Wake Up, Get Up, Dress Up, Go Up

Acts 12: 5-11

Wake up, get up, dress up, and go up

Last Sunday night Brother Huie made some points in his sermon that I want to use for our Bible Study tonight.

If you will remember he got on the subject about Peter being in prison and how an angel came and led him out.

He mentioned four points if I remember right that I want to use, but in a different direction.

I was lying in bed the other night about 2:00 in the morning, or somewhere in that time frame, and I begin thinking about those four points, and put together something I think will be beneficial.

First of all let’s read Acts 12: 5-11.

The four points I want to use is:

1. Wake up

2. Get up

3. Dress up

4. Go up

Now, let me bring you a little bit of background to these verses we have already read.

Verse one tells how King Herod had been persecuting some of the Christian church.

King Herod was the grandson of Herod the Great, nephew to Herod Antipas, who beheaded John the Baptist; brother t Her-o-dias and father to that Agrippa before whom St. Paul afterward made his defense.

He had James, the brother of John put to death with a sword. Death by the sword was considered by the Rabbis as disgraceful so this must have pleased them very much.

When Herod saw that killing James pleased the people so much, he decided he would kill Peter also.

Now the loss of Peter at this stage of the church would have been very harmful to the church.

But God always has everything under control.

Herod gave orders to find Peter and arrest him and place him in jail.

Let us read verse four.

The four quaternions of soldiers who guarded Peter consisted of sixteen men, each quaternion consisting of four.

It was enough to keep four men on guard during each of the four watches of the night.

They, together with the strength of the prison doors, were deemed sufficient for the utmost security.

The word Easter now denotes the festival observed by many Christian churches in honour of the resurrection of the Saviour. But the original has no reference to that.

The word Easter is of Saxon origin, and is supposed to be derived from Eostre, the goddess of love, or the Venus of the North, in honour of whom a festival was celebrated by our pagan ancestors in the month of April.

As this festival coincided with the Passover of the Jews, and with the feast observed by Christians in honour of the resurrection of Christ, the name came to be used to denote the latter.

In the old Anglo-Saxon service-books the term Easter is used frequently to translate the word Passover.

But getting to those four points I want to talk about tonight.

Notice verses 6 and 7.

“smote Peter on the side, and raised him up”

Here is my first point, wake up.

Peter was in trouble, and about to face death, but he wasn’t he didn’t stay up worrying about it.

The angel woke him up.

Now I want to apply these points to us as Christians today.

You see Peter knew that God was going to take care of him. He knew that God had everything in control. So why should he be worrying about it?

And here I thought about when we are in trouble, or when we are going through some trial, or we are facing some seemingly impossible situation in our life, we should wake up to the fact that God has everything under control.

We should wake up to the fact that what God promises He will deliver.

Now in Peter’s case it was probably good that he was asleep. It meant he was at peace with himself and the circumstances around him.

But when we are asleep spiritually we aren’t conscious of God’s promises, nor do we acknowledge them.

When we are asleep spiritually we have no communication with God and we are not aware that God is there to help us in time of trial and trouble.

So we need to wake up! When unpleasant circumstances surround you, or you face a fiery trial, or Satan has placed you in some type of bondage, wake up and realize that God is an ever present help in the time of trouble.

Before Peter could be delivered from that prison, he must first wake up, get his senses together, realize that the angel was there to give him instructions and lead him out.

So you must wake up and realize that God is with you standing ready to deliver you.

Isaiah 46:4 “And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar (grey) hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.”