Acts 10:3

3 One afternoon about three o’clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. “Cornelius!” the angel said.

Acts 10:3 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 10:3

He saw in a vision evidently
He was not in a dream, or in a trance, but he was thoroughly awake, and his eyes open, and was himself; it was not in the night, but in clear day:

about the ninth hour of the day;
or three o'clock in the afternoon, which was the hour of prayer, ( Acts 3:1 ) in which exercise he was now engaged, ( Acts 10:30 ) at this time he saw

an angel of God coming to him;
into the room where he was at prayer:

and saying unto him, Cornelius;
he called him by his name, to let him know that he knew him, as angels are very knowing spirits; and to express his affection and friendship to him, and that he was a messenger, not of bad, but of good news to him; as well as to engage his attention to him; for he might be so intent at his devotion, that had he not called him by name, he would not have minded him.

Acts 10:3 In-Context

1 In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment.

2 He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God.

3 One afternoon about three o’clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. “Cornelius!” the angel said.

4 Cornelius stared at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the angel. And the angel replied, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering!

5 Now send some men to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter.