Poured Out on the Nations

Day 167: Acts 10:24-48

“The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too.” - Acts‬ ‭10:45‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Go ahead and search the globe. You will not find a more diverse group of people on earth than Christians today. Spanning thousands of miles, languages, cultures, ways of life, and social standing, no other religion can touch Christianity’s appeal to the nations.

It has a lot to do with what happened here in Acts 10. Now, Jesus had predicted this would happen: Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-16. Still, the fulfillment of what He said was jarring to the Jewish Christians.

“God has welcomed ALL people into His family? This isn’t just about us?”

Long before Jesus declared His desire for the nations, we know that Abraham was given this kind of vision for his descendants.

God said, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3)

The narrowing of God's plan to Abraham’s family was better positioning Him to make a play for all those on earth. God loves His family to be colorful and multicultural.

Doesn’t this excite you to be a Christian today?

"The Jewish believers who had accompanied Peter from Joppa were astounded by what they saw and heard: Gentiles, those 'lesser breeds without the law,' had actually received the same Holy Spirit as they themselves had received on believing the same message. How right Peter had been in his new insight into the impartiality of God as between people of one race and another!"
- Bruce, F. F. (1988). The Book of the Acts (p. 217)