“Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him” — Acts 10:34, 35.
IN the life and ministry of Simon Peter we see how God made an outstanding witness to His truth from most unlikely material. Who would have thought of the rugged impetuous, profane fisherman Simon ever becoming the eloquent, spiritual preacher, whose burning words would be used to the conversion of thousands of souls? But God works with what He brings, not simply with what He finds. Simon the fisherman, regenerated, becomes Peter the apostle, to whose sermons and letters the whole world owes a debt that it can never pay. While his ministry was primarily toward the Jews, yet the “branches run over the wall” (Gen. 49:22), and he was the one specially chosen of God to open the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 15:7). A man of strong prejudices, his narrow views were superseded by remarkable breadth of vision when taught by the Holy Spirit. Like his brother apostle, Paul, he delighted in “the true grace of God” (1 Peter 5:12), which knows no national or racial boundaries. Hence his messages are the delight of believers from among the nations, whom he once despised, as well as among those of Jewry, who have found in the Lord Jesus the promised Messiah.
“Called from above and heavenly men by birth,
(Who once were but the citizens of earth)
As pilgrims here, we seek a heavenly home,
Our portion, in the ages yet to come.
Where all the saints of ev’ry clime shall meet,
And each with all shall all the ransomed greet,
But oh, the height of bliss, my Lord, shall be
To owe it all, and share it all, with Thee!”
—J. G. Deck