In The Nick Of Time: When God Rescues (& When He Doesn't)

They jump out of a helicopter into the middle of the ocean.

They plunge down into the water and come up again and they are immediately assaulted with mountains of water crashing down on them, 80-90 mph winds blowing rain and seawater so violently around them that it’s hard to tell whether they’re under the water or on the surface.

Their bodies are so fit that they’re able to swim over 40, 50, maybe even 60-foot waves.

They make their way over to shipwrecked human beings who are frozen and terrified, put them in a metal basket, and travel back with them up into the helicopter.

And they do it again and again, for as many people as are in the water needing rescue.

Of course, I’m talking about swimmers. I really admire the guys who are professional swimmers for the Navy or the Coast Guard. I admire their courage, their strength, their profound sense of duty that drives them to rescue people in distress even if it costs them their own life. I would say that’s my hero profession.

What are some of your hero professions? EMS? Firefighters? Law-enforcement? Doctors and nurses? Notice what all of those professions have in common - they are life-saving professions. They are men and women who are called and trained to come to our rescue, even if doing so means they wind needing rescue themselves.

We serve a rescuing God. And we are made in His image. We have the instinct to rescue others. And we profoundly appreciate those people who are in the business of rescuing.

This morning in our text we’re going to see the God of Rescue come to the aid of Peter, rescuing him from the authorities in Jerusalem. God is a God who rescues His people. And sometimes the God of rescue…doesn’t rescue. We’ll see how we should think about God’s rescue — and the times when, for reasons known only to Him, He doesn’t.

#1: When God Rescues: Peter

We’re going to approach this kind of like a movie that starts out ahead in time from the beginning. You know those movies, or TV shows? The ones that start out with some scene that we can’t fully understand until the movie or show takes us back in time to what happened before that? That’s kind of what we’re going to do here. Even though James is not rescued first, let’s look first at how Peter is rescued, and then come back to James.

Peter’s rescue is the stuff that movies are made out of. King Herod — not the King Herod from the birth stories of Jesus — not Herod the Great — this is his grandson, Herod Agrippa I. This King Herod unleashes all hell upon the church in Jerusalem. Listen to how Luke describes it, the image he uses in verse 1: “About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.” We know that part of that group was James, the brother of John. He killed James with the sword, Luke says, which probably means James’ head was cut off - how’s that for a pleasant Sunday morning picture?

The Jews were really happy with this, Luke says. Most likely he means the Jewish leaders, the member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was like the Supreme Court of the Jewish people under Roman captivity. Historical documents outside of the Bible tell us that Herod Agrippa I really tried hard to win the favor of the Jews. The Jews were happy that James was killed, James was a major player in the church leadership there in Jerusalem. And Herod said, “Well, killing James was politically expedient for me; why don’t I go ahead and take out Peter too? Guards, go ahead and arrest Peter and put him in prison and when the time is right, we’ll do to Peter what we did to James.”

We’ll come back to James, though. Look with me at what happens to Peter.

Peter is arrested, verse 6, and he’s put in prison. And just look at the security measures the soldiers take to keep Peter in check: Herod assigns 16 soldiers, four squads of soldiers, to manage Peter. They bind him in chains, put him in prison. They place two soldiers on either side of him. They place soldiers at the door, too, to guard Peter.

And Peter? What is Peter doing as these bulky reminders of Roman power and brutality are placed on either side of him and in front of him by the door? Peter is sleeping. Could you sleep? Kind of reminds me of when Jesus and the disciples were in a boat that was being overwhelmed by the storm on the sea. They’re terrified and afraid for their lives; and Jesus? What is Jesus doing? He’s sleeping. Complete trust.

Could you sleep? Could I sleep?

Is Peter sleeping because he knows the Lord will rescue him? Maybe. Probably not. Is he sleeping because people are praying for him? Look at verse 5 and underline it because it is extremely important: “So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.”

What is intercessory prayer?

Praying for someone’s specific needs, usually urgent, on their behalf

Going before God in prayer for them and on their behalf

This is what we call intercessory prayer. To intercede for someone is to pray for them on their behalf. Moses prayed for the Israelites on their behalf. Job prayed for his friends on their behalf. Jesus prayed for Peter on his behalf and He brings us in prayer before God’s throne. So Peter: He’s sleeping because he probably trusts that all will be well with Him, rescue or no rescue, because Jesus loves Him and is with Him. But could it also be that he’s sleeping because the church is praying for him — for his deliverance and for peace?

We aren’t promised rescue every time. We are promised that it will be well with us, rescue or no rescue, because Jesus loves us and is with us.

In this case, Peter is rescued. And all the security measures Herod imposes on Peter in prison prove not only unnecessary but completely ineffective. Verse 7 says that while Peter is sleeping and being guarded, “behold” — meaning “look! what do ya know, right in the nick of time, the Lord shows up” Actually an angel of the Lord shows up.

And tell me, church, if this is not one of the funniest things you’ve seen in the Bible. Yes, the Bible has humor. The angel shows up and Peter is about to be rescued. What do we expect the angel to do? Sing him a wake-up song?

My mom used to sing to me, “Good morning to you, good morning to you! We’re all in our places with sunshiny faces; oh this is the way, to start a new day!” She still sings that to my kids when they stay at her house.

A violent angel?? verse 7

“he tapped Peter” (NRSV)? Nope!

“he poked Peter” (CEV)? Nope!

“he smote Peter” (KJV)? Yep!

“he struck Peter” (ESV)? Yep!

Does the angel do that? Does the angel bend down and move Peter’s hair out of his eyes and rub his cheek and sing to him? Nope. He gut punches him. I’m serious. Look at the word used in verse 7: “He struck him”! Some translations say the angel tapped Peter, or poked Peter. Nope. The Greek word means to hit someone violently with the intention or at least the possibility of causing bodily harm [LN]. It’s a gut punch. The KJV is closer when it says the angel “smote” Peter. Struck him. The angel was here to rescue Peter, and if Peter is going to be rescued, he needs to be up and at ‘em fast. So, gut punch! Boom! “Get up, Peter! Quick!”

Everything moves fast from here. The chains that bound Peter suddenly are broken and they fall off Peter’s hands. Peter gets up and gets dressed. Shirt on. Sandals on. Check. Coat wrapped around him? Check. The angel leads him out: “Follow me, Peter.”

Not only do the chains fall off Peter’s hands; they inexplicably walk right past the first and the second set of guards. That would never happen on their own accord!

My dad made his career with the state department of correction. He used to be on the prison escape response team and he would go on manhunts looking for escaped convicts. This is not an escape. This is divine rescue.

Peter likely could not have escaped on his own. These soldiers, they only play to win. They stand to lose their jobs and their head if they don’t. Not only does the chain fall off and not only do they somehow manage to walk right past the guards there to make sure that kind of thing never happens; the iron gate, the massive iron gate that leads from the prison complex out on the street, that iron gate opens wide without even so much as a touch.

Clearly this is something supernatural we are looking at; something truly miraculous. Peter is rescued. And all the security measures Herod imposes on Peter in prison prove not only unnecessary but completely ineffective.

Church, we serve a God who rescues us. He is showing us mercy when He rescues us.

God rescued His people Israel from the Egyptians, dramatically and miraculously by parting the Red Sea, knowing that they would rebel and refuse to trust Him. God rescued His people Israel from the Canaanites over and over even though they had gotten themselves into the mess because of their own sin. Over and over again, the Israelites called out to the Lord for help; the Lord hears their cry; He intervenes and rescues them; they obey Him for a while; they forget and they rebel and the scene repeats itself. God is a merciful God.

It is mercy when God rescues us because we do not deserve His rescue. We cannot claim that we are entitled to His rescue. We cannot say that God is obligated to show us mercy and rescue us. We can say that God has loved us when we are at our worst, and that it was when we were at our worst that God acted to rescue us most miraculously and most dramatically through the cross.

God is a God who rescues His people. God is a God who rescues us. We can know that no matter what we experience in this life, whether it be divorce or addiction or cancer or Alzheimer’s or depression and mental illness, no matter what we experience, God will rescue us from our most urgent and most deadly problem — our sin.

And often, as with Peter, God delivers and rescues us from our earthly troubles. Then again...sometimes He doesn’t — as with James.

#2: And When He Doesn’t: James

Since I was a little kid I’ve been sort of fascinated with all things aviation. YouTube is an aviation nerd’s paradise because there are countless videos of every kind of aircraft you can imagine in just about every situation you can imagine.

Recently I came across a 30-second video of an aircraft just before it crashed. This video is really unique because it is actually a video recorded by a passenger inside the cabin in the moments just before the crash. The plane was Air New Zealand flight 901. It was just a sightseeing flight; it departed Auckland and the plan was to fly over Antarctica and allow its passengers to see the Arctic up close.

But the plane never returned to New Zealand. It crashed into Mt. Erebus on Ross Island. How did they manage to do that? Well, on this day Mt. Eerebus was shrouded in heavy snow. The heavy snow created whiteout conditions and the whiteout looked identical to the white snow clouds the plane was traveling through. When the pilots realized what was about to happen, they did not have enough time to accelerate and pull up.

[PLAY VIDEO: 21 seconds]

You see this snapshot in time, 43 years ago, of wealthy people enjoying themselves together, having no idea that within seconds, their lives will all instantly come to an end, before any of them have time to process what’s happening. God did not intervene to rescue.

When rescue doesn’t come in the way we wanted. All of us can think of things like that that have hit more closely home. How many of us have prayed for help and it didn’t come, not in the way we wanted. How many of us have prayed for help and earnestly believed that help would come, and it didn’t…not in the way we wanted. The truth is that though we are promised ultimate rescue from sin and hell, we are not promised earthly rescue. Some of us have learned that the hard way.

Let’s go back to James. Chapter 12, verses 1-3: “About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.”

Jesus predicted that James would die by giving His life for Jesus.Mark 10:39 “And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,” Mark 10:38-39

Mark 10:38–39 ESV

Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,

Two observations in vv. 1-3:

James is killed (martyred)

Peter is spared

We are not told why Peter is spared, and James is killed

We see two things here. Number one: James is killed. Why is James killed? Well, the answer is Herod.

This past weekend the Chinese Communist Party held its Congress session. They only meet every five years. This time they met and among other things they solidified Xi Jinping in his role as president and the takeaway is that he is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Something really interesting and kind of scary happened at this Congress in Beijing. The former President was there, seated next to the current president. And right before they held the vote to solidify Xi Jinping as president now and for the future, two guys came and escorted the former president out. What made it kind of eerie was that if you watch the video you see that Hu Jintao did not seem to know this was going to happen to him. He looks confused and even scared as he’s escorted out.

There has been speculation about what happened to this guy and none of it good, of course. Sometimes rulers make very public statements like that through something that doesn’t involve words at all. Same with Herod. He wants to send a message to the church in Jerusalem that he is their king, not Jesus; and he wants to make the Jews happy because they don’t like James. So James is rounded up, arrested, jailed and then executed.

And like the folks on the airplane, there’s no warning for us who are reading the text or for James. “It is appointed unto man once to die”, the Bible says, “and after that the judgment.” James’ life is taken. He becomes the second public martyr. When our loved ones are taken, we are not given an explanation and, really, we are not entitled to one.

Number two: Peter is spared. James’ life is taken; Peter’s life is spared. And number three: we see that God does not offer an explanation for why Peter is spared and James is killed.

Like my friend Tiffany in high school, killed instantly in a car accident less than an hour after she and our entire youth group returned from a mission trip. What’s more, she died, but my friend Brian in the car with her lived. Why was she taken and he wasn’t? We just don’t know. And we aren’t entitled to know.

Have you ever wondered why this happens? There’s a passage in the OT that helps us know what to do with this. Deut. 29:29

Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

What does that mean? “The secret things belong to the Lord”. The secret things? Those are the things we don’t know and can’t know. Why Peter was spared and James was killed. Why my friend Tiffany was taken and Brian was spared. We can’t know those things; those are the secret things. Don’t try to to figure out God’s ways. We are not qualified to assess the secret things. Those things are hidden from us. God sees all factors present, past and future. We do not. We see in a mirror dimly, the apostle Paul says.

The “revealed things”, those are the things we are to busy ourselves with. Those are the things that Moses says belong to us and to our children, and note this: “that we may do all the words of this law”. What are the revealed things? The revealed word of God: the Scriptures; the Bible.

God is saying to us, trust me. Trust me to handle the things you cannot see and understand; I have not revealed those reasons to you. Don’t worry about the future; you can’t see it. Don’t try to analyze the past; you can’t know all the hidden factors. You focus yourselves on obeying my word: that is what I have revealed. Whether I rescue in the way you want and in the time I want as with Peter or whether I do not as with James — that I have not chosen to reveal to you. Focus on my word — what I have revealed to you.

God is good, sovereign, & wise

Good: He has your best interest in mind

Sovereign: He has the power to achieve your best interest

Wise: He knows how best to achieve it

In the meantime, we trust that God is good, which means he has your best interest at heart; trust that He is sovereign, meaning that He has the power to do what is in your best interest; trust that He is wise, meaning that He has the wisdom to know how to do you the most eternal good and bring Himself glory.”

When God rescues, and even when He doesn’t, He is good, He is sovereign, He is wise.

Final takeaways

Let me close this morning with some takeaways from this text.

First takeaway: how do we respond when God does rescue?

When God rescues:

Pause, glorify God, and give thanks (v. 12)

Tell others while the excitement is fresh (vv. 12-17)

Let’s go back to Peter. How should we respond when God does show up and rescue us? Peter shows us.

Peter is out of jail. Just as soon as the angel got him out of jail and safely onto the street, he’s gone and Peter is alone. Peter takes a minute and thanks God. “Now I am sure,” Peter says, “that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting” (Acts 12:11 ESV).

This is the first thing we do as a response when God rescues us: we pause, glorify God, and give thanks. How many of us pray for something and then when God answers we move on and don’t take a minute to do what Peter does here? Church, when God rescues you, even if from something small, pause and give Him the glory.

Peter also wants to tell someone. He doesn’t want to keep what God has done to himself. He wants to tell the good news. So Peter goes to a house where some believers are praying. Are they the same ones praying for Peter? Are they praying for Peter right as he shows up? Church, notice this: the biblical pattern for prayer and study and fellowship is in small groups in people’s houses.

Peter knocks at the door. A young girl comes to the door. “Who is it?” She doesn’t open the door so she can’t see him, but Peter probably says “Uh, yeah, it’s Peter; I’m out of jail. Can ya let me in? I could really use a Mountain Dew right about now.” But she doesn’t open the door! Instead, she runs away from the door back to where the believers are praying. “It’s Peter!”

Here’s another takeaway for us. Do they rush to the door in joy and open it and greet Peter? “Peter, praise the Lord. We’re so glad you’re out, you’re free, you’re alive. Glory to God.” No. Notice this, Buffalo: here you have believers praying to God for miracles but when a miracle literally walks up and knocks on their door, they resort to alternative explanations. “No, Rhoda. Peter’s in jail. He’s not here. You’re out of your mind again.” “No, Rhoda; it’s not Peter. Peter’s in jail. It must be his angel. It can’t be Peter. He’s in jail. Now, where were we? Oh, right, we were praying for Peter’s miraculous rescue. Sister Sue, I believe it’s your turn.”

When Peter finally does get in the house, finally, he shares his story with them. “Guys, I have to tell you how God showed up tonight.” He gives God the glory. Verse 17 says “motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison” (Acts 12:17 ESV).

Call for response

After all, God is a rescuing God. And of course, God has come to our rescue in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. We were weak, we were sinners, we were in fact enemies of God, and yet the word of God tells us that it was when we were at our worst that God came to our rescue.

Friend, believer, no matter where you are this morning, whether God has rescued you from your distress or whether you feel like He has not, there is one thing Jesus has done for you that is so significant and foundational that if you realize this, it doesn’t matter quite as much whether God shows up in the way we want in our trouble or not, and that is that He has rescued us from our sin and its punishment, which is hell.

The Lord rescued His people from Egyptian slavery, parting the Red Sea. And in the rest of their history, God came to His people’s rescue again and again and again, despite their sin, despite the fact that they didn’t deserve rescue.

But all along God had planned to send His Son Jesus to rescue us from our most urgent and most deadly problem, and that problem is our sin.

Romans 5:6–8 ESV

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Do you know Jesus the Rescuer?

Knowing Him makes all the difference. If you do not know Him and trust Him savingly, you will not know lasting satisfaction and joy and peace. And when you die you will spend eternity in hell away from God and away from all that is good and life-giving.

But this does not have to be the case for you. Jesus invites you to know Him and enter a relationship with Him today. “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him”, Jesus says, “will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14 ESV). He beckons you, and all you have to do is come to Him. You don’t have to clean yourself up first; He’ll do that. He’s much better at that than you are anyway! Come to Him, and you will receive His love and forgiveness, His joy and His friendship. Come to Him, and you will wonder how you ever made it so long without Him.