Acts 12: A Praying Church and God’s Power

WE ARE TAUGHT THAT THERE WAS A PERIOD OF ABOUT 10 YEARS OF LESS PERSECUTION AFTER PAUL RETURNED TO HIS HOMETOWN OF TARSUS.

ACTS 9 TEACHES THAT THE CHURCHES HAD REST, WALKED IN FEAR OF THE LORD, REMAINED IN THE COMFORT OF THE HOLY GHOST, AND WERE MULTIPLIED.

UNFORTUNATELY THIS PERIOD OF REST WAS NOT TO BE PERMANENT AND AS ACTS 12 BEGINS, PERSECUTION RETURNS.

THOSE KNOWN AS THE HERODS HAD LONG BEEN KNOWN AS PERSECUTORS OF CHRISTIANS.

HEROD THE GREAT KILLED ALL BOYS IN BETHELEM UNDER TWO YEARS OLD IN ORDER TO REMOVE JESUS FROM LATER BECOMING A THREAT TO HIS RULE. (MATT 2:16)

HIS SON HEROD ANTIPAS, BEHEADED JOHN THE BAPTIST. (MATT 14:3)

THE HEROD WE MEET IN ACTS 12 IS THE GRANDSON OF HEROD THE GREAT AND IS KNOWN AS HEROD AGRIPPA, AND HE KILLED THE APOSTLE JAMES.

WHEN HE UNDERSTOOD THE KILLING OF JAMES PLEASED THE JEWS, HE INTENDED TO GO FURTHER AND DECIDED TO ARREST AND EXECUTE PETER IN PUBLIC.

IT SEEMS PETER WAS ARRESTED SHORTLY BEFORE PASSOVER AND THIS FEAST TIME WOULD HAVE COVERED EIGHT DAYS, DURING WHICH PETER WAS HELD.

HEROD WAS AWARE OF ESCAPES FROM PRISON BY THE APOSTLES BEFORE SO IN THIS CASE HE PLACED PETER NOT IN ANY LOCAL OR JEWISH PRISON BUT IN A ROMAN PRISON.

ROMAN SOLDIERS WERE CHAINED TO PETER TO GUARD AGAINST ANY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE WITH THE GUARDS CHANGED EVERY FEW HOURS.

VERSE 4 SAYS THAT HEROD INTENDED TO BRING PETER INTO A PUBLIC PLACE AFTER THE PASSOVER AND GATHER A JEWISH CROWD TO SEE HIM EXECUTED.

WE REMEMBER THAT JAMES WAS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM AND WAS SO DEVOUT THAT HE HAD BEEN GIVEN THE NICKNAME “OLD CAMEL KNEES” BECAUSE OF THE CALLUSES ON HIS KNEES FROM MUCH PRAYING.

IF PETER COULD BE EXECUTED PUBLICLY, HEROD WAS SURE THE CHURCH WOULD BE DEVASTED AND HE WOULD BE IN GREAT FAVOR WITH THE JEWISH TEMPLE MASTERS.

VERSE 5 INDICATES THAT UPON HEARING OF THE ARREST OF PETER, THE CHURCH MEMBERS BEGAN TO PRAY WITHOUT CEASING. THE WORD USED MEANS THE PRAYERS WERE “FERVENT” WITH THIS WORD USED ONLY ONE OTHER TIME IN SCRIPTURE IN 1ST PETER 4:8.

PILATE HAD AGREED TO A WATCH OF SOLDIERS OVER THE TOMB OF JESUS AND NOW HEROD HAD TAKEN VERY STRONG MILITARY STEPS TO SECURE THE HOLDING OF PETER.

ALL THAT MAN COULD DO WAS DONE AND IN NEITHER CASE WAS IT ENOUGH TO HOLD EITHER.

WHILE PETER SLEPT IN HIS CHAINS, AN ANGEL WAS SENT TO AWAKEN HIM AND DID SO BY STRIKING PETER ON HIS SIDE.

THE ANGEL TOLD HIM TO RISE, GET DRESSED, AND FOLLOW.

THE GUARDS WERE NOT AWAKENED AND THE CHAINS HOLDING THEM TO PETER WERE LOOSED ON PETER AND THE ANGEL LED PETER OUT OF THE PRISON INTO THE CITY.

CHAINS WERE LOOSED, PRISON DOORS WERE OPENED, AND THE LIGHT FROM THE ANGEL HIMSELF LED THEIR WAY. 

NO ONE OTHER THAN PETER WAS ABLE TO EITHER SEE OR HEAR THE ESCAPE. PETER FOLLOWED THE ANGEL OUTWARD AND WAS FREED BY DIVINE INTERVENTION.

OUR SCRIPTURE TEACHES US THAT THIS REMOVAL OF PETER FROM PRISON WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE HEROD INTENDED TO MAKE A PUBLIC SPECTACLE OF THE EXECUTION OF PETER.

VERSE 11 ALLOWS US TWO LESSONS ON THIS MATTER:

PETER WAS DELIVERED OUT OF THE HAND OF HEROD

AND

HE WAS DELIVERED FROM ALL THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE PEOPLE OF THE JEWS.

HERE IT APPEARED THAT PETER FACED CERTAIN DEATH THE SAME WAY JAMES WAS KILLED WHICH WAS BY THE SWORD, MEANING BEHEADED.

PETER PROCEEDED TO THE HOME OF MARY, THE MOTHER OF JOHN MARK AND SISTER OF BARNABUS.

THE PRAYER MEETINGS WERE STILL IN PROCESS. 

PETER KNOCKS ON THE DOOR OF THE HOUSE GATE AND WAS HEARD BY A YOUNG WOMAN NAMED RHODA.

SHE WAS WARY BECAUSE OF THE HOUR BEING PERHAPS THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND SHE ASKED WHO WAS THERE AND SHE RECOGNIZED THE VOICE OF PETER WHO REPLIED.

SHE RAN INTO THE HOUSE AND ANNOUNCED THAT THE ONE WHO WAS THE CENTER OF THEIR PRAYERS WAS AT THE GATE.

NO ONE BELIEVED HER.       THE ACTUAL REACTION WAS THAT SHE WAS MAD (MEANING INSANE). SOME SUGGESTED PETER’S ANGEL WAS AT THE DOOR, THINKING HE MAY HAVE ALREADY BEEN KILLED.

PETER KEPT KNOCKING AND FINALLY SOMEONE CAME TO LET HIM ENTER AND ALL WERE ASTONISHED AT THIS PRESENCE.

IN VERSE 17 PETER ASKED THE CROWD TO BE QUIET SO THAT HE COULD RELATE HOW HE WAS NOW BACK AMONG THEM. 

HE CAREFULLY SAID THAT ALL WAS THE WORK OF GOD ON HIS BEHALF.

HIS SMALL SPPECH WAS HIS CURRENT FAREWELL AS HE SAID HE NEEDED TO GO TO SOMEWHERE ELSE THAN JERUSALEM.

WHERE HE WENT IS UNKNOWN AND THIS VERSE IS THE LAST MENTION OF HIM IN ACTS EXCEPT FOR THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL DISCUSSED IN ACTS 15:6-11.

IN VERSES 18-19 THE MORNING ARRIVES AND WE ARE TOLD THERE WAS NO SMALL STIR AMONG THE SOLDIERS AS NO ONE CAN EXPLAIN HOW IT IS THAT A MAN WHO WAS IN CHAINS CONSTANTLY IN A ROMAN PRISON WAS NOW MISSING.

HEROD’S ANGER WAS SO HOT IN LOSING HIS CHANCE TO CONDUCT A PUBLIC EXECUTION OF PETER THAT HE ORDERS THE GUARDS WHO WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR SECURITY TO BE PUT TO DEATH.

WITH PETER NO LONGER IN CUSTODY FOR PUBLIC EXECUTION, HEROD HIMSELF LEAVES FOR CAESAREA WHERE HE MEETS WITH OFFICIALS FROM TYRE AND SIDON.

HEROD WAS CLOTHED IN HIS ROYAL FINEST ROBES AND SPOKE TO ALL THOSE GATHERED TO SEEK HIS FAVOR.

HIS HAUGHTINESS AND PRIDE WERE ELEVATED WHEN THE OFFICIALS SAID IN VERSE 22 THAT HIS VOICE WAS OF A GOD AND NOT OF A MAN.

WHILE HE WAS BASKING IN THE PRAISE GIVEN, VERSE 23 SAYS HE WAS STRUCK DEAD BY AN ANGEL OF THE LORD.

HE DIED OF BEING INFESTED WITH WORMS EATING HIM FROM WITHIN. HERE THE MAN WHO KILLED JAMES AND WOULD HAVE KILLED PETER WAS KILLED IN A MOST HORRID AND PAINFUL WAY BY THE LORD.

THE PROGRESS OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL CONTINUED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

BARNABUS AND SAUL HAD GONE TO JERUSALEM TO DELIVER  AN OFFERING FROM THE CHURCH IN ANTIOCH FOR THE CHURCHES IN JUDEA.

THEY THEN RETURNED TO ANTIOCH, A DISTANCE OF 275 MILES.

ON THEIR RETURN THEY TOOK JOHN MARK WITH THEM WHO WAS ANXIOUS TO WORK WITH THEM IN THEIR MINISTRY.

LATER IN THE FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY, JOHN MARK WOULD CAUSE FRICTION BETWEEN THE TWO PREACHERS. 

AND WE KNOW LATER HE WROTE THE 2ND GOSPEL UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF PETER.

HERE IN CHAPTER 12 WE ARE GIVEN SOME VIVID EXAMPLES OF THE SOVEREIGNITY OF GOD.

JAMES WAS SLAIN BUT PETER WAS SAVED NUMEROUS TIMES BY WAY OF ANGELS WHO BROUGHT MIRACLES.

HEROD WAS APPLAUDED BY MEN AND CALLED A GOD BY MEN BUT WAS STRICKEN DEAD BY GOD IN A HORRIBLE WAY.

DESPITE ALL THAT WAS DONE TO PERSECUTE THE MESSENGERS OF GOD, THE GOSPEL CONTINUED TO GROW.

THE PURPOSE OF GOD WAS NOT DELAYED, NOR DISCOURAGED, NOR DESPAIRED, BUT WAS EXPLODING ACROSS THE REGION EXACTLY AS JESUS HAS COMMANDED IN ACTS ONE.

THIS CHAPTER PROVIDES SOME ESSENTIAL AND VERY BASIC LESSONS ON PRAYER & IT’S ANSWER.

FIRST WE MUST NOTE THAT ONCE AGAIN THE TRUTH TOLD BY RHODA OF PETER NOW FREE AND PRESENT WAS NOT BELIEVED.

WE RECALL THAT PETER AND JOHN DID NOT BELIEVE THE WOMEN WHO RETURNED FROM THE EMPTY TOMB OF JESUS AND REPORTED THEY HAD ACTUALLY SEEN THE RISEN LORD.

WHILE THE PEOPLE DID NOT BELIEVE RHODA THEY KEPT PRAYING WHILE THE ANSWER WAS ALREADY GIVEN AND WE SEE THAT PETER KEPT KNOCKING AT THE GATE TO ENTER THE PRAYER MEETING.

MOST LIKELY AFTER THE INITIAL TIME HE LIKELY WAS NO LONGER KNOCKING BUT WAS NOW POUNDING.

THE STORY BRINGS US FOUR LESSONS:

EXPECTATIONS FOR THE LORD’S ANSWER WERE STRONG AND MUCH PRAYER WAS SENT UPWARD ASKING FOR THE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC ANSWER TO ARRIVE.

THE LORD DOES INDEED ANSWER ALL PRAYER. SINCE HE KNOWS SO MUCH MORE THAN WE POSSIBLY CAN, HE SOMETIMES SAYS YES, SOMETIMES NO, AND SOMETIMES WAIT. HIS TIMING IS ALWAYS PERFECT WHETHER WE BELIEVE IT OR NOT.

OFTEN THE ANSWER IS AT THE DOOR OF OUR LIVES IF WE ARE WILLING TO BELIEVE AND ACCEPT HIS TIMING INSTEAD OF INSISTING ON OUR OWN.

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN WE ARE SO INTENT ON PRAYING THAT THE PRAYER IS ALL TALKING AND NO LISTENING, EVEN WHEN THE ANSWER IS KNOCKING.

NEXT WEEK WE BEGIN THE STUDY OF MESSENGERS SENT TO START NEW CHURCHES TO FURTHER SPREAD THE WORD.