When All seems Lost

Acts 12: 1-18 Exposition

* It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.

These arrests occurred as the persecution increased following Stephen's death. Jesus had spoken of the enmity the church would experience with the world. Persecution is not in itself a sign of being the true church as some sects would argue. The Latter Day Saints (Mormons) assert that they are the true church and give as partial evidence the persecution they have received. Yet a religious group can simply be wrong in its belief or conduct and find itself subject to rebuke, distrust, and even depending on the law in place in a time or place, arrest and punishment. This is not persecution. Yet believers at the same time should not be surprised when they are persecuted. See Matthew 5:10-12. Even if our doctrine and conduct are pure, we will find that the world that stands apart from God will only tolerate us so far as we please them and will seek to destroy us when we cease to amuse or serve their purposes.

* 2.
* He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

James, an important leader of the church at Jerusalem fell victim to this persecution. Just as believers are not immune to persecution, particularly important or exemplary leaders are especially targets.

* 3.
* When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Herod set out to please the Jews with whom he had little popularity. The Herods ruled by cruelty and by Roman mandate and were considered illegitimate kings by the Jews. In an attempt to boost his popularity he makes a sport of dealing in justice. The hand of the ruler is to be guided by justice and ultimately by God and not by what may bring pleasure to the people or an increase in power. Herod used human life to gain advantage for himself. He chose as the time for this the feast of unleavened bread, the Passover, the same feast in which Christ himself was arrested and executed before.

* 4.
* After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

Avoiding chaos during the feast he had Peter held over for trail after the feast. This important prisoner was placed under what seems a rather extensive guard for a non violent offender.

* 5.
* So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

The turning point comes as Peter is held without any likelihood of escape, yet, as we are called to do, the church prays to God on Peter's behalf; "earnestly" so, not out of compulsion or in a cursory manner, but with sincerity and zeal.

* 6.
* The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.

Again we see Peter under a guard that precludes any imagination of escape.

* 7.
* Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.

Got often uses natural means in his work but yet will still when he desires, and for his own glory, use supernatural means for His Work. I hesitate to call Angels supernatural however, since they are, according to the Word of God, God messengers, created beings serving God's purposes and while certainly uncommon to our experience or perception, are not doing here anything other than that which God created them to do. Angelic work may be unusual, even seemingly rare, but it is "normal" in this sense. God's sovereign control over the order of things is established as while the angel speaks the chains fall off without so much as a touch, or so this account would indicate, one does not need this to be supernatural to Glorify God in that Peter, who is hopelessly bound is set free.

* 8.
* Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9.
* Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.

As this experience was out of Peter's normal experience and expectation he believed it to be a vision, as this was something he had previously experienced. Yet as with a vision he obeyed and followed.

* 10.
* They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.* 11.
* Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."

Having followed the Angel from the prison, past all of the guards and out of the locked gate, Peter, found himself truly released. He immediately Glorifies God (The Lord) having realized the true source of His freedom.

* 12.
* When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.

Now freed he proceeds to the house of some friends and fellow believers. All there had gathered to pray, presumably, among their prayers was the subject of Peter himself.

* 13.
* Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. * 14 * When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"* 15. * "You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."

It is funny that when we pray our expectation of God's answering is so weak that we will not comprehend when we are told that our prayer has been answered. We should be instructed by this to truly live in expectation of answered prayer, knowing that God is not merely able but willing to answer our prayers. Here the gathered believers leave Peter standing outside in their inability to believe in his deliverance from the prison. They even take to speculation regarding what the girl saw and heard rather than take the simplest answer to be the right one, that is, she is telling the truth.

* 16.
* But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

Peter persists until it is impossible for them to disbelieve and they admit him. Again, they are "astonished" to see their prayers answered. This is not to their condemnation but to the glory of God who can and will accomplish what is astonishing and even unbelievable to us.

* 17.
* Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place.

Peter shares the account as reported above, complete, since it has been recorded this way, with Peter's own disbelief and assumption that his experience was a vision to good to be real. In this way I believe we are assured that our struggles to believe point to both our own natural weakness and God's incredible greatness. We cannot marvel that we struggle to believe since the works of God are so staggering in their greatness. In the end we simply believe and stand in awe.
Peter instructs them to tell the account to James, Not John's brother of course, as mentioned in verse 2, but likely James the brother of Jesus, another of the leaders at Jerusalem.