The Rescue of Peter

Intro

Perhaps the best known escape artist of all time is Harry Houdini

Managed to escape from many different cirucmstances, including the water torture cell *show picture*

In this escape, Houdini's feet were locked in stocks, and he was lowered upside down into a tank filled with water. The mahogany and metal cell featured a glass front, through which audiences could clearly see Houdini. The stocks were locked to the top of the cell, and a curtain concealed his escape. In the earliest version of the torture cell, a metal cage was lowered into the cell, and Houdini was enclosed inside that. While making the escape more difficult – the cage prevented Houdini from turning – the cage bars also offered protection should the front glass break.

In Acts 12, the apostle Peter puts even Harry Houdini to shame

Though his escape used less… conventional means

It also gives us a great example of the power of prayer

The Story

The beginning of the story is tragic; King Herod imprisoned the apostle James and executed him

Which James?

James son of Zebedee; not James son of Alphaeus, or James brother of Jesus

Not a lot of boy name options in those days...

Which Herod?

Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great (tried to kill baby Jesus), half brother of Herod Antipas (killed John the Baptist and judged Jesus) and father of Herod Agrippa II (judged Paul)

Herod Agrippa I was a Jewish nationalist educated in Rome; wanted to gain support and adoration of Jews (Pharisees)

The execution of James is politically motivated

Sword vs. stoning (blasphemy; religious)

To curry favour with the Jewish elite; also shows that Christianity is starting to receive political attention

Eventually will gain the eyes of Rome itself

Herod gets the result he wants (the people are pleased), so he imprisons the apostle Peter with the desire to execute him as well

He couldn’t do so, because it was Passover (everything had to wait)

So he put Peter under heavy guard

Four squads of four soldiers (four watching at any moment)

While Herod is forced to wait, the church prays earnestly (v. 5)

The very night before his planned execution (talk about 11th hour!), God answers the church’s prayer in a miraculous way

Peter is sleeping between 2 soldiers, chained, with 2 more guarding the door

Not even Houdini could get out of this mess!

An angel of the Lord appears next to him, light shining everywhere

The angel nudges Peter and tells him to “get up quickly” (v. 7)

Make fun of the humanness of elbowing someone awake; like Dad and Emery during weekend meetings

The chains on Peter’s hands fall off and the angel instructs him to get dressed and follow him outside

At this point, Peter is confused (and probably very sleepy); he thinks he is seeing a vision instead of this happening in reality

Like some conversations with Eli when he is mostly sleeping

Peter obediently follows the angel, past the first and second guards and past the last iron gate that opens before them into the city

As soon as they escape the prison, the angel vanishes

Once Peter “came to himself” (certainly was in a daze), he finally clues in that his rescue was REAL

Read Acts 12:11.

It’s a miraculous answer to prayer! Peter makes his way to a safe house where the church is gathered in prayer

House of Mary, the mother of John Mark (who wrote the gospel of Mark)

Everyone is inside praying when Peter knocks on the door

A servant girl Rhoda came to answer

But she recognized his voice… and does not open the door!

Highlight the humour in this part of the story

Rhoda runs back to tell the praying church that Peter is rescued, alive and at the door!

And they don’t believe her

“You are out of your mind”

This can’t actually be true

“It is his angel”

He is already dead

But when they FINALLY open the door and see Peter, they were “amazed” (v. 16)

Peter instructs them to tell of his rescue to James and the brothers in Jerusalem

James = brother of Jesus; became leader of church in Jerusalem

Peter than goes to “another place...” very vague

The story concludes with the unsurprising consequences of Peter’s escape

Herod doesn’t see a supernatural explanation for the escape, so he blames the guards and puts them to death

This story is crazy, miraculous, funny and tragic

But it is ultimately a story about the power of prayer

Pray Earnestly

How did the church respond when political persecution became a reality for its top leaders?

Read Acts 12:5.

When Peter was waiting in prison over the passover, the church prayed earnestly

Earnestly = fervently; passionately

They prayed from the depths of their hearts; they truly meant it

When we believe we should be praying for something, we need to do so earnestly

Often prayer can be rote, formulaic, expected and we become detached

Prayer at meal times, bed times, in church, during small group meetings, even when we tell others we will pray for them

When prayer becomes a religious obligation, a box to be checked off, something we know we should be doing, it can lose its impact on us

Jesus offers us a glimpse of earnest, passionate prayer

Cf. Luke 22:41-44.

“earnest” is the same word in both stories

Jesus was so passionate in his prayer that he was sweating drops of blood!

This prayer mattered to Him with every fibre of His being

While we may never sweat drops of blood, when is the last time we were this fervent in a prayer?

There are people we love who need healing, salvation, mental health, freedom from adddicition; they deserve our earnest prayers

Pray Persistently

Not only did the church pray for Peter earnestly, but they prayed persistently as well

Herod had to wait until Passover was complete, which gave a period of multiple days for the church to pray

Not only did they pray this whole time, but right up until the 11th hour (when Peter was rescued)

Jesus taught us to pray persistently as well

Cf. Luke 18:1-8.

Parable operates on the “how much more” teaching principle

If the unjust judge listens to persistent prayer, how much more will the righteous judge give justice speedily?

Certainly proved true in the story of Peter’s rescue

Jesus also uses the “how much more” method to explain how our heavenly Father desires to give us good gifts

Cf. Matthew 7:7 - 11.

Talk about Malachi persistently asking for a dog and a hoverboard, then show the video proof

How much more will a loving heavenly Father desire to answer your earnest and persistent prayers?

Don’t lose heart if you don’t receive the answer you are looking for immediately; pray persistently

Pray Corporately

Perhaps the most important example we get from the early church is that they prayed together; they prayed corporately

Gathered in their house; likely more home churches doing the same

We tend to over-individualize our prayer life, to our detriment

There is significance in gathering together for prayer; Core value at SBF

Prayer meetings, SL&CT, Fellowship Groups, Discipleship Groups, family and friends, etc.

What we see in Acts 12 is in line with the DNA of the church from the very beginning

Cf. Acts 2:42.

The church has always been designed to pray together

It is an integral part of what holds us together

When we share in a focused prayer together, we can also see God answer prayer together

Read NLC story on praying for rain

This story was STILL a powerful rallying point for the church

They had seen God move TOGETHER, which strengthened their faith TOGETHER and held them in unity TOGETHER

Can we express the Core Value even more deeply at SBF?

Share brief conversation with Stephen at weekend meetings

Be Amazed

And of course, don’t we want to be amazed when God answers our earnest, persistent, corporate prayers?

The church in Jerusalem was amazed to see Peter rescued

The church in Stonewall was amazed to see rain over their region

Are we prepared to be amazed when God answers prayer?

Of course, the early church wasn’t very prepared to be amazed

They prayed for Peter’s rescue, but accused Rhoda of being “out of her mind” when God actually came through

Luke is allowing us to see the early church for a moment not as a bunch of great heroes and heroines of the faith, but as the same kind of muddled, half-believing, faith-one-minute-and-doubt-the-next sort of people as most Christians we all know (N.T. Wright)

It wasn’t the solidity of their faith that accomplished this miracle; no “name it, claim it” going on here

God surprised them, and He will surprise us, too

One reason why I believe they were amazed is because of the prayer God didn’t answer

It is a safe assumption that the church would have gathered and prayed earnestly, persistently and corporately for the safe release of the apostle James

Peter was rescued; James was not

Some people receive healing, others do not

Some prayers are answered the exact way we are looking for, others are not

Acts 12 gives us a holistic view that God is capable of accomplishing miracles… He CAN do it

He invites us to pray for these miracles together, with our whole hearts

And he asks us to accept His response

Both when we are amazed and when we are disappointed

God is good, He is sovereign and we are to be a people of prayer