Acts 12

Acts_12
10/19/08

Acts_12
I. Review
A. As we left off in our last study.
1. God was using the church in Antioch and Barnabas in a great way and the church was expanding.
2. Barnabas recognized he needed some help so he went to Tarsus and brought Saul back and the two of them spent a whole year there teaching the people.
3. And as chapter-11 closed in response to a prophecy concerning a coming famine, the church in Antioch, began a collection in order to send some relief to the church in Jerusalem. (In chapter-12 we learn that Barnabas and Saul carry it to Jerusalem)
II. More persecution
Acts 12:1-4 (NKJV)
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.
A. This is Herod Agrippa I who was placed on his throne by Caligula.
1. He was an Idumean a descendant of Esau and he had a Jewish mother (a half breed if you will)
a. In a few chapters Paul appears before Herod Agrippa but it is not this one but "Herod Agrippa II"
2. We read here that Agrippa killed James the brother of John and it pleased the Jews, so spurred on by the favor he got from killing James he went after Peter and arrested him and threw him into prison.
B. He delivered him to four squads of soldiers; the worst criminal would normally be entrusted to less than this but Peter has a history of escaping.
1. Squads (quaternion’s) four groups of four each; 1 group for each watch of the night.
a. He was chained between two (vv6) and two more were standing watch outside the door.
2. Knowing it would be an issue to kill Peter during Passover, he was waiting until after Passover before making his move.
C. Verse-5
Acts 12:5 (NKJV)
5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
1. Here is a beautiful contrast, we see Peter bound, but prayer for him released.
a. As we will see prayer makes a difference, and there is nothing that can prevent us from praying if we just have a heart to do so.
(1) And there is no wall, nor cell that prayer cannot penetrate by the power of God.
D. Verse-6
Acts 12:6 (NKJV)
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.
1. What a great picture this is, Peter is facing the possibility of death, he is chained between two soldiers in prison and yet he is fast asleep.
a. Peter has peace that is beyond understanding, that surpasses the difficulty of his situation.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
b. Also Jesus had told Peter that his death would come when he was old
John 21:18 (NKJV)
18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”
E. An angel frees Peter
Acts 12:7-11 (NKJV)
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.”
1. So an angel wakes Peter frees him from the chains and hurries him out of the prison. (This is the second time an angel has helped Peter escape from prison)
a. Often when we see angels in scripture they are in a hurry, but we only see God represented as being in a hurry once.

(1) When the father runs down the road to meet his returning prodigal son.
(2) What a tragedy to see God so easily rejected when He so readily desires to accept us back into fellowship that we were created to experience and from which sin has separated us.
(a) Just as the majority of mankind were rejecting the testimony of Jesus in Peter's day, so it is true today.
i) I pray that this is not true of you and I. (If you are a prodigal, God's arm are open...)
b. We might speculate on why angels are so often in a hurry when we encounter them in scripture
(1) Perhaps it has to do with trying to avoid being worship by men, more likely it is the desire to quickly accomplish what the Lord has sent them to do.
(2) Too bad we are not typically in such a hurry to accomplish what God desire for us.
2. Peter thinks he might be dreaming but acts in obedience anyway, he might of just sat there but he acted on it even if were a vision.
a. But in verese-11 when he came to himself, when his bewilderment was over, when he was fully awake and conscious he realized that God had delivered him from what Herod had planned and the Jews were eagerly wanting, and that is his death just as they had desired the death of James.
F. An unsuspected result?
Acts 12:12-15 (NKJV)
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.”
1. Thinking things through the first thing Peter does is head to the house of Mary the Mother of John Mark a young man we will encounter again.
a. Mary's house was likely the primary meeting place of the church, and Peter anticipated that many would be gathered there for prayer in this difficult time.
(1) Probably same upper room as last supper or Pentecost.
2. Peter knocks and a girl name Rhoda comes to the door (to answer or ask who was there), recognizing Peter's voice she is so shocked and tickled with joy that she doesn't open to him.

3. When she tells the others that it was Peter they thought she was crazy and as she kept insisting they said "It is his angel.".
a. There was a popular Jewish belief that each person has a personal angel.
b. Rhoda means Rose so perhaps she was delicate and not persuasive, at any rate she left Peter standing outside which would be a sort of anxious thing to endure and perhaps involved some peril.
4. Fervency without faith??
a. They are obviously fervent in their prayer for Peter, but it would seem that there was little faith on their part.
Acts 12:16-17 (NKJV)
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.
(1) Peter kept knocking until they opened for him and they were astonished when they saw that it was really him.
(a) God responds to our little faith.
Matthew 17:20 (NKJV)
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

Mark 9:23-24 (NKJV)
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
i) We see that their faith must have been small but God worked.
(2) James here is the half brother of Jesus, the same James who was the elder of the Jerusalem church and who wrote the book of James.
(3) After giving testimony how God had brought him out of prison, and making sure that the leadership were also told, Peter departed to another place.
(a) We are not told where that was, but obviously Peter senses the need to stay out of Herod's way for awhile.
G. Herod is furious about Peter's escape.
Acts 12:18-19 (NKJV)
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.
1. We see the determination of Herod to find Peter, and lends credence to the idea that Peter was led by the Holy Spirit to lay low, where the first time an angel helped him escape he boldly went back to the temple to preach at God's command.
2. Herod examined the sixteen guards, and had them put to death, presuming that they were irresponsible in letting a prisoner escape
3. But he himself departed for Caesarea which was an opulent and luxurious seacoast town on the Mediterranean sea.
a. It was also the capital of the Roman province of Judea, from which Roman governors governed the nation.
III. The death of Herod Agrippa 1
Acts 12:20-24 (NKJV)
20 Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country.
21 So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.
22 And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”
23 Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.
A. Tyre and Sydon are located in modern-day Lebanon.
1. We don't know why Herod was angry at them but they were non-agrarian cities and relied upon Herod for food.
a. They set up an opportunity to butter Herod up and get in his good graces.
(1) The Herod's were known for their egotism and they played upon this.
2. Royal apparel according to Josephus was made of silver thread.
B. In response to his oratory, they worshipped him as a god, and he allowed it rather than giving glory to God and God struck him dead for it!
1. Danger of not giving glory to God and receiving worship as God.
a. Man is presumptuous when he believes his position in life is due to his own accomplishments, and not the blessing of God.
1 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NKJV)
6 Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.
7 For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
2. What a horrible death, eaten by worms and he died!
C. Herod who opposed God and His church died, but the word of God grew and multiplied.
IV. And the chapter closes
Acts 12:25 (NKJV)
25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.
A. Having delivered the offering collected for the Jewish church Barnabas and Saul returned to Antioch, and a new work God has in mind for them.
1. And they took young John Mark with them.