The Liberation Of Peter From Prison Series

An angel suddenly appears and light shone in the cell. I found several art depictions of this event online. I am a very visual person and it helps me to see something to help me understand it.

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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.

Since one emphasis of this message today is to focus on doors, I need to draw attention to the door to his prison cell was opened, then even the large iron gate leading to the city (verse 10) “opened for them by itself”. The text doesn’t state this, but it would seem very reasonable to me that guards would be at this iron gate. Like those in Peter’s cell and door in the hallway, they had been put to sleep or made unconscious by the angel.

It is important to understand that the throne in Heaven was in control and not the throne on the earth.

When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

Just as suddenly as the angel appeared, now he was gone.

Now that Peter was all alone in the city in the wee hours of the morning, what should he do? He went to a friend’s house. Remember what the church is doing at this house? Verse 5 they are having a prayer meeting for Peter to be released from prison.

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.

I find what happened next as funny.

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.

The servant girl was so excited to see Peter at the door, she failed to open it to let him come inside.

Everyone was in such disbelief Peter was actually at the door even though that was what they had prayed for. Before we are too critical of them, we ought to be sure we always have the faith we should when we pray. The classic illustration is when you go to a prayer meeting to pray for rain in a drought, carry your umbrella as a sign of your faith.

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.