During His earthly ministry we hear the Lord Jesus tell His disciples not to go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mt. 10:5–6); and to the woman at the well of Sychar He says, “salvation is of the Jews” (Jn. 4:22). This may seem strange at first glance, yet He is not limiting salvation to the nation of Israel, but rather, He is making it clear that salvation would come from this nation. The promise of salvation was prophesied as coming from the line of David, of the tribe of Judah (Jer. 23:5–6).

The Jews rejected the Lord Jesus and said, as it were, “we will not have this man to reign over us” (Lk. 19:14), and in their rejection they crucified the Lord of glory. In His sovereignty, God intended that this crucifixion was the very means by which salvation would be offered, not to Israel only, but to “whoever calls on the name of the Lord” (Acts 2:21). The commission the Lord Jesus gave His disciples was to be “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Cornelius, a Gentile, had no claims on the promises of Israel, but he feared God and was a man of prayer (Acts 10:1–2). Peter was sent to him to share the truth of the gospel of grace through Jesus Christ. How his heart must have overflowed in praise and worship to hear how God had sent His only Son to die as his substitute and bring him into a relationship with Himself. May we never cease to marvel at the grace of God and tell others of His great salvation!