But the word of God increased and multiplied. Acts 12:24 

Acts 12:1-24 – The Story of the Church: Living Into This Drama in the 21st Century
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – July 18, 2021 (am)
 

“Be careful who you pick your fights with”. This bit of wisdom came from my seventh- grade PE teacher/basketball coach at Jefferson Junior High, the first staff responder to an after school fight—a fight in which one participant emerged unscathed, and the other heavily damaged.

This was not an unexpected fight, and it was a fight between a fellow-seventh grader who looked as though he had skipped several grades and another seventh-grader who looked big and mature enough to be my uncle. All in attendance, myself included, knew this fight wasn’t going to go well.

The interesting thing was that it was the smaller of the two who was the instigator, picking incessantly on the larger young man because of a stutter, empowered by a long-standing group of friends who laughed, encouraged, and egged him on. Finally, the larger boy got to the breaking point and was waiting for him one day after school.

The teacher who was there to stop the fight and clean-up the carnage, did not respond first like a staff member…threatening suspensions and parental contact. Rather this teacher, a gruff (though at times tender) man, who sported a military style buzzcut all my years of knowing him, had a really important life-lesson to impart to the bleeding young man…”Be careful who you pick your fights with”.

The folly of fighting against someone bigger, stronger, more powerful, the folly of a nation choosing to fight a nation with more soldiers and more weapons, the folly of seeking out any clearly unequal battle is dwarfed by the folly of fighting against God, for God always wins. Always. Sometimes, to further display His glory in winning, He allows His enemies to believe that they are actually winning or that they have won.

It’s very easy to look at passages like Acts 12 and see this as strictly a “Herod against the church thing:” yet miss the reality that this is a “Herod vs. God” thing, a “Kingdom of the world vs. Kingdom of God” thing. Christ made such a connection crystal clear when He says to Saul, who’s laying on the ground, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (9:4). The implication is clear: Fight the church and you are actually fighting God, you are fighting Christ, as all who are in the church by faith are in Christ, are one with Christ, and that fight is one that you cannot win. The great Jewish Rabbi Gamaliel cautions against such a thing, as he urges temperance when dealing with the recaptured, Christ-preaching Apostles in Acts 5 when he says, “but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (5:39). You can never oppose God and win. Be careful who you pick your fights with.

Today’s passage brings us right into one such fight, as we find someone fighting against God, by fighting against the church. Acts Chapter 12 breaks down into three scenes, which I’ve entitled: I. Enemy (1-5a)  II. Rescue (5b-19) III. Judgement (20-23)

As to Scene (or point) #1, it is important to recognize that the church…and by extension, God…has enemies. Now, as a point of clarification, because of God’s absolute holiness and perfection and our violation of our created purpose to imitate Him in that holiness and perfection, unforgiven sinners are enemies of God. Before Christ forgave us, we were all enemies of God.

Yet, some of those enemies are elevated into positions of power, according to God’s purpose and plan, and use that power to war against God, God’s authority, and God’s people, most often as a manifestation of their blindness to the truth. In Verse 1, we are introduced to one such enemy, “Herod the King”. Where are we in the story of Kingdom Spread? Luke timestamps us at the beginning of the chapter with “About that time”, which seems to refer back to the time that the collection was taken in Antioch for the brothers in Judea (11:29-30), and at the end of the chapter records the death of Herod, which historians date at AD 44, so all of this happens around 10 years after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Also of note about Chapter 12 is the fact that we leave Antioch for a bit (Chapter 11) to see what is happening back in Jerusalem, before Luke returns back to recounting God’s work in Antioch in the next Chapter.

This passage begins with King Herod (Herod Agrippa I, a grandson of Herod the Great, ruler of different areas of Palestine) “laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church”. Herod, a Jew, was in Jerusalem for the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which took place the week after Passover. Surely he had been confronted with the truth about Jesus Christ at some point, had heard of His crucifixion and the word that had spread that He didn’t stay dead, and viewed all of that not as the only hope for his soul, but as a threat to his kingdom. Isn’t that true of all unbelievers? And the first action of his “violent hands” was to have the Apostle James killed. This is the James, along with his brother John, recorded in Mark 10, who make this request of Jesus: “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” to which our Lord responds, “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?”, to which James and John respond “We are able”…and Christ says “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized”. For James, the time for that cup and that baptism came. The first Apostle to be killed. The cost of following Jesus. There is always a cost to following Jesus.

And yet, Luke, inspired by the Spirit of God, is not focused on James, ultimately, in these verses, but rather on Herod. He and his actions are referenced six times in the first four verses. The Spirit makes it clear through Luke that the focus is on the enemy of the church.

Territorial Kings in the Roman Empire had to walk a fine line. The goal: keep Pax Romana, for if your territory was marked by a lack of peace, your body could be marked by a lack of a head! And to keep this peace, there needed to be a subtle mix of authoritarian violence and constituency-pleasing politics. Herod sees that that killing of James (striking this renegade movement at the top—one of the Apostles) was pleasing to the Jews…so he decides to go even one better: go after that loudmouth, trouble-maker Peter, the perceived leader of the group. But the Feast was ongoing, and to act would have worked against his goal, and turned the Jews against him, and violate his own practice of Judaism, so he puts Peter in jail…and, perhaps, hearing of the miraculous escape of Peter earlier (recorded in Acts 5), it was time to flex a little “Kingdom of the World” muscle. Verse 4: four squads of soldiers. Verse 6-7: two soldiers always next to him, chained, with two more guarding the door. No way any mere human is getting out of this…but Herod wasn’t fighting against a mere human. He was fighting against God. The God who loves to…Scene #2—Rescue

Here we find wonderful principle: the more dire the situations appears, the more miraculous the rescue is, and the more glory of grace is displayed, and the more praise of that glory God receives. The two massive illustrations of this in God’s redemptive plan are: the Exodus of the nation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The overtones of the Exodus are plain in God’s actions and Luke’s recounting here: An enemy, a rescue, and judgment upon the enemy.

I believe the key to Verses 6-19, the rescue of Peter from the most-dire of circumstances is found at the end of Verse 5, “but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church”. In the face of this attack from the enemy, the church unleashed its greatest weapon—fervent prayer. Prayer to the God who is now their Father, mediated by their great High Priest, Jesus Christ, perfected in the utterance by an indwelling Spirit—that prayer is the most-awesome of weapons, and a weapon that all those in Christ possess. The word translated “earnest” by ESV and “fervently” by the NASB is used by Luke only one other time, and it also describing prayer— in Chapter 22:44 of his Gospel, describing the intensity of the prayer by our Lord, which was so intense that it lead to “his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground”.

That was the intensity of prayer uttered by the church in the face of this attack…this apparent dire circumstance. They just killed James. Now they are going to do the same to Peter. What is happening here? God please act! And God answers. Remember when Christ tells his disciples, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.” (Mark 11:22-23)?….well, God is about to move a mountain. He’s going to display why no plan or weapon formed against Him will ever prosper or succeed, why He is worthy of all of our trust…because He is the sovereign, creator God of the universe. He acts within His creation however He chooses, in whichever way He pleases. And He is no cold, callous, impetuous deity. No, rather He is a God who loves His people, a God who hears the prayers of His people, a God who acts mightily on behalf of His people…all because they are in Christ, the beloved Son.

And God chooses to act by sending an angel. God acts supernaturally. God overrides the natural course, the natural order, that He created—He can do that. He is God. Verse 7 tells us the angel stood next to Peter, and a light shone in the cell, yet the two chained to Peter and the two outside keeping watch do not see and are not aware. God can do that. Here’s a great question for us to consider and to learn from the answer: How does the angel find Peter? As the sands of time on his life are running low? Panic? Peter’s sleeping. He’s sleeping! Why? He trusted God. He had seen God’s miraculous rescue, recorded in Acts 5. He had seen the mighty hand of God move in converting Jews in mass, in healing. He had witnessed the power and glory of the Christ that he followed during our Lord’s earthly ministry. Because of the new birth that he had experienced, he now knew God intimately, all of the things he had experienced he now understood, and he knew was God was worthy of his trust. We can assume he had prayed fervently, and that peace of God that we all desire (Philippians 4:6) was upon him. Perhaps he rested, knowing that an army of believers was storming the throne of grace on his behalf.

Whatever the reason, Peter slept. When trial hits, when our soul is in turmoil, are we able to experience such rest? Exercise such trust?

And it is the angel that awakens him, strikes him on the side (according to Verse 7) and says, “Get up quickly!”. Here we see overtones of the Exodus story, in which the Israelites must act quickly in the rescue…symbolized by leaving leaven out of their breads, as there wasn’t time to wait for it to rise.

The miraculous rescue continues…the chains fall off his hands, the angels instruct Peter to dress and follow him. As one commentator notes, “this was not Peter’s escape. Rather, it was his deliverance”. 1 Peter can’t believe that what is happening is real. Verse 9 tells us he thought he was seeing a vision. It’s when they pass the first and second gate, coming to the iron gate leading into the city, a gate that opens automate—automatically—by the sovereign hand of the Lord— that gate opens, the angel leaves, and Peter, verse 11 tells us, came to himself, saying, “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”. God’s people’s prayers were answered. Peter was rescued miraculously by the hand of His God. The greatest attempt of an earthly king was no match for the power of the sovereign God of the universe. And yet, God’s acting was a response to the earnest prayer of His people. As the great Thomas Watson said, “The angel fetched Peter, but it was prayer that fetched the angel”. One of the great mysteries of the Christian life is how the prayers of God’s people can be effectual, in light of a God whose predestinating purposes have roots before He created the heavens and the earth.

How about the folks that were fervently praying for such a thing? Many of them were gathered, Verse 12 tells us, at the house of Mary—and here we meet someone, Mary’s son John Mark, who, Verse 25 tells us, will join the mission team. First one to meet Peter? A servant girl named Rhoda, who is so amazed and overjoyed at seeing Peter, she doesn’t let him in! Rather, she goes and relays to the folks inside who respond—in faith and joy? No…..Verse 15, “You’re nuts!” Can’t we see some of us in that response? Pray, pray, pray…fervently, earnestly, exhaustively…then we doubt the answer to our prayer. We see some of all of us in that reaction. Bless her heart, Rhoda keeps insisting. Their answer, “It’s his angel”, reflecting a belief that, as one commentator notes, “the Jews believed in individually assigned angels who guided and protected, and often assumed the physical appearance of their assignee.”2 Both responses, “It’s an angel” and “You’re out of your mind”…reflect an inability to grasp (believe) that God had moved mountains for them, freed Peter in the 11th hour, when his death, following James, seemed all but assured.

But Verse 16 tells us that they finally saw for themselves. And Peter describes the glorious things of God’s workings. His last request before leaving? Verse 17, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers”. This James is the half-brother of Jesus who Luke, a couple of chapters later, will make clear is the predominant leader in the church in Jerusalem…then Peter, surely in an effort to avoid Herod’s people, leaves for another place.

Herod, with no true belief in the God of Israel, or for His Christ, no room for the supernatural, doesn’t use this as an opportunity to consider just who it is that he is fighting against. Rather, heads must roll. Somebody messed up. Verse 19 says that all who were assigned to guard Peter that night were put do death…which leads us to our third scene and point: judgment, Verses 20-23

The regions of Tyre and Sidon, coastal cities in Phoenicia, were self-governing cities, but there were two truths that Luke points out: First, they were reliant upon the areas ruled by Herod for their food supply and second, Herod was not happy with them. More than that, he was angry. Having the person who is in charge of your food angry with you typically isn’t a good thing. To deal with this some folks from Tyre and Sidon find an “inside guy”, someone who has the King’s ear…Verse 20 tells us it’s Blastus the King’s (according to ESV) chamberlain, a “chief of staff” of sorts of the King’s servants, and they appeal to him for peace. A meeting day is arranged and Verse 21 tells us, “On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.” The people hearing, desperate for peace, and therefore a food supply, say “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”. Herod, the enemy of God and God’s people was receiving worship. Verse 23 tells us that, because he did not redirect that worship toward God, because he did not give God the glory….the Lord once against dispatched an angel, this time not to rescue but to execute judgment—eaten by worms. Josephus the great historian records that Herod dies after an agonizing five days. 3 As my seventh-grade PE teacher would have told Herod…be careful who you pick your fights with. Once again, as with all of those who choose to fight against God….God wins.

What a story….breath-taking really. Persecution, death, fervent prayer, miraculous- rescue, judgment. This is the Kingdom of God. And while we are out of breath, God is not. Rather, He is constantly, seamlessly working all according to His plan. If we were to have a fourth point it would be simply: You just can’t stop it. Verse 24, “But the word of God increased and multiplied”. Enemies of God war against Him, against His church. People are imprisoned. Followers of Christ are martyred. Yet God’s plan to increase the Kingdom of His Son marches on. You just can’t stop it. God’s purposes and plan will stand. From a human perspective, there will seasons of great visible victories, there will be seasons in which it looks as though the enemy is winning, but that is all squarely within the plans and purposes of God—the Word of God will continue to increase and multiply, under God’s sovereign care, until the Lord of the church returns.

What would God have us to learn from this incredible chapter of Scripture? Let’s briefly revisit each of the three scenes and draw some things out.

From Scene #1, we learn that there is a cost to following Christ. For some, like James, it is the cost of your earthly life. For some, like Peter, it is imprisonment for the faith. What that looks like is in God’s hands, but following Christ costs all of us something. At the very least it costs us ourselves…the right to be king in our lives…we have been bought with a price and we are not our own. Sometimes we lose family, friends, jobs because we are now “one of them”. But that cost is given back exponentially. In Matthew 19, our Lord says, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life”. What we “lose” now for the sake of Christ and the Gospel will be given back to us beyond measure. Ultimately, it is not really loss.

The second things we want to take away from this scene is that there will always be enemies of the God, of the church. Psalm 2 tells us that the nations and the people will always rage against God and His anointed, but the God’s response to such things—“He who is in the heavens laughs.” (2:4) Rest easy, brothers and sisters, regardless of what the headlines say. But one word regarding our posture— mustn’t become angry when the nations rage—rather we should grieve, we should pray, we should preach Christ crucified. Apart from grace, we would still be part of the raging nations, much like we would have been shouting “Crucify Him!”. If we understand the hardness of life apart from God, and the fact that it will only get exponentially worse in the eternal state, our hearts should grieve…if we truly do love our neighbor as ourselves.

From Scene #2 we learn that fervent prayer avails much. Even in the 11th hour, even when the situation seems beyond dire, beyond hopeless…we pray (big things) and we trust. This God who works miraculously in that prison cell is the same God who is with us, the same God who is for us, the same God who fights for us. Fight, brothers and sisters, to keep your faith supernatural. 4 Brothers and sisters, read this story and say “This is our God!”. This is our God with whom Jesus Christ has brought me into relationship with! Revel in that.

From Scene #3 we can learn how jealous God is for His glory. Stealing God’s glory is a human problem. “For all have sinned and…fall short of the glory of God”. By grace, the punishment for being a glory-stealer has fallen upon Christ. (Maybe I need to stop here and ask, “Has it for you?” Have you repented of your sin, have you turned from stealing God’s glory and entrusted yourself to Christ, trusted that all of the punishment all of the judgment for your glory- stealing, law-breaking rebellion has fallen upon Him? And He’s paid/atoned for that fully? That could be right now).

Even for this who have entrusted themselves to Christ, God remains jealous for His glory. When we live for His glory, when the entirely of our lives reflect a desire to bring Him glory, we get to live in that Psalm 1, Matthew 5 blessedness—a state of joy, peace, hope, purpose and meaning, that is how we were created to live. And in Christ we now get to live as we were created to live. Aim every facet of your life toward His glory—acknowledging Him, thanking Him, putting to use the things of your life as God would want them to be used…aim it all at His glory. For He alone is worthy of all the glory.

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1 John B. Polhill, Acts, vol. 26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 276. 

2 Kenneth O. Gangel, Acts, vol. 5, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 196. 

3 John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts: The Spirit, the Church & the World, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 213.

4 And, thereby, guard against the trap that is prevalent in the more learned Christian communities, in which the Bible simply becomes “the text”, and our following of Christ becomes a rote, often over-academic, exercise.

NEXT WEEK: Acts 12:25–13:3, Nick Conner