Power Of Prayer

It is the year 44AD. Around 12 years from the death and resurrection of Jesus. So we can perhaps conclude that the growth of the church has already span 12 years and believers now included a vast number of Jews and Gentiles. With growth comes challenges, strife, arguments and even misunderstanding among Jews and Gentiles. And there is also outside persecution from unbelievers and hard core Jews as well but nonetheless the Church continued to grow.

This growth threatened the Pharisees. It threatened their security, their power and influence. So the Pharisees found an opportunity to work with the present administration to bring down the apostles and the church.

Acts 12, verse 1 where we are introduced to King Herod.

VERSE 1: There are a couple of HERODs in the new testament and so this might be confusing.

As you can see, Grandfather Herod the Great was the king when Jesus was born, He ordered the murder of baby boys. Then his son Herod Antipas beheaded John the Baptist and was King when Jesus died. And now we come to Herod Agrippa the first, grandson of Herod the Great. Herod Agripa was just like his grandfather. Grandfather Herod had his own son, Aristobalus, the father of Herod Agripa, killed because of conspiracy.

King Herod Agrippa the First had recently got his position of kingship granted after spending a little bit of time in prison in Rome. Because of favorable connections with the hierarchy of Rome, Herod Agrippa was given authority to rule over his grandfather’s kingdom.

Herod was a seasoned politician, very savvy and so he wanted to win favor from all influential parties including the Pharisees to maintain his level of power in the region. He also knew that in order to stay in power, he had to maintain peace. His predecessors fell from power because the jews became unruly. And so in order to keep the Jews happy, he began to viciously attack the Christians.

And in Verse two, he did what the Pharisees most likely wanted to do but could not. It says in v2 : "He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword." James was the first apostolic martyr. Sword slaying probably indicated a beheading and Herod must have chosen this way of execution because beheading was particularly degrading to the Jews.

And in verse 3, we see Peter arrested as well, and all this happened at the time of Passover. This is the Jewish holiday celebrating how the angel of death passed over every household that had been marked by the lamb's blood while they were in captivity in Egypt.

Passover had special meaning to the Jews as it was an ongoing reminder of God's deliverance from captivity.

And this timing and circumstances also parallel the experience of Jesus twelve years earlier as John the Baptist was beheaded and Jesus was taken into custody awaiting His death after Passover.

So the church is under threat and constant persecution. They were starving due to sever famine. They were in constant fear. They were constantly attacked, many imprisoned and tortured. It was a very difficult time for the church. And then one of their leaders, the Apostle James is put to death and then PETER was arrested and was awaiting a public trial which follows an execution.

And Peter wasn't just arrested. He was put into prison and chained with 16 guards. Now that's what I call maximum security - 16 guards for one man. It gives you an indication as to what Herod thought of Peter and the type of example that he was trying to make of him.

I can imagine the delight of the Pharisees. Peter was arrested and planned for trial and execution twelve years to the day after Jesus.

The church was desperate and their attention was turned towards the only one they believed could help them.

VERSE:5, “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”

Earnestly – passionate, intense, serious, deep, strong, fervent.

They earnestly prayed for him. I remember when my first born was hospitalized. He was going to be operated on and it was his very first birthday. One year old boy at the operating table. As with any parent, you would want to be the one under the knife instead right. This was one of those times that my wife and I prayed like crazy and it just made me realize how helpless we were without GOD. We cannot do anything. The doctor said that the procedure would take only 4 hours. But 4 hours had past and the operation was not yet completed. We were desperate for news that did not come and so we resorted to more prayers.

Have you ever been in a similar situation. When your world suddenly stops and your whole focus is in your current situation, the agony is so intense that all you want is to make it stop. It may not just be a life threatening situation. Its possible that as the end of the month approaches, and you’ve done everything possible to make rent but you don’t have enough and you know the check is going to bounce. Or you just got laid off from work again and you don’t know what to tell your pregnant wife how to make ends meet. Or like one of your leaders who had a serious stroke and found himself in the ICU. The world around us suddenly stops and all that matters is finding a way out of our circumstances. What do you do?