December 14th, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

When Iron Gates Yield

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Loving Father, You have shown me faithfulness and mercy. I desire to show You my love now, also.

Read Acts 12:1-19

[1] It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. [2] He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. [3] When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. [4] After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. [5] So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. [6] The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. [7] Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. [8] Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. [9] Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. [10] They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. [11] Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.” [12] When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. [13] Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. [14] When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” [15] “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” [16] But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. [17] Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. [18] In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. [19] After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

“Against the persecution of a tyrant, the godly have no remedy but prayer” (John Calvin 1509-1564). Yes, but what a remedy!

Think Further

This passage is remarkable both for the graphic detail with which Luke tells the story, and because of the humor evident in a narrative that involves persecution and suffering. Most of the passage deals with Peter’s remarkable deliverance, but this cannot conceal the reality of the brutal execution of James whom Herod “put to death with the sword” (2). As Justo Gonzalez points out, the death of James does not imply that he had less faith than Peter, or that the church prayed less effectively for him than for Peter. It implies, rather, that while God clearly can deliver his servants from suffering and death, he is also glorified (as by Jesus himself) through their obedience unto death.

How does humor enter a story like this? The account of Peter’s deliverance depicts him sleep-walking out of the prison. He only realizes that it’s not a dream when the cold night air jerks him awake and enables him to “come to himself” (11,12). He finds himself on the street outside a friend’s house while believers inside debate whether the person at the gate (Peter) is human or angelic (13-16). Luke once again surely intends his readers to smile as they read this, perhaps recognizing their own inability to believe that their fervent prayers for God’s intervention might actually be answered!

However, the humor has another purpose. By the end of the story we return to the grim reality of political power. Herod has the guards (16 of them, according to v. 4) executed (19). The self-image of Rome and puppet rulers like Herod was one of splendor and glory. The claims of such dictators are laughable, and no one knows this better than those who follow the true Lord of history whose kingdom grows in secret, mysterious, yet genuinely powerful ways.

Apply

How do you feel about the fact that God saved Peter but not James? In the light of John 21:18-19, how might Peter respond to this question?

Closing prayer

Lord, I pray for the release of my brothers and sisters in Christ imprisoned for their faith. Also, I pray that those who grieve the victims of violence will be comforted.

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