The year was approximately AD 47. Apart from the stoning of Stephen thirteen years before, the infant church had enjoyed almost a decade and a half of relative peace in which to grow.
When many believers had scattered to their homelands following Stephen’s stoning, the gospel had gone with them, spreading to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch and other regions around the Mediterranean.
The gospel had begun to reach even the gentiles as a result, and in Antioch, only four years before, believers had first been called “Christians”.
But real persecution was about to begin against the young church in Judea. King Herod, for his own political reasons wanting to please the Jewish elite, laid hands on James the son of Zebedee and had him put to death.
Standing back a bit and gauging the reaction of the Jews, he found that it pleased them.
They who were so thirsty for the blood of their Messiah, now yearned for the blood of His saints.
Seeing that this pleased the Jews, Herod had Peter arrested and determined to kill him also, as soon as the Feast of Unleavened Bread was done.
One indication of a soldier’s might is the care his enemy takes to arm themselves against him. Peter, one lonely Galilean, was put in prison and guarded by no less than four soldiers at a time. Sixteen were assigned solely to him, and in their shift rotation there were always two chained to his person (one on either side) and two at the prison doors.
For a full picture I want to read verses 1-8 of Acts chapter 12 and then continue.
Now there is much rich history for us in this chapter; our own history as believers, and for that reason infinitely more important to us even than the history of our own nation, for these early believers wrote our spiritual legacy. They are our examples to follow.
But in verses 7 and 8 of this chapter I found an interesting allegory of the steps of saving faith. Intertwined with the historical account itself is a beautiful picture of the state of mankind apart from God, and the efforts of our God through His Holy Spirit to awaken men to their need and provide for their release from slavery to sin.
Let’s spend our time this morning looking only at these two verses, and glean some nuggets from there.
(Read verses 7,8)
I’d like for us to look at the circumstances here as an analogy of a man’s life outside of Christ. It is not perfect because we know that Peter was imprisoned for the service of his Lord, but all of the elements of the road to faith are pictured here, nonetheless.
Peter is asleep. He is in a peaceful, undisturbed slumber, yet he is scheduled to die in the morning.
This is the state of unsaved men. They often do not enjoy peaceful sleep because the cares of the world and this life lay heavy on their minds. But when it comes to spiritual matters they are ignorant of the grave danger they are in, and in that sense they rest, undisturbed and peaceful in their ignorance.
Jesus said that unless a man receives spiritual birth from above he cannot understand spiritual things. Paul tells us in Romans 3 that no one understands, no one seeks for God.
Then in his letter to the Ephesians he paraphrases several verses from Isaiah, to say “AWAKE, SLEEPER, AND ARISE FROM THE DEAD, AND CHRIST WILL SHINE ON YOU”
This is consistent with what we see in Acts 12. This is not the Lord Himself appearing in Peter’s cell; it is an angel of the Lord. But when God sends one of His messengers, it is as though He is there Himself. They go in His authority and in His power. They are in the truest sense, His ambassadors.
This holds true not only for angels, as it says in Hebrews, “are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” but it also holds true for us, believer, when in obedience to Him we reach out with the Gospel message. See the words of Paul in II Corinthians 5:20 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, AS THOUGH GOD WERE ENTREATING THROUGH US, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God”
No man comes to the Father except the Son draws him, and when He does, it is by His Holy Spirit; convicting of sin, granting repentance and calling a man to Christ. The light goes on in a man’s heart and dispels all shadows, as it did that night in Peter’s cell, and the Spirit of God will do what is necessary to waken that man from his deathly slumber in order to point him to the Savior.
My friend here today, has that light ever come on in your heart? Have you fallen into the very dangerous and deadly slumber of becoming comfortable in church, listening week after week to the message of salvation, never realizing that the message is for you; never having appropriated to yourself the unspeakable gift?
Pray for repentance. Pray that If necessary the Spirit will smite you on the side, on the head, bring you even to a point near physical death if necessary, in order to awaken you to your need and save your eternal soul.
Once awakened to his spiritual need, a man hears several commands from the Lord that correspond to the commands given Peter in that cell.
“Get up quickly!” The angel said, and so says the Spirit of Christ to the godless. Time speeds onward at an unfathomable rate. Here comes a moment! No! It’s gone! We cannot capture it, as we so often exhort each other to do. We cannot “seize the day”. Like a mist in a high wind, the moments flit by, most often being spent in fruitless thought, careless chatter, or pursuit of that which will fade away.
To each one is allotted a certain amount of time, and none of us knows how full or how empty our bag is. How many moments do you have left, unbeliever? Get up quickly and take hold of the Master’s hand. When time ends for you the only thing that will keep you from falling headlong off its cruel precipice and into the depths of eternal hell, will be the Master’s firm grip on you; but if it is there, nothing can break it.
Now the scriptures tell us that the only way to be saved from eternal separation from God is through faith (belief) in the shed blood of Christ to pay for sin. When you have placed your trust there, God adopts you into His eternal family and you are His for eternity. Romans 8 tells us that nothing, nothing, nothing, can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But His call is so much more than an invitation, it is an urgent cry; a warning to escape the terrible wrath of God which will come on all who have rejected Him. It is a cry, a plea, to awaken to your need, confess your sin, turn from your old life to the New Life He gives, and rest, not in ignorance, but in the security of His presence forever.
Once you have done so, there comes further commands for your own good.
The angel said to Peter, “Gird yourself and put on your sandals”.
Now the command to gird one’s self was clearly understood in the middle eastern culture, and may very well be today because of the common dress. God’s command to Moses for the children of Israel in Exodus 12:11 was that they were to eat of the Passover meal with “loins girded and sandals on their feet”. Here is what it meant.
The common attire was long robes that went down to about mid shin. When they were preparing for travel or for physical labor they would bend, reach back between their legs, and grabbing the back hem of the robe they would bring it up between their legs and tuck that hem into the front of their belt. You might think of it as the original “scort”.
This freed their legs for movement and protected them further from dust or insects that might find their way up the robe.
Both in Exodus 12 and here in Acts 12, the exhortation is to prepare for travel in a way that is least hindering.
There are other New Testament exhortations that address this need for following without hinderance.
Heb 12:1 says, “...let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
To the Philippians Paul said, “...forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Man, now in Christ if you have believed on Him for salvation; gird up your loins and get your travellin’ sandals on. He calls us, not to sit chained to our old life; our old ways; dreaming of some great tomorrow and waiting helplessly for whatever might befall us. He calls us to service in Him. He calls us to get up quickly and move out into newness of life in Him...and as you do, my friend, the chains of your old life will fall useless to the floor. You needn’t worry about them. HE BREAKS THE CHAINS! HE SETS YOU FREE! Just heed His call and obey.
Then the angel said “Wrap your cloak around you...”
When we turn to the Lord in faith He clothes us with His righteousness. Isaiah said that all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment. In ourselves we have nothing clean and pure, nothing useful and lasting to offer God. He wants us. He wants our hearts, submitted...surrendered to Him.
In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve clothed themselves in fig leaves to alleviate their feeling of vulnerability when they realized they had sinned against a Holy God. But these leaves would have dried and withered and blown away in the wind.
Instead, God made the first animal sacrifice. He shed the first blood in history, to provide something better and more lasting for them. Animal skins.
This is a type of what He has done for us in Christ. All of our good deeds, our righteous, religious acts, all of them are like the fig leaf. They dry and wither and blow away. But through the shed blood of His innocent sacrificial Lamb, His Son, Jesus Christ, he has provided something better.
“Alive in Him, my Living Head,
And clothed in righteousness, divine!”
Believer, go nowhere, do nothing, fear to meet the new day without first putting on the garment of Christ’s righteousness; you dare not trust your own. You walk now in this dark world, fraught with pitfalls and dangers. Satan has his guards at every door, hoping to find in you some fault for which he can stand before the Throne and accuse you; but clothe yourself in Christ’s righteousness and He will lead you through, unscathed and victorious into everlasting light.
For His simple command to you and to me is as the angel’s command to Peter. “FOLLOW ME”
And what better example can we have than that of Peter, for in the first phrase of verse 9 he sets it for us:
“And he went out and continued to follow...”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we’ve got it to do. He has given you light; indeed His light has dispelled all shadows from your life. He has loosed your chains. He has exhorted you to gird your loins and get your travellin’ sandals on in readiness to move out at His bidding. He has dressed you in His righteousness; and now you have been prepared to follow Him wherever He goes, and there is no other road that leads to home.
Seek His will daily in prayer. Search His Word, for it is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path...and follow. Paul said, “you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” We’ve got it to do.
Seeker, you here today who may still be in the slumber that leads to death, AWAKE! RISE FROM THE DEAD, AND CHRIST WILL SHINE ON YOU! Have you gained just an inkling of the darkness in which you recline; and the headsman's axe that awaits you in the morning? Take hold of the Master’s hand...no...let Him take hold of yours. His grip is sure, and He will bring you up out of the dank, rotting cell you now rest in, and lead you to everlasting light.
You have no tomorrow, except in Him. Rise, please, rise and follow.
“we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
