While Peter was puzzling over the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house and approached the gate.
Peter saw the vision yet did not see it until the Spirit became his interpreter, a mirror of our own dullness. We lag so far behind him that many explanations hardly suffice us. But mark this: he pondered the vision earnestly once he came to himself, a sign of godly reverence. The Lord opens to those who knock. We deserve to profit poorly from Scripture when we are so cold and careless in seeking understanding.
AI summary
Cornelius had received positive orders from heaven to send for Peter, whom otherwise he had not heard of, or at least not heeded; but here is another difficulty that lies in the way of bringing them together - the question is whether Peter will come to Cornelius when he is sent for; not as if he thought it below him to come at a beck...
Commenting on Acts 10:9-18
Peter doubted what the vision meant, the sheet, the beasts, the command to kill and eat, and what God's cleansing signified. He turned it over in his mind with genuine uncertainty, until Providence intervened: the very men sent by Cornelius arrived and stood at the gate, and that arrival became the key that unlocked the whole vision.
AI summary