A Devastating Martyr, a Miraculous Rescue, and a Just Punishment Part 2
a commentary on Acts 12 (Interpretation)
Thank you, Lord, for this day. May it be used for your glory!
Good morning everyone and welcome back to Biblit!
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This week we’ve been talking about Peter’s miraculous escape from prison, hours before his execution.
Today, we are going to break down some of the bigger details in this passage that stuck out to me.
The Power of Prayer
The first thing I notice when I read this passage is that when Peter is released, we read this verse:
“As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was called Mark, where many had assembled and were praying.” (Acts 12:12 CSB).
I suppose we don’t know exactly what they are praying for, but seeing as we are in the early church period, Peter decides to go there first, and even the servant recognizes Peter, I think it’s safe to assume Peter probably came up at least once or twice in their prayers.
The cool thing here is I believe this showcases the immense faith these early believers had in the Lord. They didn’t take matters into their own hands like numerous Old Testament patriarchs would have (sorry Jacob, but you know it’s true).
Like I said yesterday, in the latter half of this passage, we see that these officials are not above bribery.
We know that Mary has a servant and a home big enough to gather, and most likely a well-known gathering place since Peter knew to go there. Once again, there is also the tradition that says John Mark is indeed the rich young ruler. All that to say, they probably had some money and could have tried to buy Peter’s freedom.
But they didn’t! They didn’t even try some weird escape plan that would end up with all of them in jail.
Instead, they relied on a greater power than any amount of money or size of army can muster: prayer to the one and only God.
God’s Sovereign Will
I don’t think it does justice to talk about this passage and only highlight Peter.
We need to also stop at the beginning and highlight another very important man: James.
This whole thing starts because Herod kills James and the Jews love it. James was a martyr and will have that special place in Heaven.
What stands out to me here is that we have two apostles mentioned in this passage: James and Peter. Both of them were spreading the gospel. Both of them were arrested and taken captive by Herod.
One of them died.
One of them freed.
And that is what God’s sovereign plan looks like to us: confusing yet perfect.
Peter had more work to do for the ministry. Why was James done? We don’t know. We do know that Peter does go on to do a ton of good works for the Kingdom through Christ in Him. And we’ll get to those in the coming weeks.
But we don’t know why James was called home.
But it reminds me of these passages in Ephesians and Romans:
“The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.” (Ephesians 3:10-13 CSB).
“For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith; if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Romans 12:3-8 CSB).
Peter and James had different roles and gifts.
One was called home and one was set free.
It doesn’t make Peter better than James; it doesn’t mean Peter had a greater faith; it just means Peter had a role that needed to keep going.
The point is that despite different roles, they both glorified God equally; one in death and one in being set free from prison.
Giving God Glory
Which leads us to our final point.
If we highlight two individual people from this passage we can see why it is so important no matter what our gifts are, to always give God the glory.
Let’s look again at this passage:
“When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.” (Acts 12:11 CSB).
Once Peter was freed, he gave God glory immediately and told others to tell people God saved Him.
Now let’s look at another part of the passage:
“The assembled people began to shout, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!” At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.” (Acts 12:22-23 CSB).
Herod did not give God glory for the skills he was given and so God struck him down.
Thus once again, we see two men, both given a gift. One gave God glory and lived, the other took the glory for himself and died.
With that, we’ll call it a day. Tune in tomorrow and we’ll talk about some application points!