Gtcotr/ws070523
Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
When we pray, like Daniel, Zacharias, or the Church in Jerusalem, angels are sent on assignment to work on our behalf. Angels are ministering spirits, and they are the best prayer warriors of all. Let’s turn to our text for this evening to discover how this works in real life.
Acts 12:1 About that time
Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.
·
About
that time …
·
This
was a very difficult time in the world and for the Church.
·
It
was the year of our Lord, AD44.
·
About
14 or 15 years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
·
The
reason we know this is because of history and the correlation of Acts 12:23 describing
Herod’s death in Caesarea by the hand of the Angel of the Lord.
·
We
know Herod Agrippa I, the Herod spoken of in Acts 12, died in Caesarea in AD44.
·
Come
with me to Israel and you can sit in the very spot where he was stricken by the
angel. Fortunately the Roman theater of that day still stands on the shore of
the Mediterranean Sea in Caesarea and the Royal Box is still there intact.
·
At
any rate, it had been about 7 or 8 years since the stoning of Stephen in Acts 6
and things had quietened down a bit.
·
Saul
of Tarsus had been saved and the persecutions of Believers in Jesus by the High
Priest had lost a lot of wind out of its sails.
· The grandson of Herod the Great, King Herod Agrippa I, ruled over Judea for the last 3 years of his life, AD42 to AD44. These events could only have occurred in this time period.
Acts 12 ESV
1 ¶ About that time Herod the
king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.
2 He killed James the brother
of John with the sword,
3 and when he saw that it
pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days
of Unleavened Bread.
4 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.
·
4
squads of soldiers to guard one man who wasn’t even resisting! Why?
·
Because
the prison in Jerusalem had already experienced some trouble and embarrassment trying
to keep these Apostles of Jesus in jail.
· Acts 5:12-42 records an event that took place perhaps just 2 or 3 years after Pentecost …
During that time, the early Church had been growing in numbers, in power, and in prominence. Many signs and wonders were being done among the people by the hands of the Apostles. According to the scriptures, these things made the religious leaders quite jealous and so they arrested the apostles and put them into prison. Acts 5 tells the whole story …
Acts 5 ESV
19 But during the night an
angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said,
20 "Go and stand in the
temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life."
·
The next day the council and the senate asked
for the prisoners to be brought from jail to stand before the court.
· The report of the guards went like this:
23 "We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside."
Now, 10 to 12 years later than the event in Acts 5, we come to Acts 12. James has been executed and Peter has been arrested and put into prison again. With the previous experience of not being able to hold these Apostles in prison or to keep them from preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus, the Roman government and those religious leaders in Jerusalem did not want to take any chances. They assigned 4 squads of soldiers to guard one fisherman turned evangelist, who had a reputation for caring more about what God wanted than what they demanded.
Back to our text for tonight and angels being our Prayer Warriors …
Acts 12 ESV
5 ¶ So Peter was kept in
prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
6 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.
·
They were expecting something, and they
imagined they were ready for anything …
·
Locked doors with multiple guards, chained to
two soldiers, asleep in the dark, awaiting execution the next morning …
· God may not be early, but He is never late.
7 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.
8 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."
9 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.
10 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.
11 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."
12 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.
Sometimes the only thing we can do is pray. In those times we can feel as though nothing is happening. That’s not true. When you open your mouth and voice your prayers to God from an earnest, heart-felt sincerity … heaven listens and angels are sent on assignment as ministering spirits that excel in strength, hearkening to the voice of God’s Word, to do His will. (Psalms 103:20)
In Matthew 26:53 After prayer one evening Jesus clearly told His disciples that He could call upon 12 legions of angels which would be dispatched in a moment’s notice to assist Him and fight His battles.
When the Church in Jerusalem was praying and asking God to help Peter get out of jail, it appears they were not even praying in faith. When Peter got to the house where they were praying, not one of them believed it was really him. They didn’t know and didn’t expect God would answer their prayers so dramatically.
It was a holiday. It was the Passover Feast. Perhaps they had already been praying for a week. Some of them were probably fasting and weeping. Some might have been praying in faith and some might have been praying in fear. However, they were praying.
The scriptures say that earnest prayer for Peter was made to God by the Church and that is what the Bible points to that makes the difference.
The two outstanding points I believe:
1.
Angels are spirit warriors assigned to minister for us according to
the will of God.
2.
Somehow our prayers activate the will of God.
