His Power, Our Weakness

In Acts 10, Peter discovered God’s intent to bring Gentiles, that is non-Jews into the same covenant relationship with Him as all the Jewish believers had. This was signified by the coming of the Holy Spirit on all in Cornelius’ household. Peter returns to Jerusalem only to find out there were those who did not agree that he should have been associating with foreigners. Remember the mindset the Jewish people operated with in that time period. Peter explains what had happened, how God showed him the vision of the sheet coming down from heaven with unclean animals, and God telling him not to call unholy what He has cleansed, and how that vision applied to his attitude toward the Gentiles. He reported the interaction with Cornelius and his household and how the Holy Spirit came down on them just as He had at the day of Pentecost. The men in Jerusalem then rejoiced at this news.

Barnabas, the man who sold land and gave the proceeds to the church from Acts 4, went to Antioch, which is about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. When he saw what was going on there, he went to Tarsus to fetch Paul. They ministered there for a year. During that time a prophet named Agabus prophesied a famine and the church in Antioch took up a collection to aid the church in Judea, where Jerusalem is. So Paul and Barnabas wound up in Jerusalem.

The story then focuses on Peter once more and we will begin reading here in chapter 12:

Acts 12:1–19 NASB95

Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Gird 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 continued to follow, and 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 second guard, they 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, and immediately the angel departed from him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is his angel.” But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and the brethren.” Then he left and went to another place. Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter. When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there.

The story of Peter’s arrest and release is nothing short of miraculous. It is an example of how God manifests His power in the lives of His followers to accomplish His purposes. The persecution of the church did not stop when Saul became a believer in the Lord Jesus. Others picked up where he left off. We saw in verse two that King Herod had James, the brother of John executed. He saw how this action pleased the Jews, so he got a hold of Peter. He was incarcerated and scheduled for execution after Passover.

Now this is just dirty, especially for someone who is supposed to represent the Jews. This happened during the days of Unleavened Bread. Passover commemorates the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. The week leading up to the final day was prescribed to make preparations for the feast. So the fact that Herod goes after Peter during one of the most important and holiest of times on the Jewish calendar shows his disregard for such things. But the timing of it affords Peter time.

Peter is surrounded by four squads of soldiers. This is four groups of four guards. Two are chained to Peter himself and two are watching over the door of the prison. They work in shifts so that there is never an absence of guards covering the prison. At all times of the day Peter is chained to two guards. Now let me tell you a little something about incarceration. Every prisoner fantasizes about escape. For some it is just a fantasy, but for others it leads to attempts to escape. I have reasonable certainty that the thought of escape entered Peter’s mind at least once. But when one is chained to two guards, the only hope of escape is brute force, which seems highly unlikely. If Peter was going to live, he needed a miracle.

Here is the crux of the message:

As we are faithful to the Lord, we can expect Him to manifest His power in our lives.

Remember last week Peter followed the Lord to Caesarea to bring the gospel to Cornelius and his household. Everyone was blown away that Gentiles were receiving the Holy Spirit just as they had on the day of Pentecost. He reported this to the church in Jerusalem and they rejoiced. Peter had not committed any crime but those who did not believe seized him and threw him in jail. Sometimes the Lord allows us to face adversity in our lives which causes us to grow in our dependency on Him. There are times when life gets tough and it feels like we are under attack. The weight of our affliction is so great that it becomes difficult to see a way out. We need a miracle.

When morning came, Peter was going to die. No second chance. No do over. But God chose to work a miracle in his life. He sends an angel to walk Peter out of the prison unnoticed. The chains fall off, he walks past the guards he was chained next to, past the guards at the gate,and was led to an unnamed street where the angel leaves him. It is only then that Peter realized that what had happened was not a vision, but he was actually standing in the street. Peter got his miracle. It was impossible for him to escape, yet there he was.

Then proof of the miracle is established as Peter shows up to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, knocks on the door, and a girl named Rhoda answers. Everyone in the house was praying for Peter and she got so excited she forgot to let him in. The adults in the house didn’t believe it until they saw it themselves. It was supposed to be impossible. How could Peter escape? Then he told the story. The next day nobody could explain how Peter escaped and Herod moved to put the guards to death for failing in their responsibilities. The only way Peter could have escaped is through divine intervention.

Let me tell you about a guy named Seth. He was one of the guys in my former youth group. Seth is a lot like Peter. He’s kind of like an act first and think later guy. Seth has sarcoma, a type of cancer where tumors develop in bone and soft tissue in various parts of the body. Seth developed a tumor in his neck and at the time that it became critical, it had grown to six inches and it was sitting right next to his jugular vein. He was looking at a very risky surgery to remove it. This surgery was risky because of the tumor’s size, its location, and the effects it would have on his throat and vocal cords. He was told that he would have difficulty to swallow if he could swallow at all. He might not be able to speak. He would be on a feeding tube for the rest of his life. We did a blood drive in his honor because they were expecting that they were going to have to use a large quantity of blood during surgery. The day of the surgery came and they used none of the blood they thought they were going to need. The surgery was a massive success, and while he did have trouble swallowing and speaking initially, today Seth can speak normally, swallow normally, and eat normally. Seth needed a miracle and he got one.

Peter’s chains were loosed as he trusted in the Lord for his future. When it feels like there is no way out, God provides a way. It may not be in the way we expect, but God provides a way. Sometimes God allows your circumstances to bring glory to Himself through them as you are delivered from them, or sometimes they remain so that He is glorified in spite of your circumstances. I don’t love that I have diabetes. I know that I will struggle with this for the rest of my life unless God miraculously cures me of it. But even if He doesn’t, I am looking forward to how He will bring glory to himself in spite of my affliction.

Are you looking for a way out of the situation you find yourself in this morning? Put your hope in God. Maybe you are finding that you are in chains because you are still a slave to the sin that holds power over you. The first step for you is to place your faith in Jesus, who has the power to break those chains as you trust in His saving work on the cross. He has paid the penalty of your sin so you can be free.

Maybe you have already come to faith in Christ but there is something else weighing you down. A situation in your life you feel you can’t get out of or a disease you might have, or crisis you are facing. As you are faithful to Him, He will manifest His power in your life either by delivering you from your circumstances or in spite of them. Abide in Him and watch how He might transform your life. When Paul talked about his thorn in his flesh in 2 Corinthians 12, he asked the Lord to remove it and the Lord said no. Rather, he said “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” The Lord will manifest His power in your life but it requires that we are paying attention. So what step do you need to take to pay closer attention?