Lechem Panim #173 ”Peter Imprisoned” (Acts 12:1-5) Pastor Cameron Ury

Hello and welcome to Lechem Panim!

Angelic Alarm Clock— I don’t know what it takes to for you to wake you in the morning. Maybe you’re a morning person or maybe not. I, for one, am not. Sometimes it takes a couple strikings of the snooze button before I am ready to get up. But imagine one day, instead of being awakened by an alarm clock, you’re wakened by an angel. Well that’s what happened to Peter during his third incarceration in prison, as he was awaiting his execution. And aside from the fact that Peter was definitely not a morning person, we are going to learn a few other things as well; in fact three things that are absolutely crucial when we (like Peter) go through times of intense difficulty. And these three things are all about God; things that Peter may have been reminded of as he reflected on the miraculous events that happened in this passage. It’s interesting, in his first epistle, Peter quotes from Psalm 34:15-16. And it is very likely that he had this experience in mind as he was writing it because of how closely it parallels what he experienced in and through the events in this story. He writes in 1 Peter 3:12: “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil”. And those are the three points of our passage, which we will explore both today and next week: (1) God Sees Our Trials (12:1-4), (2) God Hears Our Prayers (12:5-17), and (3) God Deals With Our Enemies (12:18-25). No matter what you are facing today, God wants to remind you and me of those three truths, which can be anchors for us as we go through difficult times. Now our story opens today with trials and difficulties, as it says in…

Acts 12:1 (ESV)— 1 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.

Herod Agrippa I— Now there were a number of Herods in and around the time of Christ. You had Herod the Great who rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem (and was one of the greatest builders in history), who was responsible for the slaughtering of the children in Bethlehem after hearing from the Wise Men about the birth of the Messiah; you had Herod Antipas, who reigned during the time of Jesus (and against whom Jesus would speak in a veiled manner, calling him a fox, a reed shaking in the wind, and other unflattering things because of how wicked he truly was; remember he was the one who had John the Baptist beheaded), and then we have here Antipas’ nephew Herod Agrippa I, who ruled Judea and Galilee from A.D. 37-44. And this is the Herod we encounter here during this period of the book of Acts. And we see that he is little better than his predecessors. All three Herods were a part of the same family, and the whole family was a bunch of schemers and murderers.

A Bad Family— My wife and I not long ago met a gentleman who told us that was a descendant of Dracula; not the fictional Dracula, but the actual historic ruler of 15th-century Wallachia, Vlad Dracula (called Vlad the Impaler) who murdered somewhere in the vicinity of 80,000, 20,000 of whom he had impaled (hence his name). And afterwards I thought, “Man, that’s not a family I would like to be connected to. Well, the same was true of the family of Herod. Herod the Great [had a large number of people executed or assassinated, including members of his broader family and even some of his own wives and sons.] Even Emperor Augustus (who observed how Herod lived like a Jew, and therefore wouldn’t eat pork) once quipped (in jest), “It is better to be Herod’s pig than son”. His pigs were safer than his sons. And even people of that time didn’t want to be connected with the Herod family. And just think, this was the family ruling the Jewish people. And they hated (and I mean absolutely hated) this; and not just because of the wickedness of the Herod family, but also because all of them were Edomites. They weren’t Jews, but were trying to be. And all of this is key to understanding why Herod Agrippa here begins to attack Christianity; because persecuting the Christians was a way for him to show the Jewish people that he was loyal to the traditions of their fathers. He wanted to appear good in their eyes. And he found this even easier to justify now that the Gentiles were being allowed to be a part of the Church because that was something that many traditional Jews would have reacted very negatively to, still being very nationalistic in their thinking and seeing no place for these “pagans” in their religious body. And so Herod has several Christians arrested, among whom is James the brother of John. And it says in…

Acts 12:2 (ESV)— 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword,

Which James?— Now (kind of like with Herod) there were also multiple men named James in the gospels and in the Early Church; at least three. You had two disciples of Jesus named James: James son of Zebedee and James son of Alphaeus. But then you also had James the half-brother of Jesus (12:17; Mark 6:3), who later became a believer and an important leader in the Early Church, and most likely authored the book of James. But this was James son of Zebedee, one of the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17); who was in fact the first apostle to be martyred in the Early Church, though obviously not the last. But the fact that he was the first of the twelve disciples to be martyred is incredibly significant because you will remember that back in Matthew 20:2-28 both James and John had approached Jesus with their mother, seeking two thrones of glory at Jesus’ right and left hand when He came into His kingdom. But remember that Jesus made it clear to them that they didn’t know what they were asking; that to follow Him was intimately intertwined with suffering; indeed there could be no glory at all without suffering. He had asked them “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” And they of course boldly proclaimed “We are able.” Now obviously they did not know what they were asking for; or what was involved in obtaining a throne of glory. But here we see that James is given the honor of being the first to join Jesus. And that was (in a way) a granting of his request, though not the answer he was originally intending; but one which (at this point in his faith journey) he would have been honored by. And similarly John (who also asked for this place of glory) became an exile on the Isle of Patmos, a prisoner of Rome (Rev. 1:9). And so we see that both did get to participate in the suffering of Jesus; in the sharing of His cup. Now it says of Herod Agrippa in…

Acts 12:3 (ESV)— 3 and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. {If they’re this happy when James is killed, just think how delighted they would be if he killed Peter! Now the text adds} This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. {And what that meant was that this was the anniversary of the passion of Jesus Christ. And so even that adds a little bit more dimension to the death of James. But Peter is only captured, though (and this will be clarified as we move further into the story) Peter also was on the path towards martyrdom. It says…}

Acts 12:4 (ESV)— 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.

Truth 1— And so we see that things are getting pretty bad for Peter. But this is where the first truth (that God sees our trials) comes into play. As Psalm 34 says, “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous” (1 Peter 3:12). God has neither forgotten nor forsaken Peter, even though He allows for Herod to arrest him and put him under heavy guard in prison. And that heavy guard was comprised of sixteen soldiers (four for each watch), with two of those soldiers chained to Peter and two others watching the doors. Now the reason [Peter was {so} heavily guarded {was} because Herod was concerned he would escape from prison as he had once before (5:19, 20).] Last time Peter was arrested, he somehow mysteriously got out of jail. And Herod is determined to make sure that that doesn’t happen again. Now let me ask you something. Don’t you find it interesting that Herod seems more awake to the possibility of Peter’s escape than the disciples were?

The Believing Tavern Owner— In studying this passage I was reminded  of [A tale…about a small town that had historically been "dry," but then a local businessman decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that "no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not.”] And this is something we see demonstrated in our passage today. Now it says in…

Acts 12:5 (ESV)— 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Muscles Stretched— And so we see that [Something stronger than Herod’s army was at work: constant prayer was offered for Peter by the church.] Just recently I read a short conversation between two people. Person number 1 asked what person number 2’s favorite exercise was. And person number 2 said, “chewing.” And you know, I could relate to that. But let me ask you, what is your favorite spiritual exercise? If ought to be prayer; because when the people of God pray, miracles happen in an amazing way. But sometimes it is hard to pray, especially when a situation may seem pretty hopeless, like the situation in this passage. But pay attention to the phrase constant/earnest prayer here in this verse because here is where a little of Luke’s medical background comes into play as he’s writing the book of Acts. [The Greek word for constant is {actually} a medical term used to describe the stretching of a muscle to its limits. “Earnest” would be another way to translate the nature of their prayers. {And so what we see is that in the midst of this difficult circumstance when they are forcing themselves to pray in the midst of a seemingly hopeless situation, which lasted a full week,} The faith of the saints was being stretched.] And by being stretched, it would grow stronger. And that is how you and I grow as well. It is the prayer offered in seasons of hardship that most grow us in our faith and walk with the Lord. But (as we will see in our passage next week) God rewards those prayers in an incredible way, though at first (like the tavern owner) they did not believe. Yet their earnest prayers (though they didn’t recognize it at the time) in fact mark the turning point of the story, as truth number 2 (that God Hears Our Prayers (12:5-17)) is fulfilled. As Peter quotes from Psalm 34 in speaking about God: “And his ears are open unto their prayers” (1 Peter 3:12). And so this week, let us commit to pray just as earnestly, so that through our prayers we might see the hand of God move in incredible ways. Let’s do so. Amen.