There may be no emotional response, but the reckoning of faith cannot be ashamed. Would that every minister and teacher were so filled, that the Holy Spirit might fall, as soon as we commenced to speak. It was said of Finney that on one occasion, when passing through a factory, a girl made an approbrious remark about him, which he overheard. He turned to look at her, and instantly she cried out under a deep conviction of sin, which so spread among the workpeople, that the whole place became a Bochim of tears and prayers. Forasmuch as God gave unto them the like gift which he did unto us. Have we received that same gift? There are five tests which supply an infallible answer. If so: —
1. The Lord Jesus will be an abiding presence in our lives.
2. The Prayer-life will become increasingly real.
3. The Self-life will be kept on the Cross.
4. There will be unmistakable but quiet power in service.
5. The Spirit of Grace and Love will be conspicuously present in our behaviour and conversation.
Have we received? If not, why not? "Let him that is athirst take of the river of life freely." It flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the case of Cornelius and his friends, the Baptism by the Spirit was immediately followed by baptism in water. The inward grace was ratified by the outward act. Following the rule which Paul observed afterwards, Peter did not himself baptize, probably to guard against the impression that the ordinance derived special sanctity from the person who administered it. He left it therefore to the six brethren from Joppa to complete the formal acceptance of these Gentile disciples into the Christian Church. Caesarea to-day, but Rome presently!
IV. The Challenge of the Mother Church. — The tidings of what Peter had done soon reached Jerusalem, and he lost no time in returning to give in his personal impression and reports. Not Jerusalem only, but the brethren throughout Judaea had heard that the Gentiles also had received the Word of God, from which we may infer that the news had occasioned vast excitement and probably misunderstanding. The circumstances which had led the leader of the Church to make so serious an innovation on recognized custom and procedure required careful consideration before they could recognize his act or welcome the new converts. The Evangelist tells us that when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, "they that were of the circumcision" contended with him. From this we gather that within the Church there was already forming a strong conservative party, which afterwards gave much trouble, and insisted with obstinate tenacity that the Gentile must submit to the Jewish rite before admission to their ranks. There was a tone of arrogant contempt in their reference to the uncircumcised men, with whom Peter had sat down to eat.
Our Apostle met their charges by a careful narration of the facts. Had he been invested with the absolute authority, with which the apostate Church has credited him, he would never have allowed his brethren to call him to account, would never have pleaded his cause at their bar, would never have summoned witnesses to attest his truth. He would have carried the matter with a high hand, and asserted his supreme and unassailable authority. Instead of this he appealed from men and from himself to God. The descent of the Spirit, identical as it was with their own experience, was the Divine vindication of his action. "If God gave unto them the like gift . . . who was I, that I could withstand God?" To Gentiles who believed the sealing of the Spirit had been given, equally as to Jews who believed. Faith, altogether apart from the presence or absence of any rite, had been the sufficient condition of this sealing. Surely, then, neither circumcision availed anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working by love. Nothing more could be said.
"When they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life."
The question, however, came up in an acuter form at the First Council of the Church, the proceedings of which are recorded in Acts xv. There again Peter told his wonderful story to prove that God, who searches and knows all hearts, had borne witness to the genuineness of Cornelius's faith by communicating the Holy Spirit as to themselves at the first. He at least made no distinction between the Hebrew and the Gentile.
It was sufficient that their hearts were alike cleansed by faith. Why burden them with the intolerable yoke of rites and ordinances, "which had indeed a show of wisdom in severity to the body, but were of no value against the indulgence of the flesh "? He gave it, therefore, as his convinced belief that Gentile and Jew alike would be saved by faith only, through the grace of the Lord Jesus, and altogether apart from the presence or absence of any rite.
These were noble words, but neither they nor the decision of the Council availed to settle the strife between the two parties that rent the Church with their contentions. Indeed, the conservative view became so strong that, as Paul tells us in Gal. ii., Peter quailed before it, and even the amiable Barnabas was led away.
It fell, then, to Paul, the younger man, to take up and defend the sentiments which the elder Apostle had so boldly enunciated years before. He withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. Strong measures were employed, because they were needed. If his later relapse had remained unchallenged, Peter's example and influence would have become, not a rock of foundation, but a stone of offence, which would have led to the confusion of the Gospel and the overthrow of weaklings in the faith.
We may be thankful for the unswerving loyalty with which the Apostle of the Gentiles contended throughout his harassed career for a principle which he may have learnt from Peter, and which he expressed in the noble words that he addressed to his erring friend: "Though we are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, we know that it is not through obedience to law that a man can be declared free from guilt, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. We have therefore believed in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of being declared free from guilt, through faith in Christ, and not through obedience to Law. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me."