Acts | Chapter 12

 

Acts. Ch 12 Vs. 1-11

 “I’m sleeping, don’t bother me!”

 Intro.

Vs. 1-2 Luke starts this section with a little time line, the events that follow took place when Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass or literally “to do evil” against the Church. Now we know the date of these events to be A.D. 44 as the death of Herod (verses 23) is well recorded in ancient history. So all of this took place some 12 years after the resurrection of Jesus and for those years the Church has been growing rapidly. Religious persecution has done nothing but expand the scope of ministry especially when the chief persecutor, (Paul) becomes a follower of Jesus. Trials, from within (prejudice) and from without (famine) have all been used of God to develop character which was necessary to further God’s work of reaching the world. But here in these verses the Church faces its first persecution from the Political Roman Government. To date the powers of the land had little or no interest.

         Now it’s a little confusing when it comes to these Herods. There are so many and all of them seem to hate the things of God. They were all descendents of Esau Jacob’s brother who sold his birth right. And evidently they were trying to get it back.

• Herod the Great: He is the one who slaughtered the babies at Bethlehem in hopes of killing the true King of Kings Jesus. He had eight wives, two of them with the same name Mariamme and many children by them. Of those eight he killed six of them. One of the Mariammes was a descendant of the Maccabeans. And before he killed her she gave him a son named Aristobulus, who would himself be one of the 15 children murdered by his father.

• Aristobulus would father several children, two of which would come into the pages of scripture.

• A daughter, Herodias: Who first marries an uncle, Herod Philip and later marries another uncle Herod Antipas also called the Tetrarch who steals her from Philip and then conspires to behead John the Baptist and later presides over the trial of Jesus in Luke 23.

• A son, Herod Agrippa I: After his father’s murder by his grandfather’s hand at three years old he went with his mother Bernice to live in Rome. He grew up hob-nobing with royalty. He never did amount to much and about the only thing he did was gamble and womanize. He got so much into debt that he had to flee back to Israel and ended up working for His uncle Antipas and Aunt Herodias. He gets into a public fight with them and heads back to Rome and makes some new friends Caligula and Claudius and makes a few new enemies, the emperor Tiberius who throws him into prison. Well, Tiberius dies and Caligula becomes the new Emperor and he is released from prison and given the territory of the northernmost part of Israel. After Caligula’s death Claudius becomes emperor. Claudius gives him as much territory as his Grandfather Herod the Great once possessed. As a slick politician Agrippa along with his Jewish wife learns all the ways of the Jews in order to keep favor. Now His son Herod Agrippa II will be brought in to hear Paul’s defense in Acts chapter 25 and with his death the Herods will pass from history.  

Vs. 2 You see Herod did this as he thought it would please the Jewish leaders and make him popular. Now James becomes the second mentioned martyr but the first of 11 disciples. He is one of the three closest with Jesus in the Gospels. With Peter’s three arrests and releases perhaps the Church began to think that no harm could come upon the inner circle. James and his brother John form a parenthesis around the early church. James is the first of the original disciples to die and John is the last.

Vs. 3-4 Herod seeing how much this pleased the Jews went after Peter during the week of Passover. So here you have Peter in prison awaiting the public trial with a sure outcome, death. Now it seems that Peter’s divine escapes were well known as Herod puts 16 men in charge of making sure he can’t get away. They took shifts of four each with two being chained to Peter himself and two guarding the doors. Now we know that the custom in those days with extremely dangerous criminals was to chain them to one guard. So this shows us that Herod was not going to take any chances in losing Peter.

Vs. 5 Here we see the action of the Church on behalf of Peter, constant prayer. Now the word “constant” is a word that describes stretching a muscle to its limits. But why did they not do so with James? Perhaps they took it for granted that God would just release James as he had Peter so many times. Folks, I got to tell you when the Lord has been working in our lives doing miraculous things we start to take Him for granted and every now and then the Lord has to allow us to get back to realizing that we need Him and are dependent upon Him! How horrible it is for us to realize that it often takes a tragedy to get us to seek God! They didn’t pray for James and he was beheaded. So they are really exercising their prayer muscles this time.

Vs. 6-11 So what is Peter doing on the eve of his death? SLEEPING! Now is that not great? You say well its no big deal Peter had narcolepsy he is always sleeping.

• At the mount of transfiguration he was asleep.

• In the Garden of Gethsemane he slept even after being asked by Jesus twice to stay awake.

That may be true but there is something different about this occasion, on the Mount he slept because he did not think anything was going to happen. In the Garden he sleeps in disobedience. Here he sleeps in perfect peace. Peter knew that the Lord said he would live until he was old and then die. He also knew that Jesus loved him and was able to keep him. Can you imagine how it must have blown the minds of those Roman guards? “Hey, how was the prisoner Titicous?” “Great, man all he did was sleep!” How about you right now this minute if you were going to be executed for being a Christian tomorrow would you sleep tonight?  

 

Acts Ch 12:12-25

“Knocking on heavens door”

Vs. 12-19a The answer is at the door

Vs. 20-25 What’s eating him?

Intro.

To get the full grasp of this story we need only go back to the fifth verse where we read, “but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.” These words form the context for the events of verses 12-19 and more than that they help create the contrast with the end of Herod’s life, verses 20-25. Folks, the events of these passages have brought things into clear focus.

On the one hand you have the Church dedicated to the cause of Christ facing adversity and motivated by dependence are forced to pray to God. You will recall that the word “constant” is an athletic term that describes stretching a muscle to its limits. Yet in so praying for the deliverance of Peter when their prayers are miraculously answered they show that all along they did not believe it could happen.

Then you have a powerfully wicked man named Herod whose sole aim is to capture and kill Peter. He has all the world’s resources at his disposal and there is no one and no way to stop him from his goal. Yet instead of ending Peter’s life it is his life that ends unexpectedly!  

So what’s my point? Simple,

First, from the Christian’s perspective there is no magical or mystical approach to prayer. Prayer is plain communication and at its root it is dependence motivated. And here is what we see in this section. As you and I are crying out to God about a situation; (something or someone that looks to alter the program of God in our lives), God hears not only what we believe should happen, He hears and answers the cry of our heart in dependence upon Him. When your child cried out for help and you could hear the hopelessness and helplessness in their voice you came to them not with the question, “Do you really believe I can do what you ask?” No you responded in love to the cry of the heart. Am I saying don’t ask for specific things? No, ask all you want but realize that the answer lies not so much in that you asked and believed but rather that you asked the right Person, your Father in heaven! Yes, there is a trust element in prayer but clearly we learn that “faith as small as a mustard seed” can move mountains, or as in this case open prison doors! So much for the often-used phrase, “I don’t have enough faith!” You don’t have to; all you have to have is a heart that is dependent upon God. 

Second, from a worldly perspective no matter how hard you try, how much power and influence you may have you can not thwart the will of God. So it’s best just to get out the white flag now and come on over to trusting in God. Herod believed in his ability, ingenuity and power to get the upper hand on a rag-tag group Christians, who prayed earnestly but quite obviously not really believing God would work and still Herod was defeated! 

Vs. 12-19a The answer is at the door

Vs. 12 We last left Peter coming to himself somewhere just outside the gates of Jerusalem realizing that “the Lord had brought him out of the prison.” (verse17). Now Peter is going to be on Herod’s most wanted list so he has to get out of the street right away. So he decides to go to John Mark’s house. Now many folks believe that this is the same house where Jesus celebrated Passover the night He was arrested and also the house where Pentecost happened.

         Now look at the second part of this verse, “where many were gathered together praying.” Do you see that? Peter had been seized some time during the feast of unleavened bread and Herod had decided to hold him in prison until after Passover and then kill him so as not to offend the Jews. So Peter had been in prison for up to a week and during that time we are told that the Church had been exercising itself in prayer for his deliverance. In fact when Peter had come to John Mark’s house they were in a prayer meeting for his deliverance. Do you see the scene now? So what has this week-long prayer meeting accomplished so far on Peter’s behalf? Well I’d like to suggest three things that prayer accomplishes based upon what has happened so far in the story.

It delayed the crisis: Peter was put in prison to be put to death. The Church prayed and instead of him being put to death the next day many days pass. Prayer has the ability to postpone that which we fear. So much of our lives are lived on the tyranny of the urgent and we have knee-jerk reactions to things. Folks if you don’t know this you will soon, “LIFE IS A CRISIS”!!!! Prayer has built into it a time element that causes things not to be as urgent or desperate as we may  have thought they were at first. It’s kind of like going swimming in cold water, your body reacts to the sudden change of temperature but then you adjust and it’s not quite as cold as you thought at first. Maybe they started out praying, “Oh God they are going to kill Peter now just like they did James, help.” But as the days passed they prayed, “God deliver Peter some way!” I don’t know about you all but sometimes all I need is a few days to get a better perspective on the crisis on hand.

It brought about a peaceful heart: They were no doubt praying for Peter’s safety and rescue but God had given Peter a super-natural peace right in the midst of the situation. And how at peace was Peter you ask? Well he was so at peace that when it came time for the Lord to deliver him by way of an angel it took three attempts, (light, poking and voice) to get him up and still the angel had to help get dressed! Folks, God does not first deliver us OUT OF the situation He delivers us THROUGH the situation. I have this little saying on the wall in my office that I should read and take to heart more often; “God does not create joy by new surroundings; He creates new surroundings by joy!” Prayer calms the anxious heart!

It changed the situation and circumstance: Now as yet unknown to those that were praying, God suddenly changed the circumstances which Peter found himself in. Not only was Peter delivered from prison but also in a short while the one who threatened the life of Peter would himself be dead. Truly God is able to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” (Eph 3:20) Folks we have a tendency to think and even pray within the box but we pray to a God who created the box and knew of its existence forever! 

Vs. 13-16 Now right away I can tell you that this is one of my favorite passages.

 There are two reasons for this:

• I love the humor of it all.

• I can relate to these great prayer warriors.

Rhoda, whose name means rose, is the only one in the story who responded correctly. It is my opinion that she was most likely the youngest believer at the house. The reason I say this is that she apparently does not look at the situation to determine who God is but rather uses who God is to determine the situation. When we are young Christians we just simply believe. It was customary in those days to knock on a door and announce your name. So when Peter did this Rhoda recognized Peter’s voice, but instead of opening the door to let him in she ran off to tell the others that their prayers had been answered.

         I can just picture this young servant girl bouncing all over the place with excitement as a room full of somber mature Christians are praying. “Lord God, we beseech You now on our fourth day of praying on behalf of Peter. Please Oh God of all mercy, deliver him from the bars of oppression and bring him back to us!”  Then you hear Rhoda blurt out, “Peter, Peter he’s….” “Be quiet Rhoda can’t you see we are praying for Peter’s freedom what’s gotten into you?” “Yeh, I know but he is right outside.” “That’s not funny, are you out of your head? He has been sentenced to death and tomorrow he is going to lose his head and you’re making jokes!” She kept on insisting that Peter was really outside so they could see she was serious and thought well, “Maybe it’s his guarding angel.” Now think about it Christians, if it was Peter’s guardian angel why did he need to stand at the door and knock?

Vs. 16 Now switch back over to Peter still outside knocking on the door and whispering for fear of drawing attention to himself, “Hey guys it’s me come on let me in!” So they all come together to answer the door. It’s been suggested that they all came together thinking it may have been Herod’s police to arrest them. And when they see, him they all were saying, “I knew this was going to happen as we have been praying for days for your release.” No, they are blown away and are so loud that Peter who is still outside in the courtyard has to motion with his hand for them to be quiet.

Again folks look at these Christians :

• Many were praying

• They’re praying in earnest

• They prayed day and night

• They prayed for days

• Their prayers were centered around the deliverance of Peter

And when Peter shows up in answer to their prayers they would not open the door to let him in. Peter had an easier time getting out of a well guarded prison chained between two Roman guards than he did getting into a prayer meeting on his behalf! How many times has the answer to our prayer come right up to our door and we refused to believe it? This week I faced the building crisis and called C.C.M.B. I was told, “God has a door open, find the door!” In the case of these guys they needed to go to the door.

Now Rhoda gave thanks at the answer of prayer when she heard the voice of Peter. The rest of the house gave thanks as they saw the answer of prayer in the face of Peter. But how much better would it have been if they began to rejoice and give thanks the moment they began to pray because they knew that God heard their voice and saw the situation? You see what I’m saying? First and foremost, prayer changes the one who prays! If they’d given thanks to the Lord in prayer they would not have doubted the Lord’s ability to answer prayer.         

Vs. 17 After Peter quiets the prayer meeting he tells them how the Lord brought out of prison and instructs them to tell James. Now this is not James the brother of John as he has already been put to death. No, this is James the half brother of Jesus, who at this time was the acting head of the Church at Jerusalem, Acts 15. Now Peter quickly leaves the area but we are not told where. There are some that claim Peter went to Rome and was there 25 years as Pope and was killed there. But the truth is that does not seem to be the case, if it were so then why doesn’t Paul mention him in his letter to the Romans? 

Peter does fade from view in the book of Acts as the focus of Luke’s writings becomes more of the gentile Church. Except where he appears some time later at the council gathered to debate whether or not the gentiles need to be circumcised to be Christians in chapter 15. Then in Gal. 1:19 we are told that he had an extended stay in the Church at Antioch but that Paul had to confront him to his face, as he was eating only with the Jewish believers who had come up from Jerusalem. Lastly we are told that, according to 1 Cor. 9:5, 1 Cor 1:12 he traveled with his wife and apparently visited Corinth.     

Vs. 18-19 As soon as day broke there was a great turmoil about what had become of Peter. So Herod was searching for him, examined the 16 guards and put them to death instead of Peter. The Roman law was that if a guard allowed a prisoner to escape then whatever sentence was upon the prisoner was now upon the guards. So clearly Herod’s intention was to kill Peter. And no doubt bummed at the escape of Peter Herod heads on down to Caesarea which is right on the Mediterranean Sea, as it was his capital. 

Vs. 20-25 What’s eating him?

Vs. 20 –23 As a postscript Luke tells of what happened to Herod. We are not told of what got him angry at the two seaports on the Phoenician coast of modern day Lebanon but he was furious with them. Now they lay outside his jurisdiction but he did supply them with grain mainly from the region of Galilee. So it appears that he just stopped trading with them as a kind of embargo. Well that got the leaders to come up to Caesarea and bribe his chief of staff for an audience. Now the Jewish historian Josephus writes of this very event saying that the day all this took place was on a day when there was a celebration for Caesar who was a personal close friend.

On the second day of the celebration Herod came out looking like Elton John in a robe made of silver that shone in the early morning sunlight. Evidently he had set up his throne at the huge outdoor amphitheater. As he arose to give a speech the people wanting to placate him started shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man.” Herod did not rebuke them nor reject their flattery; instead felt a sharp and intensifying pain in his side and said, “I, a god in your eyes …. I who am called immortal by you, am now under the sentence of death.” Five days later he died.

Luke says here that worms ate him and as a doctor uses a word for worm that describes a specific head structure of a tapeworm. This particular tape worm grows to around 16 inches and attaches over a million eggs on the right lobe of the liver forming a cyst as the worms develop inside the cyst and rupture it which causes a painful death. This by the way is the same word Jesus uses in Mark 9:44 where He describes hell as a place where the “worm” does not die. This type of tapeworm keeps propagating itself  as each part of the worm is a complete unit made up of both male and female parts. 

Hey folks, this whole thing makes me realize that apart from prayer a lot of things can eat at us. We can be ridden with the worm of anxiety and worry. Or the worm of bitterness and anger. Now there is a treatment it’s give it to Jesus! If we don’t we are going to drop dead one day and not enjoy the life God has given us.

Vs. 24 – 25 Luke closes the chapter with a contrast between the way of the world and the way of God. “he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God grew and multiplied.” Notice what grew and multiplied, “the word of the Lord.” Nothing can stop the word of the Lord. It doesn’t matter how powerful a person is, or how rich and famous they are, it’s foolish to think that you can live apart from total dependence upon God. Why not trust Him today and start by coming to Him in prayer with thanksgiving? Lastly we are told that Barnabas and Paul come back to Antioch and they bring with  them John Mark, his cousin. Now in the next chapter we will launch into the first full missionary journey.