A moment the veil grew thin
Peter's Vision of the Sheet
On a rooftop at noon, hungry and praying, Peter saw heaven opened and a great sheet let down full of every kind of animal, with a voice saying, Rise, kill, and eat. It was the moment the door of the gospel swung open to the whole world.
“And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:”Acts 10:11
What happened
What happened. In Acts 10, Peter goes up on a housetop to pray about the sixth hour, and becomes very hungry. While food is being prepared, he falls into a trance and sees heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth. In it were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air, animals the law of Moses had called unclean. A voice comes: Rise, Peter, kill, and eat. Peter refuses: Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. The voice answers, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This happens three times, and the vessel is received up again into heaven. While Peter wonders what it means, messengers arrive from Cornelius, a Gentile centurion, and the Spirit tells Peter to go with them. He does, and preaches Christ, and the Holy Ghost falls on the Gentiles, and they are baptized. The vision's meaning becomes plain: God shows no partiality.
What it opened
What it opened. This opened heaven did not so much reveal the glory of God as reveal the reach of His grace. The sheet full of clean and unclean creatures was a parable in the sky: the barrier between Jew and Gentile, long held under the ceremonial law, was being taken away in Christ. What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. Peter grasps it and confesses, 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. The purpose was commission, to send the gospel out to the nations, and correction, to break down the wall of prejudice in Peter's own heart. It was a hinge of history, the moment the church learned that the good news of Jesus is for all peoples. This was a specific revelation given to launch the Gentile mission, not a general pattern for private guidance by trance. But its fruit belongs to every believer outside Israel, for by it the door was opened, and we who were once strangers have been brought near.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. The heaven that opened over Peter opened because Christ had already made the way. It is His blood that cleanses what was common, His cross that broke down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, making of both one new man. The sheet let down from heaven and taken up again pictures a grace that comes down to the unclean and lifts them up made clean. All of it flows from the One who said, ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man (John 1:51); He is the open heaven for every nation. Because of Him, people from every tongue and tribe now have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh (Hebrews 10:19-20). The vision teaches that access to God is no longer bounded by ceremony or bloodline; it is bounded only by Christ, and in Him the boundary has become a wide open door.
Questions people ask
What did the sheet full of unclean animals mean?
It was a picture of God removing the old barrier between Jew and Gentile. The unclean animals stood for the peoples once kept at a distance under the ceremonial law. God was declaring, through Christ, that He now cleanses and welcomes people of every nation into His family.
Does this vision mean all food laws are abolished?
The immediate lesson Peter drew was about people, not diet: God is no respecter of persons. Yet it rests on the truth that in Christ the ceremonial distinctions have served their purpose and are fulfilled. The heart of the vision is that the gospel and the cleansing of Christ are for all nations.
Was this a normal way for God to guide Peter?
No. It was an extraordinary, once-for-a-turning-point revelation to open the Gentile mission, confirmed by the Spirit and by events. It is not a model for seeking trances or private signs. We are guided today chiefly by Scripture and the Spirit, all centered on Christ.