Circumcised Believers: ³ Why did you violate divine law by associating with outsiders and sitting at the table with them for a meal? This is an outrage!

Peter: ⁵ I was in Joppa, I was praying, and I fell into a trance. In my vision, something like a huge sheet descended from the sky as if it were being lowered by its four corners. It landed right in front of me. ⁶ It was full of all kinds of four-footed creatures that we would call unclean—I could identify mammals, snakes, lizards, and birds. ⁷ Then I heard a voice say, “Get up, Peter! Kill these creatures and eat them!” ⁸ Of course, I replied, “No way, Lord! Not a single bite of forbidden, nonkosher food has ever touched my lips.” ⁹ But then the voice spoke from heaven a second time: “If God makes something clean, you must not call it dirty or forbidden.” ¹⁰ This whole drama was repeated three times, and then it was all pulled back up into the sky.

¹¹ At that very second, three men arrived at the house where I was staying. They had come to me from Caesarea. ¹² The Holy Spirit told me I should go with them, that I shouldn’t make any distinction between them as Gentiles and us as Jews. These six brothers from Joppa came with me; and yes, we entered the man’s home even though he was an outsider.

¹³ The outsider told us the story of how he had seen a heavenly messenger standing in his house who said, “Send to Joppa and bring back Simon, also called Peter, ¹⁴ and he will give you a message that will rescue both you and your household.” ¹⁵ Then I began to speak; and as I did, the Holy Spirit fell upon them—it was exactly as it had been with us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered what Jesus had said to us: “John ritually cleansed people with water through baptism,^[b] but you will be washed with the Holy Spirit.”^{[c] 17} So, if God gave them the same gift we were given when we believed in the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, who was I to stand in God’s way?

Circumcised Believers: Well then, we must conclude that God has given to the outsiders the opportunity to rethink their lives, turn to God,^[d] and gain a new life.

The One: See, I am making all things new. (turning to me) Write what you hear and see, for these words are faithful and true. ⁶ It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will see to it that the thirsty drink freely from the fountain of the water of life.

Jesus: Now the Son of Man will be glorified as God is glorified in Him. ³² If God’s glory is in Him, His glory is also in God. The moment of this astounding glory is imminent. ³³ My children, My time here is brief. You will be searching for Me; and as I told the Jews, “You cannot go where I am going.” ³⁴ So I give you a new command: Love each other deeply and fully. Remember the ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others in those same ways. ³⁵ Everyone will know you as My followers if you demonstrate your love to others.