Cornelius was a Gentile. More than that, he was a Roman. Oh, and he was also a military commander. The Jews were supposed to stay away from Gentiles—and the Romans were foreign invaders who ruled over the Jews. So was God’s gospel for someone like Cornelius? It was an important question. At first Peter thought the good news about Jesus was especially for Jews. But God did something to change Peter’s thinking.

One afternoon, Cornelius had a vision in which an angel told him that he had favor with God and that he should talk to Peter, who was with a man who lived by the sea named Simon. The very next day Peter also had a vision. His vision showed him various animals that were unclean for Jews to eat, but God told Peter three times that these animals were now clean. This means it would be okay to enter a Gentile’s house and eat with him. As you can tell, these two visions were God’s way of moving the two men to meet each other. When they finally met, Peter preached the gospel. And do you know what happened? While Peter was speaking about Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word” (Acts 10:44). The Gentiles (Cornelius and his household) immediately repented, believed, and were baptized!

Man’s rebellion against God led to the nations being driven apart from one another (see Gen. 11:1–9). But when God sent the Snake Crusher, he brought the nations back together. Jews and Gentiles could become a new kingdom, with the Snake Crusher as their King.