Acts 12 (2)

What do Pharoah, Nebuchadneezar, Baal, Dagon, Herod the Great, Herod Agrippa of our text this morning have in common. They among many others have dared to challenge and sought to thwart the plan of God. We see through out the scriptures that from the beginning even in the garden the authority and power of God has been challenged. A battle of the god’s if you could call it one. Not really a contest. Without so much as a word spoken or the flick of a finger the enemies of God are destroyed. Men and authorities may call themselves god’s but they are powerless.

Isaiah 45:5 (ESV)

I am the Lord, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

She is un-tamable, the more you try to silence her the more she grows, you cut off one of her heads and three others rise to take her place.

A matter of Life and Death

Transition: The Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church and this is the first of the Apostles to give his life for the Gospel.

The Death of James

There are two apostles that bear the name James, this one, James the brother of John, who was one of the three closely connected to Jesus, Peter, James, and John. He was one of the Sons of thunder, so nicknamed by the Lord Himself. The other mentioned briefly in verse 17 was the brother of Jesus. The head of the church in Jerusalem. He died in 62 a.d about 20 years later after he was thrown from the pinnacle, survived and then was stoned and eventually finished off with a wooden club according to the historian Eusebius.

A very important lesson to be learned from both James and Peter is that the Lord is glorified both by the life and the death of His saints.

Psalm 116:15 ESV

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Clearly though man sheds innocent blood God, is the one who keeps them and delivers them from destruction, a fate that Herod the evil one would not escape. The point is that God has a purpose and a plan and that plan means to the believer life and death, it means that at times the Lord is glorified and the Gospel magnified and reaches further in the death of his Saints. It means that sometimes the the gospel is served better in the salvation and rescue of the saints from the hands of the enemy. Does that mean that we are privy to this? NOPE. What is does mean is that God is in control that no enemy no death, no persecution, can thwart the plan of the Lord, He is good and He loves His own even in life and in death. God does what is good and right, and we can trust that no matter what that by life of by death we serve the God who advances His word.

Do you believe that?

Philippians 1:19–20 ESV

for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

It means that if we die or if we suffer and the hands of men for the sake of the Gospel that it is not in vain. Suffering for the believer is not as the atheist would have you believe, that it is random and without cause. It is by design of a God who is in the drivers seat and who knows and works the plans of His heart.

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

How then ought we to pray if we do not know the purpose of God in the matter?

We ought to pray that the Lord would deliver such a one, that trusting that the Lord will do as He determines fit. We ought to pray that the Word of God would increase.

The Deliverance of Peter

In Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter where the Lord commends those who lived by faith. He says in consecutive verses that some by faith escaped the sword (vs 34) and others by faith were killed by the sword (vs 37). James did not escape the sword, but Peter did for now. Though tradition tells us it was crucifixion not the sword that would eventually lead to Peter’s martyrdom.

It is clear from several points of the story of Peter that it was the hand of God that delivered Peter. The entire story is of the angel of the Lord, not a person this was not some coo schemed up by the early Christians. Herod took great care to see that the prisoner was well guarded. He has 4 squads 16 total sentries guarding Peter. Probably only 4 at a time, each taking a 3 hour shift. This was the angel that appeared as and shone light, and angel that loosed Peters chains as he was chained to prison guards, and the angel who opened the gates with out effort and who dissapeared without a trace in the middle of the street.

What happened to Peter in the flesh happened to James in death. He woke up seeing a great light, he went forth to God because he chains of sin and death had fallen off.

The Demise of Herod

We actually have good evidence to date with precision the day in of Herods death. It was likely though not absolutely certain that it was probably on March 5th of 43 a.d. this was the celebration of the founding of the Caesarea where Herod was located. Caesarea is north on the coast of the Mediterranean. It could also have occurred on August 1st 44 a.d. the following year, as this was Claudius the emperors birthday and Herod grew up in Rome as a school mate and friend of Claudius. Infact Herod aquired rule over Judean region under the reign of Claudius in 41. The latest coins that we have bearing Agrippa’s inscription date to 44 a.d.

To give a bit of background to this story we told that there is some sort of dispute between Herod and the people of Tyre and Sidon, ans they were dependent upon Judea for food. This region had been dependent upon the Israel since the times of Solomon. Solomon in the building of the temple traded with the King of Tyre wheat and other types of food for the cedars of Lebanon, which they tied up and floated down the coast.

Believe it or not this event is attested to outside of scripture. Josephus gives an accurate account of the ordeal. He tells us that the day that Herod drew ill, he looked out and saw an owl sitting on a stretched out rope, evidently an omen of doom. The people of Tyre and Sidon fed into Herod’s complex, by calling him a God. Josephus tells us that the he attended the festival donned in a clothes woven with silver which gleamed bright with the reflecting sun giving him the appearance of a god like figure. This was evidently a standard practice of the Phoenicians to appear as the sun-gods, for worship. Herod in pride did not give glory to the true God and refused to correct their misplaced worship.

Josephus records that he died 5 days later from severs bowel and heart pains. When I read the text it I hear the words immediately and like to think that it happened in fast forward, supernaturally that he just melted right before the people in a pile of worms and maggots. Whether it happened that way or naturally over the course of a week, we do know this for certain that it was the hand of God once again. The angel of the Lord struck him down for refusing to give the proper glory to God.

Amazing the parallels three different people three different outcome. James killed at the hands of the King, though the hands of Herod though and though struck down, yet he lives. Peter delivered, and Herod struck down by the hand of God to ruin and destruction.

Hebrews 10:31 ESV

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

This whole episode parallels the account of Nebuchadneezer who also refuse to recognize the Sovereign one, and was struck down to crawl on his belly like a wild beast. Herods outcome was less fortunate.

But it shows us as if we haven't already

Psalm 2:12 ESV

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Proverbs 21:1 ESV

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.