In this trance, this ecstasy, Peter “beheld heaven opened, and a certain vessel like a great sheet descending, being let down by four corners onto the earth, in which were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of the heaven” (vv. 11-12). The opening of the heavens in verse 11 indicates that the Lord’s evangelical move on earth is under His administration on the throne in heaven (see Heb. 8:1; Acts 7:56). All the apostles and evangelists were and still are carrying out the heavenly commission on earth for the spreading of the gospel of the kingdom of God.
Verse 11 says that a vessel like a great sheet descended from the heavens. This vessel symbolizes the gospel spreading to the four corners of the inhabited earth to collect all kinds of unclean (sinful) people (Luke 13:29). The four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds mentioned in verse 12 symbolize men of all kinds.
Acts 10:13 says, “And a voice came to him, Rise up, Peter, slay and eat!” To eat, in this sign, is to associate with people (v. 28).
In verse 14 Peter answered, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common and unclean.” Peter’s not eating things common and unclean is according to the teaching in Leviticus 11. Circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, and a particular diet are the three strongest ordinances according to the law of Moses that caused the Jews to be distinct and separate from the Gentiles, who are regarded by them as unclean. All these scriptural ordinances of the Old Testament dispensation became an obstacle to the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles according to God’s New Testament dispensation (15:1; Col. 2:16).
Acts 10:15 continues, “And a voice came to him again a second time, What God has cleansed, do not consider common!” This refers to the people whom God has cleansed through the redeeming blood of Christ (Rev. 1:5).
In chapter ten of Acts we see an important matter related to God’s economy—the need for a dispensational transfer. In the Old Testament, God’s economy was in a dispensation of figures, types, and prophecies. There was no accomplishment at all of God’s economy in the Old Testament. Eventually the Triune God came in to accomplish everything required by God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory to carry out His economy. It was not only the Son who came but the Son with the Father and through the Spirit. The carrying out of God’s economy is the dispensing of Himself into His chosen people so that He may be mingled thoroughly with humanity to build up an eternal habitation for Him and His chosen people in order that He may have a full expression of Himself in eternity.
Since God in His Trinity came to accomplish everything necessary that He might carry out His economy, there was a dispensational transfer. On the one hand, God could not avoid using the Jewish people for this transfer. On the other hand, Judaism was the foremost obstacle to this transfer. We can see in the four Gospels that there was a struggle, a confrontation, between Judaism and the Lord Jesus. The Lord came to initiate the transfer, that is, to initiate the change. But Judaism tried to frustrate this change. This struggle that began in the Gospels continued in Acts.
Even the Lord’s chosen ones such as Peter, John, and James were not clear concerning the need for an absolute and thorough transfer. Peter’s response to the vision of the great sheet descending from the heavens indicates this. Peter was very good in keeping this time of prayer. But when the Lord wanted him to go to the Gentiles and associate with them, this became a problem to Peter.
Due to his Judaic background, Peter did not want to associate with Gentiles. For a Jew to associate with Gentiles was like eating unclean things. To eat something is to take that thing into us and make it one with us. Peter’s refusing to eat the unclean things contained in the great vessel that descended from the heavens is a portrait of the Jews’ unwillingness to take in the Gentiles and to be one with them. Any Jew who would go to the Gentiles and become one with them would be like a person who eats unclean things.
We have pointed out that the three main ordinances that caused the Jews to be distinct and separate from the Gentiles are circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, and a particular diet. Concerning these ordinances conservative Jews are very strict. According to Ephesians 2:15, these ordinances of the law have been abolished by the Lord’s death on the cross. He has abolished circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, and the particular diet. But although the Lord Jesus abolished these ordinances, Peter still held to them.