Rescue and Wrath
Notes
Transcript
Rescue and Wrath
Rescue and Wrath
Intro
1 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.
2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword,
3 and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.
4 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.
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
6 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.
Deadly Opposition
The Chapter Begins with the introduction of a king.
This man is King Herod Agrippa 1.
As you read the NT, especially the gospels and Acts you will continually come across this name Herod.
It’s a popular name for the rulers of this area during this time period and can get kind of confusing.
These Herods were not good or kind rulers. They always seemed opposed to what God was doing.
If you’ll remember King Herod the great was the ruler of Judea during the time of Jesus’ birth.
Herod the Great was the one who made the edict that all children under the age of 2 should be killed so that the “King of the Jews” would not infringe on his Territory.
His Son, Herod Antipas, was the one responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist. (Luke 3:18-20)
Jesus even appeared before Herod Antipas before his crucifixion. (Luke 23:8)
Then Luke tells us about the Grandson of Herod the Great, Herod Agrippa 1.
Herod Agrippa 1 was a politician to the core. He ruled from AD 39-44
He was a man that wanted to curry favor with both the Jewish People and the Rulers of Rome.
He was very popular with the Jewish People.
He was truly “king of the Jews” now, ruling over all of Judea, Samaria, Galilee, the Transjordan, and the Decapolis.
Until the violence done at the hands of Herod Agrippa 1 the church had been at peace.
31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
Saul had been captivated by Christ so the chief opposition of the Jesus Followers had been subdued.
However, that peace was relatively short lived.
Agrippa “laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.”
Why did Herod start to attack the church?
That is a question that the text doesn’t answer, but we can surmise that a few things might be happening here.
Herod tried to live his life as a faithful Jew.
He tried to obey the commandments of the Jewish law and probably didn’t like the fact that the Jewish Followers of Jesus were now eating with Gentiles.
He didn’t want that bridge crossed b/c it was unclean and a “disgrace” to the Jewish People.
Also he might have been currying favor with the Jews who didn’t follow Jesus.
They were also outraged at the transgressions acted out by the Followers of Jesus.
Regardless of the reason he was attacking the church, it was found to be pleasing to the Jews. (v. 3)
And we also see here that he wasn’t just going after any members of the church, but he was targeting the leadership of the church.
You have to appreciate the strategy involved here.
This hadn’t been done yet in the persecution of the church.
Saul only seemed to go after the members of the church and not the leadership.
In fact, the Leaders were comfortable and confident in their safety that none of them had left Jerusalem yet.
He truly believed that if you cut off the head of the movement that the rest would die off.
Herod’s first victim was James, brother of John.
The first apostle to be martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ.
And we are told that he is killed by the sword.
The meaning of this could go one of two ways.
He was either beheaded or he was stabbed to death.
James was an important apostle. He was part of Jesus’ inner circle.
The inner circle consisted of three disciples Peter, James, and John.
James and John had a conversation with Jesus one day and the death of James was the fulfilment of what was spoken of that day.
35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”
38 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?”
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,
40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
Jesus told the men that one day they would encounter the same type of persecution and death that he did.
And on this day, James did. James died for his belief and worship of JC.
The death of James pleased the Jews so Herod saw fit to play off of the popularity and capture Peter.
However, Peter was arrested during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
And it would not please the Jews for his execution to take place during this festival.
So he was going to place him in prison until the festival was over and then publically kill him.
Notice how many guards that they have surrounding Peter.
Four Squads of soldiers. Each Squad consisted of 4 soldiers.
16 guys.
Now these men would rotate watches every four hours to ensure that they were fresh and alert.
But, Peter went peacefully.
Peter wasn’t a threat.
But most likely Herod had heard about his escape from prison earlier and wanted to take all precautions to make sure Peter didn’t escape.
Notice what the church was doing when Peter was imprisoned.
They were praying.
They were earnestly praying.
They were devoted to prayer.
But Peter was still in prison.
However, God had a miraculous rescue planned.
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.”
9 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.
10 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.
11 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.”
12 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.
13 And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.
14 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.
15 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!”
16 But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed.
17 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.
18 Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.
19 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.
Miraculous Rescue
God has a plan to rescue Peter and Peter is sleeping.
This is the night before he is to be executed.
The night before Herod gains more approval from the Jewish Leaders and people.
Herod isn’t taking any risks.
Peter is asleep between 2 soldiers, bound by handcuffs, and two sentries outside his door.
There is no way that Peter can escape such odds.
Now when it says that Peter is sleeping just think about what that means.
Peter knows that his execution is scheduled for the morning.
Yet he is sleeping. And sleeping good. Hitting those zzz’s hard.
As Corrie and I say, “He is a Dreaming and a Drooling”
Have you ever tried to sleep before a big day in your life?
Anxiety, stress, and worry usually cloud our judgment.
I had difficulty sleeping before an exam.
And here is Peter sleeping before he gets potentially beheaded.
Now there is a peace that happens when you trust in the Lord.
The kind of peace that when your are scheduled to be murdered you sleep like a baby the night before.
The kind of peace that is only available when you know the Prince of Peace.
One theologian said it this way, “Peace isn’t the absence of trouble, but the presence of God.”
Peter knows that one of two things are going to happen when he awakes in the morning.
Either the Lord will deliver him or he will be with the Lord in eternity.
That provides Peter with peace.
So he sleeps.
Not concerned about his future, but trusting in his savior.
Peter was living out what Isaiah wrote some 700 years prior to Peter’s imprisonment
3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
As he sleeps an angel of the Lord stands next to him.
With the Angel comes a bright light.
Peter doesn’t wake up.
So the Angel kicks Peter in the side.
This word actually means that he continues to kick Peter until he wakes up.
Peter eventually wakes up and the Angel has to instruct him on everything that he needs to do.
Peter is in a fog. That same kind of fog that happens when your are awakened out of a deep sleep.
He is confused, perplexed, but he is obedient.
Step by step the Angel tells him what to do.
Get up, Get dressed, put your shoes on, and follow me.
Even though he was following the angel he still felt like it was a dream or vision.
He didn’t know that it was real. But it was. God was rescuing Peter from Herod’s plan.
As soon as, Peter had made it into the Street the angel left him and he was gone.
So Peter, now aware of all that had happened went on to his next location.
To Mary’s house, where many were praying for him.
Let’s pause for a minute. Because you may be thinking:
Why was Peter Saved but James was not?
Why did God choose to save one and not the other?
The reality is we don’t know.
But what we do know is that God is in control.
I heard one preacher put it this way, “Sometimes God uses martyrdom and sometimes he uses miracles.” Ours is not to know but to trust.
We aren’t sure what God was doing, but let’s not think that James got the short end of the stick.
James’ death meant his reunion with Jesus.
We shouldn’t be so infatuated with our earthly life that we miss the promise of eternal life.
Being with Jesus is greater than all this world had to offer.
Life is good, Life is fun, but Jesus is better.
One Theologian said it this way “You’re invincible til God is through with you”
He won’t take you before his timing.
He wasn’t through with Peter.
Peter shows up at Mary’s house and he knocks at the door.
The servant Girl, Rhoda, recognizes his voice, but doesn’t answer the door.
She runs off to tell the others about what she has heard.
Naturally, those praying don’t believe her.
“You’re out of your mind”
This can’t be true. He is in prison.
It’s only his angel.
It’s Impossible that it’s actually Peter.
Who knows what they were actually praying for.
Maybe they were just praying for God to give Peter the strength to endure.
Even if they were praying for his deliverance it didn’t seem that they actually expected it.
Let me ask you:
Do you pray with expectancy?
Do you pray and actually believe that God is going to answer your prayer?
Not in an arrogant, self-centered way, but in a humble and thankful way.
Do you really believe that there is power in prayer?
Do you believe that God actually hears our prayers and answers them?
We have witnessed over the past few weeks answers to prayers.
May not have been as we expected them to be answered, but they have been answered.
We had two congregation members knocking on death’s door, but b/c God is gracious and his people prayed, they are still alive and well with us today.
God wants to hear from his people. He wants us to pray and seek his face.
He wants us to be in communion with him.
I am not sure if you have noticed how much focus Luke has put on prayer in the book of acts, but lets go over a few of the verses we have seen so far.
14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
And these are only a few of them. There are many more throughout Acts.
Prayer is our most valuable weapon against the evils of life.
Prayer is the greatest tool we have a believers.
Prayer is our access to the Father.
We have power when we pray.
It should be our first and primary weapon when we face difficulties.
It should be our first response.
We should pray without ceasing.
We should believe in the power of prayers.
We should pray expectantly.
We should pray with joy and hope.
Peter recounted all the events that led up to his rescue and then he left.
Herod looked for Peter and could not find him.
He then sentenced to death the soldiers that were responsible for Peter.
They were sentenced to endure the penalty that Peter was supposed to suffer.
Herod then left Judea and went to Caesarea where he endure the Judgment of God.
20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.
21 On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.
22 And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
24 But the word of God increased and multiplied.
Wrath and Grace
There was a problem in the Area.
Herod was angry with Tyre and Sidon.
Why he was angry we don’t know, but there was some anger.
We do know around this time there was a food shortage and both Tyre and Sidon relied on Herod and his generosity to provide enough food for them.
So the leaders all gathered to meet with Herod and try to come to an amicable agreement.
They got together and we read that Herod showed up with his Royal Robes.
Ancient Jewish Historian Josephus tells us :
The Book of the Acts 5. Death of Herod Agrippa I (12:20–23)
On the second day of the shows Agrippa put on a robe made of silver throughout, of quite wonderful weaving, and entered the theatre at break of day. Then the silver shone and glittered wonderfully as the sun’s first rays fell on it, and its resplendence inspired a sort of fear and trembling in those who gazed at it. Immediately his flatterers called out from various directions, in language which boded him no good, for they invoked him as a god:
They were feeding into his ego.
Trying to appease him so that he would be generous toward them.
“The Voice of a god, not of a man!”
Yet in their adulation of Herod he didn’t correct them or show humility.
He accepted their praise.
This can be contrasted with what we remember happened with Peter when he met Cornelius.
Cornelius fell down and began to worship him, but Peter said “Rise up for I am only a man”
B/c of Herod’s wickedness he was struck down by the Lord.
He experienced the wrath of God in a heinous death.
Unrepentant, humiliated, and helpless he died a sinners death.
We see in Herod’s death the wrath of God poured out b/c of sin and wickedness.
But we also see the grace of God in the fact that the Word of God increased and Multiplied in the church.
The Church of Jerusalem despite losing one of it’s leaders to death and another one to persecution continued to increase.
God was still working in the Church and he was still growing his people.
There was still grace to be found.
From this point forward in Acts the focus is going to be on the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles.
The Jerusalem Church is going to take a back seat to the advancement of the message to the end of the earth.
In this story we see a picture of both God’s Wrath and His grace.
John Piper said “If your with Jesus you win. If your not you lose.”
We see that in this story.
Peter and James both win. They are both followers of Jesus.
Peter is rescued from the prison. He is delivered from the hand of the enemy.
James is martyred but he gets to be with Jesus.
Both experience God’s goodness and grace.
Herod experiences the wrath and judgement of God.
He dies separated from God.
This is the truth of the gospel.
If you submit your life to Christ you have life.
If you reject Christ you have death.
There is no middle ground.
Their are two options life and death.
Accept Rescue from Jesus
Or Accept Wrath by rejecting him.
Herod loved the fact that the crowd saw him as a god.
That is the heart and central issue with sin.
It make us want to be like God.
Sin is our desire to be God.
Unless we repent from our sin and humble ourselves before the Lord we will receive the same fate of Herod.
I plead with you right now, if you haven’t given your life to Christ.
Do so now.
There is no greater hope. No greater joy. No greater life than a life with Christ.
If you have given your life to Christ, you must tell someone.
Tell them about the hope, joy, and grace found in Jesus.
Let’s Pray.