“The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) …” (Acts 10:36)

Peter had become accustomed to calling Jesus “Lord.” One of his more iconic responses to Jesus’ teaching came when Jesus intensified His teaching of discipleship to demand complete commitment to follow Him. Most of the massive crowd following Christ abandoned Him, revealing their motives were nothing more than enjoying the benefits of His miraculous activities. Jesus turned to the twelve (what was left of the 5,000 men plus women and children – see John 6:10) and asked, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” A time of testing had arrived. Was Jesus Christ truly their Lord or not? Were they willing to commit all to follow Him, or would they, like the crowds, hang around only while the tangible benefits of miraculously provided food were abundant, and healings were taking place—when the going was good? To this, Peter, speaking on behalf of the twelve, responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Jesus was Peter’s Lord. He was the disciples’ Lord. And as he preached that great Pentecostal sermon, the first Gospel message of the first evangelistic campaign of the first believers after the resurrection, in speaking of Jesus Christ he quoted Joel 2:32, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21). His sermon finished with this: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36). Jesus was Lord, not just over the twelve apostles and the early believers but He was Lord over all Israel.

However, this was not to be just a Jewish acknowledgment of Jesus as Lord. Peter was sent by God also to bring the message of Jesus’ Lordship to the non-Jews. For as Paul writes, “[T]he gospel … is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek [that is, the non-Jews]” (Rom 1:16). Peter discovered this when he was sent to a Roman centurion named Cornelius. When he finally understood it, Peter proclaimed to Cornelius that Jesus Christ is “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36).

He is the God Almighty, the sovereign over all people—not just the Christians, not just the Jews, but all people. We cannot forget to remind ourselves or fail to inform non-believers that “God highly exalted Him … that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow … every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9–11).

Lord Jesus Christ, I humbly bow before You now, willingly and gladly.You are sovereign in my life, and I want to live worshipfully and obediently to You.