gtcotr/ss092114
Recount
the account of Acts 12:1-19
Beginning
Acts
12 NKJV
1
¶ Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his
hand to harass some from the church.
2
Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
3
And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to
seize Peter also. Now it was during
the Days of Unleavened Bread.
4
So when he had arrested him, he put him
in prison, and delivered him
to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before
the people after Passover.
King
Herod Agrippa had a plan for Peter however God had a different plan.
Late that night an angel appeared and delivered Peter from the
prison. Peter imagined it was only a vision until, as verse 11 says,
he came to himself and realized he was free. Free and alone that is
in the middle of the street in the city of Jerusalem for the angel of
the Lord had departed once he had accomplished what only he could do
and left Peter to decide his next step and pursue on his own.
Peter
thinks it fit to find his way to the home of a church member and
friend. It so happened that there was a prayer meeting being held at
Mary’s house and he only interrupted the meeting by continually
knocking at the gate being once believed a spirit by those praying
for his very deliverance. My how we can pray and even move the hand
of God and at the same time be unaware and unaffected that our
prayers have been answered. Verse 16 says that when they finally
opened the door they were astonished that it was really Peter.
He,
wishing not to draw too much attention to himself or his whereabouts
in the middle of the night, Peter beckoned them to be silent and upon
entering into the house explained what had happened to him and how he
was delivered. With this his good sense prevailed and as he sent them
to tell the recognized pastor of the Church in Jerusalem and those
others of importance within his group, Peter left for a better and
more secure hiding place.
Thank
God for uncommon miracles but thank God also for common sense.
Sometimes
the best thing you can do is hide!
When
morning came there was no small stir among the guards as to what had
happened to the prisoner Peter who had been chained between two of
the soldiers. When Herod found out that he had been robbed of his
post Passover grandstand execution of the Christian rabble-rouser, he
simply put the guards to death in Peter’s place and took a vacation
beginning, and ending with, a trip to the picturesque Mediterranean
port city of Caesarea. This however would be his last grandstand. I
encourage you to read the rest of the 12th
chapter of Acts for the rest of the story. Or better yet, go with me
on our next trip to Israel and I’ll take you and show you the very
seat in which Herod was sitting when he made his pride-filled fatal
mistake of not giving proper glory to God and was subsequently eaten
up of worms and died.
But for
now, back to the main points for this morning: Peter’s deliverance
from prison and certain death.
Acts
12
5
Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered
to God for him by the church.
7
Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in
the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up,
saying, "Arise quickly!" And his chains fell off his hands.
- God will never leave us or forsake us.
- “Now behold” – in other words, “Now listen to this!”
- Even in our darkest hour, the angel of the Lord is with us.
- Hebrews 1:14 Ministering spirits …
- No matter the depth of the darkness, our Light is greater.
- It may have been a light which only Peter could see
- How thoughtful for God to provide light so Peter could see his next step in his miracle.
- He wakes us up to raise us up.
- no doubt a gentle blow meant to stir, not sting
- Some things can’t wait.
- Move without delay
- What may seem impossible is possible with God.
- Whom the Son of God sets free is free indeed
- Everything loses its force when God suspends or withdraws His allowance.
- God must sometimes separate us from others who would hold us back.
Background
Thoughts & Considerations
AD 44
or thereabouts – with the famine and its toll on the people - and
the initial persecution of the Church under King Herod Agrippa to
please the Jews who had first crucified the Lord of Glory.
King
Agrippa had once more united the lands which his grandfather, Herod
the Great, had once governed. This certain broad power gives a false
confidence to those who are moved to imagine divine mandate and/or
manifest destiny had approved and perhaps even confirmed all their
thought. Some are destined to fulfill an evil purpose to which they
are fit.
Throughout
history political revival has spelled trouble for the Jews and for
the Church alike in the sense that many who ascend with power or
position feel unbridled in their achievement and prideful in their
accomplishments as though they can now do life on their own.
Notwithstanding, eternal life is still reserved for those who hold a
true revelation and an undeniable relationship with the God of all
life through the blood of His slain and risen Son, Jesus, by the
power of the Holy Spirit. Successes in this life speak only of false
and fleeting recognition of human achievement applauded by other
humans wishing themselves to achieve some social status so as to be
thought well of by the vanishing population of planet earth.
The
understandable reading of Acts 12:1 reflects a certainty that James
was not the first in the church to be arrested, persecuted and vexed
as it were by Herod. Some no doubt of lesser importance and lesser
impact were at first considered in the persecution before waxing more
bold with a stretching out of the governing hand to arrest, persecute
and even execute one of the chief leaders of the church – none less
than James, one of the three closest friends and companions of Jesus
and one of the primary faces in this new way.
Note,
Blood to the blood-thirsty does but make them more sober, and the way
of persecution, as of other sins, is down-hill; when men are in it,
they cannot easily stop themselves; when they are in they find they
must on. Male
facta male factis tegere ne Perpluant — one evil deed is
covered with another,
so that there is no passage through them. Those that take one bold
step in a sinful way give Satan advantage against them to tempt them
to take another, and provoke God to leave them to themselves, to go
from bad to worse. It is therefore our wisdom to take heed of the
beginnings of sin.
Herod
did this because he saw it pleased the Jews. Observe, The Jews made
themselves guilty of the blood of James by showing themselves well
pleased with it afterwards, though they had not excited Herod to it.
There are accessaries ex post facto — after the fact;
and those will be reckoned with as persecutors who take pleasure in
others’ persecuting, who delight to see good men ill used, and cry,
Aha, so would we have it, or at least secretly approve of it. For
bloody persecutors, when they perceive themselves applauded for that
which every one ought to cry shame upon them for, are encouraged to
go on, and have their hands strengthened and their hearts hardened,
and the checks of their own consciences smothered; nay, it is as
strong a temptation to them to do the like as it was here to Herod,
because he saw it pleased the Jews. Though he had no reason to fear
displeasing them if he did not, as Pilate condemned Christ, yet he
hoped to please them by doing it, and so to make an interest among
them, and make amends for displeasing them in something else. Note,
Those make themselves an easy prey to Satan who make it their
business to please men. {MHC
Acts 12:1}
Having
perhaps executed James on private order now decided to take full
advantage of the political boost and with all the annual festival
visitors in town thought to wait until after the most holy days and
to then set himself up on high by bringing Peter out in the forefront
and to make a more public spectacle of him and put him to death in
public fashion so to leave the Jews with great lasting impression as
they began their journey back home.
The
Question: Why was James beheaded and Peter saved by an angel? Perhaps
it is due to the church awakening from its apathetic repose at the
beheading of James. It is not mentioned and therefore assumed that
the believers in the Jerusalem congregation made no spiritual fuss,
did not lift the wing or even make a peep at the arrest of one of
their spiritual leaders by King Herod Agrippa.
Once
bitten by this local and personally threatening serpent those sitting
in imminent danger themselves made more to do over martyrdom’s next
candidate, the Apostle Peter, upon his similar arrest.
The
killing of James, one of the great Apostles, at this time in his life
err he was able to fulfill his Lord’s great commission or had even
left Jerusalem to carry forth the Gospel, was to kill many future
potential apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, let
alone congregations and mission works which had yet been touched,
birthed, cultivated and enjoyed of this earth. It seems so worthless
that one such as James would be lost at such a prime time in the need
and infancy of the church. How could this be of any benefit and yet
the Lord allowed it, or did the church allow it?
It
seems to be done with the knowledge of the church and some others
surrounding the moment. Certainly Paul and Baranabas were in
Jerusalem at this time as were the remaining 12 along with many of
the deacons and thousands who had been born again at Pentecost. This
was perhaps 15 or so years since the great outpouring, along about
the time of the famine relief which had been collected by the
churches in Macedonia, Asia, Syria and elsewhere, and sent by the
hands of Paul and company to alleviate the hardships of those
suffering brothers still in the Holy City near AD44. (based upon
Herod’s death at that time)
Now a
little less than a decade since Phillip the deacon had been stoned
for his exuberant display of faith in Jesus of Nazareth as Son of God
and Messiah, this three year reign over Judea by the grandson of
Herod the Great brought renewed hopes that the Romans, the Greeks and
also now the Jews could enjoy and benefit from the power which only a
local high and well favored crown can bring.
It is
evident by the later verses that detail his demise that this King
Herod not only enjoyed but overtly sought the praise of the people.
How better to gain the praise and court the attention of one’s
subjects than to please them, play to their wants and grant them
their lusts. A blood thirsty people with an accommodating powerful
leader can seldom go any direction but down … and soon they would
all be at their lowest. Perhaps we should all take heed to ourselves
when we think we stand and we believe we are at our strongest lest we
follow the pattern of Herod and the citizens of Jerusalem and fall to
never recover again. This is the plight of those who fight against
the will and the ways and the mission and the ministers of the Lord
God Almighty.
All is
not well with those who seek popularity and fame, agreement and
support simply because they find themselves gaining their court and
sitting at the top. It is not who gets their first but rather he who
is there when it is over that counts. The last one standing in favor
is the favored one. The last one standing is the winner – to Him
goes the victory to Him belongs the spoil.
Continued
…
