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Observe here, 1. That as Cornelius had a vision from God, to encourage him to send for Peter, so the apostle had likewise a vision to encourage him to go to Cornelius.
In which note, 1. The time when he had this vision, it was at the sixth hour, or high noon; which was one of the three hours of prayer: When we are upon our knees in prayer, then is the time for receiving gracious manifestations from God.
Note, 2. The place where he had this vision; when at prayer upon the house-top. The Jewish houses being flat-roofed, with battlements upon them, Peter went up to the house-top to pray, as a place of privacy and retirement, free from noise and distraction; as also to take advantage of the place for divine contemplation, and perhaps to look towards the temple, which was formerly a type of Christ. It teaches us that fitting places, as well as fitting seasons for prayer, are to be sought out and improved by us: Peter went up upon the house to pray.
Note, 3. The frame wherein St. Peter was as to his body, when he had this vision; namely, exceedingly hungry: God ordered it so, to fit him the more for this vision of dainty meat.
Oh taste and see how gracious the Lord is in sending down a dish of dainties from heaven to his hungry children, that are praying to him here on earth!
Note, 4. The manner how the vision was made to St. Peter: It was in the way of divine rapture or ecstasy; he fell into a trance; his soul was as it were abstracted out of the body, and absent from it: that is, drawn off from the perception of all earthly and sensible objects, and enabled unto a more entire attendance upon spiritual and heavenly matters and mysteries: To be sure it made him forget his dinner, and filled him with divine consolation: a soul fed and filled with divine dainties doth sometimes forget bodily hunger: We read no more of St. Peter's sharp hunger after this divine entertainment.
Note, 5. The division itself, or what was represented to St. Peter, first to his eye, then to his ear. To his eye first, He saw heaven opened, Act_10:11.
Teaching, that although heaven had been shut to the children of men by the sin of the first Adam, yet now it was opened by the grace of the second Adam to all believers, both Jews and Gentiles.
Next, he saw a great vessel descending like a large sheet, with all sorts of meats in it, both clean and unclean; and he hears a voice from God, giving him a commission, though he was a Jew, to feed freely without distinction of clean and unclean; signifying to him thereby, that he might indifferently converse with Gentiles as well as Jews, and preach the gospel to one as well as the other.
Note, lastly, How St. Peter's Jewish principles made him startle at this large commission, looking upon the command as unlawful and impious, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean Act_10:14.
But mark the divine direction: What God hath cleansed, that call thou not common. His mistake was rectified by God, who gave him by this vision a clear intimation, that the distinction of meats was now taken away, and the difference between nation and nation was now removed by the death of Christ; and consequently, that he might go and preach the gospel to Cornelius, a Gentile, without scruple or doubtfulness; the partition wall betwixt Jew and Gentile being now broken down.
Learn hence, That the doctrine of the conversion of the Gentiles came first from heaven, was revealed and made known by God himself, who was graciously declared, That there is neither Jew nor Greek; neither bond nor free, neither male nor female. For we are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal_3:28 Thanks be to God, that the blessing of Abraham is come upon us, through Jesus Christ.