Acts 12 (Click title for audio access)
"Trouble Is The Ground Where
Deliverance Is Grown!" • 9.4.11 • Sunday
Morning Service, Calvary Christian Fellowship
Intro.
- Last week, we
saw a tremendous expansion of the gospel into the Greek world with the birth of
the church in Antioch.
- Sometimes it
goes without saying, but other times, it really needs to be said: Whenever
there is progress, there is a pushback. The cost for gospel involvement is
persecution.
- We'll see a
new wave of that this week and ponder the reality of our position. Often, we
are overwhelmed at the resistance to God in this world.
- There are
times that we feel that we are in the losing position. If you have felt that
way lately, overwhelmed and wondering how God could win in your situation, this
chapter will encourage you.
I. The Power Of Man (v.1-4)
II. The Power Of The Church (v.5)
III. The Power Of God (v.6-25)
Text
I. The Power Of Man (v.1-4)
• Acts
12:1,2 : "Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to
harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the
sword." : This story begins around 42 A.D.,
during the reign of Claudius, the Roman Emperor.
- One of the Herod's in power, who were more
like regional governors, but with Roman power behind them. The title
"KIng" was actually conferred upon this Herod by Claudius.
- His action is not the first wave of
persecution but it is a new level of opposition.
- Previous persecution had been religious in
nature. Here, opposition to the church would have been political in nature, and
therefore greater in capacity.
- This Herod was King Agrippa the first. He was
very popular with the Jewish people. Both Josephus and the Rabbis of that time
commend Agrippa.
- Agrippa had some Jewish roots as the female
side aligned them with the Maccabees. As a politician in Judea, that was very
helpful and he capitalized on every opportunity to sway them.
- One of the defining moments for Agrippa was
when he stopped Caligula from erecting a statue of himself in or very near the
temple. The Jews venerated Agrippa for this.
- Imagine the Jewish excitement when Herod
began to deal with the heretical sect of Christians who were popping up
everywhere and welcoming Gentiles to life with God!
- When he stretched out his hand, employing his
power, against the church, the world applauded all the more.
- Unlike the hand of God that gave power to
bring life through the gospel message, Herod's hand would only bring
destruction.
- And so it was with every Herod in scripture,
all of whom were diametrically opposed to Christ. Herod the Great would not
suffer a rival, so he had all the children of Bethlehem murdered.
- Herod Antipas would not suffer the claim that
Christ would have on his behavior of stealing his brother's wife, so he killed
John the Baptist.
- Now, Herod Agrippa will for the sake of his
loyalty to Judaism, kill James the brother of John.
- He goes right in line with all who carried
his name, their murderous legacy, intact.
- He harassed some from the church. Other translations
render it persecuted, oppressed or stretched out hands of violence toward.
- His main trophy kill was the Apostle James
having beheading him. This is the first Apostle to die, one of the Lord's inner
circle. It seems to indicate that this happened suddenly and unexpectedly.
- God allowed one of His chosen men, an Apostle
in the same league as Peter, to die at the hand of this wicked King.
- Jesus had never promised that His people
would be insulated from danger or death. James was immortal until God's plan in
His life was fulfilled.
- Christians, especially these of the first
century, have always viewed death differently than the world. James knew what
we know: The reality of the Kingdom and the reality of life is in Heaven.
- Herod simply provided James with the
opportunity to inherit what Jesus had won for Him. But to the casual observer,
this must have felt like a defeat.
• Acts
12:3,4 : "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. 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." : Herod
was not interested in righteousness. He was interested in his reputation!
- Killing James brought great joy to the Jews.
When he saw the affects of his actions, he seized Peter also. He thought,
"They're gonna love this!"
- Herod did this at a time when all Jewish men
were mandated to be in Jerusalem, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which
happened after the Passover.
- Don't be confused by the statements here, as
Passover and The Feast of Unleavened bread were often synonymous with one
another.
- He intended to bring him out after the Passover
meal before the people in much the same way that Jesus had been brought out by
Pilate.
- Herod, aware of previous prison stays, is not
taking any chances when it came to Peter. He was put in prison just like any
criminal would have been, but then, he brought in 4 squads of soldiers!
- A squad consisted of 4 soldiers. It's likely
that one squad was given for each watch of the night. Two soldiers would be in
the prison with Peter and two would be on the outside.
- This is their version of maximum security
prison, a daunting hurdle before the man of God.
II. The Power Of The Church (v.5)
• Acts
12:5 : "Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer
was offered to God for him by the church." : Peter was kept in prison for no lawful reason. Doors
locked, round the clock guards. The end would be his death, just like James.
- In the face of this storm, the church formed
a mob, got some signs and went to the front lawn of the palace!
- With threatening gestures and political
rhetoric, they made their presence known! I say these things not to decry or
discourage appropriate political response. There is a time for such things.
- But in a time when Roman rule was absolute
and there was no power for the people, the Spirit would have us understand that
prayer is was their first and best line of offense.
- Luke writes this in such a way where you get
the sense that there was little need for concern.
- "Peter was in prison, but hey, don't
worry: The church was praying!"
- This was not a quick, I'm about to eat and I
need to have God bless this. This was intentional, repeated, focused, fervent,
desperate, dependant prayer!
- The word "constant" comes from a
word that means to stretch to the limits, to reach out as far as possible
toward something. That kind of prayer is powerful.
- It would seem that in the face of certain
overwhelming opposition that the church would simply resolve itself to Peter's
demise. After all, James had fallen to the sword.
- Instead of giving into skepticism, the church
believed that it's prayers would be effective, so they doubled their efforts in
prayer to God for Him.
- This is a wonderful example to us, as we
often believe that prayer is the least of our resources. As believers, you must
learn to realize that it is our first and greatest resource!
- It is never the least that you can do; It is
the most that you can do! Is it because of your faith or is it because of the
object of your faith? It's certainly the latter.
- Let me offer one final thought before moving
on: Prayer is not about petitioning God for a certain result. It's about
cooperating with what His will is for a certain situation.
III. The Power Of God (v.6-25)
• Acts
12:6-10 : "And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was
sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the
door were keeping the prison. 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. Then the angel
said to him, 'Gird yourself and tie on your sandals'; and so he did. And he
said to him, 'Put on your garment and follow me.' So he went out and followed
him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he
was seeing a vision. When they were past the first and the second guard posts,
they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its
own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the
angel departed from him." : We'll note first, God's power despite our circumstances. On
this night, Herod was about to present him in the morning, ie. bring him out
for judgment, beheading.
- Peter was sleeping. God had given His man,
the one that has been prayed for, peace. Peter, on the eve of what looked like
his demise, was not pacing, he was peacing!
- There are two reasons here for Peter's peace.
First, he was prayed for. Second, he trusted the word of His master, who had
told him that he was going to die an old man.
- Peter was sleeping between two guards with
chains on his legs and guards at the door.
- This brings us to the next heavenly resource:
Angelic Visitation. These guards, being Roman centurions, were quite imposing
as men, but not nearly as imposing or as powerful as an angel.
- Peter was not the only one sleeping, as the
guards slept by his side. The Angel had to strike Peter to get him to get up!
That is how deep Peter's sleep was!
- The chains that had bound him were easily
removed, literally falling or failing in their use off of Peter's hands. It
took a while for Peter to realize that this was not a dream.
- They came to the iron gate, the one that
several men had to get up to move and it moved, literally automatically! You
have to wonder if the angel had the clicker!
- Once he was safe, the angel departed and
Peter became aware of what had happened.
- Got chains? Got imposing guards? Got iron
gates? If you've got God, you've got no problem!
• Acts
12:11 : "And when Peter had come to himself, he said, 'Now I know for
certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of
Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.'" : Note secondly that God's power works
in spite of His people's cooperation.
- Peter was useless. He had been walking around
thinking that he had been in some kind of dream. The cold night air fixed that!
- God had thwarted Herod's plan and all the
expectation of the Jewish people, referring to the anticipation that the Jewish
leadership had in potentially ending Christianity.
• Acts
12:12-14 : "So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary,
the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together
praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came
to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did
not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate." :
Peter put all the pieces together and went to the nearest meeting place.
- The Mary that we are looking at is not the
mother of the Lord. She is another Mary, a common name among women then. Her
son Mark is the gospel author and cousin of Barnabas.
- Her home was large enough to hold church meetings
in, with a courtyard separating the house from the street. Mary was likely a
wealthy widow, who opened her home to the church.
- When Peter came to her home, one of the
servant girls who slept out near the gate came to the door and heard Peter. In
a classic moment, Rhoda leaves the Apostle outside! No help there!
- She came in and joyfully told the
congregation that their prayers had been answered. Peter was not only free but
he's right outside the gate!
• Acts
12:15 : "But they said to her, 'You are beside yourself!' Yet she kept
insisting that it was so. So they said, 'It is his angel."
: What was their response?
"Yes, our faith has won the day!" "I told you that prayer
worked!" One wishes that were the case!
- The church in the middle of it's prayer
service says unbelievably that Rhoda was insane and that it was not Peter at
the gate knocking, but his angel!
- This betrays a belief at that time that was
common in Jewish thinking that each person had a guardian angel that bore some
resemblance to the person they were protecting. Poor guys!
- The language indicates that she kept
repeating this news to them. They had to be convinced to come to the door.
- The church likely expected results, but
certainly not anything soon and nothing miraculous!
- It's very easy to go through any exercise of
our faith without being involved and often without expectation. I caution us not
to fall into that same trap.
• Acts
12:16,17 : "Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and
saw him, they were astonished. But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he
declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, 'Go,
tell these things to James and to the brethren.' And he departed and went to
another place." : Peter
had to keep knocking! They were astonished! They couldn't believe the report or
their eyes! God had delivered their leader in spite of their faith.
- Peter tells them the story and tells them to
tell James, but makes a quick exit out of Jerusalem for the time being.
- The James that Peter is referring to here is
the half brother of the Lord Jesus and will soon be the Pastor of the Jerusalem
church.
- Peter wanted his brothers to hear the
testimony of what God had delivered him from. They needed to hear and be
encouraged. Never underestimate the power of your testimony!
• Acts
12:18,19 : "Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the
soldiers about what had become of Peter. But when Herod had searched for him
and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put
to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there." : This is the final part of our
section, where we see God's power working to spite human opposition. Psalm 2:4
tells us that when the nations rage against Him, he laughs!
- Herod's plan for adding to his legacy at
God's expense had failed. The soldiers were at a loss to explain what had
happened. When a search was made, the guards responsible were murdered.
- In those days and according to the customs of
the Roman guards, if a prisoner escaped, the soldiers that he escaped from,
would bear the same penalty as the convict.
- Herod searched high and low, interrogated the
guard and came up empty.
- In their minds, the guards had to be acting
in cooperation with Peter in allowing him to escape. Christian sympathizers.
Deflated, Herod decided that it was time to head to Caesarea.
- This was some time later, extant sources,
Josephus specifically, will put it at 44 A.D.
• Acts
12:20 : "Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon;
but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s
personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was
supplied with food by the king’s country." : Tyre and Sidon are modern day Lebanon, but in this time,
it was a Roman port with a tenuous relationship to Agrippa.
- Tyre and Sidon owned the shipping lanes, but
Galilee owned the food.
- Herod was very angry with them. There was bitter
hostility that Herod had with them. The representatives of Tyre and Sidon came
to Herod united in a desire to win his favor.
- They persuaded Herod's personal aide, likely
through bribery, to be their intermediary with Herod. He was Herod's chamberlain,
the man who carried great responsibility in Herod's house.
- Blastus was probably the only man that Herod
trusted and would listen to. When the delegates came to him, they asked that he
would ask for peace because of their food supply.
• Acts
12:21-23 : "So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne
and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, 'The voice of a god
and not of a man!' Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he
did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died." : On a set day. Such a loaded term. There
was a planned event where Herod could show off his splendor.
- It came on the second day of a celebration
for Claudius Caesar, which brought everyone to Caesarea and the 4,000 seat
theater built by Herod's grandfather.
- Herod thought that this was a day set for his
glory. He didn't know that it was the day that God would make a public mockery
of him!
- According to Josephus, Herod's fine clothing
was stitched with silver, so that he looked like a giant disco ball in the sun.
He began speaking, but when he did, the accolades began.
- Luke doesn't say how he responded but
Josephus mentions that he made no effort to stop them. One can imagine that
this made Herod very happy!
- When they had shouted the loudest, God's
angel struck him. Why? Because Herod took the credit and let the people
blaspheme God.
- The NLT translates it this way: "he accepted
the people's worship instead of giving the glory to God." In
many ways, this is exactly what every Herod's sin was.
- They wanted what was reserved specifically
for God: The adulation of men!
- Herod was intent upon fighting against God
this entire chapter. When he stood there taking the credit that God deserved,
this was enough. God struck him down in front of everyone.
- The angel struck him down, but the final
cause of death was that he was eaten by worms! The Greek word refers to a
certain type of tapeworm common to countries where lamb is eaten.
- This type of tapeworm forms a cyst that
eventually bursts out and releases as many as 2 million "scolices."
This particular worm is fairly difficult to kill.
- In fact, Jesus uses this term referring to
the worm that does not die in hell!
˚
"Each section of the
worm is a self-contained unit which has both male and female parts. The
posterior part matures and forms hundreds of worm eggs."
- According to Josephus, Herod lingered on in
excruciating abdominal pain for 5 days before succumbing to death. You could
really say that something was eating Herod!
• Acts
12:24,25 : "But the word of God grew and multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem
when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose
surname was Mark." :
Herod had attempted to snuff out Christianity, but his efforts failed and God's
word grew! He even got a new team going!
- The mission to deliver the relief money from
Antioch was fulfilled. When they left, they took with them the Mark that had
witnessed God's power in releasing Peter.
- Another man of God was about to begin his
journey.
Conclusion
- This chapter
begins with James being killed. It ends with Herod being killed. It begins with
the church persecuted. It ends with the church powerful!
- No weapon
formed against you shall prosper. No faith is too small. No circumstance too
great. No power to great to overcome the Lord.
- Whatever you
face this week, whether it's circumstance or your own lack of faith, know how
it's going to end: With God winning the day!
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