Full Transcript

Back in Jerusalem, another outbreak of persecution leads to the martyrdom of the apostle James and nearly of the apostle Peter, until God dramatically intervenes to rescue him. Why did God not answer the early Christians’ prayers for James’s rescue, but did for Peter? We get into that question of why God does not always answer our prayers in Acts chapter 12. Acts chapter 12. Jailbreak! Have you ever had dreams that seem so real it takes a while after you wake up to decide if it actually happened?

I dream a lot, and my dreams are often quite crazy, but some seem very real. Even though when I think back later and laugh how stupid they were at the time, right when I woke up, they seemed completely real. In fact, I often try to fall back asleep because I want to see how they turn out. Do you ever do that? Never works. We’re going to see a situation in Acts chapter 12 today that was really crazy and seemed like it had to be a dream, which in fact turned out to be real.

As this chapter opens, there is this time note. At about this time, King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, that is, believers in Jerusalem, and was intending to persecute them. That name King Herod might sound familiar to you. It was a King Herod who received the wise men from the east, remember, and tried to use them to find the baby Jesus. That King Herod was known to history as Herod the Great. He was also a ruler who had undertaken the grand project of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, the temple we keep reading about in both the Gospel and Acts.

He was actually a vassal king on the leash of Rome, but was given wide authority in his domain, which included Israel and some adjacent territories. Herod the Great ruled for a long time until shortly after Jesus’ birth. Then, upon his death, his will said his kingdom should be divided between three of his sons. One of them was King Herod Antipas. We read about him in the Gospels during the public ministry years of Jesus. He’s actually the King Herod who arrested and had the prophet John the Baptist beheaded.

He’s also mentioned in passing during the trials of Jesus. Herod Antipas fell out of favor with his Roman overlords, and for many reasons, he was sent into exile in 39 A.D. Then one of his brother’s sons, called Herod Agrippa I, became a vassal ruler for the Romans in Israel. This is who we are running into here in Acts chapter 12. Herod Agrippa was very well connected in Rome. In fact, this man had spent his youth in Rome and had grown up with young Caligula, who went on to become a Roman emperor.

But Herod Agrippa’s rule was cut short, as we’ll see in this chapter. Why do I mention all this? Well, for one thing, I like history. Sorry if you don’t. But for our purposes, I want to establish for you that these people we’re reading about in the biblical accounts, these are real people. And by cross-referencing what secular history records about them, it helps us date things in the New Testament too.

Herod Agrippa I, who is mentioned here at the outset of chapter 12, we know from secular history he was only in office for five or six years from approximately 39 A.D. to 44 A.D. So, when Luke writes, At about this time, King Herod arrested some Christians, that helps us pinpoint exactly the time he’s talking about. And where we are on the timeline of Christianity’s development. Barnabas and Saul have either just arrived in Judea with that gift for the Jerusalem church we read about in the previous chapter, or maybe were en route to do so. And the year is 44 A.D. That means that Christianity is only a little more than a decade old at this point.

But a lot has happened in that decade, hasn’t it? Most notably, the Christian faith has already spread from Jerusalem, Judea to Samaria to Ethiopia into the Mediterranean islands, northward as far as Lebanon, and eastward toward Damascus, Syria, and even into what is today lower Turkey, some 300 miles from where it all started. I can’t get inside Herod Agrippa’s head, but perhaps, since he was a politician intent on maintaining power, and there was always intrigue going on in the Herod family, sometimes it boiled over in ways that affected the Christian church and onto the pages of the book of Acts and the Gospels. From what I understand of this man’s rule, I think his decision to start persecuting Christians just then could well have been a diversion to change people’s focus from problems his administration was having.

It seems that after the persecutions headed up by Saul of Tarsus several years before, things had kind of settled down between the Jewish leaders and the Christian community. Was Saul’s persecution now caused by the sudden expansion of Christianity among Gentiles? Because that really riled up the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. Was Herod Agrippa’s desire to curry favor with those leaders in Jerusalem what caused him at this point to strike out against the early Christians? I’d love to know more about this. But for whatever the man’s motivations were, we learned in this chapter that he arrested some Christians, and at least one very prominent one, James, the son of Zebedee.

That’s the brother of the apostle John. This James was one of the original twelve apostles, one of the fishermen from Galilee. The John who wrote the fourth gospel I mentioned is his younger brother. After arresting James, Herod had him beheaded, the Roman method of capital punishment, which Luke says pleased the Jewish leaders. They saw now in Herod apparently an ally, a political leader with some clout who would be on their side in this rivalry with growing Christianity. Seeing that the Jewish leaders liked this renewed aggression against Christians, Herod Agrippa then arrested and imprisoned an even bigger fish, the apostle Peter, with the intention of putting him on trial and no doubt executing him as well.

But God had other plans for Peter. You might recall that Jesus himself had told Peter he would live to be an old man, which he was not yet at this point. So, Luke writes, Peter was kept in prison and the church was earnestly praying to God for him. It’s encouraging to see that that was the response by the early Christians to this aggression from the state. It doesn’t sound like they were panicked, and although there were quite a few Christians at this point, their reaction was not to try to meet violence with violence. There was no call to, from the apostles, Let’s form a Christian militia.

No. Jesus had taught a different way to react to opposition and persecution, not only by his own example, but directly in his teaching to his followers. He’d said, Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. His teaching and example was not to take revenge on people, even when you had the power to possibly do that, but to entrust yourself to God’s sovereign care. Let vengeance, if it’s called for, be meted out by God, Jesus had taught.

So, the believers here responded to this crisis of Peter being arrested correctly, with meekness and prayer, seeking God’s intervention for his safety. And God heard and answered those prayers in an amazing way. Peter, after his arrest, was placed in a very secure facility, undoubtedly the fortress in Jerusalem that’s called the Fortress of Antonia. From Luke’s description, which I’m sure he got from the inmate himself, Peter was shackled between two guards, with two guards standing watch at the entrances to where he was held. Four squads of soldiers were assigned this duty, each on guard for six hours round the clock. Sounds like Herod was taking no chances at all with such a prominent prisoner.

So the situation looked bleak. I’m sure no one among the early Christians in Jerusalem expected Peter would get a fair trial, so they were earnestly praying for God to somehow intervene. Listen to how Luke describes what happened next. The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. Suddenly, there was a bright light in his cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter.

The angel stood before him and, to awaken him, poked him in the side and said, Quick, get up! The chains fell off his wrists, and the angel told him, Get dressed and put on your sandals. And he did. Now put on your coat and follow me, the angel said. So Peter left the cell following the angel. In all the time, he thought it was a vision.

He didn’t realize it was actually happening. He thought it was a dream. They passed the first and second guard posts, came to the iron gate that led to the city. That opened up for them all by itself. So they passed through that and started walking down the street. And then suddenly, the angel left him.

So Peter was in this heavily guarded prison, shackled between two guards in a cell, in a locked cell. This arrangement couldn’t have been too physically comfortable, and yet, it says here, he was asleep. Gauging by what had recently happened to his friend James, how could he sleep? I’m pretty sure I’d be filled with all kinds of anxiety. Yet Peter is sleeping like a baby, which tells us a lot about this man’s faith, doesn’t it? His confidence in God to control this situation.

What? What? What is that? He feels a poke in his side. He opens one eye. His cell is brightly lit up.

A shining figure stands before him and says, Peter, get up and get dressed. The iron shackles just fell from his wrists. The guards around him are oblivious. God seems to have put them in some kind of a deep stupor. Don’t forget your coat there, fellow, and your shoes, and follow me, Peter’s told. He was in that state where he was pretty sure he was dreaming, or he was just going with it.

He followed the bright figure out of the cell, where another guard was out cold. Down a hallway, passing a fourth guard who was completely out as well. When they came to the fortress’s iron gate, it just swung open. And suddenly they were out in the street in Jerusalem in the middle of the night. The fresh air, I’m sure, cleared his head. They started down that deserted street, for it was the middle of the night, and suddenly he was in the darkness again, all alone.

His shining rescuer, which he now realized had to have been an angel of God, was gone. And at this point, Peter was fully awakened and realized this was no dream. God had miraculously freed him, sparing him from what would have happened almost certainly the next day, because it was Herod’s intention to kill him. Getting his bearings, he headed to the home of the Christians he knew best in the city. It was to the house where the upper room was located, where had been for some time a gathering place of the followers of Jesus. Peter, by this time, was actually the leader of a house church that met in that home.

When he arrived there, he began knocking on the outer gate to the courtyard. I’m sure his heart was racing as he was looking over his shoulder, trying to see if anyone was following him, and also still knocking, trying to get the attention of someone to let him in. He kept knocking, increasingly more insistently. Finally, a young servant girl came out to see who could be there at such an hour. When she saw it was Peter, she ran straight back into the house and told those gathered there praying for God’s intervention that he was at the gate. This is a funny scene.

The girl’s words seemed to them to be too good to be true. You’re out of your mind, they laughed. No, I’m telling you, it’s really Peter. He’s at the gate. Meanwhile, I’m sure Peter is wondering how long till guards at the prison notice he’s missing, and why in the world didn’t that girl let him in? So he knocks even harder.

Finally, someone comes out and unlocks the gate and let him in. You imagine. They’re shocked, but overjoyed at seeing Peter standing safely before them. He’s no doubt shushing them as he hears everybody inside and tells them all about his miraculous escape. He didn’t stay at that location long, though, because I’m sure he knew this was the first place Herod’s soldiers would come looking for him. He told these friends to inform the other leaders of the church at what had happened, that he was safe, but that he needed to move on to somewhere Herod’s men could not find him.

It’s hard to not laugh when you read this story, imagining the scene. These believers, Mary, who owned the home, her son John Mark, the servant girl Rhoda, and other members of this house church were apparently right in the middle of a serious all-nighter, a prayer vigil for Peter’s safety. When he actually shows up there in the middle of the night, the answer to their prayers, and they can’t believe that’s true. He’s pounding at the gate trying to get someone to let him in. The girl says people inside think it’s imaginary. They can’t believe it.

I’ll bet if you’re a Christian, you’ve had a similar experience. Maybe not quite that crazy, but I know I’ve had a similar experience. I can think of times I have earnestly prayed for something, and God answered my prayers, but I wasn’t quite sure I could believe it. It took me a while to accept it. Wow, he heard me. He answered my prayer.

In this case, their prayers for Peter’s safety were answered because God had a lot more for Peter to do. You know what? Nobody can take us out when God has more for us to do. Let’s finish up what Luke tells us in this section. I’m pretty sure he tells us the rest of Herod Agrippa’s story to encourage Christians to trust God and leave vengeance up to Him. So, as things proceed, we learn Herod was having a dispute with some of the cities at the edge of his domain, Tyre and Sidon.

That’s today in Lebanon. They probably were not paying taxes, but because they needed food from Israel, they eventually realized they needed to kowtow to Herod’s authority. Through an intermediary close to the king, they requested an opportunity to make peace. Some of what happens next we know from a Jewish historian named Josephus. Herod Agrippa went up to Caesarea for a big festival arranged to honor the Roman Emperor Claudius. He agreed to meet with these disaffected subjects of his at that festival.

This festival revolved around games held at the Roman stadium in that city. By the way, two impressive stadiums have been excavated by archaeologists, completely reconstructed at Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. This is exactly where this takes place. It was a very beautiful setting. On the appointed day, when Herod was scheduled to officially open this festival, these games at one of these outdoor stadiums, Josephus says he arrived in a gaudy, reflective silver robe. It must have been made with silver thread.

I picture looking at him like he was shining like silver, like metal from head to toe, from crown to the bottom of his robe. But when he made his perfectly timed entrance into the stadium, the sun was reflecting off all that silver, and it made him gleam like a heavenly being. And now I declare the games honoring the great Emperor Tiberius Claudius Caesar open! Or whatever he called out from the rostrum to the people filling the stadium seats. As he stood there, resplendent, basking in their applause, Luke says people were calling out, It’s the voice of a god and not a man! And Herod was lapping that up.

Josephus wrote that it was just at that point he was struck with severe pain in his chest and abdomen. He actually had to be carried from the stadium, and Herod Agrippa died five days later. Our author Luke, who remember was a physician, adds to this history that he was consumed by worms, the actual cause of death apparently being an internal parasitic infection of some kind. He also adds that it was because of his vanity and pride and that he accepted the adulation of those people as though he himself was a god. I’m pretty sure Luke wants us not to miss that God gave this tyrant, who had killed the apostle James and tried to kill the apostle Peter, the retribution he deserved, the justice Christians longed for. This occurred in 44 A.D.

He only ruled for five years. Let me say a word in closing today about something you might wonder about as a Christian, and that is this. Why does God sometimes answer our prayers and other times seems to completely ignore them? And why does he sometimes bring about swift justice on people who deserve it, while sometimes he seemingly lets injustices stand and stand? This chapter certainly shows this, and I can’t help but these are exactly the questions the early Christians would have had and would have been struggling with at this time. I mean, don’t you think they prayed for the apostle James when he was arrested?

But he was not saved. Herod had him put to death. Yet when Peter was arrested and they prayed for God’s intervention, there was a miraculous intervention, something impossible to explain except as an answer to their prayers. Or again. I’m sure when Saul of Tarsus persecuted the early Christians in Jerusalem, they cried out for justice. But God let it go on and let it go on until Saul had driven most of the Christians out of Jerusalem and Judea.

And here, when Herod Agrippa set about again to arrest and persecute Christians, Luke makes it clear that it was God who then cut that man’s life short. Hmm. It’s important to come to grips with this fact. God is not our genie. He is not obligated to grant our wishes. He sees the injustices and certainly hears the prayers of His people.

But we have to learn to accept that He has reasons and plans we simply do not see sometimes, nor have enough information to understand. Think about this. Our vantage point is different today than that of the early Christians who are actually living through these things we’re reading about. I think in retrospect, we can say that God’s purposes for James’ life and Peter’s life were obviously different. James was not shortchanged. He got to go to heaven before Peter, which is far better than being here.

But God had more for Peter to do, and so He spared him for a while longer till his life’s purposes were fulfilled. So Peter lived on for a few more decades, but he died too. We all do. What God has for our lives while we are here, we do not always see. His ways are often past our discovering, and we have to learn to trust Him. That’s even easier to see in the case of Saul of Tarsus versus Herod Agrippa.

They were both engaging at a time for serious injustices, cruelty against the early Christians. In both cases, I’m sure the believers cried out in prayer for God to protect them, to intervene, to bring down justice on these persecutors. But God let Saul go on for quite a time, while Herod Agrippa got carried out of that stadium full of parasites and died. Again, from our perspective now, we can see that God used the persecution of Saul, that He used that very difficult thing to scatter the early Christians. Because when they scattered, the seed of the gospel was scattered, like seed being cast up into the air on a windy day. It led to Christianity being scattered and planted all over the place.

We’ve read about it already in Cyprus, in Lebanon, in Syria, and so on. It greatly furthered the Great Commission. In that case, we can see now why God did not answer those prayers. He clearly had a purpose in allowing Saul’s persecution to go on, even a purpose for it in Saul’s own life, as that chapter in his life became a huge part of his personal testimony later on. You know, as a Christian for many years, I’ve made peace with the fact that I can pray for what I would like to see God do, but I end my prayers with, But of course, Father, You know better than me. Your will be done.

That’s not always easy. Some of you listening to me today may well be experiencing real injustices, and you may be crying out to God for help. He hears you if you’re His child. Trust Him. At the end of the road, God will see that justice is done in His time, and that His will is accomplished in His way. And at the end of our journey, God will see to it that all of His people are safe with Him forever.

This is Paul for Share the Word. Thanks, Paul. For those of you who are new to Share the Word, we release two podcasts every week, one on Monday and one on Thursday at 9 a.m. But you don’t have to wait, because you can access all of the podcasts simply by visiting sharetheword.org. Everything that’s produced for Share the Word is free for you to use and to share. Please take a moment to subscribe to Share the Word.

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