Acts 10:24-33
Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. (v. 24b) There are a couple of interesting items about this statement. First, Cornelius gathered all of those closest to him. So, (a) he must have had every expectation that Peter would come when he sent for him, and (b) he must have been expecting something special to occur when Peter arrived. The fact that an angel had appeared to him probably made it easier for him to have that confidence in Peter’s arrival and to bring his family and friends to his house.
Second, a bit of geography. Caesarea is about 30 miles north, up the coast from Joppa. Cornelius’ vision occurred around 3:00 pm and he sent his couriers out soon thereafter. They probably had a few hours travel that day and into the afternoon the next day before getting directions and arriving at Peter’s. Peter decided that it was too late to start back that same day so he gave the couriers the night to rest, taking off the next morning. They probably got most of the way to Caesarea that day and arrived probably mid- to late-morning or early afternoon at Cornelius’ house. So, reading between the lines, not only did Cornelius expect that Peter would answer his call, but he had every expectation of Peter’s relatively urgent response and fully expected the entourage to arrive sometime midday the fourth day, enough so that he could have his family and friends there when Peter arrived.
What I am pointing out with these observations here is more than simple faith on Cornelius’ part – it was EXPECTANT faith!! Cornelius fully expected that God would do whatever He would and that He would do it with little time lost. Cornelius went from God-fearing to God-trusting to God-active in his life. Cornelius sets a good example for us – so where is our expectant faith?
Slava Bohu!
Wow!