Acts 10:34-38
Gentiles Hear the Good News)
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Tag: The Good News is News of Peace
Before we can understand the words of Peter in the above verse (“... preaching good news of peace ...”), we should look at some other passages:
Nahum 1:15
Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him
who brings good news,
who publishes peace!
Keep your feasts, O Judah;
fulfill your vows,
for never again shall the worthless pass through you;
he is utterly cut off.
Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
Ephesians 6:13-15
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, ... and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
When the angels proclaimed Christ’s brith, note their message:
Luke 2:14
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Note Jesus message to His disciples:
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
When Peter, in our verse from Acts, spoke to Cornelius about “peace,” he had good reason to do so. The Gospel is the message of peace between man and God. Right now, all of mankind are under the judgment of the consuming wrath of God. Mankind likes to believe that God is the God of Love and would ever condemn someone to death. Yet, that is not what the Bible teaches. God is a consuming fire for judgment against all sin. If man reject God’s payment for that sin through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, they will face God’s wrath. The gospel is a message of peace because Christ’s sacrifice knocks down the wall between man and God and restores peace.
Ephesians 2:13-16
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
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