What Everyone Can Know

He said to [Cornelius], “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”
–Acts 10:4

Have you ever wondered, If Jesus is the only way to heaven, what about people who have never heard about Him? The story of Cornelius in Acts 10 answers this question with three truths that we’re going to study this week.

First of all, knowledge of God is available to everyone. Even if they’ve never heard a preacher or read the Bible, everyone can know there is a God. This was true of Cornelius. Verses 1–2 say, “There was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.” Cornelius was a Roman centurion. But more important than Cornelius’s occupation was his religious condition. Notice what Luke said about Cornelius:

• He feared the true God. He hadn’t converted to Judaism, but he worshiped God.
• He gave money to the poor. In Scripture, this meant he gave money to God.
• He sought to know God personally. Luke did not say this explicitly, but it becomes evident that Cornelius was praying for a deeper knowledge of God and a personal relationship with Him.

God answered Cornelius’s prayers by sending him a vision. In the vision, an angel said to Cornelius, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter” (vv. 4–5). Cornelius was praying to know God, and God answered.

We don’t know how Cornelius came to know God. Perhaps one night he looked up at the stars and realized there was somebody out there greater than him. In theology, we call this natural revelation. In Romans 1:20, Paul said nobody has an excuse for rejecting God because everyone can know He exists by looking at nature. Now, the knowledge that God exists is not enough to save anyone. But Cornelius believed in God, and God honored his desire to know more.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Why God Sends Good People to Hell,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2022.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.