Peter and the Revelation

I think there’s an interesting lesson about how the Lord teaches us in the story of Peter and Cornelius.  The Lord did not tell Peter everything about the change that was taking place but let Peter learn for himself.  Peter was in Joppa when he had a rather strange vision.  He saw a sheet come down from heaven “wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.”  A voice told Peter to “kill, and eat” but Peter remonstrated, telling the Lord that he had never before eaten that which the law of Moses labeled unclean.  The voice responded, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” (Acts 10:9-15).  While Peter was surely pondering this unusual heavenly message, the men from the gentile Cornelius showed up and asked him to go with them to their master.  They went to Caesarea and Peter and Cornelius met, and surely Peter was impressed by the goodness and faith of this man.  He then said, “Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28).  That’s not exactly what he had been told, but in this moment Peter showed that he had now truly understood his message from heaven—and it was not about food.  The Lord had showed him a vision of ritually unclean beasts and then orchestrated this incredible encounter with Cornelius to help Peter understand that it was time to take the gospel to the Gentiles.  He received some revelation but then through this experience Peter came to understand the full import of what the Lord had told him.  I think this is how the Lord often works with us—He will give us some knowledge directly but we only get the full understanding through searching and experiencing. 

                One other example in the scriptures which I think shows this type of teaching that the Lord does is seen in the way Nephi learns in his vision in 1 Nephi 11.  He was shown the tree of life that his father had seen, and the Spirit said to him, “What desirest thou?”  Nephi told him that he wanted “to know the interpretation thereof” (1 Nephi 11:10-11).  But the Spirit did not tell him right away; rather he let Nephi learn it.  Nephi was shown Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Mary the mother of Jesus.  He beheld her that she was “bearing a child in her arms” and the angel announced to him: “Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!”  And then suddenly the angel asks Nephi the question that he had just asked: “Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?”  Apparently this vision of the Savior and His mother was enough to teach Nephi without having to be told, and he responded, “Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men” (1 Nephi 10:20-22).  Seeing the Savior and His mother in vision, perhaps he realized that there was nothing greater than the love of God which was made manifest in Christ, and therefore the tree had to be a representation of that.  Like with Peter, Nephi was guided to the answer but the Lord wanted him to learn and figure it out for himself.  I believe this is at least in part what is meant in the command to seek learning by faith that the Doctrine and Covenants speaks of.  Like with most of the Savior’s parables, He will guide us but we must seek out the full meaning for ourselves.