Acts 12
Peter’s Miraculous Escape From Prison
12 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.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.
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
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.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.
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. 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 has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”
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. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant 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.”
16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 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 other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.
18 In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.
Herod’s Death
Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. 20 He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.
21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.
Barnabas and Saul Sent Off
25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission,they returned from[a] Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.
Today as I was reading through Acts 12 I was struck by the contrasting experience of the disciples. The chapter describes the persecution of the early Christians from the Jews. They were arrested, tortured and executed to the roar of the crowds. In this chapter, we read about two of Jesus’ closest friends, James and Peter. They are both arrested. Peter has angels come to miraculously rescue him. The story sounds like a movie with angels opening doors, removing chains and returning Peter to his community. James, on the other hand, gets no angels, he gets no rescue, he gets no party. One faithful leader is saved, the other is lost.
I sat at a table a few months ago with five leaders. The first one told us a story about how 30 new people had joined his church. They were baptising them and it had transformed the community. He was rejoicing and celebrating. The others were excited for him but when we asked them if they had seen similar growth, they each replied no. They had seen nothing. This contrast of experiences can cause you to ask all kinds of questions about your ministry. Does God love me? Am I anointed? Should I be leading the church or should I step aside for someone else? We equate success to favour.
Perhaps you have had similar feelings. You see someone with an exciting spiritual gift. Or someone else receives healing, while you remain sick. It is frustrating and disappointing. It is easy and natural to start asking question - why did God break through for them and not for me.
This story gives me a lot of courage. While we all want Peter’s story, there will be times when we feel more like James’. In those moments, we remember that James was as close to Jesus as Peter and was as loved as him. He was just as faithful and he was just as annointed.
Sometimes you will pray and the cancer will stop. Sometimes you will pray and it will remain. Sometimes there is breakthrough, sometimes there is not. We trust in God in every season, knowing that he sees all and is in all. There is nothing that is outside of his love and he will use all things for good. We don’t always understand why God moves in one situation and not another. His ways are higher than ours, and sometimes the good He is working is beyond what we can see right now.
However, the danger with realising this is that we become passive, laissez-faire, what will be will be. The point that the passage is really the opposite, it is a testimony of the power of prayer from the early church. Prayer changed everything! They contended and interceded on Peter’s behalf and the impossible happened: God literally sent angels to rescue him. There is power in prayer! You have no way of knowing what God could do if you begin to pray bolder prayers today. For nothing is impossible to God.
