A Tale of Two Apostles
Acts 12:1 – 12:19
Jeff Hughes – August 17, 2003
Calvary Chapel Aggieland
I. Introduction
a. Have you ever been in a situation that you though was completely hopeless, just to have something happen to turn things around? God has a unique way of bringing hope to hopeless situations.
b. Peter would later write in 1st Peter chapter 1, verse 13. He says rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
c. As I read this passage this week, I got some insight into Peter’s hope, and I trust you will too.
d. Last week, we saw Saul and Barnabas leave their growing church at Antioch to deliver some much needed aid to the church at Jerusalem. We aren’t told how this gift is received, or the events of Barnabas and Saul returning to Jerusalem from the mission field.
e. We are told of the trials and tribulation that the church is going through at Jerusalem about this time. God delivers one man from danger, but another isn’t.
f. How does God make the choice? Why does God make the choice? Was one man more valuable than the other? Did God love the man He delivers more? These are some of the questions that had to have gone through the minds of the church at Jerusalem at the time.
g. One thing is certain. We may never know why God chooses to do one thing and not another. We do know that He is sovereign, He is still on the throne, and He is completely aware of what was going on, and He was completely aware of what was going to happen. Nothing in our passage today took God by surprise.
h. Sometimes we have to trust Him, despite the circumstances. We will look at a man today who does just that. But before we dive into our teaching, let’s go before the Lord and ask His blessing this morning.
II. PRAYER
III. Illustration
a. The story is told of a former world chess champion player who was taken by a friend to see a picture which had been hung in a famous art gallery, and which had attracted much interest. The artist had portrayed a young man sitting despairingly at a chessboard, while opposite him sat Satan with a look of malicious triumph on his face. The title of the picture was a single expressive word: "Checkmated". For a long time the champion player stood before the picture, his brow furrowed by concentration. Suddenly his voice rang out in the art gallery: "Bring me a chessboard. I can save him yet!" Sure enough, the mastermind had discovered the way out. And just as surely Christ can give victory to the person who will trust him implicitly. Naturally speaking, there may not seem to be a way out, but never limit God for he’s the supply of our comfort.
b. Like the young man in the painting playing a losing game of chess to Satan, the apostle Peter looks like he is playing a losing battle to the enemy. He doesn’t come directly at Peter, though.
c. As we will see today, the players in this game are other men. Granted, they are politically powerful men. There is also no doubt that they were under the influence of the enemy, as He reached out to take a swipe at the early church.
d. But, God had a way out for Peter. It was a way out that was so miraculous, that even the very people that were making intercession for Peter didn’t believe it.
e. But, I can’t tell the story as good as God’s Word can. So, without any further ado, let’s dive right in. Our study comes from Acts, chapter 12 verses 1 through 19, as we continue our study this morning. Let’s read along starting in chapter 12 –
IV. Study
a. Intro
i. 1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. 2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. 4 So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.
ii. 5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. 6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. 7 Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Arise quickly!" And his chains fell off his hands. 8 Then the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and tie on your sandals"; and so he did. And he said to him, "Put on your garment and follow me." 9 So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. 11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people." 12 So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. 13 And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. 15 But they said to her, "You are beside yourself!" Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, "It is his angel." 16 Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, "Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren." And he departed and went to another place. 18 Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. 19 But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.
iii. Wow. Big contrast between what happens to the two apostles. One, the apostle James, John’s brother is killed for his faith by Herod. Was God less involved with what happened to James compared to what happened to Peter? Keep that in mind as we go along.
iv. In our study this morning, we will look at six points, as we see the drama unfold, as told by our narrator, the good doctor Luke. First, we will look at the Murderous Monarch, next, the Man Imprisoned, The Ministering Spirit, The Meeting, The Mocking Disciples, and finally the Mystery.
v. In our first point, we look at a king, an earthly king and a man who would receive a crown of Righteousness. We see this in verses 1 and 2.
b. The Murderous Monarch (Acts 12:1-2)
i. 1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. 2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
ii. Luke begins verse 1 with the phrase “about that time”. About what time? Well, it refers back to the last few verses of chapter 11, all of this that was happening today was happening about the time that Saul and Barnabas came down from Antioch.
iii. So, Saul and Barnabas were either present for these events, or they would see the aftermath of what happened. Herod was king in Jerusalem at this time, and he set his mind to disrupt the church at Jerusalem.
iv. Herod is the king’s family name here. We see a lot of Herods in scripture. They were the ruling family over all of Israel during the time of Jesus and the early church.
v. The family was put into power when Antipater was put into power by his friend and close political ally, Julius Caesar. He established the dynasty, and ruled until his death about 43 B.C.
vi. Upon his death, his son Herod, a.k.a. Herod the Great took over the kingdom and assumed power from his father. It was Herod the Great that is first mentioned in the Bible. Herod the Great was the ruler that had all of the children in Bethlehem and the surrounding area killed after consulting with the wise men.
vii. Joseph and Mary would flee to Egypt under the guidance of God, and they would later return to the area of Galilee when this Herod, Herod the Great died. We see this account in Matthew chapter 2.
viii. Well, Herod the Great had eight wives before his death. One of these women was a woman by the name of Mariamne; she was a descendant of the Macabees, the Jewish family that ruled Israel for much of the time in the 400 year gap between the Old and New Testaments. Herod would kill six of his wives before his death, and Mariamne was one of them.
ix. Mariamne had a son with Herod though, and his name was Aristobulus. Aristobulus was killed, along with fifteen of his half-brothers. But, before his death, he got married and had a son named Herod Agrippa.
x. Herod Agrippa’s mother, realizing it wasn’t safe in Jerusalem for her son, had him shipped off to Rome to be brought up. It was in Rome that Herod Agrippa befriended a young man who was in line to one day rule Rome, his name was Caligula.
xi. You may or may not remember Caligula from your ancient history lessons, but he was a deranged and despotic ruler. Even by Roman standards. But, before he was removed from the throne, he put his buddy Herod Agrippa on the throne in Jerusalem.
xii. This is the Herod we are looking at today. Herod Agrippa. He was half-Jewish and not very well accepted by the Jews, even though he was circumcised, and followed Jewish customs.
xiii. We see here though, that Herod had found a way to gain acceptance from the Jewish religious leaders. He had the apostle James seized, and put to death.
xiv. The Apostle James was killed by being cut in half lengthwise with a sword, a cruel and painful death. I would imagine the Herod had learned this in Rome, hanging out with his buddy Caligula.
xv. This was a disturbing event within the early church. It is thought by many scholars that the church had though that there was some special divine protection for the twelve apostles. They didn’t fall under the persecution of Saul, right? They didn’t scatter with the rest of the church.
xvi. But at this point, the church had this illusion shattered, if they did hold onto it, as James was put to death. Jesus didn’t tell them that they would be protected, on the contrary, in Matthew chapter 10, he warns the apostles about the tribulation to come.
xvii. But, God used James’ death as well. Clement of Alexandria tells a story that the soldier who guarded James until his execution was so affected by his witness that he was willingly executed for Christ along side of James. We don’t know whether that is true or not, but it would fit later examples.
xviii. One last thing I want us to notice here is that there is no attempt by the church to replace James, like they did for Judas. That’s because James’ death was a death of faith. Judas only showed his lack of faith in his death. We see Herod at work some more in the next three verses.
c. The Man Imprisoned (Acts 12:3-6)
i. 3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. 4 So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. 5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. 6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.
ii. Herod is like many other politicians. He took an opinion poll, and since he gained popularity killing James, they he decided that they’d like him all the more if he had Peter killed.
iii. So, he has Peter seized, and put into prison. Luke gives us a real clue as to the time of year this happened as well. It was during the Days of Unleavened Bread, or just after the Passover. It was the same time of year that Jesus died.
iv. Herod chose this time frame wisely. Jerusalem would have been packed with devout Jews from all over the Roman Empire, and the Christians by this point had become a hated sect in Jerusalem. By putting Peter to death at this time, Herod would get the most approval from the greatest number of Jews.
v. He had Peter locked away though, because it was unlawful under the Law of Moses to kill a man during the Passover, and the Feast.
vi. He was worried about Peter getting loose though. Herod had four squads of four soldiers each assigned to Peter, to ensure that he would not escape. Each squad would take a six hour watch each day, rotating out.
vii. Herod wanted to keep Peter where he was though, because as we can see from verse 4 that it was Herod’s intent to have a big showy trial after the Passover, but before all of the crowd left Jerusalem.
viii. But, while Peter was imprisoned, constant prayer was being offered up for his release. This was prayer without ceasing. We are told in 1st Thessalonians 5:17 simply this – pray without ceasing. The Christian life is to be one of prayer, and our churches are to be churches of prayer.
ix. It is likely that this group gathered when James was put in prison, and did not stop, but rotated out not unlike the soldiers that were guarding Peter at the time.
x. But, the feast of Unleavened Bread came to a close, and Herod was planning to bring Peter out for his trial. This didn’t deter the body there, they just kept praying.
xi. Peter wasn’t worrying about what the next morning would bring either. He was there, fast asleep, chained between two soldiers. This is notable, because only the most heinous criminals would only have two soldiers chained to them.
xii. Peter was a bad guy as far as Herod Agrippa was concerned, and he wasn’t about to let Peter go. The prison was locked, and the two other soldiers in the squad were watching the door.
xiii. I have to say, it didn’t look good for Peter at this point. To use a baseball analogy, it’s the bottom of the ninth, two outs, and nobody on base. But, God comes through. We see this in the next four verses.
d. The Ministering Spirit (Acts 12:7 - 10)
i. 7 Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Arise quickly!" And his chains fell off his hands. 8 Then the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and tie on your sandals"; and so he did. And he said to him, "Put on your garment and follow me." 9 So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
ii. Like I said earlier, Peter was asleep. He wasn’t up worrying. He didn’t let the hardness of the cell floor, or being chained up keep him from sleeping.
iii. He was doing some seriously hard sleeping. He was sleeping so hard that he didn’t notice the brilliant light that shone around the angel when he appeared.
iv. The sleep of Peter was finally broken by the angel prodding him. I can see an angel standing there, kicking Peter in the side, saying “Hey, get up Peter!” “Quick!”
v. Why is the angel in a hurry? We don’t know, but Peter wasn’t asking questions at this point. His chains fell off, and I guess he was just kind of standing there dazed, because the angel tells him to get gird up his inner garments, and put his shoes on.
vi. Just a note here, in these days, they girded up their inner garment when they are going to run. The angel then tells Peter to put on his outer garments and follow me.
vii. Peter though he was dreaming at this point. He was still half asleep, and he thought that he might be seeing a vision instead of making an escape.
viii. They came to the first gate, and then the second, and passed through without a problem. Then they come to the big iron gate that separates off the old city from the rest of Jerusalem.
ix. This huge iron gate opens up like an automatic door at a supermarket, and Peter finds himself on the streets of Jerusalem with this angel.
x. Once they get down one street, Peter is free, and the angel takes off. His job was done. He had ministered to Peter’s immediate need of getting out of prison, and answered the prayers of those gathered to pray for Peter.
xi. So, at this point, their prayer is answered. I have seen some scholars who comment about this passage that say the church didn’t offer up prayers for John while he was in prison.
xii. They reason that since James wasn’t saved, then the church didn’t do their job. I don’t buy that. I don’t think that they would pray any less for James than Peter.
xiii. A plus B does not always equal C in God’s economy. Just because James wasn’t freed, it doesn’t mean that the church didn’t pray. Some of these guys that believe this kind of stuff also believe in the power of positive confession. They are misled into a belief that because they pray for something, that it will materialize. That just isn’t the case. God wasn’t caught by surprise with James’ death.
xiv. God’s will was that James comes home at that point, and he was killed. God had more for Peter to do. More places for Peter to go and share the gospel.
xv. For James, a prophecy that Jesus gave to him and his brother came true that day. We read in Mark chapter 10, starting at verse 35 this –
xvi. 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask." 36 And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" 37 They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory." 38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" 39 They said to Him, "We are able." So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;
xvii. James took a drink of that cup, and woke up face to face with the Lord. His brother John would drink that cup by a life of service that was marked by repeated attempts to kill him.
xviii. Peter’s mission wasn’t over yet. He’s free from the jail and on the loose from Jerusalem. Let’s see what he’s up to in the next two verses.
e. The Meeting (Acts 12:11 - 12)
i. 11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people." 12 So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.
ii. Peter realizes at this point that what had happened wasn’t a vision. He wasn’t dreaming at this point. He was involved with a very miraculous event.
iii. God delivered Peter not only from the prison, but also from the hand of king Herod Agrippa and the Jewish people, who desired to destroy the church. What better way to do it, than to kill the head of the church?
iv. When Peter realizes what had happened, and the danger that he was in by being out in the open, he sought to get out of that danger.
v. So, he goes to Mary’s house. Mary’s house was on the east side of the city, near the wall. This was likely the house at which the apostles had the Last Supper with Jesus.
vi. This was also likely the same house that they were at when the Holy Spirit came at the day of Pentecost. Mary had a son named John Mark. He would later be involved in missionary work, and he would later write the Gospel of Mark. This is the first time we see him in the book of Acts.
vii. This was the house that the prayer meeting was going on at. Many of those in the church were gathered there praying for Peter’s release.
viii. So, where better for Peter to take off to, right? Well, let’s see in the next five verses.
f. The Mocking Disciples (Acts 12:13 - 17)
i. 13 And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. 15 But they said to her, "You are beside yourself!" Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, "It is his angel." 16 Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, "Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren." And he departed and went to another place.
ii. We see Peter here, making his way to the house, and knocking on the door to the outer gate. This would have been the door to the courtyard of the house.
iii. The family servant girl, Rhoda, came to answer the door. It was late at night, and people didn’t usually come knocking at this hour. She might have thought that more people were coming to pray, but when she gets to the gate, she hears Peter’s voice.
iv. Poor Rhoda is so excited that Peter is at the gate that she forgets to open the door! She runs into interrupt the prayer meeting that was going on, with the good news.
v. The people that were there praying thought she was crazy. I can see this now. “Oh, Rhoda, you have lost your mind! Don’t you know that Peter is in prison?!?” Then they return to their praying. “Lord, we just come humbly before you to ask for Peter’s release from prison….”
vi. Rhoda kept on insisting that it was Peter. She was probably saying, “Come, look!” Someone suggested at that point that maybe Peter’s guardian angel was at the door. This was a common belief in first century Jewish culture.
vii. Jewish tradition held that a person’s guardian angel bore some resemblance to the person they were “assigned” to, and that the angel could take on the person’s form. Little did they know that it really WAS an angel that delivered Peter from Herod’s prison cell, and certain death.
viii. All the while though, poor Peter is standing out there, trying not to knock too loud, and cause a stir. But at the same time, he was probably all nervous. He was nervous about what the possibilities looked like for him if her were to be arrested again, and those possibilities didn’t look too good.
ix. It is kind of humorous to think that the people that were praying for Peter didn’t have enough faith to believe that it was him standing outside the gate to the house. This encourages me to know that God answers prayers that aren’t even made with a whole lot of faith. I think of the man that approached Jesus with the mute son for healing in Mark chapter 9. Jesus tells the man, “If you believe, all things are possible.” The man replies, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” The great thing about these kinds of prayers is that God still knows what’s good for us, and makes those decisions for us, as to what to give us.
x. Jesus told His disciples “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ’Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”
xi. Someone had that little spark of faith. Now, whether it was Peter, or one of the other apostles, or some of those gathered, we don’t know. God had freed Peter though, and here he was.
xii. The disciples were excited to let Peter in. They let him in, and no doubt, this was a joyous event. People probably started to yell, and praise God, but Peter motions for them to keep silent.
xiii. He was still fearful of getting arrested, and if that was the last night he spent on the floor of a dungeon, that would have been just fine with him at that point, I’d imagine.
xiv. Peter then goes on to describe the evening’s events in a hushed tone of voice. He then instructs the believers to take word of what had happened to the other believers, to encourage them that God had answered their prayers.
xv. He singles out James as a person to let know about what had transpired. This wasn’t James the son of Zebedee that had recently martyred. This is James that half-brother of the Lord.
xvi. James was a witness to the resurrection of the Lord, and had become a believer. He became a leader in the early church, and would later become the pastor of the church at Jerusalem.
xvii. Peter then takes a wise choice of action here, and departed from Jerusalem. It would have been dangerous to both him and the other believers for him to stay in Jerusalem at this point, considering what Herod’s plans for Peter were.
xviii. We aren’t told what actually happens to Peter at this point, just where he goes. We will see him re-appear in Antioch, and we will see him again in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15, when the church has a meeting of the leaders.
xix. Some argue that Peter went to Rome at this point, but I think that that’s pretty unlikely, considering how Paul rebukes Peter for not eating with the gentile believers in Antioch.
xx. Nevertheless, what we do know is that Peter fades from the scenes of Acts at this point, and we shift our focus to Paul. Like I said earlier, we don’t know if Paul was in Jerusalem at this point bringing the famine relief, but the possibility is there that it was Paul and Barnabas who sent Peter away to Antioch.
xxi. With Peter safe though, the church could breathe a small sigh of relief. We can’t say that about the soldiers who were guarding Peter that night, though.
g. The Mystery (Acts 12:18-19)
i. 18 Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. 19 But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.
ii. When daylight broke, the guards woke up from their angel induced sleep, and here we see that there was no small stir. This is one of the understatements of the Bible.
iii. Herod was furious that Peter had escaped. He was going to get in better with the Sanhedrin and all of the Jewish people by putting Peter to death, and now his plan was ruined.
iv. I can see these soldiers searching everywhere for Peter, because they knew what was going to happen to them. It was customary to punish the guards who let the prisoner escape with the same punishment that awaited the prisoner. In this case, that was death.
v. Peter had escaped from the maximum security prison of the day. Herod’s men look all around for Peter, and could not find him. So, after examining the guards, he had them executed.
vi. Herod had blown his chance to get in good with the Jewish religious establishment, and now he was embarrassed on top of it all because his men had failed to hang on to Peter.
vii. So, angry and dejected over his misfortune, Herod leaves Jerusalem and heads to Caesarea, and hung out there for a while. We will see next week what becomes of Herod, and what happens with the church at Jerusalem. Let’s start to wrap thing sup at this point though.
viii. Point Summary - There are two things that I want us to take away from this message. Two things that I want us to think about this week, and try to apply to our lives. If you don’t take away anything else, take this:
1. We may never know why God does one thing and not another.
2. God answers prayer, in spite of our unbelief.
ix. I‘d like to close with a short story.
h. Conclusion
i. The story is told of an only survivor of a wreck who was thrown on an uninhabited island. After a while he managed to build himself a hut, in which he placed the little all that he had saved from the ship. He prayed to God for deliverance and anxiously scanned the horizon each day to hail any passing ship. One day on returning from a hunt for food, he was horrified to find his hut in flames. All he had was going up in smoke! The worst had happened, it appeared. But, the things that seemed to have happened for the worst were in reality for the best. To the man’s limited vision it was the worst. To God’s infinite wisdom it was the best, for which he had prayed. The next day a ship arrived.
ii. The man asked, how did you know I was here? "We saw your smoke signal," the captain said.
