APR 7 2013PM Prayer Power
Acts 12:1-12:25
Tonight we come to a powerful story in Acts 12, where we see the death of James. READ Acts 12:1-2. There’s not a whole lot of space devoted to this story, but I’m sure that this was a great loss to the early church. I’m sure that the death of one of the original apostles was a great tragedy to the early church. James and John were the brothers that Jesus had affectionately called, "The Sons of Thunder." I’m sure that all of the apostles were in mourning—especially James’ brother, John.
The larger story is that persecution has broken out again. There had been a time of persecution back in chapters 8 & 9 that was led by Saul. But, Saul got saved in Acts 9 and Acts 9:31 tells us that the church then enjoyed a time of peace.
But now persecution is back and it’s being led by King Herod. This Herod is Agrippa I, the grandson of King Herod the Great who had John-the-Baptist beheaded. It’s now 44 AD; or 11 years after the crucifixion of Christ. The persecution of the church in connection with the death of Stephen was about 7 years prior to this. The church had that time of persecution, then a time of peace, and now persecution is back.
Now Herod Agrippa had James put to death with the sword. The thing that makes this more heinous is that verse 3 says that Herod saw that putting James to death pleased the Jews and so he was going after Peter next. James’ death was a public relations coo for King Herod. So, I’m sure that even though there is not much space given to this, James’ death was a big blow to the early church. It gets worse.
READ Acts 12:3-4. Seeing that murdering James made the Jews happy, Herod arrested Peter. They arrested Peter during a Jewish holiday. The Jews are celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Herod arrests Peter to try to win more points with the Jews.
After arresting Peter, Herod had him thrown into prison. Peter is in prison and his cell is being guarded. He’s being guarded by 4 squadrons of 4 soldiers each; that’s sixteen soldiers guarding Peter. There are two guards actually chained to Peter and two guards in two different positions outside the cell. So there was 1 of the 4 squadrons with Peter at all times. Each squad probably had a six hour shift.
Why such security measures for Peter? Surely Peter wasn’t that much of a threat to society or King Herod. Well, in Herod’s mind there could have been such a threat, when we stop to think about the history of Peter’s criminal record.
This is Peter’s third arrest. The first time in Acts 4, Peter was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin. They threatened him and warned him about speaking anymore about Jesus. But Peter stood right there in the court room and told them that he would not obey them. READ Acts 4:18-20.
The second time Peter was arrested was in Acts 5. In Acts 5, the Sanhedrin arrested Peter a second time and this time an angel got Peter out. The officers didn’t find Peter there although they found the jail securely locked and the guards were still standing at the door. The angel told Peter to go right back out into the temple courts and start preaching again. I’m sure that was a slap in the face to the Sanhedrin. When they found out that he was out there again, they arrested him again and beat him and commanded him not to speak in the name of Jesus again.
And so considering Peter’s history in jails and the court room, we can see why Herod would go to such great lengths this time with Peter. Herod thought the Passover celebration would be a great time to put Peter on trial. The Jews would all be there to observe the Passover and Herod wanted to have a public trial immediately after it was over. Herod thought this would help his relationship with the Jews. Not to mention this would probably be a strong reminder that Christ was arrested and crucified shortly after the Passover celebration on a previous year. But God has other plans.
READ Acts 12:6-11. Sure enough, we see that Herod was right in thinking they should take great measures to keep Peter in custody. 4 squadrons of four soldiers charged with keeping Peter in custody at the risk of their own life. Roman soldiers were under the threat of death if a prisoner escaped their custody as we find out in verse 19 that this is exactly what happened.
Herod ordered the guards to be executed because Peter had escaped their custody. Peter is sleeping chained in a cell between two Roman soldiers, with two soldiers outside the cell—but then comes an angel of God. An angel appeared in the cell along with a great light. The angel poked Peter in the side and told him to get up and get dressed. When the angel poked Peter, the chains that had bound him to the soldiers fell off. Peter had no idea that what was happening was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. The angel led Peter past both guards outside his cell and to the great iron gate leading to the city. And then the angel disappeared.
Then in verse eleven, it says that after the angel disappeared, Peter came to his senses. We can only imagine what was going through Peter’s mind here. He thinks he’s been seeing a vision, but suddenly the angel disappears and Peter is alone. When Peter is left here alone in the city streets, Peter has to suddenly realize that this has all been real and that the plans of Herod and the Jews were being thwarted again by God.
Peter was satisfied that his future was death. Peter was satisfied that his life on earth was finished. He knew what Herod had done to James and he was satisfied that it was his turn. As Peter was sitting in his cell, he was satisfied that his work on earth was done. Peter was certain that the Jews gathered for the Passover were going to be very happy to see Peter gone because he was no longer furthering Judaism, but Christianity. But after the angel disappeared, Peter suddenly realized that God had rescued him from the clutches of Herod and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.
But now that we see what Peter was thinking while he was in prison, look back at the phrase in verse 6..."Peter was sleeping…" If you or I were sitting there waiting for our death the next day, would we be sleeping? We lose sleep because of things a lot less than anticipating our death, don’t we? What peace and trust Peter had in God in order to SLEEP the night before his death! What power is wrapped up in those three words! The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping… Peter had peace even in the face of death. But God got him out of that situation and the story continues…
READ Acts 12:12-17. So Peter is out on the street with no angel, what should he do now? Will the alarm sound at any moment when one of the guards awakens and finds that he is missing? What should he do? Where should he go? He decided to go to Mary’s house, the mother of John Mark. John Mark was the one who wrote the gospel of Mark. There was a bunch of people gathered there to pray.
Peter knocked on the front door and a servant girl named Rhoda asked who it was.
I’m sure the believers gathered inside were afraid. They knew that James had been put to death. They knew that Peter had been arrested. They wondered if Roman soldiers were outside wanting to take them away.
Rhoda asked who was there and Peter answered. When Rhoda recognized Peter’s voice she was overjoyed. She was so overjoyed that she didn’t even open the door.
She ran to tell the others and they said she must be crazy. They knew what had happened to James and they just couldn’t believe that Peter wouldn’t get the same result. But she kept insisting and Peter kept knocking and when they finally opened the door, they were astonished. They couldn’t believe it. They were surprised and Peter told them to keep quiet so he could tell them what happened. And after he told them what happened, he left.
And here’s the irony of the story. READ Acts 12:18-23. The irony of this story is that it turned out much differently than anyone could have imagined. Luke begins telling this story by simply stating in one sentence that James had been put to death by the sword. Then in the next sentence he said Peter was arrested. Now as we read only those two sentences, we can imagine what is going to happen next.
But it turned out much differently than we or they realized. Even Peter said in verse 11 that it turned out differently than he imagined. Peter said that it turned out differently than Herod had imagined. It turned out differently than the Jews had imagined. The people at Mary’s house were astonished at how it had turned out. And all of these responses were before the whole story had been told. Peter escaping was not the end of the story.
First there was the escape, but then there were the guards. Who could have ever imagined that while Peter was being guarded by sixteen soldiers until his death that they would be the ones who would die and Peter would go free? Who could have imagined that?
Then there was Herod… Who could have imagined that after he had successfully put James to death, that he would fail with Peter? Who could have imagined that after he had arrested Peter and was waiting for his death, that he himself would die just a few months later? And who could have imagined that he who had put James to death by the sword would die by worms? Who could have imagined that? Who could have imagined the ironic twists this story would take? Who could have imagined that any of this would turn out the way that it did after we read of the death of James and the arrest of Peter? But that’s not all, look at verse 24.
READ Acts 12:24. Who could have imagined that after the first three verses of this chapter? Who in their wildest of imaginations could think the church would grow after reading the first three verses of this chapter? We, like they, would have expected and predicted gloom and doom for the church—but that’s not what happened! The word of God continued to increase and spread.
Once again, God turned what looked like the worst into good! So how did this happen? Of course God did it and only He could have done it. But did anybody have any influence on it all? What made the difference between the stories of James and Peter?
READ Acts 12:25. We know from the previous chapter that Barnabas and Saul were in Antioch. Now the Greek doesn’t include anything for the word that is translated "from." The Greek just says "Barnabas Saul returned Jerusalem." We know that they were on a mission in Antioch. Luke doesn’t tell where our story today is taking place. But now we see that Barnabas and Saul were there. Where were they?
They may have been at Mary’s house; John Mark’s mother’s house. From Peter’s words in verse 17, it appears that there were other Christians in the town other than just at Mary’s house; Barnabas and Saul could have been at another prayer meeting that night. Where? We don’t know. But it appears they were praying somewhere that night.
Did Barnabas and Saul make the difference? I don’t believe it was just them, but I do believe they were part of the difference. Did you notice that we skipped a verse as we went through this story? It was verse 5. It’s just kind of stuck in there by Luke, but I believe this is what made the difference in the outcome of the story!
READ Acts 12:4-5. There’s the difference: "but the church was earnestly praying to God for him." Mary was earnestly praying to God for Peter. Rhoda, Mark, Barnabas and Saul, and many other people were earnestly praying to God for Peter at Mary’s house. The other apostle named James was earnestly praying to God for Peter. Other brothers mentioned in verse 17 were earnestly praying to God for Peter.
What made the difference? The church was earnestly praying to God for Peter!
They prayed earnestly for Peter and God did immeasurably more than all they asked or imagined by causing the church to grow as a result of all this! And all God’s people said…. ("WOW!")
26 Guards and still Peter escapted. Have you ever felt the urge to pray for someone and then just put it on a list and said, "I’ll pray for them later?" Or has anyone ever called you and said, "I need you to pray for me, I have this need?" Listen to this story, it may change the way that you think about prayer and also the way you pray.
A missionary on furlough told this story while visiting his home church in Michigan…
"While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital.
Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident.
Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines. He said, ‘Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.’
At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, ‘No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.’"
At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day this happened.
The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story: "On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?"
The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary wasn’t concerned with who they were; he was too busy counting how many men he saw.
There were 26.
And THAT, is prayer power.
If you ever hear such a prodding to pray, go along with it.
Nothing is ever hurt by prayer except the gates of hell.
