Acts - Lesson 19

Up to this time, Luke had been covering a period of time in which the Church was spreading in influence and growing in size. Persecution had occurred sporadically but it was not uniform yet in the Roman Empire. In Jerusalem, Jewish Christians were viewed as a threat by those Jews who rejected Christ. Persecution of Christians was a spiritual problem but it had political components and we’ll see that this week.

Acts 12:1-5 … About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Stephen was the first martyr and we read the story of his martyrdom in Acts chapters 6 and 7. James was not the second martyr but he was the first Apostle as far as we know. We don’t know the names of all those who were martyred. God does know their names and we will know their names someday. They were martyred but they did not perish.

The increased hostility toward Christians in Jerusalem was likely a reaction to the work of the Holy Spirit in the Gentile community. The conversion of Gentiles had become well known and the idea that the Gospel would go to the Gentiles and bypass the Jewish traditions was especially objectionable to some of the Jewish community. Remember that even in Stephen’s time that it was Jews from outside Jerusalem that were especially upset with the Christian teachings, for example, with the Greeks in Antioch.

Plese keep your James’ straight. This is James the brother of John the son of Zebedee. He was called to be a disciple from fishing along with his brother and Peter who were partners in their fishing business (Luke 5:10). He was one of the three disciples that were kept very close to Jesus. He was present at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1; Mark 9:2) and he and John stirred up the controversy by asking to sit at Jesus left and right hand in the kingdom (Mark 10:35), and they were called upon to go with Jesus in Gethsemane for prayer before the Atonement but they fell asleep (Mark 14:33). The James who wrote the book of James was Jesus’ half brother who was saved after Jesus was raised from the dead and was then active in the early Church.

Peter, James, and John were the three leaders among the 12 disciples. You can imagine the fear in the Church when James is killed and Peter is in prison waiting to be killed and John is mourning the loss of his brother with his close friend in prison.

Luke lets us see the political aspect of the action here. Herod was motivated by the approval he gained from the Jewish leadership. He took the occasion of the Passover with many extra people in the city to arrest Peter. He was thinking it would make a good show to bring Peter out right after Passover while he had a good audience and have him killed. Peter was a key leader but 4 squads of Soldiers is overkill for guarding one guy. They used 4 squads of 4 so that with changes of watch you could have one chained to him on his right, one on his left, and two outside the door to his cell 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. However, Herod didn’t have good enough security to keep God out.

Acts 12:6-10 … Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him.

I wonder if this angel had a problem with standing by and watching Peter sleep as Jesus was sweating drops of blood in Gethsemane. He sure seems to enjoy rousting Peter up who this time was sleeping before his own execution. Peter surely could sleep. The angel and Peter can’t be in much of a rush. The difference between getting him out in 5 minutes or 25 minutes doesn’t seem to have been critical. God may have had a whole group of angel volunteers to go wake Peter up after Gethsemane.

The angel gives orders and Peter follows orders. He might have been hoping to avoid being hit again but it is clear that he is groggy. As soon as the angel has him outside the prison he vanishes.

Think about these points in this deliverance:

1)    Deliverance came at the last moment,

God often delivers at the last moment. He isn’t in a hurry and in His omniscience it makes sense to act when He knows to act and not before. In our ignorance, we like to act early to stay ahead of the curve. God sees the whole curve perfectly and can act whenever He wants to act.

2)    Peter and James were both examples of God’s sovereignty, and

We must rest in the knowledge that neither Peter nor James perished. Jesus promises that we will never perish (John 10:28). James didn’t perish and he was not snatched out of Jesus’ hand. Christians focused on success and prosperity in this world will find themselves unsettled in times of trial with doubts of God’s sovereignty and goodness in their heart.

3)    Peter’s deliverance illustrates spiritual deliverance in the Gospel.

Charles Wesley’s is at his best when he is inspired by Scripture in his hymns. Here is the fourth verse of his hymn “And Can It Be”: Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

At this point, Peter has an all night prayer meeting to attend (or at least he will make an appearance).

Acts 12:11-18 … When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place. Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

John Mark is possibly the young guy who ran on the night of Jesus’ arrest (Mark 14:51-52) and got away naked (or nekked for those who were raised in the South). He was the author of the Gospel and (as with John’s Gospel) it seems to be the style for the Author not to use his own name. John Mark was active with Peter, Paul, and Barnabas in missionary outreach efforts. One of the early Church leaders named Papias calls John Mark the interpreter of Peter. His mother was named Mary and that gives us another Mary to keep track of. Generally we look at Rhoda and think she was a little bit dizzy since she got so excited that she ran to report that Peter was at the gate and forgot to let Peter into the prayer meeting. However, they were praying for Peter and when God answered their prayers they told Rhoda that she was crazy and it must just be Peter’s angel. At least Rhoda conceived of answered prayer at the gate (even if she left it at the gate for a time). All those in the prayer meeting for Peter struggled to believe that God answered their prayers. That is more like us when we pray than we would like to admit.

We know that God is sovereign and we can ask, “Why should Christians pray?” After all, if God is omniscient and omnipotent then He knows what He will do. If you are in that frame of mind then you are in serious sin. Your prayers are the instrument of God. He has ordained that you pray and that your prayers are instrumental in bringing His grace and mercy to the world and especially to His Church. Here we see an all night prayer meeting for Peter that resulted in a miraculous deliverance. The prayers of the saints (yes driven by the Holy Spirit) brought more mercy and grace from God. It is sinful to refuse to pray because God can see the future when He has commanded you to pray. He is omniscient but you are not. He is transcendent but you are not. You are living out your one life and He says that your first problem is that you don’t ask and your second problem is that you ask for things that would corrupt you (James 4:2-3).

Prayerlessness is such a dimwitted sin that it is hard to think that rational Christians would find themselves there. I know the feelings that put me there. I hate to quote Garth Brooks but “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” We have a Father who has commanded us to pray and has promised not to give us things that will corrupt us or hurt us. We have a list of folks that are unsaved that we have prayed for. God has commanded that we pray that His kingdom would be established and HIs will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. We have many places that we can focus believing prayer in obedience to Scripture and it is to our shame that we hesitate to pray or else pray in unbelief like these brothers and sisters of ours praying for Peter.