The Linen from Heaven: Israel’s Exiles, the Chosen Priesthood, and the Witness of the Gentiles
The Linen from Heaven: Israel’s Exiles, the Chosen Priesthood, and the Witness of the Gentiles Acts 10–11 records a moment of revelation that rippled through early Israelite faith: Peter’s vision of a linen sheet descending from heaven, filled with all manner of unclean animals. What looked like a dietary violation was in truth a prophetic unveiling of Israel’s restoration and the widening witness of God’s wisdom among the nations. This event is not the birth of a new religion, but the revelation of the new creation descending from heaven — Israel’s exiles restored as the chosen priesthood, and the Gentiles witnessing that restoration through the Spirit. The Unclean Animals: The Exiles of Israel and Judah In prophetic imagery, unclean animals often represent Israel in her exiled, polluted state. When Peter sees the animals, he is beholding the scattered tribes — those who had mingled with Gentiles and become ritually defiled. Ezekiel, Hosea, and Daniel had all used animal imagery to de...