Simon Peter was interrupted by God three times while speaking (Mt. 17:5; Lk. 22:60; Acts 10:44). When this happened on the first two occasions, Peter was speaking in ways that did not honor his Lord, and he had to learn the sad reality of the weakness of the flesh. In today’s meditation, Peter is found speaking correctly; he was being led by God in his speech and bringing the message of life to his hearers. Yet the Holy Spirit interrupted him while he “was still speaking” (Acts 10:44). Humanly speaking we do not like being interrupted, but Peter’s entire life-story is that he had been interrupted by the Trinity!

God was opening the door of faith to the Gentiles, those nations which had not been linked to God in a covenantal way as Israel had been. Peter was Christ’s chosen witness for this. God told Peter to go to the house of Cornelius the centurion, and bring the gospel to him and his family. Peter was led by the Holy Spirit and left the town of Joppa to fulfill his mission. We admire Peter’s obedience here—it was a very extraordinary thing for a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile.

Peter’s gospel message had five simple points about Jesus Christ: (1) He is Lord of all; (2) He delivers from the power of the devil; (3) He was crucified and raised from the dead; (4) He will judge the living and the dead; and (5) He gives the remission of sins to all who believe in Him (vv. 36–40). We learn from Peter’s message that the gospel is simple, and that we should simply declare the facts without a lot of fanfare, and certainly without emotional appeals or fleshly gimmicks. “While Peter was still speaking” the Holy Spirit fell upon the listeners. This is a good lesson for us: to know when to stop speaking and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. May we heed it!