MONDAY - 15TH SEPTEMBER, 2025
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - Olusola & Oreoluwa ADEJUMO
COME OUT OF THAT VIEW! - Beyond The Common Series 005
"15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."
God is calling some out of their prejudiced and biased view. It would have been okay and not sinful before God to hold that kind of view for some time - especially when it's your time of ignorance and you don't know any better. Now however that God is commanding a new thing and is asking you to come out of that view, you'd better heed Him.
One day, just one afternoon like that while they were making lunch for Peter, God came to him in a trance. How subtle and simple our God can announce Himself at times? In a trance, Peter sees all sorts of animals dropped by a sheet held on its four sides from heaven. What a sight! It would have been okay if the trance ended there but the 'temptation' of Peter continued. He heard a voice calling unto Him, "Rise Peter, kill and eat."
The voice called repeatedly but to no avail. All Peter could reply with was, "14 ...not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." Yet, the Lord would not stop pressing it to him that there's therefore no more difference, separation or segregation - "15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."
You would think Peter would eventually heed God's voice having known and proven that it was God calling out to him but all was just to no avail. He's just too entrenched to act! Peter has conclusively refused to allow his old dietary laws to be broken.
Some of us are as stubborn as Peter. You're as glued to your tradition, beliefs, prejudices, biases, sentiments as him. Even when God is offering assurance that "it is a cleansed meat", headily you'll still refuse to taste. Or what should we make of Peter? He's like one being piped to who still refuses to dance. What baffles me is that God told him to keep shut and to stop insisting that the meat He has cleansed was still unclean or common. God in His right senses came to Peter to call him out to plough the Gentile world. For that, He had to give him a corresponding conviction and a basis for doing something as absurd as evangelizing them (since the Jews were separated and don't fellowship with the Gentiles). To have proper conceptualization of this trance therefore, we'll need to examine a few symbols as this trance marks a turning point in the Gospel’s reach.
The sheet coming down from heaven symbolizes divine initiative. God is revealing something new, not man’s idea.
The sheet’s four corners may symbolize the four directions of the earth - universality of the Gospel. It means what was once restricted to Israel is now meant for all nations.
The variety of animals included clean and unclean animals (per Jewish law in Leviticus 11). For Peter, this is shocking. It breaks centuries of dietary distinctions that separated Jews from Gentiles. Symbolically, the animals represent all peoples: Jews (clean) and Gentiles (unclean), now united in Christ.
The command to “Kill and eat” equals fellowship, acceptance and communion. God is asking Peter to break through his old boundaries of ritual separation. The command pushes Peter beyond tradition into a new covenantal reality.
Peter’s resistance , “By no means, Lord…” reveals the tension: even apostles struggled with letting go of old categories or ways of doing things. His objection echoes Israel’s long history of faithfulness to the Law, yet God is moving them forward.
God’s response: “What God has made clean…” is the heart of the vision. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, purity and holiness are redefined. The cross breaks the old boundary lines of Jew versus Gentile, clean versus unclean. God Himself is the one who redefines what is “clean” - not human tradition.
The repetition (three times) equals emphasis and certainty. Consider the dreams doubled to Pharaoh which Joseph interpreted also (Gen.41:32). It mirrors Peter’s earlier threefold denial and threefold restoration (John 18 and 21). It underscores that this is God’s fixed will; Peter must accept it.
All in all, the symbolic and theological meanings would mean the inclusion of the Gentiles. The vision only came to prepare Peter to accept Cornelius (a Gentile) and his household into the faith (Acts 10:34–48). Let's answer for ourselves, Do we still categorize people into “clean” and “unclean,” “worthy” and “unworthy”? God’s voice rather speaks, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” The trance calls us to radical hospitality, unity and openness to God’s surprising work in people we might not expect. God has therefore redefined holiness, broken human barriers and opened the gospel to all nations. You cannot reverse that? Can a clay speak to the Potter saying, "what makes you" (Rom. 9:20)?
PRAYER: Lord, thank You for Your salvation plan that extends to the Gentile world. It is this that saved and brought me in. Teach me to steward what I've received and to truly see men in the newness of the new birth.
BIBLE IN A YEAR
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