INTERVIEW WITH THE APOSTLE PETER - NOW ACTS 28 COMPATIBLE!

The following is a purely imaginary conversation between a young man and the Apostle Peter. It in no way takes the place of reading God's word, but is just a fictional account to illustrate Bible truth.
As one of the scribes of Flavius Josephus, I was sent to discover more of this cult of the Christ which was in Jerusalem. Who better to inquire of than the supposed prince of the apostles, Peter? I found the old fellow easily and he bid me to ask of him anything. Our interview follows: Me: Good sir, I thought I would find you on a throne wearing embroidered garments, and not in such humble surroundings! Peter: May it never be, my child. If truth be told, many of us would still lack even the basic necessities if it weren't for the charity of Paul's followers! You see, when our Lord Jesus left us to await his glorious return, we apostles and our converts to the Way obeyed the instructions he had given us when he walked among us and had all things common, selling or giving away all our goods in preparation for the day of the Lord's wrath to shortly come. We trusted in God's providence for those times ahead; but when we realized that God had postponed the evil day, we found ourselves desperately poor

with no such hope but that the Holy Ghost would inspire Paul's churches to come to our aid. Me: This Paul, is he also part of this "Way" of which you speak? Peter: It was a hard thing for us to understand, my friend, that God would call someone like Paul to add believers to the little flock of believers in Messiah and his kingdom, the Paul who had been persecuting the church of God even unto death! Who was this Paul, that God would choose him to take the gospel of the kingdom to all the world, calling Jew and Gentile alike to aspire to the promises of Abraham? Me: So this Paul began preaching this good news with you? Peter: Yes, my son, Paul received the revelation that there is now no difference between Jew and Greek and that Gentiles that seek the Lord could have a place in the great kingdom to come if they put their faith in Jesus' name. Me: So you and your band never approached Gentiles at all? This promise of a kingdom was only for Jews? Peter: You are a Jew and yet you do not know the holy scriptures of God? God desired to draw Gentiles to himself all along! The door of salvation was always open to Gentiles if they entered in by way of Israel. When the kingdom is set up by our King, and Israel again rises, then the Gentiles will be invited to flock to the great throne! This was also what our Lord meant when before he ascended to his Father's throne, he told us to baptize and teach all nations, and to begin at Jerusalem, Judaea, and Samaria and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. Me: So Gentiles were invited to enter in with Jews in this endeavor? Peter: (laughs). You're steering me to tell the tale of how God sent me to a Gentile named Cornelius in order to begin teaching me that the Gentiles could become Abraham's seed by faith. God knew that I would be loathe to go in unto an unclean Gentile, so he sent me a disturbing vision in which he told me to kill and eat unclean beasts! I was deeply troubled by the vision and doubted in my heart what it should mean. I'm happy to say that I did obey God and go in to Cornelius, who was a God-fearing Gentile. Me: So you told him of the grace of God, how it had now appeared unto Gentiles?

Peter: No, as it had not yet been given to our brother Paul and revealed to me. Cornelius and I spoke of the great things God was going to perform on the earth, for Jew and Gentile alike, in his kingdom. While Cornelius was speaking of his own vision, I concluded that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears him, and works righteousness, is accepted with him. Me: And this Paul, does he teach that man need not work righteousness to be accepted of God? That is against the law of Moses! Peter: It was revealed to Paul by the Lord of glory that men are now saved by believing that the Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood unto death in payment for the sins of the whole world, of both Jew and Gentile, and that he was buried and rose again to justify men apart from the law of Moses. This is the grace of God, and had been spoken by the prophets, that men need not work deeds of righteousness to gain his approval, but believing in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection causes them to be saved by the faith of Christ himself, as they are baptized into his body by the Holy Spirit. The righteousness of the very Son of God is imputed to those who believe. I must admit that I found these things very hard to understand, but Paul was patient with me. Me: This gospel sounds too good to be true! Perhaps this Paul is merely an impostor! Peter: God has shown his power through Paul's own hands in miracles and healings which he wrought through him. This is proof enough of his apostleship, but add to this the incomprehensible turnaround by which he ceased his murderous pursuit of followers of this Way, to become a humble believer in the Lord of glory. Me: So this kingdom you expected to come for the Jews and Gentiles who believed in Jesus failed to arrive? Peter: Not that the prophecy of God had failed! May it never be! But because of his longsuffering and mercy, God set the nation of Israel aside and postponed that time of great tribulation that must come before the Lord will return to earth to establish his kingdom. God is instead acting upon a secret he had hid in his heart that would draw Jew and Gentile alike into one great body for the purpose of ruling the heavens with his Son, Jesus Christ. Me: How did God make known this mystery? Peter: The risen, ascended Lord Jesus Christ appeared yet again to Brother Paul and revealed it unto him as he had promised to do when he showed himself unto Paul at the first. Me: So you and your Jerusalem church are a part of that now? Peter: No, my son. We Jews who have believed in the name of Israel's messiah, Jesus,

and have acknowledged our national sin of disobedience to God committed by our people from the beginning of the world, have been promised a magnificent kingdom here on this spot. It's for this that we still wait. Many thousands of Jews wait with us for that hope, and we are all zealous of the law. We may die not yet having received the promise but have confidence that we will be raised when our King returns bearing our salvation. We are the Jews of the circumcision who have tasted the joys of the new covenant, which were instituted in our Messiah's own blood. The law of this new covenant will be easy to bear when in the future kingdom we will have the Holy Spirit poured out in such abundance and God's law written in our hearts that we cannot fail to do so. In that day, my fellow apostles and I will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes as our King has promised. Me: What will you do while this mystery gospel is in force? Peter: We understand and uphold the message of grace he has been taught by the risen, glorified Lord of heaven; but we will care for our own little flock of kingdom believers and step down from making converts while he offers God's grace to Gentiles who were without God in the world until now. Me: I would learn more of this Paul. Where might I find him? Peter: Our brother, Paul, is in Rome under house arrest. I pray you will go to see him, heed his gospel and be saved! Good day and Godspeed, young man. Godspeed!