Recused from the hands of Herod

Recused from the hand of Herod…

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. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”

And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the Iron Gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!”

But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.

Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.”

Let us pray…

Throughout the universe, war rages on every front, God, the holy angels, and elect men and women battle Satan, his demonic hosts, and fallen followers. Although the outcome of our war is not in doubt, for our God is victorious, our battles with Satan are no less real. They are battles that test and purify our faith, they are battles that bring concern and build character and they are battles the builds us up in faith and battles that bring us down to our knees because we have faith.

This war began on an angelic level a long time ago when Lucifer, the highest of all created beings, rebelled against his Creator.

, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.”

O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.”

Using rich poetic imagery, the king of Babylon is addressed with sarcastic irony. From the great heights of his pride, from the citadel of his arrogance, and from the depth of his rebellion against God, Lucifer’s downfall brings him to the depths of Sheol. Some have seen here a poetic allusion in which the fallen king of Babylon is likened to a fallen Satan. At the minimum, the extravagant pretensions of the king of Babylon are graphically and poetically portrayed, from the heights of God-defying arrogance (“I will make myself like the Most High”) to the depths of destruction in the far reaches of the pit, this was the plight of Lucifer.

Lucifer, more commonly known as Satan (“adversary”), was cast from heaven, taking with him one-third of the angels. From that moment until the present, war has raged between Satan and God, engulfing angels and men. On the human front, the battle began when Adam and Eve rebelled against God in Eden. When they sampled the forbidden fruit (at the instigation of Satan) the war of the ages spread to human realm. Through the centuries since them, mankind has shaken its fist in defiance at God. And though the folly of fighting Him is self-evident, that does not stop each succeeding generation from trying. They pit their impotence against His omnipotence, shattering themselves live raw eggs through against granite. Solomon well expressed the hopelessness of fighting the plans of God when he wrote,

“No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord” ().

History is littered with the wreckage of the broken lives of those foolish enough to fight God. The nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche despised Christianity as the religion of weaklings. Fighting God eventually pushed him over the brink, and he spent the last several years of his life in an institution for the insane. Fighting against God cost him his mind and proving that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than man. ().

Nobel-Prize- winning author, Ernest Hemingway, considered himself living proof that a person could successfully fight God.

He boasted of fighting in revolutions, tumbling women, and leading a life of sin without repentance or apparent consequences. His sins eventually found him out, for the wages of sin is death, and he put a shotgun to his head and killed himself. Fighting against God cost him his life and proved that “…God is not mock for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” ().

In biblical times, just as in our own times, there are those who tried and who are still trying to vainly fight against the plans of God. In ancient times many of them were kings or other rulers, whose immense earthy power deceived them into thinking they could successfully oppose heaven. In reality, they and their kingdoms “are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; behold, God lifts up the islands like fine dust. All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

In the New Testament there is one family of rulers that reins high above all the other in that battle against the plans of God.

The Herod’s, this family headed by the patriarch known as Herod the Great, ruled Judea from 47 BC to 37 BC.

Herod the Great was a particularly bloodthirsty ruler; Antony Octavius called him the King of the Jews. He executed one of his wives. Mariamene, her mother, and three of his sons

(the last one five days before his own death). You remember the most barbaric of all his slaughters; it was when he slaughters all the innocent young male children near Bethlehem. He slaughtered as he sought vainly to kill the true King of the Jews, Jesus Christ, who was safely in Egypt with his parents.

Here in chapter 12 we are dealing with Herod Agrippa I, who reigned from A.D. 37 to A.D. 44. He was the grandson of Herod the Great, who had murdered his father, (Air/ Rist/ Stop/ Bow/ Less) Aristobulus. The apostle Paul would one day stand trial before his son, Herod Agrippa II. Despite being raised and educated in Rome, Agrippa I was always on shaky ground with the Romans. He ran up numerous debts in Rome, and then fled to Palestine, leaving angry creditors behind him. He made unwise comments, which got back to the Roman emperor Tiberius who promptly imprisoned him. Released from prison following Tiberius’s death, he was made ruler of northern Palestine, to which Judea and Samaria were eventually added in A.D. 41. He ruled the largest territory of Palestine since Herod the Great nearly fifty years earlier. Because of his tenuous relationship with Rome, it was imperative that he maintains the loyalty of his Jewish subjects.

In ; we see Herod laid violent hands of James and Peter.

Recused from the violent hands of Herod

, “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. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.

One way to win favor with the resident Jewish authorities was to persecute the hated sect of the Christians, especially the apostles by laying violent hands upon them. Accordingly, about the time of the famine mentioned in chapter 11, Agrippa laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. One of those was the beloved apostle James the brother of John, whom Agrippa ordered put to death with a sword. James became the first of the apostles for suffer martyrdom. That he was executed with a sword suggests the charges against him included leading the people astray after false gods.

, “If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to dwell there, that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. You shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.”

The first two scenarios in this passage assume a lack of success in the attempts to lead Israelites astray. The third scenario is when certain worthless fellows have succeeded in drawing inhabitants of their city away from the Lord.

But if this drawing away from the Lord has happen you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. The hearsay of (v12) must be checked carefully to ensure it is true and certain, not mere rumor but anyone is destroyed.

Now not only the instigator but also the whole city must be treated as if it were a Canaanite city within the land. This was because the city had allowed the “worthless fellows” to continue leading people astray. So they all must be devoting to destruction. The city is also to be burned, and all the spoils, none should be kept but given as a burnt offering to God. As we look on what Jesus had predicted, James was about to drink from the same cup as Jesus did, he was the first apostle to die apart from Judas and the only one whose death was recorded in the New Testament. Now, Agrippa’s ploy was a resounding success. When he saw that the arrest of James was pleasing to the Jews, he decided to go all in. He reasoned that the arrest and execution of Peter, the acknowledged leader of the Christians, would forever endear him to his Jewish subjects. Therefore, during the days of Unleavened Bread, the weekly feast following Passover, The Bible tells us that the Israelites were to eat only unleavened bread every year during Passover as a commemoration of the Exodus from Egyptian bondage. Since the children of Israel left Egypt hastily, they did not have time for the bread to rise, so it was made on that very first Passover without leaven, also known as yeast. In the Bible, leaven is almost always symbolic of sin. Like leaven that permeates the whole lump of dough, sin will spread in a person, a church, or a nation, eventually overwhelming and bringing its participants into its bondage and eventually to death tell us that “the wages of sin is death,” which is God's judgment for sin, and this is the reason that Christ died—to provide a way out of this judgment for sin if man will repent of his sins, accept Christ as his Passover sacrifice, and have his heart changed so that he can conform his life to what God commands

Agrippa cunningly chose the Passover season, when Jerusalem would be thronged with devout Jewish pilgrims. That would ensure his actions maximum coverage. So Agrippa proceeded to arrest Peter for the third time in the Book of Acts.

Having seized Peter, Agrippa put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. Agrippa knew that during Passover itself the people would be busy.

He therefore intended to wait until after the Passover to bring him out before the people. He would have his showy public trial of Peter after the busyness of the holiday ended but before the crowds left Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Peter remained in prison, securely guarded by four squads of soldiers, likely because someone remembered that the last time he escaped. These squads, consisting of four soldiers each, who rotated their watch on Peter. At any given time, two were in the cell with him; chained to him, and two more were stationed outside the cell door. Peter was definitely in the maximum-security wing of Agrippa’s prison. Like so many before him, Agrippa was to learn the hard way the folly of fighting God. He would have been wise to heed Gamaliel’s warning to the Sanhedrin not be “found fighting God. Fighting against the plans of God is such a foolhardy action, and it can be fatal. warns us, “So in the present case I tell you keep away from these men and let them alone, for if the plan of this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God.

Thank goodness that we belong to God who cares for us, has compassion towards us, prays over us, watches over us, sent His Son Jesus to save us and can recused us from the violent hands of Herod.

Recused through the angel of the Lord.

, “So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

While Peter was kept in the prison, the church responded as they usually did when facing persecution: the church was praying fervently for him to God.

, “When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’—for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

This church knew only God had the power to release Peter.

The adverb used here is fervently (ektenos) and is related to ektenes, a medical term describing the stretching of a muscle to its limits. Ektenos is used in,

, “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” This was to describe our Lord’s prayer in Gethsemane, when “being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” The church poured the maximum effort they were capable of into their prayers for Peter. They knew the truth that James the stepbrother of Jesus was later to express, that “the effectual prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” The ektenes word group describes the three essential elements of the Christian life: love, , “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” Service, look at , “To which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day…” And in our present passage today, prayer.

Herod though he had the situation well in hand. But God had other plans, however. On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, bring him forward to answers charges in the morning, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. The guards were doing all that they could to insure that Peter would not escape. Despite his appalling circumstances, Peter was sound asleep. Neither the presence of the guards, the hardness of the cell floor, the wretchedness of the prison, nor the imminent threat of execution could disturb his rest. When someone is able to sleep this soundly in the face of great danger means that their life is govern by a greater faith. In fact, he slept so soundly that the angel had to prod him to wake up. Our sleeping pill and tranquilizer-saturated society could take a lesson from Peter on how to trust God. First, he trusted in the Lord Jesus’s promise to him that he would die later, where he was old. Since he was not yet an old man, he had nothing to fear. Further, each time he had been in jail before; God’s angels had released him before. God had a perfect track record. All this enabled Peter to advise believers to cast “all their anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” Believers who learn, like Peter, to trust God’s promises and past performance, usually sleep soundly.

In Herod’s plans to curry favor with the Jewish people there was a major, fatal flaw—he neglected to consider what God might do. God had much more ministry for Peter to performed and did not want him executed yet. Therefore an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” Peter was sound asleep. Not even the brilliant light that shone in the cell aroused him. As Peter woke up, his chains fell off his hands. Still half asleep and not knowing what to make of the situation, Peter had to be reminded that if he was leaving, he needed to get dressed. The angel commanded Peter, “dress yourself, put on your sandals, wrap yourself in your cloak and follow me.

Peter obediently went out of the cell after the angel and continued to follow him. Still groggy, however, he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. In a series of wonderful miracles, they made their way past the first and second guard, and came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street. Having seen Peter out of the cell and then out of the prison and safely away, immediately the angel departed from him. His duty was done, says this about angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”

Herod learned the same truth, as had the Sanhedrin before him that no prison can hold those whom God wants out.

Only now did Peter fully realize what was happening. He finally came to himself and exclaimed, “…Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” Peter is speaking here of his execution, that is what the Jewish people were expecting to see. This was not a dream; he was really free, recused by the angel of God.

Recused by the power of prayer!

, “When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place. Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.”

The house of Mary, the mother of Peter’s companion John Mark, was where many of the believers were gathered together praying for Peter’s release. She was evidently a wealthy woman, since he had servants and her house was large enough to accommodate all the believers present.

Before going into hiding, Peter made his way to her house. The fact that he knew to go there suggest that believers gathered there regularly. When Peter got to Mary’s house, he knocked at the door of the gate and a servant –girl named Rhoda came to answer. She naturally, asked who was there at such an hour of the night. Peter identified himself, but instead of opening the gate for him, when she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but rain and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.

Mustering up all the faith behind their prayers, they said to her, Peter is in jail! Undaunted, she kept insisting that it was so, Despite here insistence, they still were not ready to accept the fact that God had answered their prayers. If Rhoda had not taken leave of her senses, then perhaps what she had heard was Peter’s angel, someone suggested. In Jewish thought, each person had a guardian angel that could assume the form of that person.

Meanwhile, the real Peter was left in an awkward and dangerous position. With not other option, he continued knocking, hoping he did not attract attention to himself and get arrested again. Finally, Rhoda was able to persuade the others to come and see for themselves. When they finally opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. His inability to enter without their opening may show something of the fear of arrest that gripped these believers. The noise made by the overjoyed believers threatens to do what Peter’s knocking had not done: to arouse the neighbors and get Peter recaptured. Peter, hurriedly motioning to them and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. And he said, “ Report these things to James and the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place. Peter quickly told the amazed story of his escape, which no doubt greatly encourage his listeners. Peter then commanded them to report the news to James (not the martyred apostle but the Lord’s brother.) From we learn that he was the head of the Jerusalem church at this time. Having done that, Peter prudently departed and went to another place.

He didn’t want to put all his fellow believers in jeopardy, and he knew Agrippa would soon be looking for him. Luke does not tell us where he went. Regardless of where he went, Peter fades from the scene as far as the record of Acts is concerned. Apart from his brief appearance at the Jerusalem council, this is the last we see of Peter. From here on out the story revolves around Paul and his ministry. Peter’s sudden mysterious disappearance from a securely guarded cell caused uproar among the guard force. When the next day came, Luke informs us, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter. They frantically turned the prison upside down searching for him, since they knew all too well what fate awaited any soldier who lost a prisoner. They could not find Peter, however, and eventually were forced to report that to Herod. Their worst fears were realized, for Herod, having searched for Peter unsuccessfully, turned his fury on the hapless guards. He examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to execution. Herod was a suspicious man, and the guards could have proffered no reasonable explanation for Peter’s escape. After court martialing and executing the offending guards, Herod in a huff went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there. His plan had blown up and he needed a vacation to pull himself together. Unfortunately for him, he still failed to learn that he could not fight God’s plans. That was a mistake, which cost him Peter and his prestige with Jews was shortly to cost him his life.